INTRODUCTION

Plutarch believed they were mud cooked by lightning.  Juvenal that they were the product of thunder and rain and Pliny that they were nature’s greatest miracle.  Elizabeth David said they were the most delicious of foods anywhere and Brillat Savarin that ‘without truffles there can be no truly gastronomic meal.’  And the mystic around the truffle continues, in its nebulous way, to intrigue.
This weekend is an idea to allow you to get to know this mysterious and gastronomically fantastic fungus as you may never have been able to do before.  We concentrate on three subjects concerning truffles: the hunting, the cooking/eating and the buying.
The weather in February can be glorious.  Cold and crisp with perfect blue skies – the perfect skies to go hunting truffles ‘à la mouche’.  The idea is to do some walking but should we get bad weather there are ample alternatives (castles, chateaux and wineries to visit) and of course we will be well prepared for such events!
The weekend takes place in the truffle rich region of the Quercy.  This is a beautiful untouched region of France just south of the Dordogne.  In 1152 it was given by Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henri d’Anjou two years before he became Henry II of England and it is an area that has changed little since.  There is no industry here to pollute the atmosphere and the limestone plateaux, fertile lombardy poplared valleys, long lazy meandering rivers and  fantastic food and wine lend to a wonderful long weekend holiday! 

ITINERARY

Day 1  Saturday  Bonjour
You arrive at Toulouse airport in the afternoon to be met by James.  We drive to Le Vert, a charming Quercy stone Manor House situated in the middle of the rolling Quercy countryside.     All rooms have bathrooms en suite.  It is a most lovely and relaxing place to stay under the careful eye of Bernard and Eva Philippe.  Bernard will cook us dinner as we sit in front of a roaring fire drinking aperitifs and enjoying the weekend off.

Day 2  Sunday  ‘Hunt the truffle’
You are greeted in the morning by a table laden with croissants, pains chocolats, jams, fresh fruit juice, fruits and strong black coffee.  Then we set off in the cars to start a good walk to breath in the fresh French air and to build up our appetites for an excellent lunch at ‘Le Gindreau’.  This is a restaurant with a good truffle reputation!  Alexis Pellisoulou has a passion for truffles that few can match and he happens to be a great chef also.  This combination can be quite useful.  After lunch a little walk with the dogs for an example of some truffle hunting.  If we find some we might just have to cook with them tomorrow!  Walk 5 miles

Day 3  Monday  ‘Cook the truffle’
More croissants and breakfast delights before a drive to a local village and a walk through the beautiful Quercy landscape to Lario, the house of James and Diana.  Here we can all cook in the kitchen and see how one can work with the truffle.  ‘Poule en demi-deuil’ is a wonderful treat with a good fresh farmyard chicken and vegetables fresh from the Sunday Montcuq market.  After lunch we will drive to a pretty fourteenth century frescoed church to learn about the seven deadly sins and then to the vineyard of Clos Triguedina.  This is an important Cahors vineyard and the Baldès family have been making wine here since 1830 which includes today a Black Wine where the grapes are ‘cooked’ in prune drying ovens and a beautiful sweet white made from Chenin Blanc grapes.  We return in the vehicles to Le Vert for more delicious French cuisine from Bernard.  Once again a warm fire.  Once again delicious wine.  And once again a well-earned cosy bed.  Walk:  6 miles

Day 4  Tuesday  ‘Buy the truffle’
An early breakfast and take a beautiful drive to Lalbenque where you will have  lunch and then enjoy the  internationally reknowned truffle market.  It is indeed a gloriously rustic and remarkably unique and simple affair.  And here is a chance to buy some real fresh truffle to take back home to England.  A decent truffle should cost around 70 euros depending on the rains in August 2006. which were excellent.  That would come out at about 1000 euros a kilo!  After the market we leave Lalbenque by car for tea at the bar-cum-bakery of Concots before returning to Cahors.  We stay the night at Le Grand Hotel Terminus, a large ivy clad nineteenth century bourgeois house with an excellent restaurant of international repute. 

Day 5  Wednesday  Au revoir

After breakfast there is time to shop in Cahors and enjoy the hustle and bustle of market day.  This takes place in front of the majestic Gothic cathedral on an ox-bow of the river Lot.  We will leave Cahors in time to lunch at Moissac next to the fantastic Romanesque abbey that Sir Kenneth Clark eulogised in his great BBC series ‘Civilisation’.  A quick visit in the abbey before lunch.  After lunch we drive to Toulouse Blagnac.

NOTE:  The itinerary is subject to change according to local conditions.  All mileages are approximate. 

Bergerac is also available as an airport if coming as a group.