In December 2012, for the first time, chef Serge Pirot cooks for Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux wines during public demonstrations in the company of winegrowers at the Maison du Vin de Blaye.

Serge Pirot is giving over 36 demonstrations of a total of nine different recipes at the Maison du Vin de Blaye in December 2012. They are all original recipes which the chef, a well-known figure in Blaye winegrowing châteaux, matches with Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux wines in the presence of winegrowers. “My starting-point for the recipes was simple: placing myself at the service of Blaye wines with the aim of enhancing them, setting off their aromas and flavours and emphasising their quality”, says Serge Pirot. To give a few examples: roasted scallops on a bed of heirloom vegetables with an emulsion of olives and sweet peppers, or medallion of chicken stuffed with langoustines, served with a green vegetable garnish and shellfish foam, to be enjoyed with a Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux oak-matured white, or even a soft young red; or medallion of pork tenderloin with preserved lemon and a carrot and mandarin fondant… For the festivities, Serge Pirot has gone for gourmet food! With four sessions a day, the recipes have to be easy for novice cooks to make while remaining festive. “What I enjoy about demonstrations like these is having a good time together: we cook and then we eat what we have prepared together”, smiles Serge Pirot.

High-quality produce

But before pleasure, during the technical phase that precedes the long-awaited tasting, Serge Pirot makes a point of introducing the surprising ingredients he has decided to cook. Some dishes do indeed merit an explanation, such as his salmon steak with bacon chips, thongweed and oyster leaf cream, to be enjoyed with a Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux dry white. “For this dish I use oyster without oyster: a plant with a very pronounced taste of oyster”, he comments. The chef’s idea is to showcase high-quality produce. “If you’re going to splash out on a good wine, you have to have very good produce to go with it. And to make good food, the first thing you need is high-quality ingredients!” His semi-cooked duck foie gras stuffed with gingerbread, figs, balsamic cream and flower of salt gives him an opportunity to talk about the foie gras of southwest France. His venison steak with Szechuan pepper, reduced raspberry vinegar sauce and parsnip purée, served rare, provides the background for a discussion of how to cook game. It used to be cooked for a long time, but now we prefer it pink. Other subjects that come up include the dietary merits of heirloom vegetables and the advantages of organic food – “easy learning, not force-feeding!”, jokes the chef.

A wide range of options

When the long-awaited moment of tasting the finished dish arrives, the choice of wine is a sensitive and subjective one, because there are a thousand ways to match a Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux wine with food. The winegrowers suggest their wines to the chef: oak-matured, full-bodied, structured, complex wines; young reds; dry, fresh and aromatic whites, Sauvignon or a Sauvignon/Semillon blend; oak-matured whites with tannins and a couple of years in the bottle… the range of aromas and flavours found in Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux wines is certainly wide! That is why Serge Pirot is keen to show off their variety with recipes which resemble them in their inventiveness. Each day of culinary demonstrations at the Maison du Vin de Blaye gives pride of place to a different château in the presence of the winegrower. A delicious opportunity for a food-loving public to embark on a voyage of discovery around the infinite possibilities of pairing food with Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux wines…

The culinary demonstrations and tastings in the presence of winegrowers take place on 8 December, 15 December, 19 to 24 December and 29 December at 10.30 and 11.30am and 4.00 and 5.00pm at the Maison du Vin de Blaye. Entry is free but attendance is limited to 12 people per session.

Find all the dates, the recipes and the winegrowers taking part with our calendar: http://www.vin-blaye.com/en/audacious/our-calendar