Tips On Dining

The Bounty of Provence

Because much of the allure of Provençal cuisine derives from its raw ingredients, menus are likely to state the source of what you're about to consume. To see this wealth firsthand, head for any of the open-air markets where vast amounts of meat, cheese, produce, wine, and herbs are sold from simple kiosks.

Bread -- Almost as varied as the cheeses are the shapes and ingredients of the bread. You can buy it as long, thin ficelles, marvelously crusty, and as gibassiers, baked with a dollop of olive oil for flavor. Choose from pain d'olives, with the flesh of the olive in the dough; pain de raisins, flavored with dried raisins; pain à l'anis, aniseed bread; and earthy pain au levain, sourdough bread. In Aix, you'll find a regional recipe for pain d'Aix, a double-mounded staple that resembles women's breasts. The most democratic of Provençal breads is pain d'égalité, developed in response to an edict during the Revolution declaring that only one kind of bread could be consumed in an egalitarian society. Today this is something akin to generic supermarket bread, but it's still occasionally available in Provençal markets. Beware of Provençal witches, who, according to legend, will come to dance on any loaf of bread that's turned upside down.

Cheese -- In the south of France you could spend hours choosing among the varieties of chèvre alone. A Provençal folk saying likens goats to "the poor man's cow," but over the centuries, goat-milk cheese has attained gourmet status. Looking for something esoteric? Ask for a rare tomme de Camargue, a firm but creamy cheese that combines milk from both goats and sheep and whose disclike surface is embedded with sprigs of rosemary. There's also Banon vrai, a goat-milk cheese made in the hamlet of Banon in northern Provence. During its fermentation, it's marinated in eau-de-vie, aged in clay pots on dried chestnut leaves, and wrapped with raffia string. Equally delicious is lou pevre, a goat cheese whose pungency is enhanced by a black-pepper coating.

Fruits & Vegetables -- Strawberries from the village of Carpentras or the district of Bouches-du-Rhône have a special cachet. Melons, especially ogen melons, from the town of Cavaillon were so famous that in 1864, civic leaders opted to present a dozen perfect melons each year to the French novelist Alexandre Dumas père as a sign of their ongoing respect. He later wrote that he hoped that the readers of Cavaillon would always find his books as charming as he found their melons. Apricots are delicious anywhere, but if they're from the slopes of the Roussillon, your menu will usually let you know. Mousserons, one of many varieties of wild mushrooms you'll see in local markets, evoke frissons among gastronomes when they're from the Ardèche, west of the Rhône.

Pastries & Sweets -- As far as pastries go, southern France is expert at turning out calissons, rectangular sweets concocted from almond paste; they invariably taste best when baked in Aix-en-Provence. More recipes exist for nougat, honey-sweetened chewy candy flavored with either almonds or pistachios, than anyone could possibly document, although nougat from the industrial-looking town of Montelimar seems to have a slight edge. A variety of almond-and-honey cookies, croque moines (crusty monks), were named for the monks who baked them. Une galette Provençale, a tartlet filled with pralines, almond cream, and grated orange zest, is a perennial childhood favorite in Arles and St-Rémy.

The Pleasure of Pastis -- The proper start to a Provençal meal is a glass or two of the unpretentious local aperitif, pastis, a translucent yellow liqueur that becomes cloudy when you add water or ice. Although it's usually associated with truck drivers and dockyard laborers in Marseille, you might really appreciate it once you develop a taste for it. It's scented with anise, fennel, mint, and licorice, but in the case of France's most popular brand name Ricard or its sweeter rival, Pernod, it contains some additional secret ingredients.

The Provençal Menu

Bull -- Throughout the south, but especially in the flat wetlands and bull-raising terrain of the Camargue, look for gardiane de taureau. Concocted from tough and somewhat fibrous bull flesh and flavored with olives and red wine, it's invariably served with riz de Camargue -- rice from the lowlands of the delta of the Rhône.

