Feasting in Meursault…
Something the French do exceedingly well – cook an amazing meal for 700 people at the same time. We have all suffered through luke-warm rubber chicken and tasteless filet mignon at what passes for banquet food in America. I don’t know how they do it here, but the food quality is amazing at these large-scale events in Burgundy.
Writer Jordan Mackay and RN74 proprietor Raj Paar
Yesterday at La Paulée de Meursault here is what they came up with for lunch:
- Crawfish salad with a shellfish mousse/custard over frisée, with cubes of foie gras
- Napoleon of Scallops and Langoustines with a vanilla-leek sauce
- Chicken breast with morels, pasta tubes stuffed with ricotta and fresh spinach
- 7-hour slow-cooked medallions of lamb, with a confit of potatoes in goose fat
- Individual cheese service for each attendee
- Charlotte of pears and spice-bread, with hot fudge sauce and pistachio ice cream
This would be an ambitious menu for a small restaurant – but they absolutely nailed it for a banquet of 700! Each dish came to the table perfectly cooked, at the proper temperature (how do they get 700 perfectly hot dishes out at the same time?), and spot-on delicious. I was truly blown-away. Kudos to caterer Fabrice Buguad from Chalon-Sur-Saône, who is a genius-magician in my book.
Cheek-to-Jowl in the Chateau de Meursault
Something the French do not do very well – give a damn about the comfort of anyone at one of these dinners for 700. The 700 attendees are packed into a space that would be comfortable for maybe 250. The chairs are so close together that one can not literally move one’s arms or elbows. The tables are barely wide enough to accommodate two plates, much less the three wine glasses and 673 bottles of wine on each table. There is no circulation of air of any kind, and it is so hot and stuffy that I’m amazed that people aren’t passing out. (Actually, I’ve seen people passing out at the Chateau de Vougeot dinners – the other diners simply lift them up and pass them over their heads and out the door, while everyone gets on with their meals!)
Oh yes, there were some wines. About 80 different wines made it into my glass over the course of the afternoon. I will detail the line-up in a future post. For now I’ll just say that the ’78 Montrachet from Gagnard-Delegrange and the ’29 Volnay from Lafon were the clear stars of the day – in fact both were unforgettable wines that I will continue to taste in memory for as long as I live. (I think that means they were pretty good.)
I’m off to Véronique Drouhin’s private Paulée in Beaune for more bacchanalia – a full report to follow…
