A la Normande: A Gastronomic Paradise Recipe below June 6th, 1944, eternally known as D-Day. The largest single-day amphibious invasion in history. Over 130,000 allied troops landed at five beachheads, nicknamed Omaha, Juno, Sword, Utah, and Gold along a strip of the coast of Normandy. Ten thousand men were killed, wounded or captured in their gallant effort to liberate France, initiate a new world order, and depose the most evil maniac of all time. The most intense fighting was at Omaha Beach, monikered “Bloody Omaha,” with approximately 5,000 American casualties alone. One cannot think of Normandy without respectfully remembering the lives that were lost that day, and the freedom they eventually won for this world. Normandy is a coastal region of north-west France, just south of the English channel and comprising over 30,000 square kilometers. Normandy used to be heavily forested. Much of the woodland was cleared to pave the way for agriculture. Now just under 13% of current day Normandy is forest.

It is punctuated by granite and limestone cliffs and the Seine River which meanders its way to the English Channel. Its population numbers about 3.5 million. The tidal island of Mont Saint-Michel with its toweringly beautiful and world famous Benedictine Abbey is located just within the boundaries of Normandy and is one of its most famous landmarks. Normandy is a gastronomic paradise. A marriage made in heaven of the rich bounties of the land and the sea. Normandy’s cuisine is probably the most archetypal of the stereotypical conception of French food as being rich and fattening. First and foremost is dairy. Normandy’s cows produce unctuous cream and butter, the former of which is one of the characteristic features of its cuisine. And of course, where there’s cows and milk, there’s cheese. The world renowned Camembert originated in Normandy. Supposedly christened by Napoleon, Camembert is a rich, soft, cow’s milk cheese. Other noteworthy cheeses include Livarot, a soft and highly pungent cheese, and Pont l'Évêque, a creamy ripened cheese with a sweet/tart flavor. Apples are another major component in the gastronomy of Normandy.

It is said that Normandy contains 9 million apple trees. Apples give rise to Calvados, considered to be the best apple brandy on the planet. Calvados is drunk as an aperitif, an intermezzo, or after a meal. It is also incorporated into all kinds of Norman recipes and sauces. Apples and cream are the two most defining elements of Norman cuisine and one or both can always be expected in any dish entitled “à la Normande.” Continuing with Normandy’s terrestrial splendors, pork, chicken, duck, lamb and especially tripe are regular players. The towns of Rouen and Caen are considered the culinary capitals of Normandy and bare the name of some of its classic dishes. Canard à la Rouennaise (eponymously named after the town of Rouen where Joan of Arc met her demise), is a roasted duck whose carcass is crushed in a special press to extract the juices. It is then decadently blended with cream and cognac to render a sauce. Tripes à la mode de Caen is an intricate and protracted dish whereby the tripe is cooked with oxen feet, fat, root vegetables, herbs, spices, apple cider and Calvados.

Carbonade is a rich beef stew cooked with beer. Finally, andouille is a celebrated sausage of Normandy. Spicy and smoked, it is made from pork tripe and intestines. Turning to the ocean, seafood is an inextricable and significant feature of Norman cuisine. Its extensive coastline supports a bustling fishery trade. Oysters, mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, lobster, whelks and winkles, (sea snails), langoustines, sole, turbot, John Dory (also known as St. Peter’s fish), monkfish, and many other aquatic edibles adorn the seafood loving palates of Normandy. Sole à la Normande is yet another classic dish of the region. Sole is cooked with shrimp and mussels and then cream, and cider, (sometimes white wine), are incorporated into the sauce.

As for pastry and baking, Normandy is known for its brioche, (a rich yeast bread with butter and eggs), puffed pastry, galettes, (cakes made of flaky-pastry dough), madeleines, (buttery sponge cake), sables (cookies), mirlitons, (a puff pastry tart filled with almond cream), and terrine (sweetened rice cooked in milk). RECIPE : COTES DE PORC NORMANDE INGREDIENTS DIRECTIONS Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and sauté in the oil until completely browned on each side. Remove the chops from the pan and set aside. Add the butter to the pan and sauté the apples until browned. Remove the apples and set aside. Deglaze the pan with the Calvados and reduce by at least two thirds. Pour in the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Return the chops to the pan and coat with the cream. Place the apple slices on top of the chops and simmer for a few minutes or until the chops are fully cooked.

