Table of Contents: Taste Loire!
APPETIZERS.
ENTREES.
VEGETABLES AND FRUITS.
DESSERTS.
CHEESE.
BAKED GOODS.
MARKETS.
Wines of France. French Beers. French Spirits.
What is it about the “Garden of France” that makes a visit to the Loire mandatory for foodies?
It is probably the fertile land, with the Loire river constantly depositing more minerals. The soil is also rocky enough to drain just the right amount for excellent wines.
The weather is predominantly mild, making growing easier.
Nobles and kings were constantly fighting over these lands. Their presence still gives the valley prosperity and an appreciation of the good things in life.
Many believe that the best French recipes began in the kitchens of the royal Chateaux de la Loire.
So enjoy some of the 1200 chateaux. Sample the efforts from over 148,000 acres of vineyards. But save time and room for the food.
Come, let’s taste Loire Valley cuisine.
Taste Loire Appetizers.
Rillettes de Tours.
They shred the fried pork and mix it into a pate with texture. Spreading this on a slice of fresh baguette may put you in foodie heaven. You can also find it with salmon or duck. Look for it at the charcuteries.
This is a serious dish. There are competition competitions between the towns as to who makes the best rillettes. The Confrérie des Rillons et Rillettes de Touraine holds competitions in April and October.
Pate au Biquion.
They make a pate of pork, young goat meat, onion, and parsley, which they stuff into puff pastry. Look for it in Touraine charcuteries.
Sausage.
Rillons de Tours.
Especially popular in Tours, this is a dish you may find more in wintertime. They slow cook cubes of belly pork (bacon) in wine with herbs and spices until it is confit. You can spread it on bread like Rillettes or use it for seasoning other dishes (lardons).
Andouillettes.
This oblong sausage has a course filling from mixing pork, chitterlings, wine, onions, and seasonings. Tripe is also an ingredient sometimes. The most popular presentation in the Loire is to marinate them overnight in Vouvray wine. Then, they sautee them in a Vournay and mushroom sauce with shallots, parsley, and breadcrumbs. They also eat them with local mustard.
L’Andouille de Jargeau.
Similar to Andouillettes, this sausage includes equal amounts of pork tripe and minced meat. Never confuse the names near a Loire butcher. Found in the village of Jargeau, they have been making these for almost nine centuries.
Taste Loire Entrees.
MEAT
As we already see, this is farmland. Locals like their food fresh and have been doing farm-to-table for centuries. This includes the local meats.
The valley’s agricultural industry thrives from one end to the other.
The fresh meats are lovely by themselves on a grill. But you will find many other options, including slow cooking with other local ingredients, including wine.
Saupiquet Nivernais
A recipe probably beginning in the Nivernais area further up the Loire in Burgundy is on Loire menus. Using ham (occasionally wild game), they slowly simmer it in a sauce of cream, vinegar, and wine.
Porc aux Pruneaux (Pork with Prunes)
This is a popular dish, especially around Tours, where plum orchards are abundant. They slowly saute the pork in a cream sauce, including prunes, dijon, and local wine.
GAME
Due to all the forests, you will find game is the meat of choice in the Loire. This includes duck, quail, pheasant, guinea fowl, pigeon, rabbit, venison, and wild boar. It is popular to serve them in a rich sauce made from the wild local mushrooms and wine.
The word “Sauvage” means “wild,” and you will often find this with boar or hare.
Civit De Sanglier
They slowly simmer wild boar in a rich tomato and red wine sauce until it is a ragu.
Lapin a la Cocotte.
It is not clear where this recipe for rabbit stew begins as all classes would dine on it. However, with bacon, garlic, and wine to simmer in, this version points to the nobility or royal household kitchens.
FOWL
Is there a difference in taste between chickens? Tout à fait!!!
One of Frances’ finest chickens (poulet, poulette) is the Geline of Touraine, and it is a part of culinary history. It produces white meat that is firm but tender and tasty.
Poulet en Barbouille.
This chicken dish includes fresh chicken they marinate in local red wine. It comes with a sauce that includes the broth from the cooked chicken and chicken blood. Another variation includes cream and egg yolk.\
Fricassée d’Anjou.
You can find chicken Fricassee in every corner of France. The major difference is the wine they use as it must be local, which is the best French wine. In the Anjou area, they use the local Rose d’Anjou or Chenin Blanc.
FISH
With all the fresh water rivers in the area, it does not surprise the number of fish on menus.
Poisson de Rivière au Beurre Blanc.
Fish from the river with Butter Sauce is a typical presentation. Fresh fish does not need a heavy sauce to cover its taste. Popular fish include local Sandre (pikeperch), brochet (pike), and alose (shad).
Stuffed Bream.
This local fish gets a filling of tomato, olives, and onion. Then it slow bakes with a coating of butter and local Sauvignon Blanc.
