Discovering the cookery of South-West France

Gascony, the south-west corner of France, is a land where life is sweet and tables well laden. The mouthwatering smell of preserved goose or duck, foie gras, golden duck breasts and thick vegetable soup, deep purple Madiran wine, Jurançon its pale golden cousin and the hint of prune and violet in its armagnac have made its local cuisine famous throughout the world. This is the land of King Henri IV, famous for his love of good food and beautiful ladies, and of d'Artagnan the Musketeer. This is the land where dishes made with fine goose or duck fat are often flavoured with garlic and fines herbes. Sometimes they are cooked in local wines ; often they are flambéed and flavoured with armagnac.

Local culinary traditions reflect the fertile, lush countryside and they have been lovingly passed down through the generations so that, even today, we can still enjoy the very best of fare.