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Ooh La La! French Alps Travel & Cooking: La Bérarde

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Exploring, Eating & Cooking in the French Alps

About 20 km outside of Grenoble,  deep into the French Alps near the Italian border, is  a beautiful hidden little hamlet called La Bérarde.  I spent some time there, exploring  the life and food of  the French,  outside of the tourist areas.

Not only most of the streets, but many of the homes, are cobblestone, and all are nestled against the mountains or tightly juxtaposed in the  few flat areas.  Tall French  windows, nouveaux wrought iron, baguettes, cheese and fresh flowers.

You can find stone Roman aquaducts that make their way through the  mountains, still working, still bringing the freshest water anywhere to their destination cities. 

The people use utensils in their kitchen which they dearly love, Berard olivewood and La Guiole (The Bee) Cutlery. 

The Bee is the main symbol of France's greatest King, Louis XIV, the Sun King.  These cutlery pieces, each with the  King's Bee, have a long and cherished history in France.

The fact that La Berarde is near to the Dauphin's own castle, and near the  Bastille, adds to the depth of history and heritage the  French feel in their homes, their architecture and their cooking. 

The Glacier Carré

Magnificent

One of the big attractions of the area are the magnificent glaciers. La Berarde is far enough away to be relatively safe from the frequent avalanches they cause, but close enough that, if you have the nerve, you can be driven up the alps heart-stopping ribbon roads to the resort areas where you can ski nearly all year, and take incredible mountain walks.

I had often seen pictures of models in bikinis on a glacier or snow in the Alps, but I didn't really believe those pictures until I spent time there. It is true. The air and sun are warm enough in three seasons to wear a bikini, all the while you are standing or skiing (or slipping) on a glacier.

La Berarde Breakfast Utensils

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Breakfasts

Renowned Bread, Cheese, Fruit

Outside of the tourist areas, and often inside them, NO ONE COOKS BEFORE NOON.

(THIS is why McDonald's is so popular in tourist areas- you can get a COOKED breakfast!)

The famous breakfast of crusty bread or croissant, cheese and jam still rules the day.

I was immediately assessed by the citizens as an American 'riche 'ippie'. Now, I am neither rich, nor a hippie, but as my late dad said, "I never could live that down!"

The French have a different relationship to food than we have. Condiments are not condiments to them. Jam is fruit. Butter is cheese. Ketchup IS a vegetable.

But, their utensils! Along with 'the bee' - La Guiole, they had beautiful cooking utensils which I have found and shared here.

Le Berarde Wooden Utensils

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Chicken Leek Soup

Delicious Hot Leek Soup

8 large leeks
olive oil
1 whole brown roasted chicken
julienned fresh carrots
fresh ground pepper
salt to taste
lemon zest (1 tbsp)

if you have roasted a chicken the night before for dinner, roast two! Use the second roasted chicken in your soup. Once roasted, pour off fat, reserve browned pan drippings, skins, bones and gizzards.

Chop and set aside chicken meat.

Pour water in the pan with all the leftover chicken parts and boil. You are making a stock. Wash and chop leeks, putting ends into stock pot and add the ends and pieces of your fresh carrots. Season to taste, add a little lemon zest. Cook on medium heat. Strain when the main vegetables and chicken are finished cooking and ready for the stock to be added.

Put chopped leeks in soup pot with olive oil to saute leeks, add chicken and fresh ground pepper to taste. Once the leeks are cooked through, add zest and carrots. Pour in strained chicken stock. If desired, chop liver and put in soup. Season to taste. Simmer for 1/2 hour and serve. Wonderful with a dollop of sour cream.

Serve with crusty bread and/or croutons and white wine.

French Kitchen Essentials

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French Alps Cooking

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French Kitchen Essentials

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Mountain Climbing Canes

No wonder they NEED them!

I had a lovely room, with handmade French lace curtains and those tall, breezy windows that I love. Beautiful views, gorgeous alpine flower gardens right out the window.

But the beds were so soft that I sunk waaaayyy down in them, like Uncle Fester did in the Addams Family movie. They had NO firm beds in town! Within days, I was crippled. My hosts proffered a mountain walking cane, but were horrified when my preferred solution was to begin sleeping on the floor.

Well, who can understand a 'riche 'ippie' especially when with my accent, 'bad back' made no sense to them in French?

La Berarde Kitchen Utensils

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Getting it ALL Wrong

American timing is DIFFERENT than French timing

They don't cook before noon, but they are certainly drinking wine before that time! With only one cup of coffee, or a 'suspicious' two cups (anybody understand THAT?), almost immediately the wine was broken out and enormous goblets filled. My refusals were dismissed and ignored, but once it became clear after about two weeks that my early afternoon naps were related, as a group they decided not to make me drink wine before 3 because 'it has an effect on you!'

La Guiole~ The Bee

Highly Favored French Cutlery

If you need to bring a hostess gift while in France, you can hardly do better than to bring a La Guiole, preferably with a rosewood, olivewood or genuine horn handle. It is a gift almost directly from the 'Sun King's Court' and they'll be impressed that you know.

They dearly love this cutlery and, if you find it at table, you have found at least a little favor with your hosts.
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Glacier Water

I never could capture that color...

Walking the alps with an enormous baguette, butter, cheese and a bottle of wine, I would be good for the day.

The melting glaciers would form small rivulets running into nearby rocky streams, and the water was super-clear and of a bluish greenish color I could never capture with a camera.

These streams would darken as they went down the mountain, and by the time they reached Grenoble they were a hideous filthy and thick brown.

But in the Alps, it was beautiful, crystal clear, and I think added to the flavor of the animal's cheeses, milk and cream.

Mt Blanc

Dramatic Vista, Tourist Favorite

Mont Blanc (4807m)is western Europe's highest peak, which is right on the Italian border. It was first climbed in 1786 and is a favorite climbing spot ever since.

During my stay, the entire resort area closed for the season over a tremendous controversy. The resort needed employees but wanted to pay them so little that the workers couldn't afford to stay in the area. They would owe money at the end of the season just for rents, not to mention food, transportation and other hideously expensive necessities. The hotels, motels & chalets refused provide 'affordable housing' for the employees, because they wanted the highest rates possible for their rooms. The impasse was never resolved, even with government involvement, and so my visits to Mt Blanc were like going to a beautiful ghost town.

deglacer- a very useful French cooking technique

Adds great flavor but no fat.

Some of my favorite cooking techniques, which really do set me apart for family affairs, come from the French. Deglacer is one of those techniques.

After frying, stir-frying or sauteeing something until it is brown, drain the fat or oil from the pan. The 'browning' that remains in the bottom of the pan is extremely flavorful. To deglacer, after the fat or oil is drained, add a little water, wine or broth to the bottom of the hot pan and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the browned, stuck parts are well mixed in with the liquid. Cook it down somewhat to concentrate the flavor.

You can use this in a gravy, or add it to your dish. It really, really adds flavor.

The French Alps

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Margaret_Schaut

A great benefit of our modern days is that we can affordably travel to formerly inaccessible places, and do it in record time. I've done my share... more »

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