The atlas · A cuisine · Burgundy — east-central France, from Chablis down to the Mâconnais

Burgundian

Also Burgundy, Bourgogne, Cuisine bourguignonne
One of French cooking's regional kitchens · all 7 side by side

Red wine in the pot as much as the glass, with Charolais beef, bacon, mushrooms, snails, mustard and the cheeses and hams of the hills.

Where it comes from

The Dukes of Burgundy ruled a rich state from Dijon in the late Middle Ages, and their feasts were famous across Europe. Monks at Cîteaux and Cluny are usually credited with shaping the vineyards of the Côte d'Or, and wine has been the region's pride and its cooking liquid ever since.

The everyday food is farm cooking: slow braises in red wine, eggs and bacon, snails gathered from the vines, and beef from the white Charolais cattle of the south. Dijon's mustard and spiced honey bread, and the blackcurrant liqueur for kir, carried the name further than the dishes did.

Where in it

  1. Dijon and the Côte d'OrThe dukes' old capital and the famous slope of vineyards running south to Beaune: mustard, cassis, spiced honey bread, and cooking done in the wine next door.Pain d'épices de DijonJambon persilléCoq au vinŒufs en meuretteEscargots de Bourgogne
  2. Auxerre and ChablisThe northern Yonne, where the white wine is steely and the gougère is said to have begun — handed round warm in the cellars at tastings.Gougères
  3. The MorvanWooded granite hills in the middle of Burgundy, poor and remote, known for cured hams, game, mushrooms and a plain farmhouse cooking of potatoes and pork.Jambon persillé
  4. Charolles and the CharolaisGreen pasture in the south where the white Charolais cattle were bred up — the beef most cooks in Burgundy would reach for to braise.Bœuf bourguignon

How it cooks

À la bourguignonne
Red wine, bacon, small onions and mushrooms — the garnish that marks a dish as from here, whatever's in the middle.
Marinating in wine
Tough meat left overnight in wine with onion and herbs, then the wine becomes the braising liquid.
Meurette
Red wine reduced with shallots and thickened with butter and flour, for eggs, fish or brains.
Parsley and garlic butter
Beaten together and packed into snail shells, or melted over mushrooms and frogs' legs.

Always in the kitchen

red winewhite wineDijon mustardbaconbutton mushroomssmall onionsshallotsgarlicparsleythymebuttercrème fraîcheComté or Gruyèrecrème de cassis

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

BurgundianBœuf bourguignonBeef braised slowly in red Burgundy with bacon, small onions and mushrooms until it falls apart.No one here has made it yetBurgundianCoq au vinA cockerel or chicken braised in red wine with bacon, mushrooms and small onions, the sauce thickened with its own juices.No one here has made it yetBurgundianŒufs en meuretteEggs poached in red wine and served in its sauce, reduced with shallots and bacon, on fried bread.No one here has made it yetBurgundianEscargots de BourgogneSnails cooked, put back in their shells and stuffed with garlic and parsley butter, then baked until it sizzles.No one here has made it yetBurgundianGougèresChoux pastry beaten with grated cheese and baked into light, hollow puffs, eaten warm with a glass of wine.No one here has made it yetBurgundianJambon persilléChunks of ham set in a white wine jelly thick with parsley, sliced cold into a green and pink mosaic.No one here has made it yetBurgundianPain d'épices de DijonA dense, spiced honey loaf that keeps for weeks, sliced thin and eaten with butter or with foie gras.No one here has made it yet

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Burgundian yet.