flipŒufs en Meurette de Lignerolles
Œufs en Meurette de Lignerolles
Why this dish? I had a house in Lignerolles, in that Burgundy of measured landscapes where I retired to write. At the country table, we honored the local wine even in the sauces. Œufs en meurette — poached in red wine — embody this terroir cuisine that I enjoyed far from the tropics.
Eggs poached in a rich, glossy red Burgundy wine sauce (meurette), garnished with lardons, onions, and mushrooms, served on a garlic-rubbed crouton. A classic festive Burgundian dish.
After the fevers of the tropics, Burgundy offered its opposite: a landscape civilized even in its wine. In Lignerolles, I let the sauce simmer — reduced red wine, lardons, a few mushrooms — before slipping in the eggs. Culture, I have often written, is precisely this: taking fermentation, that patient work of time on matter, and making it an art of the table. Serve on a garlic-rubbed crouton, and savor without haste.
- •Red Burgundy wine — one bottle (fermented base of the sauce)
- •Very fresh eggs — 1-2 per person (poached element)
- •Smoked bacon — one thick slice (umami, fat)
- •Small onions and mushrooms — a handful (garnish)
- •Country bread, garlic — according to guests (crouton base)
Œufs en Meurette de Lignerolles
Eggs poached in a rich, glossy red Burgundy wine sauce (meurette), garnished with lardons, onions, and mushrooms, served on a garlic-rubbed crouton. A classic festive Burgundian dish.
Why this dish? I had a house in Lignerolles, in that Burgundy of measured landscapes where I retired to write. At the country table, we honored the local wine even in the sauces. Œufs en meurette — poached in red wine — embody this terroir cuisine that I enjoyed far from the tropics.
After the fevers of the tropics, Burgundy offered its opposite: a landscape civilized even in its wine. In Lignerolles, I let the sauce simmer — reduced red wine, lardons, a few mushrooms — before slipping in the eggs. Culture, I have often written, is precisely this: taking fermentation, that patient work of time on matter, and making it an art of the table. Serve on a garlic-rubbed crouton, and savor without haste.
Ingredients (period version)
- Red Burgundy wine — one bottle (fermented base of the sauce)
- Very fresh eggs — 1-2 per person (poached element)
- Smoked bacon — one thick slice (umami, fat)
- Small onions and mushrooms — a handful (garnish)
- Country bread, garlic — according to guests (crouton base)
Ingredients
- Full-bodied red wine (Burgundy or Pinot noir) — 50 cl (base of meurette sauce)
- Extra-fresh eggs — 6 (poached eggs)
- Smoked lardons — 150 g (umami)
- Pearl onions — 12 (garnish)
- Button mushrooms — 200 g (garnish)
- Butter + flour (beurre manié) — 30 g + 30 g (sauce thickener)
- Shallot, garlic, bouquet garni — 1 + 1 clove + 1 (aromatics)
- Country bread — 6 slices (croutons)
Method
- Sauté lardons, pearl onions, and mushrooms in butter; set aside.
- In the same pot, sweat the shallot, deglaze with red wine, add garlic and bouquet garni; reduce by half (15-20 min).
- Poach the eggs in simmering vinegared water for 3 min; drain on paper.
- Thicken the wine sauce with beurre manié to make it glossy; adjust salt.
- Return the lardon-mushroom garnish to the sauce; reheat.
- Rub toasted croutons with garlic, place an egg on each, and nap with hot meurette sauce.
How it was made : In Burgundy, meurette is a wine sauce matrix adaptable to eggs, fish, or meat, inherited from peasant cooking that wasted nothing — not even the bottom of a bottle. Eggs were sometimes poached directly in the wine, giving them a characteristic purplish rim.
The contemporary twist : Poach the egg directly in the reduced wine for purple-tinted whites: a striking visual effect on the plate.
Claude Lévi-Strauss · Charactorium