Also Visit Mark’s website: Food for Thought Online Normandy Recipes Normandy Recipes Normandy | Places to Stay | Places to Eat | Places to Visit | Things to Do | Events Calenda r | Firework Displays | Market Days | Garden s Children's Activities | History | Geography & Map | Museums | Recipes & Gastronomy | Sports| World War II | M aison de Normandie The details on this page have been kindly supplied by Maison de la Normandie et de la Manche MENU For Mobile Home or Camping Breaks contact About Norman Cooking Chicken in a cream sauce (poulet Vallï¿½e dï¿½Auge) can be found almost everywhere. Cream naturally plays an important part in many sauces whether with veal or steak. Pork in cider is another country dish which originated in Calvados and Caux area. Lamb on the menu in restaurants in the south of The Manche, near Mont-saint-Michel, will usually include the term ï¿½Prï¿½-salï¿½. This refers to the sheep reared on the salt plains around the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, which gives the meat a delicate extra taste.

Other Norman specialties, which may appeal to the more adventurous, include Tripe traditionally from Caen (Tripe ï¿½ la mode de Caen) but also served on skewers at la Fertï¿½ Macï¿½ in the Orne. Vire is famous for its Chitterling ( Andouilles) and in Mortagne-au-Perche, theyï¿½re proud of their black pudding. Canard Rouennais is a particular crossbreed of duck from the Seine Valley, which produces a more meaty bird. It is perhaps best not to ask how authentic Canard Rouennais is prepared. For fish dishes, sole from Dieppe is a specialty as is the local fish stew (marmite Diï¿½ppoise). Cheese - Normandy is the undisputed champion of the cheese board and virtually every part of the region can boast its own speciality. Camembert is probably the best known internationally and it hails from the village of the same name near Vimoutiers (just south of the Orne/ Calvados border).

If you like your cheese a little stronger, then Livarot and the slightly salty Pont-Lï¿½Evï¿½que (both from Calvados) will satisfy. In the Seine-Maritime, itï¿½s the Neufchatel which counts. Desserts - For a region seemingly overrun with apples and cream then the dessert menu is perhaps predictable. The variety of dishes based on these ingredients which appear on the menu will nevertheless astound you. Of course, the most famous is the apple tart but with the addition of a little flambï¿½ed Calvados and fresh cream. Drink - Normandy cider is generally light and more refreshing to drink than our own notion of ï¿½scrumpyï¿½ and as such it can be the perfect companion to many dishes. The result of distilling cider is of course Calvados. The fiery Brandy is normally served with (or even in) your coffee although its traditional role is to be drunk between courses. Many restaurants now offer a more refreshing version of the Trou Normand in the form of a Calvados flavored sorbet.

Calvados is used with the ï¿½mustï¿½ or the ï¿½worstï¿½ of cider to produce Normandyï¿½s very own aperitif: the Pommeau. A deliciously refreshing drink when served chilled. Routes gastronomiques The Cider Route - To the east of Caen, the cider route is assigned tourist route which weaves its way trough countryside typical of the area, linking the villages of Beuvron en Auge, Bonnebosq and Beaufour Druval via picturesque little roads. The rounded landscape, with its chateaux, manors, half-timbered houses and apple orchards, makes up the picture postcard scene. An authentic land where the horse is king, the Pays dï¿½Auge is dotted with famous stud farms. The cider route links about twenty local producers, easily recognisable by the signpost ï¿½cru de Cambremerï¿½. They also welcome visitors, offering a guided tour of the cellars and tasting.

