Frédéric Thore
With “Good soups from Périgord throughout the seasons”, Catherine Hilaire has signed her fifth recipe book, this time published by Les livres de l’île.
Catherine Hilaire puts things straight from the start. She is not a chef, but an “amateur”. However, this former teacher and librarian is already on her fifth recipe book. His latest “Good soups from Périgord throughout the seasons” has just been published by Les livres de l’île. A recipe book that she wanted to be a little different from the others. “I didn’t want it to just be cooking. I’m doing a bit of semantics. There is a glossary to explain common terms of Périgord cuisine, such as soaking soup or chabrol. » With a somewhat unexpected enrichment at the end of the book, a spotlight on the department’s earthenware factories, the most important of which, between the 18th and 20th centuries, were located in Bergerac and Thiviers.
“Sometimes it was the only dish in the meal”
But let’s get back to our good soups. “It’s certain that this is not necessarily what we think of first when we talk about Périgord,” admits the author. “However, the soup is famous, much like in all rural provinces. It was sometimes the only dish in the meal. And then soup, in my family, has always been important. This was passed on to me. »
It was when he went to see his publisher for a completely different project that the idea for the book became obvious. In the end, the book presents around fifty recipes classified by season. Traditional soups like tourain but not only that. “I find that cooking must be evolving so I have other, more modern recipes. But always with the same basis: the ingredients must come from Périgord! “. For example, we find a duck carcass soup a few pages from a shiitake soup, a gazpacho not far from a strawberry soup and a Périgord beer gratinée. “Each time, I wrote a short text to highlight the context of the recipe by talking about Périgord. »
“It is accessible to everyone”
A significant advantage of the soup is that “it is accessible to everyone. You can make it sweet or savory, and even with new vegetables like wild garlic. » The book, presented at the Gourmet Book Festival, has already gotten off to a good start. Catherine Hilaire hopes this is just the beginning.
“The good soups of Périgord throughout the seasons”, by Catherine Hilaire, published by Les livres de l’île, 19 euros, 128 pages.
