Julia Child was so enthused by Roy Andries de Groot’s The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth that she gave it its most distinctive acclaim: “It is not like anything else around.”
She was right. In 1973, when the book was published, the food literature genre didn’t exist. Today, of course, the book doesn’t seem nearly as unique as it did in 1973, but back then, this cookbook-travelogue-memoir format was both different and captivating – and even today its charms haven’t diminished.
In Search of Chartreuse
The food-loving de Groot stumbled across the auberge, or inn, while researching an article on the secret of green Chartreuse – the herbal liqueur produced by hermits known as the “Peres Chartreaux” – who use a distilling process known only to them. De Groot was determined to learn their secret, but en route to the distillery, he stumbled across his own secret – the small auberge, owned by two French Women, Mesdemoiselles Vivette Artraud and Ray Girard. For the author, the inn and the Valley of La Grande Chartreuse where it is located, is “not just another place but a point of view, a way of life.”
Reading the book is like sitting at de Groot’s side as he rhapsodizes over memories of time spent at the inn, melting seamlessly into its sweet and orderly pace and enjoying each epicurean meal.
Because the inn is located in the mountainous, Alpine region of northern France, the food served at the inn uses, by necessity, fresh ingredients – foraged from the surrounding forests by local woodsmen or shopped for by the demanding Mlle. Artaud.
Food Shopping
One of the book’s most delightful chapters is the one entitled, “A French Woman Shops by Her Own Rules” – in which de Groot follows Mlle. Artaud on a shopping trip to Grenoble. Today’s foodies may want to review Mlle. Artaud’s methods before heading to their own farmer’s market. “The first thing I learned from her was the importance of building one’s reputation as a knowledgeable, sharp and tough buyer,” writes de Groot.
Shopping in Grenoble is only the beginning of de Groot’s food adventure at the auberge, however. Included in the book is an assortment of delectable menus he was served while a guest of the inn. The impeccable ingredients are turned into irresistibly rustic French country fare by Mlles. Ray and Artaud. Sometimes, the food would emerge from the kitchen, other times from the spit over the fire, or the open hearth after which the inn is named.
“The cuisine of this auberge is built on the foundation of the local products from the surrounding countryside,” de Groot writes. But one other Golden Rule ruled Mlle. Ray’s kitchen. “She follows (and does not try to overthrow) nature’s feeding cycle.
Memorable Menus
De Groot uses the seasons to describe many of the menus he remembers. The menu for a “Winter Lunch,” for example, lists Wild Mushrooms Vinaigrette, a winter vegetable soup, lambs’ feet with tripe surprise packets, a cheese course and crepes surprise. Local French wines accompany the courses, with coffee served after the meal.
The menus are, in part, what have helped make this book a classic. They are economical yet epicurean and well worth emulating by today’s cooks looking for food a bit more rustic than Julia Child whipped up in her Parisian kitchen.
Economic French Wines
Also useful is the chapter entitled “A Proud Wine Cellar on a Low Budget.” Food and wine lovers can use the information it contains to guide their own selection of French wines – from the reds and whites of Bordeaux, the whites of Alsace, and the reds and whites of Loire.
The back of the book contains many of the recipes de Groot gathered from Mlles. Girard and Artaud, including a soufflé of alpine cheeses and a barbecued beef in a Provencal blanket.
No wonder, then, with the helpful menus, the wine guide and recipes that the book has become a classic in French cooking. But as Child notes, the book is more than that. It’s a travelogue, a memoir and a salute to a time and place where food is more than mere sustenance. It’s a celebration.
Food lovers can create their own auberge experience by turning to the book as a guide. The menus, recipes and wine suggestions are there. Just remember to shop with the same discerning eye as Mlle. Artaud and prepare the food as carefully as Mlle. Girard. All that remains, then, is to eat it with the same gusto and passion as de Groot. Bon appetit.
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