Matelote de la Loire.
A little thicker than a stew, this dish includes fresh-water eels slowly cooked in a Muscadet wine. To this, they add button onions and mushrooms.
Matelote d’Anguilles.
The same eel stew with the big difference being a red wine instead of a white.
SAUCES
Beurre Blanc.
While not exclusive to the Loire, it is very popular with the local fish. This sauce includes butter, shallots, and vinegar.
Chasseur Sauce.
Another name is hunter’s sauce, and it is popular with the game you hunt. This brown sauce often includes mushrooms and shallots. It may include tomatoes as well. While popular over game, they do serve it with beef or chicken dishes.
Orléans Mustard.
Dating to 1580, although going through numerous updates, this is a great local condiment. Almost lost, a local vinegar producer resurrects it circa 2002. The quality ingredients include local mustard powder, Guérande salt, and Orléans’ vinegar. Take a small taste the first time.
Orléans Vinegar
Orléans has a vinegar history. By the 18th century, there were at least 300 producers of vinegar in the area. Over time this leads to the “Orléans method” of using barrels. Today, Martin-Pouret, dating from 1797, is the town’s only remaining traditional vinegar producer.
Taste Loire Vegetables and Fruits.
The fertile ground and mild climate make the Loire a price growing area.
White Blois or green Chambord asparagus.
Do not miss the Great Asparagus Festival of Braslou, south of Tours, in March.
Truffiat
This puff pastry resembling a pie has a filling of potatoes, herbs, and cheese. The town of Berry, north of Tours, is the place to try it. Also, check out their lentils.
I.G.P. Mâche Nantaise (Nantes lamb’s lettuce)
This small, rapidly-growing plant packs more beta carotene than regular lettuce.
Nantes Carrots
They no longer grow these heirloom carrots commercially due to their delicate nature. However, you can find them at farmers’ markets.
Chatillon Sur Loire Leeks and Onions.
This area, upriver from Orleans, seems to excel in root vegetables and leeks.
Radishes
Many people do not like radishes because they do not know all the different kinds. In the Loire, you may find them at any meal, including breakfast. In recipes or as a crudité with local wine.
Artichokes.
Another prize from the Loire you may find in recipes or as a crudité is the local artichoke. And although wine and artichokes do not pair, in the Loire, they do with the local light dry wines.
Saumur Button Mushrooms.
The caves around Saumur produce premier mushrooms. In addition to the button, you can also find oyster, blue foot, and shiitake varieties. Check out the Musée du Champignon (mushroom) in Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent.
Potatoes
Saumur is also famous for its potatoes and shallots. However, Noirmoutier, an island just off Pays de la Loire, is famous for their La Bonnotte potato. Growing in only 50 square meters of sandy soil, they use local seaweed and algae for fertilizer. The demand and limited availability make these some of the most expensive potatoes in the world. Fine dining establishments buy up almost all of them.
Spices and Herbs
Garlic and Basil
You can find both throughout the Loire Valley. If you are visiting towards the end of July, check out the Foire à l’Ail et au Basilic (Garlic and Basil Fair). It takes place yearly in Vieux Tours since the Middle Ages.
Saffron
Just north of Orleans, in the area between Échilleuses and Faubourg Gâtinais grows the queen of all spices. In the 19th century, they were producing more than 10 tons of saffron per year. Then, possibly due to cheaper saffron from other countries (not better), it disappears. Circa 1987, local producers ban together to create the ‘Safraniers du Gâtinais,’ Not only can you purchase saffron, but also saffron bulbs to plant, and mustard and honey with saffron in them. Currently, there is no farm or store to visit.
Nearby is the Musée du Safran de Boynes. In six rooms, it takes you through six hundred years of saffron production. Their gift shop does sell saffron powder, filaments, and other products. Everything is in French.
FRUITS
The Loire orchards are famous for their apples, pears, and cherries. But they grow other fruits as well.
Peaches.
Whether it is the soil or the climate, the Loire produces sweet white and yellow peaches. They are popular fresh or in a dessert. Try a Chinon Peach if you get the chance.
Apples
The Pays de Loire is a producer of many of France’s apples for eating (different from cider apples). The region’s most famous dessert requires apples. Where did the apples come from? During the wine blight in the 1800s, vintners began planting apple trees if the grapes did not survive.
Pears
Rivarennes, between Tours and Saumur, has been a center for pears since the 1800s. Drying of fruit was a popular style of preserving fruit in those days. Today, they rehydrate the pears by soaking them in local Loire wine, wine with honey, or cinnamon sugar syrup. The Maison de la Poire Tapée offers a small museum and tasting experience between April and September. Locals also use the Rivarennes pears to make eau de vie clear, a colorless pear brandy.