The Tradition Route - Situated close to Caen, this tourist route which winds its way through the prï¿½-Bocage via the villages of Villers-Bocage, Dampierre and Caumont lï¿½Eventï¿½ is a true reflection of local tradition. Here farmers and craftsmen remain attached to their tradition. Their living spaces and work places, their knowledge and skills, and certain techniques productions are elements of authenticity and quality which are also linked to the methods and technology of today. These producers are open to visitors wanting to see their work places: they will take you on a tour, explaining their production methods as they go along and then selling the end products: honey, cheese, traditional breads, foie gras, cider, pommeau and Calvadosï¿½The route is also dotted with old villages, churches, chapels, and an ancient architectural heritage. Several circular footpaths have been signposted and families can also enjoy the lake at Cahagnes or the zoo at Jurques. At Caumont lï¿½Eventï¿½, the soutteroscope is well worth a visit-created within the old slate mines, it highlights the little-known world of geodes.

The Perry route - This itinerary from Domfront to Barenton invites you to cut cross a country of Bocage planted with hedges and peer treeï¿½s orchards. In this only landscape in Europe was born the Perry Domfront (poirï¿½), traditional drink elaborated from the fermentation of the pearï¿½s juice, and which enjoy of an A.O.C. (quality label). The Domfrontais like the Barentonais could of course be discovered in all seasons. But yet donï¿½t miss to come in April, unforgettable moment where peer treeï¿½s dress with 1000 and one flowers. This is an invite to visit the producers, which will welcome you with pleasure and give you their products for sampling.

Veal Escallopes in a Calvados Sauce Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking time: 30minutes Ingredients (to serve 5): 5 veal escalopes, 100g (4 oz) butter, 200g (8 oz) mushrooms, 2 soup spoons of vegetable oil, 1 small glass of calvados, 10 dl (1/5th pint) crï¿½me fraï¿½che, sprig of parsley, salt, pepper Drink: cider 1) Clean, wash and dry the mushrooms and slice them 2) In a frying pan, heat 50g (2 oz) butter with the oil. Place the escalopes in the pan and cook them on both sides until golden brown. Pour in the calvados, flame. Salt and generously pepper. Add a tiny amount of hot water. Cook over a low heat for 10 mins. 3) In another frying pan, melt the rest of the butter and cook the mushrooms for 6 or 7 mins. Salt and pepper. Wash and shop the parsley.

4) When the escalopes are cooked, add the mushrooms and the crï¿½me fraï¿½che and heat until piping hot. Pour into a serving dish, sprinkle on the parsley. Teurgoule In a large earthenware bowl, place 25 sugar cubes (= 125g or 5oz), 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1 pinch of salt, 150g (6 oz) rice and 2 litters of boiling milk. Add a knob of butter. Leave to cook for 5 hours in a cool heaven. Apple Flan flavoured with Calvados Preparation: 15 mins. Cooking time: 45 mins. Ingredients (to serve 4): 125g (5 oz) flour, 175g (7 oz) caster sugar, 100g (4 oz) butter, 4 soupspoons cream, 8 dl (1/6th pint) milk, 4 cl (1/3 gill) calvados, 4 apples, 3 eggs, pinch of salt. For flambï¿½e: 6 dl (1/2 gill) calvados.

To grease tin: 20g (1 oz) butter. To decorate: 2 dl (1/6 gill) very fresh pouring cream. 1) Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre, into which put 125g (5oz) sugar, the cream and the calvados. Melt 50g (2 oz) butter without heating and pour into the well. 2) Add a whole egg. Separate the remaining two eggs. Add the 2 yellows to the flour mixture and put the whites to one side. 3) Slightly warm the milk. Add to the flour-cream-sugar-egg mixture and stir. The whole should have the consistency of a batter. 4) Peel the apples and cut them in half. Remove the heart and the pips. Cut them into thin slices. Melt the rest of the butter in a pan and when hot, throw in the apples. Sprinkle over the rest of the sugar and gently caramelise. Keep hot. 5) Heat the oven to a moderate temperature. Grease a sandwich tin. Add the pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat them until stiff and peaky. Gently fold into the mixture.

