Every Saturday and Sunday, Vanessa Zhâ and Marion Sauveur make us discover some nuggets of French heritage.
Today we head for the Doubs department for a visit to the city of Besançon, capital of watchmaking.
We land in eastern France this morning, in Besançon, to set our records straight for a weekend.
Besançon is the capital of time, the capital of watchmaking even to be more precise.
We're going to quickly turn the hands of time.
This epic begins 200 years ago, when Swiss watchmakers flee their country because of unemployment (and yes, everything happens!).
The first watchmaking factory in Besançon was created in 1793.
And since the beginning of the year, this know-how has been classified as an intangible heritage by Unesco.
So there are many spots devoted to this art, such as the Time Museum (you can also see the famous Foucault Pendulum there), but especially the astronomical clock, one of the most sophisticated in France with that of Beauvais.
It is located in the bell tower of Saint-Jean cathedral.
It is literally a real monument of watchmaking for Pascal Schultz, who is in charge of mission for the city of Besançon.
"It is a very complex work made up of more than 30,000 pieces and created by a watchmaker called Vérité, that cannot be invented. Today, when we go to visit it, it always works of course. Guides explain how the mechanisms work to visitors. You can see small illustrations of cities around the world, in the form of small automatons, which activate according to the time of day. "
So it's a world clock that indicates the time of the five continents, and that from the 18th century!
There is also an urban route around time.
It is marked on the ground by bronze arrows.
You will admire the Sidor factory, in the shape of a cross with large bay windows.
And then, in the heart of the city, take a good look at the buildings.
It is the watchmaking tradition that gave birth to this built heritage: on the ground floor, the shop, on the first floor, the apartments and above the workshops, with large windows, which made it possible to work in the light. as late as possible.
What fascinates me the most is the thoroughness of the watchmakers. Where can we see them working?
You will like Pierre.
Pascal and the city of Besançon are concocting a surprise for the start of summer: a "I make my watch" weekend.
"It revolves around a visit and a practice of discovering the manufacture of a watch. Tourists leave with their own watch. This will allow to show from the inside how craftsmen still work today. watchmakers. There is one which is quite well known, it is Utinam. It is just in front of the Time Museum. It has a very nice space where you can see how the craftsmen work, but also how the different stages that lead to a mechanical watch. "
And we leave with his watch? I love the concept.
Exactly!
Finally if you get there.
Apart from watchmaking, what should you see?
It is a historic city, but it is also a green setting.
The city is surrounded by forest hills and rivers.
I invite you to go for a walk on a small section of the Via Francigena.
This route is a small Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle.
It leaves from the city center and, on the way, you can sleep with the Hospitaller Brothers.
They dominate the city, the panorama is breathtaking.
And I have another spiritual address: the hotel Le Sauvage, in the historic district of Besançon, at the foot of the foothills of the Citadel.
It is a hotel housed in the former Poor Clares convent.
It offers a double view: on Besançon and the Doubs valley.
Do not miss the terrace exposed to the sun, there you will forget to look at your watch.
Marion Sauveur, what specialty of Bisontine will you tell us about?
I will take you to the gates of Besançon, a natural city.
We go for a walk in the forest, hunting for morels!
The springtime mushroom par excellence, with its lace hat with the swollen foot, and which perfumes the dishes.
The morel is well established in Franche-Comté, and makes the happiness of the hunters of morels, even if it knows how to be discreet.
There are thirteen different species in the region: more or less blond, more or less conical.
The most popular is the one that lives up to its name: the “deliciosa”, the delicious morel.
It can be recognized by its thin and short foot, its conical hat and its elongated cells.
It is not necessarily the easiest to find.
How do you go about finding morels?
The weather conditions must be met.
I asked an amateur morel hunter, Thierry Dietsh, from the Doubs direct regional grocery store for his tips.
“You must have already had a big temperature shock, that it was cold and then hot afterwards, that the lands are damp in a slightly calcareous soil.
This is why morels like the foothills of the Jura.
They grow a little under the pines, under the ash trees: therefore really an air of undergrowth often near rivers, streams.
We look at the tip of his head, we just see the side that looks a bit like a light brown sponge.
You have to have a keen eye.
It is really very random.
When we find ten or fifteen of them, we are really very happy ”.
Thierry told me that the morels should be out next week.
If you go hunting for morels, as with any mushroom hunt, you have to be careful.
Pick firm morels that do not smell of ethanol and not confuse them with other poisonous fungi, such as verps.
In all cases, it is better to have your pickup examined by a pharmacist.
And then we go to the kitchen?
Yes !
Fresh morels do not keep for long.
They must be cooked, and never eaten raw.
Morels contain a toxic substance which disappears when cooked, after about fifteen minutes.
We start by making them sweat over low heat.
You can also use dried morels.
But they must be rehydrated overnight either in water, or better still in milk or cream.
Filter the water, milk or cream and keep for cooking.
It will bring a lot of flavor to your dishes.
In Franche-Comté, the specialty is morel crust.
Morel cream served on bread, the emblematic entrance to farm inns.
It's very easy to do.
Brown the morels with a few shallots.
Add a little white wine, crème fraîche and simmer for an hour.
We are going to obtain a blond cream, with the morels.
All that remains is to spread on toast and enjoy.
You can also taste this cream of morels by enclosing it in a puff pastry.
Bake for ten minutes in the oven.
This is best enjoyed with a glass of Jura wine, like a Chardonnay-Savagnin blend.
Ingredients (for 6 people):
60 g of dried morels (or 600 g of fresh morels)
2 large shallots
20 g butter
1 glass of dry white wine
Salt and pepper
50 cl of heavy cream
2 tablespoons of flour
The cooking juice of the morels
6 slices of country bread
Production :
1. Brown the morels with a few chopped shallots in butter.
Add a little white wine, sprinkle the flour on the morels, half of the crème fraîche and simmer for an hour.
2. As cooking, add filtered water from the morels (if dehydrated; and if needed).
At the end of an hour, we will obtain a blond cream, with the morels.
3. All that remains is to spread on toast and enjoy.
Tip: You can also taste this cream of morels by enclosing it in a puff pastry. Bake for ten minutes in the oven at 200 degrees.
For a more modern recipe: the perfect egg with morels and yellow wine, signed by chef Eloi Drouet of the restaurant Les Gamins.
Ingredients
90 g of dried morels
2 cloves of garlic
1 shallot
2 cl of yellow wine
4 eggs
Production :
1. Start by sautéing the shallot and garlic in the pan.
Once browned, add the morels and add the chicken stock and the filtered water from the morels.
Reduce over low heat for 45 minutes.
2. At the end of cooking, you can bind lightly with cornstarch or flour.
And we add the yellow wine at the end of cooking to keep all the flavors of the wine.
3. For the perfect eggs: place your eggs set in coarse salt in a dish.
Bake them for an hour in the oven at 65 degrees.
4. When ready to serve, you break the egg.
All you have to do is taste.
If you don't want to go hunting for morels, but want to taste morels?
You will find dehydrated ones at Thierry Dietsh, in his Doubs direct grocery store.
They are not French (there is too little to be dried).
But these are morels selected for their quality, they come from Pakistan.
Thierry also offers morel crust in a terrine.
And if you are passing through Besançon, I advise you to take a look at the restaurant Les Gamins.
Chef Eloi Drouet cooks exclusively dishes based on Franche-Comté morels.
They dry their morels themselves.
They are currently preparing for the reopening a vol au vent with langoustines and morels in yellow wine.
It may be very greedy.