Burgundy    

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Famous for its wines and vineyards Burgundy has a varied climate as its eastern border is France- Comté and the mountains of the Jura and in the south it is roughly 160 miles from the Mediterranean.

Departments and Towns of Burgundy

Departments: Côte d'Or (21), Nièvre (58), Saône-et-Loire (71), Yonne (89)

Main Towns: Dijon, Nevers, Macon, Auxerre

Travel to Burgundy

By road travel down the A6 Autoroute from Paris. The Mediterranean is about an hour and half to two hour drive away.

Wines of Burgundy

l'Yonne, produces Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru and Petit Chablis

Côte d'Or produces Côte de Nuits of which there are many wines including  Bourgogne Hautes Côte de Nuits, Bourgogne Rose Marsannay, Chambertin, Gevry Chambertin, Nuits St George,

Côte de Beaune produces Beaune, Mersault-Blagny, Montrachet,  Savigny, Volnay

Saône-et-Loire - Chalonnais: Rully, Mercurey, Givry, Montagny

and Macconais: Pouilly-Fuissé, Pouilly-Loché, Pouilly-Vinzelles

l'Yonne, Côte d'Or and Saône-et-Loire all produce Bourgogne, Bourgogne Aligoté, Bourgogne Passe-Tous-Grains, Bourgone Mousseaux,

Cheeses

Aisy Cendré, Beugnon, Boulette de la Pierre-d'Autun, Chabris, Charolais, Charolles, Claquebitou, D'Avallon, Fromage Blanc, Fromage de l'abbaye de Citeaux, Germiny, Launes (cheese washed with coffee), Maconnais, Montrachet, Passé de Toucy, Petits Bourgognes, Persillé, Pourly, Rouy, Saint-Bonnet, Saint-Jean-de-Losne, Sainte- Marie, Saint-Florentin, Seguin, Soumaitrain, Varennes, Vermanton, Vezelay, Vieux Champs

Specialities

Mustard  In 400 AD mustard was mentioned as an ingredient as it was in the bible in the Parable of the Mustard seed.  It was the Romans who invaded Gaul who brought with them exotic tastes for such accompaniments as mustard and spices and Burgandy was well situated as a centre of communications and thus the preparation of mustard became a particular speciality.

Dijon mustard is made from a white wine base and is considered particularly strong in France

Cassis - For a long time blackcurrants  were referred to as groseilles noires (black gooseberries) in France.  They were originally used for medicinal purposes and considered quite a "cure all". In 1888841 a licorice maker in Dijon, M. Lagoute, created the first Crème de Cassis.  The bushes from which he harvested the fruit grew while on the slopes of a small mountain north of the town which first produced the Cassis.  Very much like vines the blackcurrant loves dry calcific soil.

Recipe for Creme de Cassis

To make 4 litres of Creme de Cassis  you require 1,500 kg well ripened blackcurrants, 2 litres of a good red wine and 1 kg of sugar for every litre of the juice. 

Wash the blackcurrants and then crush them in a non-porous container.  Add the wine and leave to steep for 48 hours, keeping the container covered.  Then filter the juice through a piece of muslin, lightly pressing the pulp.  Measure the resultant juice and add the sugar accordingly - 1kg for every litre - Put the liquid in an enamel container on the stove and bring to the point of boiling  without heavy boiling.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Cool to 40^◦C.  Filter through the muslin again and bottle keeping the bottles well corked. This keeps indefinite

Escargots de Bourgogne (snails baked in their shells with parsley butter)

Fondue Bourgignonne (fondue in which pieces of meat are cooked and served with a variety of sauces)

Boeuf Bourguignon - beef marinated in Burgundy red wine and cooked slowly with onions, garlic, herbs and meat stock.and mushrooms added at end  The addition of a small glass of brandy at the end of cooking can make this even more delightful