6) Place the apples in the base of the sandwich tin. Pour over the mixture. Put into oven and cook. 7) Once cooked, let dessert cool and then remove from tin and place on serving dish. Heat the calvados. When boiling pours it over the flan and flame 8) Serve with a jug of fresh cream. Variations: 1) Can also be served warm and flamed with chilled calvados custard. 2) You can sprinkle the top of the flan with roughly chopped almonds before putting it in the oven. Preparation: 45 mins. Total cooking time: 20 - 25 mins. Ingredients: (to serve 4 people): 2 dozen oysters, _ litre mussels, 1 sachet of shelled prawns, 100g (4oz) button mushrooms, 1 lemon, 1.5 dl (1/8 gill) dry white wine, 1 shallot, 3 dl (1/4 gill) crï¿½me fraï¿½che, 100g (4oz butter), 8 short crust pastry tartlets, salt and pepper.

Drink: a Pouilly Fumï¿½, Quincy or fine bottled cider. 1) Scrape the mussels, carefully wash them several times, strain them. Peel the shallot and finely chop. Squeeze the lemon. 2) In a saucepan, add the shallot, white wine and a little pepper. Bring to the boil and then throw in the mussels and cook them over a strong heat for 8 mins, stirring occasionally. 3) Clean, wash and dry the mushrooms. If they are too big, cut them into quarters. 4) In a saucepan, add the lemon juice and a glass of water. Salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and throw in the mushrooms. Cover and cook for 8 mins, stirring occasionally. 5) Remove the mussels from pan and shell them. Carefully filter the cooking juice through a cloth. Put them to one side. 6) Open the oysters, pour the juice into a pan. Remove the oysters from their shells and gently simmer them in their own juice for 4 minutes. 7) Strain the mushrooms and the oysters, keeping their cooking juice. Heat the oven to a cool temperature. 8) Pour the mussel juice into a pan.

Add the oyster juice and half of the mushroom juice. Evaporate off 9/10ths of this mixture and then add the crï¿½me fraï¿½che and reduce until the mixture thickens. Remove the pan from heat and add butter cut into small pieces. Stir. The sauce must not boil. 9) Heat the tartlets in the oven. 10) Add the mussels, oysters, prawns and well-drained mushrooms to the sauce. Heat gently without boiling. Use this mixture to decorate the tartlets. Serve piping hot. Travel At the Ends of the Earth In the Atlantic Ocean off Canada's coast, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, two tiny islands ruled by France, are foggy, mysterious, and brimming with delicious seafood By Adam Leith Gollner posted Apr 16th, 2014 at 10:00am Penny De Los Santos “Subject to fogs,” concluded Captain Cook in 1763. His assessment remains valid, as I learned on a recent visit to the remote North Atlantic island of Saint-Pierre. The memorial statue in the main square is of a steely-eyed fisherman grasping his ship's wheel.

Sailors vanishing at sea is a reality here in the Grand Banks, where the frigid Labrador Current crashes into the warm Gulf Stream, causing around a hundred fog-drenched days each year. But those mists also conceal treasure: “good fishing ground all round,” as Cook put it. Ever since the 1400s, when Basque seamen first voyaged here for cod, seafood has been a lure. The briny marine air hits you upon arrival. So does the cold. When my plane landed at Saint-Pierre's airport last August, the temperature was 48 degrees Fahrenheit. Hence the local expression l'hiver est venu passer l'été—winter has come to spend the summer. Penny De Los Santos No one I knew had ever spent a day here. France's remaining bastion in North America is something of a mystery. Scant information is available online or in books about Saint-Pierre (population: 5,676) and its sibling Miquelon (635 inhabitants). Geographically Canadian, the territory is administratively European. Passports are stamped by French customs officials. The currency is the euro.

