Bordeaux & French Basque Country - Discover France: Experience the Best of France - page 517

Need to Know

MARKETS Every village has a morning market at least weekly COOKING
LESSONS With Nicolas Frion at Bourdeaux' École de Cuisine au Chapon
Fin ( 05 56 90 91 92; www.chapon-fin.com ) .

Bordelaise Cuisine Don't Miss List
BY JEAN-PIERRE XIRADAKI, CULINARY WRITER & CELEBRITY RESTAURANT OWNER SINCE 1968

1 MARCHÉ DES CAPUCINS
Cuisine bordelaise (Bordeaux cuisine) originates from the south, from Basque-
country women who came to work in the great Bordelaise houses. And the di-
versity of produce is enormous. We have river and sea fish, shellfish, oysters,
fowl (duck and geese), lamb, beef, mushrooms, vegetables, poultry, truffles …
We really have everything, although we miss cheese. I buy my produce from loc-
al producers and markets: Marché des Capucins (see image below;
www.marchedescapucins.fr ) in Bordeaux and the twice-weekly market in Blaye
(Wednesday and Saturday mornings).

2 CASSOULET, MACARONADE & EELS
I love cassoulet, typical to the rural southwest and traditionally eaten to celeb-
rate; it's a heart-warming haricot bean stew with a few giblets, bit of sausage and
pork thrown in. Then there's macaronade aux cèpes et au foi gras , fresh macar-
oni with local cèpes (boletus mushrooms), foie gras and cream. It is very rich,
very delicious and demands a healthy appetite! Lamproie à la Bordelaise (eel-
like lamprey), a migratory river fish cooked with wine and leeks, is very typical of
our local cuisine.

3 LA SOUPE
In winter at La Tupina ( Click here ) we always have a cauldron of soup cooking
in the fireplace; the fire burns all day just as it did at my grandparents'. We throw