As part of ourUrsino project, each month we invite you to discover a traditional recipe shared by a chef, a celebrity, or an anonymous contributor.
Discovering a dish, its history, how it is eaten, and even the memories associated with it is precisely what our students around the world do. On this basis, they conduct research to discover the origins of dishes and their ingredients.
The goal: for them to discover for themselves that our cultures, particularly our culinary cultures, have always been enriched by diversity and encounters between peoples.
Henri is a farmer's son. He comes from the small village of Jonval in the Ardennes.
He shares with us an old traditional recipe for a salad with bacon, made with dandelions.
Photo credit: Grandpa Henri
Tell us about a traditional recipe that is close to your heart.
"Bacon salad. It's made with potatoes, bacon bits, and cooked salad. It's usually made with dandelion greens, but you can use other ingredients (even if it's not as good!). It's a typical recipe from the Ardennes that I used to eat a lot when I was little!"
Who prepared this dish? How was it passed down to you?
"Back then, it was Stacha, my mother-in-law, who prepared this dish. Once I got married, it was Mamie (Jeannine, his wife) who made it. She didn't make it very often, but she did make it regularly. It's important to note that this is a seasonal dish, which is usually only made when dandelions are in season."
What does this dish remind you of? Do you have any special memories or stories associated with it?
"I don't have any particular memories, no, but it was still really good to eat! We used to go and pick dandelion leaves in the fields. In the meadows, we picked them mainly from small clumps of earth because the white part was bigger. That's really the best part of the dandelion. They had to be young shoots. It's best to pick them before they flower, when the leaves are still tender."
Does this dish seem rather old or recent to you? Is it disappearing? Which region do you think it belongs to?
Photo credit: Stacha, Henri's mother-in-law
"Oh, it's an old dish! I don't think it's disappearing because when I go for walks, I still see people picking dandelions. It's definitely made much less often, but I think it's still around. It's a typical Ardennes dish, but perhaps not only there. Here, for example, in Saint Quentin (02), they make it too. "
Photo credit: Sugar tart @yumelise
Do you know of any other variations of this dish? Or similar dishes in other countries or regions?
"You can replace the dandelion greens with escarole (editor's note: Jeannine used escarole from the garden that had gone to seed and was a little more bitter). It's a hard salad green, so it holds up well when cooked. You can also add arugula. When Mamie (his wife) made bacon salad, she followed the normal recipe. I've never tasted any other versions."
How and when is this dish usually eaten?
"It was a normal dish that you could eat anytime; it wasn't a special occasion dish. We ate it with bread, that's all!"
Are there any other traditional dishes that you are keen to pass on to your children?
"Sugar pie, of course. Grandma also made mollets cakes. They were a bit like brioches, typical of my little corner of the Ardennes!"
What do you associate with cooking and mealtimes? Why do you think this is important in a culture or society?
"For me, cooking represents quality of life! It's a whole package, with good ingredients, good potatoes from the garden, without chemicals (otherwise you might as well go to the supermarket!), it makes all the difference!"
Photo credit: Henri and his wife Jeannine in 1987
The recipe for bacon salad
Ingredients:
- Butter or lard or margarine
- 1 bag of dandelion greens (or if you don't have any, arugula)
- 4 thick slices of smoked bacon
- 1 thick slice of lean bacon
- 2 onions
- 4 shallots
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 6 tablespoons of vinegar
- 1 cup of oil
Photo credit: @marmiton
Steps:
- Boil the peeled potatoes in water.
- Cut the bacon into strips.
- Add the butter/lard/margarine and fry the bacon. Once cooked, add the sliced onions and shallots, then the cooked and roughly mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the minced garlic, vinegar, and oil.
- Stir well and simmer for half an hour.
- Serve hot.
Bonus
What is your Proustian madeleine?
Grandma Stacha's mochas! And then there were the breakfasts when I was young. We would get up early, have coffee with buttered toast, go and feed the animals, and two hours later we would come back and have eggs and bacon before going to work in the fields.
Three guests you would like to invite to dinner (real or fictional, living or deceased)?
Grandma (Jeannine, his wife), of course! And Bernard and Pierrette, his brother and sister. We got along so well! There were never any arguments, we had a lot of fun together!
What is your favorite world food?
Alsatian sauerkraut and Mexican specialties.
Can you recommend a restaurant?
Les 3 Brasseurs in Saint Quentin. The food is always great there!