Preparations are underway for les Fêtes d’Orthez, which start this Thursday and run through Sunday.  At La Maison de l’Horloge, a restaurant we appreciate for its dignified ambiance and accomplished food, looks like they are getting in 30 kegs of beer, 9 cases of Get27 (a mint flavored liquor) and 6 cases of Clan Campbell whiskey! So what the heck are the Fêtes of Orthez and why do they require so much booze?

In theory, many French cities have an annual Fête to mark it’s saint’s day.  If the Fêtes in Orthez  are connected with a saint, I have yet to learn which one.  Here, the party is vaguely centered around La Corrida, or bull fighting in the Spanish style, a tradition that has a long history in southwestern France. Over time, bull fighting has become more controversial in France (efforts to have it banned a few years ago barely failed) and, as a result, its role in the Fêtes has diminished. One day of the Fêtes is still dedicated to the Corrida and all the ceremony, eating and drinking that surrounds it. Not my cup of tea, so we give that a pass.

These days, the Fêtes of Orthez have become a four day excuse for everyone to cut loose and go a bit bananas.  There is a carnival, with rides, booths, games of chance, hawkers and food stalls; it snakes all the way through town.  There are several music stages, music in bars and restaurants and wandering groups of musicians. The most popular are les Bandas, sort of drum and brass orchestras who go from bar to bar playing traditional music of the southwest in exchange for drinks.

Most of the bars and restaurants block their entryways with temporary wooden bars and sell wine, beer, cocktails and snacks to the passing crowds.  On the weekends, bars stay open until 4am! Many local charitable associations set up “bodegas” sort of open air restaurants serving traditional dishes and tapas. Each bodega features a different dish:  huge beef rib steaks cooked on the plancha;  squids or prawn grilled with garlic and parsley; all sorts of pork from charcuterie to grilled chops and much more. There are even bodegas featuring burgers (thanks, USA).

During the day, there are family friendly events throughout town.  There is a featured concert each evening at 10pm on the main stage in front of the church of Saint-Pierre and a late night concert on the “Insomnia” stage near the Place de Foirail.  Without a doubt, it is the biggest event on the Orthezian social calendar.

So back to those 9 cases of Get27…what in the world are they going to do with all that mint sirop?  Well, one of the most popular festival drinks is beer with flavored sirop added.  Beer with peach sirop is a “pêche”. Beer and grenadine is a “Monaco”.  Beer with mint sirop, a very popular choice, I have heard called “une valse” but here, most just order a “demi-menthe”.  There’s a bad hangover going somewhere to happen!

In general, a Bar-Tabac in France does not serve any food, so bringing your own snacks is welcomed.  Taking advantage of that fact. This sausage is a “chipo sèche” meaning a dry chipolata, from the excellent Basque artisan pork producer and charcutier La Ferme Elizaldia, who have a truck at the Tuesday market here.

O Panier Local is an organic local farmer’s co-op here on Orthez, which opened in September 2022.  The people who run it describe the store as “Associatif, Non-lucratif, Participatif”, meaning it was conceived and founded by a charitable association, it is non-profit and everyone is encouraged to participate in the life of the store. That includes the local farmers and food artisans featured, many of whom are members of the store association, clients and pretty much anyone interested in eating well and local.  O Panier Local is also a social space, that features workshops, classes, meet-the-farmer events, cooking demonstrations and more several times a month.

Next Saturday, the store will celebrate its one year anniversary with a big, all day party. If you happen to be near Orthez, please be sure to stop by!

As I have been working as a volunteer at O Panier Local a few hours a week since spring 2023, I will be helping out with the food at the birthday party, part of the team of volunteers who will prepare a lunchtime meal and buvette.  It will be the first time I have prepared food for the public in more than a year, and I am a little nervous!

Curious about the menu?  Check out this video on the facebook page of O Panier Local…but who it that guy trying to speak French?

The end of September has been unseasonably warm in the southwest of France.  What better reason to enjoy an outside table and a glass of rosé ? This particular pour is from AOC Béarn, where the rosé is mostly made from the tannat grape, as are the full bodied reds.  Explains the juicy color!

Chez Cabaillou is a restaurant and bar just around the corner from our little house in Orthez, family run since 1935. At lunch, it bustles with locals enjoying their well prepared daily 3-course lunch menu – an crazy bargain at 16 euros. In the evening, the bar becomes a sort of working man’s hangout, where long-time regulars relax over wine served in tiny balloons (with the pour trembling at the top of the glass, threatening to overflow)  and glasses of anisette.  Americans are tolerated with good humor.  This Friday featured an impromptue performance.

