Duck Season: Eating, Drinking, and Other Misadventures in Gascony--France's Last Best Place

by David McAninch

Overview

A delicious memoir about the eight months food writer David McAninch spent in Gascony—a deeply rural region of France virtually untouched by mass tourism—meeting extraordinary characters and eating the best meals of his life.

Though he’d been a card-carrying Francophile all of his life, David McAninch knew little about Gascony, an ancient region in Southwest France mostly overlooked by Americans. Then an assignment sent him to research a story on duck. After enjoying a string of rich meals—Armagnac-flambéed duck tenderloins; skewered duck hearts with chanterelles; a duck-confit shepherd’s pie strewn with shavings of foie gras—he soon realized what he’d been missing.

McAninch decided he needed a more permanent fix. He’d fallen in love—not only with the food but with the people, and with the sheer unspoiled beauty of the place. So, along with his wife and young daughter, he moved to an old millhouse in the small village of Plaisance du Gers, where they would spend the next eight months living as Gascons. Duck Season is the delightful, mouthwatering chronicle of McAninch’s time in this tradition-bound corner of France. There he herds sheep in the Pyrenees, harvests grapes, attends a pig slaughter, hunts for pigeons, distills Armagnac, and, of course, makes and eats all manner of delicious duck specialties—learning to rewire his own thinking about cooking, eating, drinking, and the art of living a full and happy life.

With wit and warmth, McAninch brings us deep into this enchanting world, where eating what makes you happy isn’t a sin but a commandment and where, to the eternal surprise of outsiders, locals’ life expectancy is higher than in any other region of France. Featuring a dozen choice recipes and beautiful line drawings, Duck Season is an irresistible treat for Francophiles and gourmands alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062309419
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/07/2017
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

David McAninch is the features editor at Chicago magazine and was an editor at Saveur for nine years. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York magazine, the New York Daily News, Newsday, Rodale’s Organic Life, and Departures, among other publications. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter.

Table of Contents

Map ix

1 Fire 1

I Market Day 13

3 The Country Life 21

4 Old School 33

5 Magret 43

6 À Votre Santé 51

7 La Fête 63

8 Beautiful People 75

9 Garbure 87

10 Dinner at Henri's 95

11 Into the Mountains 103

12 Poule au Pot 119

13 Hills and Valleys 127

14 Dessert 143

15 A Day in the Vines 155

16 Slow and Low 165

17 To Bag a Bird 175

18 Noble Spirits 189

19 Aux Armes, Citoyens! 209

20 Chez Guérard 215

21 Le Saint Cochon 223

22 Foie Gras 231

23 Confit 241

24 Apéro 247

25 Last Supper 257

Acknowledgments 259

Recipes 261

Editorial Reviews

01/30/2017
In this story of an American cooking his way through France, McAninch does not just go through the motions in order to check his experience off some professional and personal bucket list. He moves his family to the rural area of Gascony for nearly a year and harmoniously integrates himself with the locals; he pays respects to deeply rooted traditions, and falls in love with the area in beautiful and unexpected ways; and he educates readers about hunting and cooking duck. While living in a historic mill, McAninch, his wife, and his young daughter, are at the mercy of every challenge of French living. Among minor language barriers, ancient plumbing issues, and maze-like markets, the seasoned food writer gains a valuable education. McAninch discovers which ducks (mullard vs. mallard) are for cooking; he learns more about the treasure, and staple, that is foie gras; and he observes the subtleties of welcoming guests or offering directions in an area uncharted by Google Maps. Most importantly, through McAninch’s warm and fluid delivery, readers come away with a taste and respect for a regional commodity, a handful of enticing recipes, and a new appreciation for friendships unfettered by origin or boundary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Filled with descriptions of food that will have readers’ mouths watering, this book is a heartfelt foray into an often overlooked area of France… McAninch’s ode to the people, food, and culture of Gascony is a traveler’s delight. Readers will be…ready to hop on a flight to France

Booklist

Employing an embedded journalist’s curiosity, a gourmand’s appetite and a humorist’s light touch, [McAninch] poses …, ‘In an age of globalized everything, is there anyplace left that still feels truly French?’ The answer…is absolument.

Mark Adams

[Duck Season] stimulates our most lustful pleasures, namely, the discovery of a new place through its cuisine…If poetry is to literature what cuisine is to culture, then lusty [Duck Season] offers poetically seductive words.

Huffington Post

A magical book about an overlooked part of France where the civilized things in life-namely cooking, eating, and gustatory pleasure-take center stage. Duck Season is a heartwarming reminder to celebrate what matters.

James Oseland

With deep knowledge…and a wordsmith’s mastery, McAninch unveils the uniqueness of a particular collection of French folks, their kitchens and dining tables, their hills and valleys, and their particular (dare I say peculiar) history, leaving me with a near-insatiable desire to get to know this place firsthand.

Rick Bayless

[I]t is impossible to read Duck Season and not consider devising at least one adventurous, authentic excursion. McAninch’s writing is steeped in the notion that one need not go far to...experience a place, its people, and its oddities...An adventure in your own kitchen can be the best kind.