Cherries.
Different varieties from along the Loire. In the central west areas, you will find the Guigne d’Annonay, perfect for eating by themselves. Griottes (sour cherries) such as the dark-red Morello cherry are for cooking and liqueurs.
Plums and Prunes.
Eleanor of Aquitaine orders plum trees from Damascus for her orchards in the Loire Valley. Today, plums are in pies, jams, or just by themselves. In Huismes, you can still find the remains of a few drying ovens but no longer working. It was here that they were producing the treat “Pruneaux de Tours” (prunes from Tours.)
Quince
What is it? Probably arriving in France with the Romans, it looks like an apple or pear and is golden yellow when ripe. Unlike an apple or pear, it is hard and too acidic to eat raw. By cooking it, it softens and produces a flavor somewhere between apple and vanilla. Then you can eat it by itself, or bake with it. Around Orleans, they make it into a sweet jam-like candy they call “Cotignac d’Orléans.”
Legend (stuff you cannot prove) says that Joan of Arc receives a box after liberating Orleans. Many wooden boxes feature her on the label.
Pre 2020, there was only one confectioner, Benoît Gouchault, still producing this treat in the small town of Sainte-Ay.
Taste Loire Desserts.
In addition to the local fruits they serve as desserts, there are other sweets to get your attention.
Tarte Tatin.
Dating from the 1880s at Hotel Tatin, ‘legend’ has it that Stéphanie Tatin was attempting to salvage an apple tart. This meeting of caramel, apples, and crisp, buttery crust is not an apple tart. They have a top crust and compote filling. The Tarte Tatin cooks the apples first, then layers them over a caramel sauce before adding the crust on top. After baking, they flip the tarte onto a plate. I see this dessert more in restaurants than in a boulangerie (French bakery).
Nougat from Tours.
This is not the sugary bar with candied fruit we think of as nougat. In the Loire, it is a cake. But not like a cake in the United States; it’s more like a tarte. Dating from the 15th century, ‘legend’ says it was a favorite of Leonardo Da Vinci. In the Loire, they take it seriously and have competitions between the local boulangerie and pâtissieries for the best. Today, marmalade (usually apricot) replaces much of the candied fruit. It has a pastry crust underneath. Over the filling, they spread macaronade, which resembles an almond shortbread after baking.
Sabayon de Golden Apples
Sabayon is the French version of the non-dairy Zabaione. A custard of egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine. With bits of local golden apples and possibly some apple juice in the Sabayon.
Pithiviers Cake
This is a pie using puff pastry as the dough. Originating in the town of Pithiviers, the traditional filling is an almond paste with liqueur for flavor. Today, you can find sweet and savory variations all over France.
Taste Loire cookies.
Macaron (Macaroon).
Every region of France has its “legend” to them creating the first macaroon. Here is Loire’s. Originally celebrating the marriage of the Duke of Orléans (King Henry II of France). The twist here is that Pierre Desfontaines did not invent the first macaroon cookie. However, he is the first to put ganache between two and stick them together. French Macarons have a crispier shell and an airier texture, while Italian macaroons have a soft shell and chewy interior. This is due to how they prepare their meringue.
Macarons aux Fruits d’Orléans – is a local twist on the old cookie. Using local ingredients, they have four distinct flavors. Strawberry and Orléans vinegar, local hazelnut, pear with ginger, and candied rose petals, lime, and cinnamon.
Gâtinais Honey.
Since the middle ages, they have been producing golden honey in the Gatinais region. Just an hour’s drive east of Orleans, include a stop at Château-Renard, where you can see bees, behind glass, at work.
Praslines from Montargis
They are producing these traditional praslines using the original recipe from circa 1636. By slowly grilling the almonds, they caramelize. They also add their pralines to chocolate and other sweets. La Maison Mazet has been in production since 1903. There is a store and a factory in Montargis.
Sablé Biscuits
These shortbread cookies come from the town of Sablé-sur-Sarthe, north of Angers. Typically, they are round cookies.
Taste Loire Cheeses.
In the Loire, they make cheese from cow’s and sheep’s milk, but they specialize in goat’s milk cheese. There are five different A.O.C. variations of goat cheese.
A.O.C. Crottin de Chavignol.
This small round mild goat’s cheese is at first almost creamy enough to spread. As it gets older, it dries out and becomes a Crottin. You can grate the Crottin. The flavor is slightly nutty and of goat’s milk. Try this cheese with a local Sancerre.
A.O.C. Sainte-Maure de Touraine.
This creamy, ivory-white cheese comes in a cylindrical shape and has a coating of bluish ashes on the outside. They tie it with a strand of hay. The town is less than 40 minutes south of Tours. The cheese has a slightly salty and nutty taste and pairs well with a sauvignon blanc.