There’s a new fromagerie in Orthez (officially in Argagnon but that is only about 4 minutes from Orthez). This is big news because 1) well things can move pretty slow in Orthez and it is therefore not that often that we arrive to find something totally new and unexpected has opened up and 2) goat cheese is not really the cheese of choice in SW France. With all due respect to Rocamadour and Cabécous from the Midi-Pyrenees, this is the Atlantic end and in the Béarn and Basque countries, the its all about sheep milk tomes, with Ossau Iraty being the reigning king.

The farm Les Chevres de Brassenx is a modest operation, with only about 60 animals and sales only at 3 local farmer’s markets and direct at the farm 3 days a week. When we stopped by, cheese making had just restarted after the winter period when the goat’s stop producing milk, which means limited supply and mostly young cheeses available. But for all that, the cheeses are beautifully made and redolent of fresh, raw milk…no surprise given that the owners (career changers like myself) learned their new craft working in the Poitou-Charente, the most prolific region in France for goat’s milk cheeses.

The other benefit of a spring visit is that the farm is literally awash in baby goats! Not to mention a border collie very insistent on playing fetch, 2 barn cats who seem a bit starved for attention and Monsieur the cheese maker who was more that happy to stop what he was doing to explain the functioning of the farm and cheese making laboratoire (and to introduce the animals).

The only thing we missed was meeting the troupeau, the herd of milking females, a mix of Alpine and Saanen goats. They apparently spend the majority of these spring days munching the flower and herb filled grasses of the farm’s pastures. Looking out across the prairie toward the Pyrenees, who can blame them?

After many hours of travel, finally the arrival in Orthez. For a simple lunch, crevette rose from Saint-Jean-de-Luz and freshly made mayonnaise. Deep sign!

It is not that often that one really gets the chance to let what’s fresh in the market determine what’s for lunch. However, a Tuesday market day in Orthez, with no obligations and no plans imposing, offered just such a chance.

This Dorade Royale, also known as Atlantic Sea Bream, had the clearest eyes and reddest gills of all the fish on the stall at Poissonnerie Otano, a permanent stand in Orthez’s covered market.  With stands in both Orthez and Bayonne, Otano is family owned by a Basque family that sources out of nearby Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Lets face it, there is no substitute for really fresh fish.

Dorade is such a delicate fish that is is a shame to filet it out and thereby rob the meat of the moisture that the carcass provides as it cooks.  Plus, whole roasting is so easy and quick, once you know a few rules, why do anything else? If you fish monger will clean (yes fish on a good quality fish stall in France are sold with the guts still in!), scale and trim your purchase, it is very nearly ready to cook.  Here are the rules I follow:

Rule 1: Make a flavorful bed of veggies to go under the fish. These will flavor the fish during cooking and will be served as a side dish.  I had on hand peppers (both sweet peppers and the famous poivrons longs verts which are the ones the Basques prefer for making piperade) as well as some summer squashes, onions and garlic. Don’t forget to season the veggies with salt and pepper; I used a little piment d’Espelette.  Also add a little liquid to the dish to prevent it scorching. Water is fine, but white wine, fish stock, even cider or beer will work well.

Rule 2: Rub the fish inside and out with olive oil, the season it well with salt and pepper.  Fill the cavity with things that will taste well with the veggies you have selected for underneath. I used rosemary from the garden and lemon slices.

Once stuffed, I just lay the fish on the veggies, no need to truss it up.

Rule 3: Cook the fish for the right amount of time at the right temperature. The right temperature is pretty easy. I like to use 400 deg F, as this will yield a fish with crispy skin.  Its that “right amount of time” is the kicker…Overcooking will ruin its delicate moistness, under cooking will mean trouble getting it off the bones.

According to Richard Olney, author of the seminal cookbook Simple French Food, one should allow 10 minutes of cooking time for each 1″ of thickness of the fish in question, regardless of the cooking method (if you have read Olney, you will recognize in this advice  his typical obliqueness when it comes to concrete detail and his fondness for sweeping generalities…don’t get me wrong, I love his work but his books are often more philosophy than cooking instruction).  Although I think that this is a good guide, I find that when roasting fish on the bone, in a hot oven, it will be closer to 17 minutes.

In any event, it doesn’t pay to rely too religiously on advise and but instead to verify  that that the fish is cooked by flaking it along the spine with a small knife. If is just barely flakes, it is ready.  Start checking before you think it will be done to avoid over cooking.

Rule 4:  Remember a nice appetizer to snack on while the fish is cooking. This is pork pate from famous artisan charcutier Eric Hospital…yummy!

That’s about it. Once the fish is cooked, lift of the fillets and serve. Stir a couple spoons full of butter into the roasted veggies and pan juices and serve that with your fish.  Add some boiled rice or quinoa and you are ready to go. Simple and delicious!