Provencal cuisine

Turkey alicuit

Take giblets and equal cut pieces of turkey. Brown them with a few fresh rinds, in goose fat or good lard. Place these giblets and pieces of turkey in a daubière with a good glass of Armagnac and season with salt, freshly ground pepper, bouquet garni, very finely chopped ham bacon. In the fat that has already been used to brown the pieces of turkey, lightly brown 4 to 5 spoonfuls of chopped onion and the same amount of carrot cut into small dice, and a clove of crushed garlic. Sprinkle with 3 to 4 spoonfuls of flour, leave to brown for a few moments, add about a liter of water, and a few spoonfuls of tomato puree; let it boil for 2 or 3 minutes and pour everything into the daubiere. Close tightly, cook on the ashes over low heat for about two hours.
Serve in the daubière itself, after defatting the stew. Chestnuts are sometimes added to the alicuit, half cooked in advance.

Mousserons au gratin
Choose slightly fatty mousserons, wash them very carefully, put them in a saucepan with (for one pound of mousserons), three spoonfuls of water, 60 grams of butter, the juice of a lemon and a pinch of salt. Cover the pan off the heat, let them cool, drain them; separate the heads from the tails, finely chop them. Brown the heads in butter, place them in a gratin dish.
On the other hand, lightly brown 2 spoonfuls of chopped onion in butter, mix in the chopped tails of the mousserons, let them brown for a few minutes; add four spoonfuls of finely chopped ham and a strong pinch of parsley and finally 3 or 4 spoonfuls of bread crumbs and the cooking of the mousserons is completely reduced.
Pour everything over the mousseron heads, sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Brown for 5 to 6 minutes.

Partridges with white beans
Choose young partridges, clean them carefully, salt them inside, stuff them with a small mince, composed of mushrooms, truffles, parsley, bread crumbs fried in butter, the livers of the partridges. Bridle the partridges, wrap them in a thin strip of bacon, cook them in a pan with butter. Once cooked, sprinkle them with fine Armagnac, remove them from the pan to loosen them and put them back, adding for each partridge 6 or 8 chipolata sausages cooked at the time, and the necessary quantity of white beans, cooked in advance . Let simmer for a few seconds.
Partridges with lentils are prepared in the same way, simply replace the beans with lentils cooked in advance.

Agen plums with Madiran wine
Place the plums in a stoneware pot, cover them with Madiran wine, add sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon, 2 cloves, cook them slowly, serve them hot or cold.

Advice for people for whom raw meat is recommended
Many people to whom this diet is prescribed cannot resign themselves to eating raw meat without feeling a certain disgust, and this unpleasant apprehension can only be harmful and make the hoped-for effects negative.
The simplest way, in this case, is to take the raw meat in the form of cute “sandwischs”. The bread will be cut very thin and lightly spread with excessively fresh butter.
On the other hand, if your doctor allows it, mix a little bit of orange marmalade with the meat, and if we can put it that way, instead of unpleasant apprehension, it will be a real treat that you will savor with a sensitive pleasure.
A small glass of old Frontignan wine will deliciously complete this diet.

A. Escoffier.