Cassoulet & Bouillabaisse -- What dish should you especially look for in the southwest? The magic word is cassoulet, not to be confused with a cassolette, a fancy word for a small stewpot and whatever ingredients someone might be tempted to throw into it. Cassoulet is to Toulouse what bouillabaisse is to Marseille, a succulent mixture of slow-cooked white beans flavored with an herbed combination of roasted lamb, mutton, goose, sausages, duck, and various forms of pork.

Bouillabaisse is Provence's most famous dish. It's hard to imagine that this was once a rough-and-tumble recipe favored by local fisher folk, a way of using the least desirable portion of their catch. Traditionally, it combines a trio of fish: rascasse, grondin, and congre (the spiny red hogfish, gurnet, and conger eel). The original recipe from Marseillaise kitchens actually called for a dozen kinds of fish, including fielan, rouquier, and sard. Increasingly, mussels or, to make it elegant, spiny lobsters are added. The kettle of fish is cooked rapidly in bouillon and flavored with olive oil and various seasonings (bay leaf, saffron, onion, and fennel). A paste of Spanish peppers, called a rouille, sharpens the sauce, giving it an extra reddish color.

Game -- If you're planning a trip to the deep south in autumn, you'll discover many game dishes on the menu. These include perdreau (partridge), sanglier (wild boar), chevreuil (venison), faison (pheasant), and lièvre (wild hare). Often the meat will be marinated in herbs and wine, roasted, and served with vibrant red wine from the Rhône Valley.

Goose & Duck -- Southwestern France is the world's headquarters of dishes brimming with fattened goose and duck. The appreciation of foie gras has been elevated to something approaching a cult, and many dishes gain a noteworthy unctuousness when fried in graisse d'oie (goose fat). Thighs of both species are cooked in large quantities of their own fat to create tender confits, and the breast of ducks (magrets) are often grilled over charcoal or oak fires. Pâtés made from the byproducts of duck, and sometimes studded with truffles, figure high on most people's favorite appetizer list. Goose, at least in Gascony, might be flambéed in Armagnac and then slowly braised with wine and vegetables for the classic daube d'oie.

Hearty Stews -- A specialty remembered (sometimes fondly, sometimes not) from many Provençaux childhoods is pieds et paquets, a combination of mutton or lamb tripe and lambs' feet cooked with cured, unsmoked pork, garlic, wine, and tomatoes. This classic is much appreciated by adventurous gastronomes. An equally prized variation is a gratin de pieds de porc aux truffes (gratin of pigs' feet with truffles). Civet de lapin is wild rabbit stewed with herbs and red wine, with rabbit blood added to the stew at the last minute as a thickener. Daube de boeuf à la provençale is an unusual combination of stewed beef marinated in garlic purée with red wine. Bourride, a succulent fish stew, is Languedoc's answer to the bouillabaisse of Provence. Baudroie is a simple but flavorful mix of monkfish, thin-sliced potatoes, garlic, onions, herbs, and an unexpected ingredient -- the zest of navel oranges.

Vegetarian Dishes -- Provence has a delightful emphasis on vegetarian dishes, which seem to have a transcendent earthiness from deep within the soil. Examples are succulent grilled eggplant with basil-tomato sauce, and grilled vegetables garnished with zucchini flowers (stuffed with a purée of zucchini and herbs, coated with batter, and deep-fried). No one denies the international appeal of room-temperature ratatouille, the soothing combination of eggplant, onions, peppers, and herbs slowly stewed in olive oil.

The perfect accompaniment for any of these dishes is aioli, the garlic-laced mayonnaise that's the appropriate foil for fish, grilled vegetables, and plain or toasted bread. Incidentally, aioli can also refer to an entire meal composed of poached salt cod, boiled vegetables, and (in some cases) roasted snails; the garlic mayonnaise binds the disparate ingredients together.

Also look for specialties like pissaladière, a doughy form of onion pizza; mesclun, assorted wild greens that make divine salads; and pistou, a rich basil-infused soup similar to minestrone.

