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Food writer Xanthe Clay takes a river cruise to southern France and explores the gastronomic delights of Lyon
Lyon is to food what Sheffield was to steel, or Stratford-upon-Avon is to Shakespeare. This is where classic French bistro cooking, at its richest, still thrives. It is also where the famed Paul Bocuse, founder of nouvelle cuisine, is based.
Lyon's culinary pre-eminence is down in part to its location. Nestled deep in the Rhône-Alpes, in the far east of France, it lies at the very point where two rivers – the Saône to the west and the Rhône to the east – converge. It is a picturesque region – even more so when viewed from the comfort of a river cruise – and is in a prime position to cream off some of France's finest produce.
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Streams running off the Alps provide freshwater fish, including pike, for the famous quenelles de brochet. These soufflé-light spoonfuls of pike mousse, poached and served with creamy langoustine sauce, are the most appealing of Lyonnaise specialities – delicate and not in the slightest bit fishy.
North of Lyon are the vineyards of Beaujolais. Local restaurants serve the region's fruity red wine, which is presented in traditional carafes shaped like heavy-bottomed wine bottles. Whites too come from the north, including the fresh, subtle Pouilly-Fuissé. |
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For meat there is the Charolais beef, from Charolles village tothe north-west. The breed is now found everywhere, but this is the undisputed home of the creamy-white cattle which graze on the area's lush grass. The steaks are famous for their juicy, tender texture and fine flavour, and are best served simply with pommes lyonnaise – potatoes cooked with melting, caramelised onions.
To the north-east, the 1,000ft-high plateau of the Dombes supplies game birds as well as fish from its lakes. Further north still is Bresse, famous for its chicken. The gamey, tender birds are a favourite of chefs everywhere. In restaurants such as the charming Café Comptoir Abel it is served with cream and morel mushrooms foraged from nearby woods.
Markets in Lyon are numerous and laden with local produce. There are stalls overflowing with local cheeses such as Tomme, Beaufort, Abondance and Reblochon. Pride of place, though, goes to St Marcellin – a miniature Camembert-like cheese, the size of a coffee cup saucer. Creamy and pungent, it is firmly Lyon's favourite fromage.
Fruit and vegetables depend on the season, but visiting a couple of weeks ago, we found purple, white and green asparagus, mountains of gleaming cherries and exquisitely flavoured beef tomatoes.
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One of the best markets – Quai St-Antoine – is close to the centre, on the banks of the Saône. But to see the locals shopping, we climbed up through the traboules, or covered passages, past the former dwellings of the silk workers, to Croix-Rousse in the north of the city.
Here market stalls choose to focus on just one or two different items. On our visit, one was laden with local sausages, another with giant artichokes the size of melons.
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The views over the city are simply magnificent, and there are plenty of cafés for a reviving café crème before the walk back down, past the stately shuttered merchants' town houses.
For meat there is the Charolais beef, from Charolles village tothe north-west. The breed is now found everywhere, but this is the undisputed home of the creamy-white cattle which graze on the area's lush grass. The steaks are famous for their juicy, tender texture and fine flavour, and are best served simply with pommes lyonnaise – potatoes cooked with melting, caramelised onions.
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When the rain started, we headed for Les Halles, the covered market place in the unprepossessing modern part of the city to the east. It's a grand affair – a Harrods among covered markets – and with many of the city's smartest food retailers represented it is ideal for a one-stop shop. We bought piles of black olive-flavoured macaroons and marzipan and praline sweeties called coussins de Lyons from the chic chocolatier Sève, before stopping for oysters at one of the many seafood bars.
Another major part of the story of Lyon's gastronomic excellence (less glitzy but every bit as delicious), resides with the resourceful women of Lyon, or mères lyonnaises.
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Lyon's wealth was built on its silk industry, but the grand families fell on hard times during the 1930s' depression. Cooks were dismissed from households, so many took their skills in traditional Lyonnaise home cooking to paying customers instead. Their restaurants, known as bouchons, established themselves as the most popular in Lyon, and venues such as Mère Brazier and Mère Filloux became prized.
Walk through Lyon's old quarter, to the west of the Saône, and you will pass countless bouchons. Most now have male chefs, but often they are the descendants of the original mères. The rooms – invariably dark wood-panelled, with classic French bistro furniture – are the epitome of Gallic rustic style. Often tiny, they remain hugely popular with locals, although many are closed on weekends, so it's best to book ahead.
The menus are much the same from bouchon to bouchon. Starters include a salade lyonnaise, which may be a mixture of beans, calf's foot and potatoes, or a far more approachable affair with a poached egg and bacon. It's best to check before you order. There will also be saucisson chaud aux lentilles, a coarse-cut pork sausage with lentils, served in large enough quantities to make a main course for most people. Foie gras will probably feature.
Main courses are even more substantial. There are quenelles de brochet, skate with brown butter and capers, and the delicious poulet de Bresse. Tripe usually features large. Andouillettes – sausages madefrom pig's innards – have a strong farmyard taste that even my Parisian friends find hard to stomach. Feeling bold, I ordered Gras-Double, tripe cooked with onions. To my surprise it was delicious: melting onions and tender tripe with just a hint of spring to it. The flavour was powerful, but more like a pungent Parmesan than the dungheap. There was also the option of tablier de sapeur, or fireman's apron, another variety of tripe, this time coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried.
There are puddings available for the sweet-toothed, but they tend to be fairly straightforward. Crème caramel is ubiquitous, as is tarte au praline – a shallow tart with a thin layer of sticky, artificially red- coloured toffee and nuts. It's not Lyon's finest gastronomic achievement, and so we opted to share a perfectly ripe, oozing St Marcellin cheese instead.The final part of the Lyonnaise gastronomic jigsaw is Paul Bocuse. Now aged 85, Bocuse is the godfather of celebrity chefs. His restaurant is a 15-minute taxi ride from the centre of Lyon.
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Tables are not especially hard to get, perhaps because of the eye watering prices. Set menus start at €140 and rise to €220 per person. For this lofty price you get chicken cooked in a bladder and Bocuse's famous black truffle soup – created for a banquet in the Élysée Palace in 1975. But be warned. Although it is with on the menu year round – with scant regard for the seasonality that Lyon prides itself on – the soup will be disappointing if ordered out of truffle season (which is roughly November to March).At Paul Bocuse, as everywhere in Lyon, portions are gargantuan and stomach-achingly rich. If, like me, you were brought up to clean your plate, you could find yourself in trouble.
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My advice: order lightly, and forget the diet. Loosen your seat belt. It's going to be a greedy ride.
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