French Gourmet Delights – Frogs Legs, Snails and Paul Bocuse

 

Beaujolais and Dombes Regions

Food and wine were on the agenda for our outings on the 26^th. Unfortunately we couldn’t do both at once, so, knowing that we would be able to try the wines later, we opted for the snails and frogs legs.

After the truffle performance from Serge, our snail man was about as inspiring as any old snail in any garden, but he did show us a few tricks for catching them which I will be testing on the vegetable garden when I get back home – note the photos.

We were put off at the beginning by his attitude when a couple of us ladies enquired about toilet facilities. He really did not want us to use his, and no wonder, it was in his house. The farm (can you call snail production a farm?) has been in production for about five years and making money for the last two years, so we thought he should by now have his facilities properly set up for visitors.

 

The kitchen, where he cooks the snails and prepares them for use inpastes and for sale in various bottled styles, is extremely modern and efficient looking. The pastes themselves tasted largely of garlic and the herbs he had added, but the wine was pretty good. We didn’t get any of the individual snails in shells that one expects in a restaurant, probably because they are so fiddly to produce. Remove animal from shell, keep attractive shells, cook snail flesh for hours and hours and hours, then poke it back into the good looking shells and add the herbs and spices. French people regard them as delicacies to be saved for special occasions, especially Christmas. I’m so glad we prefer turkey and ham, or oysters and crayfish.

Back on the coach for the next part of our tasting day.

Chatillon sur Chaloronnewas another quaint village, with a very well maintained open market, partly destroyed, then reconstructed in the 17^th century.

Houses here are generally

made of small bricks with shorter crossed timber beams than we’d seen elsewhere. I

wandered off to take photos and found no-through laneways with pedestrian access only, to houses and restaurants. It was all very picturesque,

but the thought of eating frogs legs brought me back to the meeting spot under the historic market hall.

We had driven through the swampy country where the frogs are still found, but can only be eaten at one’s own risk. Apparently a fungus attacked the local frogs some time ago and now, this famous French dish relies on imports from Asia, mainly the much smaller creatures from China. I have had the ‘delicacy’ before and found them tasty and quite meaty, but our sample on this occasions was tiny, all bones, and with no flavor except for the garlic and herbs in which they were cooked. Altogether, a disappointing gourmet adventure.

But, that night we were treated to a delicious meal at a Michelin starred Paul Bocuse restaurant, which made up for any inadequacies during the day.

I tried to capture on film the

WOW atmosphere of the place, not very successfully. The waiters are so efficient and must surely be chosen for their ability to perform –

they race up and down the steep staircase holding plates of dessert at head height and have no chance to look at the steps, but no-one crashes or drops anything. Hilarious and very impressive. As for the musical machinery, that has to be seen and heard. The food, of course was very yummy and presented with the best of French flair. My favourite was one of the tiny cocktails – fresh tuna sashimi with a perfect Japanese/French sauce. I had three of them. This restaurant is in Collonges where Paul Bocuse was born. It’s a must for anyone travelling in the area.