In Saint-Pierre, the main port of call, old men play pétanque and drink pastis in the square. Like explorer John Cabot, who stumbled onto the archipelago while searching for Cathay in 1497, I'd come in the spirit of discovery. My goal? Seafood. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon's official motto is a mare labor, a Latin phrase meaning “from the sea, work.” I intended to work my way through the bounty. My first stop, at my taxi driver's suggestion, was a diner by the improbable name of Café Cyber Poly Gone Home. The lanky chef Philippe Pupier served me a traboulette—country bread slathered in béchamel, topped with Puy lentils, saucisson, and Gruyère—and chatted with me about local dishes: tiaude, a thick fishermen's stew of potatoes, carrots, and cod; and_ boulettes de morue_, salt cod fritters, known here as “cod snowballs.” These traditional foods, he said, are hard to find outside of home kitchens, but he'd prepare a menu of classics during my visit.

I had to leave for Miquelon the following morning—there was a local seafood festival there that I didn't want to miss—but we agreed to reconvene upon my return. The next day I awoke to a landscape enshrouded in milky brume. The hour-long ferry to Miquelon left at dawn. “You can't see the sky from the sea,” said the ship's captain, smiling as he navigated by GPS. The atmospheric gauze would blow off before noon, he assured me, steering over wine-dark waves into the vaporous nothingness. Wild horses grazing on the strand looked like washed-out ghosts Hours into my visit to Miquelon, the mist remained as thick as brandade. Wild horses grazing on the strand looked like washed-out ghosts. I was trying to imagine how hard it must be to fish these waters when an aroma of charring seafood speared through the gloom. The smokiness seemed suffused with hints of violets and cucumbers. “What is that?” I said out loud. A white sky withheld any clues, so I set off in blind pursuit.

I ended up in front of my B&B, where the owner, Paulette Boissel, had greeted me earlier with “Bienvenue! We're the exiles at the ends of the earth.” About to give up on the beguiling perfume, I noticed a neighbor sitting on his stoop beside a cast-iron plate mounted on a flame-emitting gas canister. It held a dozen small silvery fish. Penny De Los Santos “These are capelins grilled à la plaque—and they're nearly ready!” the man, named Loic, told me when I approached him. During the spawning season, the ocean boils over with these smelts, historically food for cod and other big Grand Banks fish. You can reach a pail into the water and pull them out by the dozens. Their flesh has a surprising floral aroma, he said. These had an added pungency from the way they were cured. Loic sun-dries the small fish and then brines them in salt in the backyard. He invited me inside, where his wife, Natalie, and their children were spreading butter on bread. “You can't have capelins without bread and butter,” Natalie declared.

“And you can't have afternoon tea without capelins,” Loic added. The inhabitants of Miquelon always have afternoon tea at 4 p.m. “Everybody gets peckish around this time,” Natalie explained. “You'll join us for tea, bien sûr?” The capelins were as delicious as they smelled: toothsome, saline, grill-blistered. The butter offset their minerality perfectly. Traditional recipes are simple, Natalie said. The never-ending winters had taught residents to do a lot with a little. A staple is salted cod, although it's increasingly hard to come by—the cod fisheries collapsed more than two decades ago. But there is still life in the sea. And the best place to sample it, she said, would be the seafood festival the following day. For this elaborate potluck, everyone prepares their best recipes. The owner of my pension, for instance, would be bringing her famous mussel tart. The never-ending winters had taught residents to do a lot with a little Thanking Loic and Natalie, I went to check in on Paulette, who was indeed cooking her trademark dish.

With her short white hair, nurselike apron, and silent sailor husband, Paulette was as tough as oyster shells but in a humorous way. She told me that most of the island's population could be traced to the Basque Country, Normandy, or Brittany. “Me, I'm Basquaise,” she declared, toothpick dangling gangster-moll-like, fists raised as though to say, “Come on! Any takers? Who wants to go?” Paulette had made enough tarts to spare one for her houseguest. It turned out to be supremely satisfying, the pâte brisée shell blanketed in mussels and a creamy mornay sauce. Afterward, hoping to walk off my rich snack, I moseyed down to the wharf to scope the catch. Twilight descended and mariners, faces chiseled by the wind, started motoring into port. “Were they biting?” I asked. “There's nothing out there tonight,” said a large, ruddy-cheeked man in rubber boots, gruffly.