Les Vins de Provence

For winemaking purposes, Provence is defined as the area between Cannes, not far from the Italian border, and the eastern banks of the Rhône. Although Avignon, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and Orange are historically and culturally a part of Provence, their wines fall into a distinctly separate district, the Côtes-du-Rhône, which begins at Avignon and extends about 225km (140 miles) northward up the valley of the Rhône to just south of Lyon, near Côte Rotie. Wine produced west of the Rhône, within an area that extends about 64km (40 miles) north of the Mediterranean coast all the way to the Spanish border, belongs to a still different variety, Languedoc-Roussillon.

Most of the wines from these three districts are red and tend to be strong, solid, and flavorful, usually with a potent level of alcohol (a byproduct of the high sugar content of the grape varieties that thrive in the heat and constant sunlight).

The threat of inadequate rainfall in a region known for its droughts keeps local vintners perennially insecure. Consequently, vintners have traditionally relied on a complicated blending of grapes. Since the phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century, these grape blends have included varietals from Italy and Spain. The result, according to many connoisseurs enamored with the more aristocratic vintages of Burgundy and Bordeaux, is an occasional inconsistency in the way the wines might age.

In 1923, a distinguished Provençal landowner, Baron Le Roy de Boiseaumarie, inaugurated a series of quality controls from his lands near Châteauneuf-du-Pape. His efforts were instrumental in imposing standards on vintners and helped launch what later evolved into the national Appellations d'Origine Contrôllées (A.O.C.).

Despite the appeal of southern French wines as an accompaniment for strongly flavored foods like anchovies, sardines, and bouillabaisse, the region has a lower percentage of wines that oenophiles call "great" than do more temperate regions. So pride is taken by vintners with lands in designated A.O.C. districts, and massive investments in recent years have helped elevate many of the region's vintages to international repute. While it's no guarantee of quality, looking for A.O.C. labels is a beginning point for newcomers who want to distinguish prestigious vintages from ordinary vin de table. Many A.O.C. designations are relatively new -- upstarts compared to the more venerable designations in Burgundy and Bordeaux. Côtes du Provence, producer of more than 100 million bottles annually, was designated A.O.C. as recently as 1977.

The two best Provençal whites are produced near Aix, most notably the delicate Cassis and the more forthright Palette. Bellet, a relatively small winegrowing district above Nice, produces fashionable reds, whites, and rosés.

Particularly strong reds are Gigondas and Vacqueras, whose alcohol content sometimes exceeds 13%. Names to look for are Côtes de Provence (Pierrefeu and Château Minuty are two important producers) from the dry hills north of Toulon, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Côtes du Vivarais, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the only wine in the world that's allowed to bear the crest of the long-ago popes of Avignon. Because of the vagaries of rainfall and the growing season, any bottle of this last wine might be composed of more than a dozen grapes from around the district. A memorable sweet wine from the Côtes du Rhône, favored by pastry chefs as a foil for their concoctions, is Baumes de Venise.

The two most famous rosés of the south are Tavel and Bandol, a worthy producer of which is Château Simone. A recent contender rapidly growing in repute is Listel, a cloudy rosé produced on the sun-baked plains of the Camargue.

The vineyards of Languedoc-Roussillon represent more than a third of France's total acreage devoted to grapes. The fields around Nîmes, Béziers, and Narbonne produce rivers of ordinary table wine, which, thanks to newfangled methods of cultivation and harvesting, have of late been more favorably regarded by wine scholars. Aristocratic vintages from Languedoc include unusual sweet wines like Banyuls and Muscat de Rivesaltes and the reds from towns on the eastern foothills of the Pyrenees, Côtes de Roussillon.

A cost-effective means of trying ordinary table wines is bringing your own container (usually a plastic jug sold on the premises or in hardware stores) to a large-scale producer. At bargain-basement prices, they'll use a gas pump-inspired nozzle to pump wine from enormous vats directly into your container. In a restaurant, such a vintage would be sold in a glass carafe or ceramic pichet at a low price. If you're driving through the vineyards and see one of the many signs announcing vente au détail, it means that you'll be able to buy estate-bottled wine by the bottle, invariably at lower prices than in retail wine shops.