France is home to thousands of wines, thousands of cheeses, and countless recipes – almost all of which are inextricable from their local terroir. Terroir is a word that links foods, wines, and more to the places they're from and the people who make them. Let culinary journalist Emily Monaco and chef and wine expert Caroline Conner take you through the ins and outs of France's phenomenal regional richness.
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France is home to thousands of wines, thousands of cheeses, and countless recipes – almost all of which are inextricable from their local terroir. Terroir is a word that links foods, wines, and more to the places they're from and the people who make them. Let culinary journalist Emily Monaco and chef and wine expert Caroline Conner take you through the ins and outs of France's phenomenal regional richness.
Bordeaux is home to some of the most famous – and most expensive – French bottles, but are they really worth that hefty price tag? Caroline schools Emily (and all of us!) on the history of this region with a whopping 53 AOCs, and she dons a chef hat in concocting a recipe for the perfect steak to enjoy alongside your favorite bottle. Meanwhile, Saint-Emilion's Kelley Moueix, of the JP Moueix group, explores some of the nuances of making wine in this medieval village with a rich history, and Emily shares the tale of nuns tasked with using up egg yolks left behind from ancestral fining techniques.
This is a recipe that is not really a recipe, the basic gist of it is that you reduce red wine and stock until it's got a thick syrupy texture, then mount it with butter. Pretty simple. It's not something that you need huge quantities of either, 2 or 3 spoonfuls is enough. It's intense!
1 Sirloin Steak (8oz for two people seems good to me with sides but you may want 2 x 6oz, leftovers never hurt) Sauce Bordelaise 1 shallot, finely chopped 1 cup of red wine 1 cup of chicken, beef, or veal stock 1 bay leaf 2 sprigs of thyme 2 tbsp of butter, divided In a small saucepan reduce the red wine and the stock with the bay leaf until it has reduced to about a quarter cup, it should be thick and syrupy Press the steak dry with paper towels and then salt and pepper liberally I set up a little bowl of salt and pepper mixed together before doing this step so I'm not getting meaty hands all over everything Add a glug of neutral oil to frying pan or cast iron pan and get it searing hot, it should smoke Add the steak and press down on it with your spatula Flip and press until it's nice and brown and cooked to your liking . You can see a guide here for internal temps! Remove from the pan and cover with foil to rest Add 1 tbsp of butter to the pan and the diced shallot along with a pinch of salt and cook for a minute or two until the shallot goes translucent Add the stock/wine reduction and whisk Off the heat, whisk in the other 1 tbsp of butter and season with salt and pepper Slice your steak and serve with a few spoonfuls of this intense sauce!
France is home to thousands of wines, thousands of cheeses, and countless recipes – almost all of which are inextricable from their local terroir. Terroir is a word that links foods, wines, and more to the places they're from and the people who make them. Let culinary journalist Emily Monaco and chef and wine expert Caroline Conner take you through the ins and outs of France's phenomenal regional richness.
