Lost-in-France.com

Category: Barging Through France

Tags: France, tourism, travel, food, culinary, adventure, burgundy, canals, dijon, making, mustard, glazed, tile, factory, cathedrals, pain, depices, spiced, brea

In Part 6 of this video series about travelling the waterways of France on a tug boat, Richard Goodwin takes us to Dijon which has been the capital of the duchy of Burgundy for well over a thousand years. Dijon is famous for its mustard and its coloured roof tiles. We visit the factory that still makes the glazed coloured tiles that were used when the cathedral was built around 1100 AD. The thing that really impressed me was that the dimensions of the tiles they were making in this little factory are exactly the same dimensions of the tiles they made 1000 years ago. Then as some sort of reward, we visit the shop where they make pain d'epices, or spiced bread which is extremely delicious especially with butter but alas it goes straight on the hips.

Then we visit a family concern making very strong mustard of the most agreeable kind. After that I embarked on an extraordinary culinary adventure. I asked Chef Christian Buoy outside his restaurant in Dijon whether he would show me how to make coq au vin a l'ancienne. He told me that he would but first I had to find 3 cocks with suitable 'talons' the spurs on their legs. I made my way to Louhans where there have been markets selling the best produce in France for as long as they have been making tiles for the Dijon Cathedral. Once the birds had been selected and the wine for their cooking, the next step was that the great chef and his assistant made their way to perform their art on the aft of my old tug the Regina. Apart from confessing the recipe was illegal he made the most delicious coq au vin man has ever tasted, at least this one,

Then we go to a working watermill which was interesting and surprisingly silent. Next door was an interesting lockkeeper who has amassed a large number of bits and pieces all to do with his life on the canal. Then a vineyard where the owner explains his trade.

Finally we visit Christian Buoy's village, he of the coq au vin fame. He is organising the picking of the village grapes where everyone above the age of four years is expected to help and of course to join in the dancing and the party at the end. This is a very interesting section.

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