·
Dom
Pérignon, of Champagne fame, was born in Sainte-Ménehould around 1638
·
During their attempted escape to Varennes in 1791, Louis
XVI and Marie Antoinette were recognized and subsequently later arrested in a
nearby village. Legend has it that the
king was recognized because of the similarity between his face and the image of
him that appeared on the coinage.
·
And, of course, le Pied de Cochon á la Sainte-Ménehould,
yes, that’s right Pigs' Feet.
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| Two signs advertising the annual festsival |
Pig’s
Feet are really a big deal here! There
is even a special brotherhood that organizes an annual festival every May
(complete with oinking contest). They
have actually been a gastronomic specialty here for quite some time; King
Charles VII ate (and presumably liked) them when he visited the town in 1435. [Legend has it that Louis XVI stopped here, and was recognized, because he loved Pigs' Feet!] So how are they prepared? Le
Pied de Cochon á la Sainte-Ménehould are put in a broth made with onions,
carrots, shallots, garlic, bouquet garni, cloves and white wine, cooked on a
low heat for at least four hours (the longer, the better). The meat is then
coated with egg and breadcrumbs. They are eaten whole – bones and all.
They can be eaten with mustard or Sainte-Ménehould
sauce, all served, of course, with a glass of white wine, or, bien sûr, Champagne. We have to confess that we didn’t actually sample
this delicacy, but David did have sauce from Pied de Cochon on his main dish
one night and said it was quite tasty.
We stayed at a lovely, quaint hotel-restaurant, Le Cheval
Rouge. The accommodations were pleasant,
the staff was helpful and quite congenial, but the FOOD…the food was
delicious! It is obvious why Michelin
chose to mention it in their famous guide!
They have both a restaurant and a bar/brasserie. We generally ate in the brasserie, although
the menus were probably the same. Even
in these relaxed surroundings, each meal began with an “amuse bouche” and
everything we tried was excellent. (Anna
and our waitress managed to gang-up on David and tease him a couple of
times. Poor guy, a cute, young French
woman was teasing him. Pass around the
hankies.) It was here that we first
tasted Henri Abelé champagne; it was the “house champagne.” We ended up having it several times. Delicious and very reasonable! We bought several bottles to take
back to Lyon – both for gifts and for us.
As mentioned in the previous posting, the main reason we
chose Sainte-Ménehould
was because it is close to where Anna’s grandfather’s unit saw action during WWI. Quite close, actually. Because of its strategic location, Sainte-Ménehould was the site of an
Allied WWI hospital and also received extensive damage. Like Reims, it suffered considerable was damage
although some buildings, like the City Hall, survived.
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| The Mairie (City Hall) |