Christian Science Monitor

02/01/2017
This historic area of Gascony, France, is best known for its hearty culinary delights and rural traditions. Chicago magazine features editor and food writer McAninch, who likes to cook as much as he likes to eat, takes his wife and young daughter to the small Gascon town of Plaisance du Gers for eight months, where he spends his time cooking, eating, and drinking with the often colorful locals. He herds sheep; hunts pigeons; joins the local, all-male cooking (and drinking) club; and works in a vineyard. He learns to make several local dishes with his Gascon friends, including duck confit, a traditional soup called garbure, and gâteau à la broche, a cake made on a spit in front of an open fire. Several classic Gascon recipes are included. McAninch's knowledge of Gascony's history and traditions provides plenty of interesting background to this story of mouth-watering dishes and new friends. VERDICT An informative and amusing memoir in the style of Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence. Francophiles, foodies, and armchair travelers will want to pack their bags for a taste of this distinctive part of France.—Linda M. Kaufmann, Massachusetts Coll. of Liberal Arts Lib., North Adams

Library Journal

2016-12-14
A debut memoir about eight months of French culinary delights.In 2012, food writer and Chicago Magazine features editor McAninch was sent on assignment to Gascony, a fertile agricultural region bordering the Pyrenees in southwest France, to write a piece about duck. Although he had passed through the area on other visits, this time the "card-carrying Francophile" was smitten. Everything about Gascony entranced him: the amazing food, wines, customs, and people, who "seemed more open-minded than their compatriots," importing from Spain "an easy warmth and boisterousness." Forgoing trendiness (no nouvelle cuisine here), cooks created "dishes of immense depth from a limited palette of local ingredients that hadn't expanded in generations." Following a plot that has now become familiar, McAninch became obsessed, imagining Gascony as "a kind of Brigadoon," and conceived the idea of writing about a region that he believed had been overlooked in favor of the more picturesque Provence. Soon, he, his wife, and young daughter were installed in an old water mill in the village of Plaisance, where they would experience all the blessings Gascony could offer from May to December. McAninch tells a charming but predictable tale of abundant meals prepared by fabulous cooks in their own kitchens or modest restaurants. The author enrolled in cooking classes and private lessons, practicing his new skills in his rudimentary kitchen. Meals, he writes, "became the organizing principle of our daily life." Besides garbure (cabbage and white bean soup), poule au pot (chicken in a pot), duck confit, foie gras, seared duck breasts, and cream-filled tarts—recipes included—wine and beer flowed at every event, morning, noon, and night. "Glasses were filled, emptied, and filled again," could serve as the book's refrain. As in most such memoirs, the visiting Americans encounter kindly, sometimes-eccentric, always colorful, and voluble characters, such as the taciturn cheese maker who sometimes, but not always, manages to bring his wheels of cheese to market. Warm recollections to please fellow Francophiles.

Kirkus Reviews

[McAninch] falls in love with the area in beautiful and unexpected ways… Readers come away with a taste and respect for a regional commodity, a handful of enticing recipes, and a new appreciation for friendships unfettered by origin or boundary.” — Publishers Weekly

“Filled with descriptions of food that will have readers’ mouths watering, this book is a heartfelt foray into an often overlooked area of France… McAninch’s ode to the people, food, and culture of Gascony is a traveler’s delight. Readers will be…ready to hop on a flight to France” — Booklist

“This is the definitive book on the Gascon spirit…readers of any origin will want to buy a plane ticket to the Southwest of France the minute they put down the book.” — Ariane Daguin, founder and CEO of D’Artagnan Foods and a James Beard Foundation Awards Committee member

“A magical book about an overlooked part of France where the civilized things in life-namely cooking, eating, and gustatory pleasure-take center stage. Duck Season is a heartwarming reminder to celebrate what matters.” — James Oseland, author of the James Beard Award–winning Cradle of Flavor

“With deep knowledge…and a wordsmith’s mastery, McAninch unveils the uniqueness of a particular collection of French folks, their kitchens and dining tables, their hills and valleys, and their particular (dare I say peculiar) history, leaving me with a near-insatiable desire to get to know this place firsthand.” — Rick Bayless

“[Duck Season] stimulates our most lustful pleasures, namely, the discovery of a new place through its cuisine…If poetry is to literature what cuisine is to culture, then lusty [Duck Season] offers poetically seductive words.” — Huffington Post

“Employing an embedded journalist’s curiosity, a gourmand’s appetite and a humorist’s light touch, [McAninch] poses …, ‘In an age of globalized everything, is there anyplace left that still feels truly French?’ The answer…is absolument.” — Mark Adams, author of the New York Times bestsellerTurn Right at Machu Picchu

From the Publisher

This is the definitive book on the Gascon spirit…readers of any origin will want to buy a plane ticket to the Southwest of France the minute they put down the book.

Ariane Daguin

Filled with descriptions of food that will have readers’ mouths watering, this book is a heartfelt foray into an often overlooked area of France… McAninch’s ode to the people, food, and culture of Gascony is a traveler’s delight. Readers will be…ready to hop on a flight to France

Booklist