A.O.C. Selles-sur-Cher.
This round cheese also has a dusting of ashes, giving it a blue color. It comes in a disc (seller) shape. The taste includes salty, goaty, nutty, and grass-like flavors. Believe it comes from the Cher region in France. Pair it with a Loire white, Rosé, a light Cabernet Franc, or muscadet.
A.O.C. Pyramide de Valençay (Vuh-lon-say)
‘Legend” is this cheese begins as a pyramid shape. Then Napoleon or Talleyrand cut it off after the Egyptians defeat Napoleon. The cheese has a moist paste texture. As it ages, it continues to soften. It has a smooth, mild taste that will taste nuttier as the cheese ages. Locals eat it with the rind to get the salt from the charcoal coating. Valencay is the first region to have an A.O.C. wine and cheese.
A.O.C. Pouligny-Saint-Pierre.
This goats’ milk cheese with a creamy center is in a pyramid shape. It begins with a sour taste with salty and sweet overtones. The flavors get stronger as it ages. Pair it with a Pouilly Fume or other white wine with depth.
Non-A.O.C. Cheeses to Try.
Le Trèfle (clover) du Perche.
Circa 1999, some goat cheese producers in the Loire and Normandy regions come up with new goat cheese. The white interior is rich and creamy. It begins with a taste of fresh milk and hazelnuts. As it ages, it tasks on peppery flavors that linger. Pair it with a Loire Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, or a Gamay.
Feuille de Dreux.
This cheese from cow’s milk comes from the Eure-et-Loir area. The texture is creamy and soft. The flavors are rich and fruity, adding mushroomy, woody flavors as it ages. It is a cheese to eat with bread or crackers. Pair it with a fruity red wine.
Cendré d’Olivet.
Originally a cow’s milk cheese from Olivet, they now produce it in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. The smooth, supple texture is similar to camembert. The flavor is mild, with delicate earthy hints. The cheese has a coating of ashes, originally added to keep the flies away. Pair with a Touraine white or a red Sancerre.
Sancerre.
Coming from the Cher region, this is a hard goat’s milk cheese. When young, it has a fresh fruity flavor and aroma. With aging, it takes on a nutty, goaty taste. The shape is like a small log, similar in size to a wine cork. It pairs well with most white wines.
Bûcheron
This traditional goat’s milk cheese is the first goat cheese from France to reach the United States. The cheese has an ivory-colored rind and interior. The young cheese has sharp, tangy flavors. As it ages, it mellows and softens. Pair it with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, or Cabernet.
As with all categories, these are just some of the cheeses you need to sample. You are going to be busy.
Baked Goods.
Fouaces
These little pockets of dough have numerous fillings. One of the most popular is rillettes (pork paté), but any local goat’s cheese will do. You can find this traditional bread in local restaurants but not in a boulangerie.
Taste Loire Markets.
For fresh produce, the Loire has some of the best markets in the area. In the Loire Valley, there are more than 250 markets per week. If you cannot find one, you are not looking.
What better place to sample the fruits and vegetables that give the region’s cuisine its unique taste.
And don’t forget the festivals and competitions between towns.
MARKET DAYS!
Here are just a few of the larger markets you can attend:
Monday.
- Baugé
- Blois
- Candé
- Doue-la-Fontaine
Tuesday.
- Angers
- Bléré
- Bourgueil
- Cheverny
- L’Île-Bouchard
- Montbazon,
- Orleans
- Tours
Wednesday.
- Angers
- Blois
- Fonteuraud l’Abbaye
- Loches
- Montbazon
- Orleans
- Romorantin-Lanthenay
- Saumur
- Tours
Thursday.
- Angers
- Blois
- Bracieux
- Chinon
- Cormery
- Montlouis-sur-Loire
- Montbazon
- Orleans
- Saumur
- Tours
Friday.
- Amboise
- Angers
- Bléré
- Montrichard
- Montbazon
- Orleans
- Saumur
- Ste-Maure-de-Touraine
- Tours
- Vouvray
Saturday.
- Blois
- Bourgueil
- Chinon
- Loches
- Luynes
- Montréser
- Orleans
- Saint-Aignan Montbazon
- Saumur
- Tours
Sunday.
- Amboise
- Angers
- Blois
- Chinon
- Descartes
- Langeais
- Montsoreau
- Montrichard
- Orleans
- Saumur
- Tours
There are also flower markets and, in the summer, evening markets that include entertainment. Ask at your hotel, and they should be able to tell you when and where the local markets take place.
Taste The Loire Summary.
Did we cover every traditional, local item for you to taste? Wishful thinking.
But if this is not enough information to fill up a few meal periods, I am doing something wrong.
As bartenders and waiters, what are their favorite traditional foods and recipes?
Smelling and tasting are an important part of your Loire immersion.