Inspired by Waverly Root's writings on French food, a Southerner's adventure with pork chops

 

Pardon the long delay since our last post on this blog. I thought it was time to check in again with our latest adventure in the kitchen.

 

It was again my time as chef with Suzanne as sous-chef. The plan was Waverly Root’s “cotes de porc a la gasconne”, so I donned my very old Europe-bought French beret to get into the mood (I’m such a Francophile!).

 

Root's 1958 classic The Food of France is one of my favorite books on food. It follows the long trail of cuisinary arts through France--whether the locals are cooking from a base of oil, butter, or fat, the latter usually in the poorer regions, much like what was at least once true in my native U.S. South.

 

So many great nuggets of wisdom in this book.  "In cooking the whole may be greater than the sum of its parts," he writes at one point. "One of the distinguishing talents of the great cook is his ability to make do with what is at hand," he says at another. "There is a peasant beneath the surface of every urban Frenchman" is another gem. "The peasant, who lives at the source of his food, though he may be careless in all other living comforts, usually manages to eat well."

 

And the stories he tells, such as his account of Vatel, Louis XIV's master of banquets who committed suicide after his fish dinner for the king failed!

 

What emerged from my meal was not Waverly’s but Joe’s spicy pork chops with sautéed asparagus and hash browns with onions and peppers, and French bread. Argentine Malbec wine (2017) with the meal and a little Jack to whet the appetite, and magnifique! C’etait tres delicieux!!!!

 

Would Waverly have approved? Well, making "do with what is at hand" and lacking the stoned olives and veal bouillon necessary for the "cotes de porc a la gasconne", I turned to my own faithful spice mix--paprika, black pepper, salt, oregano, garlic, a dusting of Tony Chacherie's creole seasoning, and voila! A toast to Waverly and to good food!