The European cookbook for American homes (from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France)

Brillat-Savarin was born at Belley, in the Province of Bugey, influenced by the neighboring Province of Franche-Comte and by the Spanish who ruled much territory hereabouts. Italy and Switzerland also merged in these Alpine districts, so Savarin had a wealth of dishes to choose from, Spanish pigeon pies and watermelon pickles; Italian ravioli made with morsels of heathcock, meat and giblets; Jural or Swiss cheese to flavor everything. The dishes of Franche-Comte, like those of Alsace-Lorraine also show teutonic influence, as seen in La Concoillote, butter and sour milk flavored with brandy and cooked together with herbs; and the favorite schnapps, which is kirsch. Germany and Spain unite in the huge sausage flavored with aniseed and devoutly named Jesu de Morteau; and again in German pancakes as thick as your thumb, yet these have a Spanish name, Matafams, hunger-killers, reminiscent of the Spanish anis drink Mataratas, rat-killer. Other regional foods and drinks are roast ears of corn, grilled crayfish, Septmoncel cheese, called "blue" from its bluish gray color, and lacy morels. Anyone who has tasted morels, that sweet-scented pine-cone-shaped pale white cross between mushrooms and truffles, has begun an endless education in taste. Morels make rare eating. The wines are from sherry-producing vines introduced by the Spaniards and hence the best of them are white and fruity: Chateau Chalon, Arbois, Poligny and Beaufort. Also vins de paille, of grapes laid down in straw till mid-winter and then made into wine. Wines here are also cooked with brandy and sugar to make exceptional liqueurs and one of them, Epicea, is flavored with pine, in the popular fashion of Scandinavia. (Viands) Bordelais GRILLED STEAK BORDEAUX STYLE {Entrecote a la Bordelaise) Grilled sirloin or Delmonico steak served with Bordelaise Sauce. BORDELAISE SAUCE (BROWN) FOR GRILLED STEAKS 2 slices bacon, minced l/2 cup claret i tablespoon butter Herb bouquet i tablespoon minced shallot 2 tablespoons bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons minced ham sifted Yi garlic clove, minced l/+ pound beef marrow, sliced 1 cup stock Salt and pepper 1 teaspoon beef extract Start frying bacon in butter; add shallot, ham and garlic, and slowly brown. Add stock, beef extract, wine and bouquet, and simmer. Remove bouquet and add crumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Drop marrow into boiling salted water, remove at once with a skimmer, arrange on top of the steak, and when sauce is thickened pour over. In Nice, where our national steak appears quite elegantly on the menu as "beef steack" it is first frosted thickly with stiffly beaten egg-whites and then fried in onions and garlic. Provence BEEF EN DAUBE (Boeuf en Daube) iYz pounds silverside of beef 6 peppercorns i calf's foot, quartered i strip orange skin 2 onions, quartered 2 garlic cloves, halved 2 carrots, sliced i pint red wine i sprig parsley % cup vinegar i sprig thyme % pound bacon, diced i bay leaf 2 tomatoes, chopped 2 cloves Salt Flour paste