Tuck into the food and drink of the Poitou-Charentes
A holiday is not a holiday in France unless it means getting stuck into lots of fabulous food and drink, and in the Poitou-Charentes there’s plenty to enjoy. The region is most famous for the strong but silky smooth spirit, cognac, but there are plenty more local specialities to try. There's wine – yes, wine! - and a delicious aperitif called pineau. Make sure you try the ultra-fresh oysters of Marannes-Oléron that are sought after all over France, plus langoustines, prawns, crab and mussels to fish caught in the sea and rivers and lakes. Then discover the black chicken of Barbezieux, delicious goats' cheeses and even cognac-imbibing snails! Délicieux!
Cognac
A visit to the Poitou-Charentes would not be complete without sampling the local famous brandy. Rather like champagne, cognac itself can only be called this if it is made with grapes grown within a certain area – this includes much of the Charente, the Charente-Maritime and parts of the Deux-Sèvres.
Cognac is the favourite after dinner drink of the Poitou-Charentes, the mellow taste and warming kick, making it the perfect end to a meal. But it’s also a delicious long drink – mixed with lemonade and lime juice plus plenty of ice it’s just the thing on a hot summer’s day. And then there are a number of zingy cocktails. The most famous brand names include Courvoisier, Hardy, Hennessy, Martell, Pierre Ferrand and Remy Martin, and it is possible to take a tour of many of these cognac houses. Learn more about cognac.
Pineau
Pineau des Charentes to give the aperitif its full name is a delicious fortified wine made from adding unfermented grape juice to cognac. This blend is then aged to produce the slightly sweet drink - some vintage pineau will be aged for five years or more to ensure an even richer flavour. There are two types – white made with white wine grapes and red, with red wine grapes. It is a favourite in the region, and we would definitely recommend sampling some. Find out more about pineau...
Wine
Yes, the Poitou-Charentes does wine! This region may not have the reputation of Bordeaux or the Loire, but there are still excellent wines to be enjoyed and domaines to visit. Wine country is north of the Vienne and Deux-Sèvres. Find out more about the wine-producing areas and names to look for...
Seafood
With its long coastline, it’s hardly surprising that seafood is popular in this region. The oysters of Marannes-Oléron, sought after all over France, come from an area around La Rochelle - so when you squeeze your lemon juice over one, you can be confident it’s fresh and very tasty.
Bowls piled with mussels can be found in many restaurants – these are very likely to be les moules de bouchot that are another regional speciality.
Also caught locally are prawns, langoustines, crayfish and crab plus a variety of fish including bar (sea bass), maigre (a sea fish with white flesh also known as shadefish or in the USA, drumfish), dorade (sea bream), raie (skate), gardon (roach), brème (bream), ablette (bleak, a small freshwater fish) and sardines as well as congres (eel).
Inland, you will find carpes (carp), pike, sander (perch) and barbeaux (barbel, a type of freshwater fish).
Meat
If you travel through the Charente-Limousine to the east of the department you will see fields of dark caramel coloured cattle grazing amongst buttercups. These are the Limousin of the region, and if you eat a steak in these parts you can bet your pepper sauce that it’s Limousin.
While the breed of cattle are known for being more than a little contrary and unpredictable, their meat is superb – low in fat but still tender and full of flavour. Parfait!
If you’re in the Barbezieux area of the Charente, then keep an eye out for la poule noire de Barbezieux (the black chicken of Barbezieux). Bred here since the Middle Ages and famous for its flavour, it has been recently revived, and is now a growing industry.
Everyone knows the French like to eat snails and in the Poitou-Charente it’s no different. Here we tuck into les petits gris, small snails with grey shells that are extremely tasty – this is said to be down to the Cognac imbued earth that they live on. Whatever! They’re delicious.
Cheese
In the Poitou-Charentes there are many small artisans and farmers making cheese and the area is particularly well known for its goats’ cheeses. In restaurants, markets and shops you will always find goats cheese moulded into the shape of a smallish log from which a portion is sliced.
But there are specialities too. The Chabichou du Poitou is shaped into a bonde – a small keg shaped cylinder; Mothais sur feuille is served on a chestnut or plane leaf, and then there’s ‘camembert’ which is not a real camembert but has a similar texture. Other cheeses to try are jonchee, a soft cheese made from cow’s milk and water flavoured with bay leaves and then rolled in dry marsh rushes.
The very popular Tricornes de Marans are triangular-shaped cheeses that come from the Marais Poitevin in the north of the region. They are traditionally eaten with a slice of fresh green garlic. Another regional cheese is le manslois, made from either cow or goat’s milk that’s strained through a gauze. It originates around the town of Mansle, hence the name.
And then there’s le tourteau fromagé, a cross between a cake and a cheesecake that’s made from cow’s milk and quite delicious. It's easy to spot - round in shape, it has a blackened top as if it's being burned.
Ile de Ré potatoes
Absolutely delicious, especially when boiled just right and topped with butter, sprinkled with some of the local salt, filled with cheese, or for something a little more extravagant topped with caviar. Connoisseurs of the Ile de Ré potato say that it has a subtle marine taste thanks to the sandy soil and seaweed fertiliser in which it is grown. The season is from early May to the end of June and eat them locally, and they will have been picked fresh that day to prevent their natural sugars from turning into starch.
Salt
Known as white gold, salt from Ile de Ré is loved by cooks around the world. There are a number of different varieties. The two main types are Fleur de Sel which is naturally white, fine and light, is skimmed from the surface of the salt pans in the salt marshes during the summer. Grey Sea-Salt is harvested from the bottom of the salt pans and is used in cooking.
Echiré butter
Echiré butter is considered some of the best in the world, renowned for its lovely light texture and subtle flavour, which is said to be the result of the grass that’s eaten by the cows, around the village of Echiré in the Deux-Sévres. Mostly hand-made, it has an AOC label, and often comes beautifully packaged.
Les cornuelles
These biscuits were first made in the village of Villebois-Lavalette, Charente, to celebrate Palm Sunday – the hole in the middle of the triangular shaped biscuits allows them to be threaded through the branches. Made from shortbread, they are sprinkled with aniseed. Another version has them in the shape of pine cones, and made of choux pastry flavoured with orange blossom.
Truffles
The Périgord may lay claim to the country’s best truffles but back in the 15th century Bruyerin Champin, the doctor of King François 1st, proclaimed: ‘The best truffles come from the Angoumois’. The Charente was known for its truffle production - its peak was in the nineteenth century - and although the industry then declined, there has been a renaissance in recent years with growers and regular markets during the winter months.
Words: Rachel Loos
Photograph: © nata_rass - Fotolia.com