Penny De Los Santos “But when you actually catch some encornets,” he continued, using the local term for squid, “you grill them or stuff them.” He'd caught bucketloads at dawn and was planning to stuff them with bread crumbs and aromatics for the next day's buffet. “Could I come and see?” I asked. He looked me up and down and then told me to jump in the back of his pickup. At his house, the man, named Jean Maurice, fired up a metal plaque similar to Loic's and grilled some squid plain, explaining that superfresh encornets don't need seasoning. When heated, their ink forms a natural sauce that complements the squid's seared exterior sumptuously. Then Jean Maurice, employed as captain of a scallop barge, suggested that his wife, Carole, whip up her specialty, coquilles St-Jacques—scallops au gratin. I protested because I was exceedingly full. “That's about right,” said Carole, who makes fantastic scallops.

“Everybody here has four o'clock tea, then an apéro at 6 p.m., and then dinner at 8 p.m., so you're on track.” They also have three meals before that: breakfast, a midmorning snack, and lunch. “Le monde adore manger ici,” as Paulette had said—“people love to eat here.” Locals eat seasonally by necessity, he explained The next day I went to rent a bicycle and explore the island. The bikes all needed repairs, the young shopkeeper said. But if I wanted, her dad would give me a tour. Minutes later, a kindly gentleman drove up and introduced himself as Denis Detcheverry. It turned out he was Miquelon's former mayor and currently the local senator. He spent part of each year representing the islands in Paris. “Our cuisine is French, with our own touches based on nature's offerings,” he said, pointing out streams full of trout. Locals eat seasonally by necessity, he explained. Fall and winter is the time for cod, deer, wild hare. Spring brings the best sea urchins. In summer forests are blanketed with chanterelles and fields with wild strawberries.

It had been at least an hour since my last meal, so Detcheverry suggested I come over for lobster. After he parked, I went down the street to pick up a bottle of wine and returned with a white Graves from Clos Floridène. “They have fantastic wines at that grocery store,” I remarked. “Of course they do. We're in France after all,” he replied. He cut the lobsters in half lengthwise and grilled them_ à la Normandie_ with splashes of calvados. The wood fire's smoky essence fused seamlessly into sweet flesh accentuated by notes of cooked apples. It whet my appetite for more, so I left Detcheverry and joined the people streaming through the foggy streets to the seafood festival, which was starting in a sports gymnasium three blocks away. Penny De Los Santos Despite the gloomy weather, it was cheery in the gym. Each home cook had contributed to the buffet: lobster mousse, tuna pâté, cod fritters. Shrimp and snow crab were stuffed into every hollow: halved peaches and tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, coils of smoked salmon.

Lobsters with pincers like baseball mitts encircled asparagus-crowned crab spreads and trout in aspic. At the sound of a whistle, participants stampeded the gargantuan spread. “This is very old, real, roots France,” one visitor from Paris exclaimed. “It's like something you'd find in the backwoods of Auvergne or Limousin. This feels like the most out-there place that's actually inhabited.” People started dancing, young and old alike. Hours later, everyone trickled out, full and happy. Having feasted hard, I slept peacefully amid the Bonne Cuisine books and trophy antlers that graced the shelves at Paulette's. In the morning, the sky above the ferry back to Saint-Pierre was less overcast. Jagged cliffs wavered in the distance; seabirds rippled the waters with their wingtips. I landed and headed for the portside diner. Philippe Pupier was blasting Maria Callas on the sound system when I arrived. As promised, he had made a meal for me. It started with tiaude, which was gloriously direct: cod cheeks and vegetables in a thick roux.

Then, tender chunks of bisque-moistened lobster were served en croûte, in mini cocottes sealed with puff pastry. And cod snowballs, creamy with a crisp golden exterior. Made from island recipes, it was a wonderful lunch, as good as any I would have had at a fine bistro in Paris. Yet here we were nestled away in a tiny fishing village just south of Newfoundland in the fog thickets of nowhere, a place where they live to eat. Tags: Press Reviews - Calvados Dupont Press reviews Principal press articles commenting on the ciders and calvados of the Domaine Dupont... Wine Enthusiast - December 2016 "An Apple Brandy a Day Keeps the Winter Blues Away" Calvados tasting notes by Kara Newman Calvados Vieille Reserve : 94 pts This golden brandy is scented with rich vanilla and honey, plus a surprising herbaceous lilt. The bold flavor has a savory, almost meaty note at first sip, but finishes with more delicate freshness, fading into honey, white flowers and vanilla. This complex, distinctive sipper is worth getting to know.

