An Irish Chef in France - How the French Entertain

Euro-Toques chef Martin Dwyer, is much missed in Ireland since he and his wife Sile sold their eponymous restaurant in Waterford and moved to France. They now live in the Languedoc, where they take guests - and feed them very well.

This month: How the French Entertain - Apero Dinatoire

The French entertain in a different way from us. They do have Dinner Parties as the Irish do from time to time, but much more often they just ask people around for an “Apero”- always called this it is actually short for an Aperitif, that ritual drink the French have to herald in the evening before starting dinner.

To be asked for an Apero is a real sign in France that you are being accepted into French society. There may often be only yourselves with the hosts and normally not more than two or three couples. It is a very informal gathering, yet there are certain rules you should be aware of.

The drinks offered will inevitably be those that the French enjoy before their meals. These are usually not at all the sort of drinks you would drink in Ireland at this time.

The French enjoy something sweet before dinner, you will often be offered a strongly liquorice flavoured Pastis (especially the men) or a sweet wine from the region. A Kir cocktail made from white wine and blackcurrant cassis is popular in France, as it has become in Ireland in recent years, but the French use far more cassis in the mix than we do so it ends up very dark red - and very sweet indeed. Dry sherry as served in Ireland is totally unknown in France, even in the Languedoc which is joined on to Spain.

The French then serve various nibbles with these drinks, little savoury biscuits, thin slices of salami, various local olives or dips or spreads made of these or anchovies.

The whole atmosphere is extremely informal and the host can be extremely generous with drinks, but it is very important that one remembers that this is a pre-dinner drink and you are expected to leave by eight and certainly before eight thirty.

When, however, you become a little more integrated with French society it may happen that when you are asked for an Apero it will be mentioned that it is an “Apero Dinatoire”

This is an altogether different kettle of fish, and a delightful one which I think could well be copied in Ireland.

We were asked to an “Apero Dinatoire” last week to a couple whom we have known for a while. This was to celebrate the husband’s sixtieth birthday.

There were twelve of us and we all sat around a table to start with, nibbling little cocktail biscuits and slices of salami while we drank either a vin doux from the Loire or Champagne.

Then the food started to come out, course after course of delicious little morsels. There were slivers of foie gras wrapped in crisp bacon and served with a slice of fried apple, a garlicy purée of beetroot and cucumber, a timbale of smoked salmon and avocado, a delicious terrine of monkfish and lobster, and the pièce de résistance, some buttery snails with herbs and garlic (the birthday boy is from Burgundy) before we hit the cheeses, the pre-dessert, and then the desserts.

This worked so well on so many different levels. It seemed that the couple had divided the tasks so there was always one relaxing at the table while the other was rustling up the next delicious tray full in the kitchen. The host was in charge of the wines and we went through many different styles with the various courses, always with some cool champagne on the table.

It is of course a lot of work to produce a meal as good as this, but observant hosts will have noticed that with the exception of the snails (which merely required reheating) all the food could be prepared well in advance thus giving the hosts time to thoroughly enjoy the evening. Not something which is easy to do when you spend it in front of a hot stove.

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Martin Dwyer started cooking professionally over 40 years ago in the legendary “Snaffles Restaurant” in Dublin. After a time in a Relais Chateau in Anjou and in “The Wife of Bath” in Kent he opened his own much acclaimed restaurant, “Dwyers”, in Waterford in 1989. In 2004 he sold this and moved south to France where he and his wife Síle bought and restored an old presbytery in a village in the Languedoc. They now run Le Presbytère as a French style Chambre d’Hôte. Martin however is far too passionate about food to give up cooking so they now enjoy serving dinner to their customers on the terrace of Le Presbytère on warm summer evenings. Martin runs occasional cookery courses in Le Presbytère and Síle’s brother Colm does week long Nature Strolls discovering the Flora and Fauna of the Languedoc. 

Le Presbytère can be seen at: www.lepresbytere.net; 
email: martin@lepresbytere.net

Twitter: www.twitter.com/DwyerThezan