Alsace for Foodies

Foie gras is Alsace’s greatest gift to gastronomy

Strasbourg, the capitol of Alsace, has been the site of Europe’s oldest outdoor Christmas market for nearly 500 years.  While there are many Christmas markets in Europe, the one in Strasbourg is regarded as one of the very best.   I’ve been to Strasbourg, as well as the surrounding idyllic Hansel and Gretel Alsatian villages many times, but I have never visited this Eastern part of France during the holidays.  The reason for my entire journey is this Marché de Noel---it’s been on my bucket list for some years.  

                                  

The Christmas market in Strasbourg is spread out over the heart of this riverside town in eleven different squares.  There’s a mind-boggling assortment of hand-crafted items for the yuletide season, including everything one could ever dream of in which to decorate a Christmas tree, or to deck the halls.  For the food-lover, however, it’s a gastronomic Disneyland;  Santa’s elves could seriously eat their way across Strasbourg. 

Alsace has been passed back and forth between France and Germany several times during the last hundreds of years.  The Strasbourg Christmas market is reflective of this duality.  In many ways it’s the best of the two countries prettily packaged into a festively wrapped yuletide gift featuring a large culinary bow.  

Paying homage to its French roots, the market is replete with vendors selling foie gras.  This outrageously decadent delicacy is gorgeously coiffed in regal packaging that would even impress Coco Chanel.  Foie gras in this region is serious business. While Perigord in southwest France produces more foie gras today, during the 18^th century Alsace was the epicenter for this delicacy.  

                                     Kougelhoft comes in multiple shapes for the Holidays

There are beaucoup stands at the market selling Alsace’s iconic Kougelhoft, an ethereal yeast-based cake baked in a tall decorative bundt pans.  A traditional Germanic recipe, Kougelhofts are featured in miniature single servings, as well as gigantic ones that could serve a family of 20 for Christmas dinner.  There are even stalls selling the brightly-colored Kougelhoft ceramic pans which are hand-painted.

                             This thin-crusted regional specialty is cooked in wood-fired ovens

Flammekueche is sublime snack in Stasbourg’s market extraordinaire.  An Alsatian version of pizza, this one has a paper-thin crust.  The French DNA of the dish reflects France’s love affair with cheese.  In this case, it’s topped with the area’s famous Munster cheese and/or crème fraiche.  And for the other chromosome from Germany, the traditional version includes small pieces of ham or bacon. 

                                          Pain de'epices is served in festive shapes 

The market serves up several possibilities of the pain d’epices. “Spice bread,” a classical dessert that is Germanic in its culinary roots, is Alsace’s rendition of gingerbread.  Although it has no ginger in it, it is chocked full of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and other spices.  At the Christmas market, spice bread is also made as a cookie in all of the shapes of the yuletide season.  These spicy sweet delights pair perfectly with Alsace’s warm yuletide drink, vin chaud, a concoction similar to hot-mulled wine.

Speaking of wine, this region is a treasure for gorgeous white wines.  Yesterday we visited one of my favorite producers, Albert Mann.  The wines from Domaine Weinbach and Trimbach are also noteworthy.

Alsace, an often overlooked area of France, is a special culinary gem.  Other than the center of Paris, Alsace has more Michelin star restaurants per square mile than any other place on the plant.  Regardless of the time of year, it’s a gastronomic treasure- trove and a wonder-filled wine experience you don’t want to miss.

Joyeux Noël & FrÖhliche Weihnacten!  

The Spicy Condiment of Vietnamese Heritage

   The iconic Rooster's color belies its contents---red hot!

What foodie hasn’t heard of Sriracha (see ROTCH ah)?  Not only does this condiment appear on nearly every tabletop of most Asian restaurants in the USA, but it has also worked its way into main-stream culinary America.  There are now Sriracha-flavored potato chips, both Sriracha mayonnaise and mustard, as well as Sriracha jerkey and Sriracha popcorn.   Almost unbelievably, there is now even Sriracha lip balm for sale.  How many knew the Sriracha empire was started by a Vietnamese immigrant?

In the late 1970’s a former major in Vietnam’s southern Army immigrated to the Los Angeles area of California.   He was disappointed to not find the traditional hot sauce he had so loved in his native country.   On a shoestring budget he decided to make his own.  In a broken-down Chevy van he began peddling his concoction to the large community of Vietnamese via their local markets and restaurants.  The rest is history.

His family-run business, Hay Fong Foods, now employs over 200 people and has sales in excess of $60 million.  Named after the boat on which he escaped from Vietnam nearly 35 years ago, Hay Fong’s Sriracha was named at Bon Appetit’s “food of the year” in 2010.   The company has never advertised.  But, the company also never trademarked the name Sriracha and that has proved quite problematic.  While Hay Fong’s iconic packaging is easily recognized for its clear plastic bottle showing its bright red contents along with rooster logo and bright green squeeze-bottle top, it has come under fire from competitors.  It seems everyone is now making Sriracha and knock-offs fill supermarket shelves.

I just returned a few weeks ago from Vietnam with a Wine-Knows group.  There were no bottles of Hay Fong Food’s Sriracha on the tables, however, most restaurants had a similarly colored bottle of equally high-octane sauce tableside.  As I sampled each,  I couldn’t help but think of the perseverance and drive of the USA’s creator of Sriracha----a tribute to the hard-working people of his beautiful homeland.