2016 Challenge to the Best Wines and spirits for Asia This contest is organised in Hong Kong with a 100% Asian jury, chaired by Mr Nelson Chow, president of the Hong Kong and China Sommeliers Association. Domaine Dupont has been awarded twice: Cidre Reserve 2013 .... Gold medal ...... Award The Daily Telegraph - Decembre 2015 - Christmas selection Calvados VSOP : "This small package contains a glorious, finessed Calvados. I always forget how much I love the smell of baked apples and brandy until a bottle like this is opened. Pure pleasure. Put under the tree for yourself and drink on Christmas Eve." The New York Times - October 2014 "In Normandy, Young Ambition Stirs a Traditional Brandy" Jason Wilson of The New York Times has visited Normandy to meet the new generation of Calvados producers, "a serious group of younger producers, who have banded together under the name Esprit Calvados". Domaine Dupont is one of them... Read the article...

Food and Drink Magazine - LCBO - Ontario, Canada In its Holiday 2013 issue, the LCBO Food and Drink magazine has a feature on French Brandy. The magazine has selected a Domaine Dupont Calvados to illustrate the article. "Domaine Dupont VSOP Pays d'Auge Calvados is double distilled and aged for a minimum of four years. Intense and complex, it has aromas of apple, citrus and vanilla that become more pronounced if you add a drop or two of water to each glass." See the magazine page 2013 Asia Beer Awards This contest was held during the Singapore Beerfest Asia 2013. This is an award given for the best beer or cider produce you can find in Singapore. Domaine Dupont has been awarded with Gold in the Cider Category : logo Sommeliers International Magazine - Winter 2012 Prestige Tasting of Spirits, Bordeaux november 2012. Several sommeliers, under the guidance of World's Best Sommelier Philippe Faure-Brac, have selected two Calvados from Domaine Dupont: Calvados Hors d'Age : Visual aspect: beautiful gold colour, gleaming old gold hue.

Nose: complex, very fine, elegant, subtle. Beautiful typicity. Delicious nose. Fresh ceps, white-fleshed fruits, peach, mango, fresh Granny Smith. Palate: beautiful typicity. Exceptional fineness. Melted and very long palate. The apple is delicate, melted and swirls delicately. Gourmet pairing: roasted lobster on a bed of roasted and singed shallots. Comments: the Rolls of Calvados. A delicacy. Visual aspect: golden gleaming, deep. Nose: roasted apples, fig, cinnamon. Palate: dense fruitiness, melted palate; natural, classy, fine. Beautiful persistency. Gourmet pairing: crayfish with angelica and vanilla. Comments: a Calvados that is pleasantly concentrated. 2012 Challenge to the Best French Wine and Spirit for Asia This contest is organised in Hong Kong with a 100% Asian jury, chaired by Mr Nelson Chow, president of the Hong Kong Sommeliers Association.

Domaine Dupont has been awarded four times: Read the article (french) Australian Cider Awards 2011 Finishing 1st and 2nd in the "Bottle Conditioned / Methode Champenoise Cider" category, Domaine Dupont has been awarded with two silver awards: Cidre Bouché : Best in Class and Silver Award (1st place) Have a look at the awards... Serious Eats - web magazine - October 2011 Tips for Pairing Fish and Cider: In this article, Chris Lehault does have many interesting ideas, such as pairing cider with sushi: "While wasabi lovers will prefer an extra dry, sparkling cider to cut the heat, French ciderï¿½such as our beloved Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandieï¿½works wonders with everything from tobiko to tuna rolls.

The slight sweetness and earthy character will enhance umami." Read the whole article Norwegian TV - July 2011 A nice presentation of Domaine Dupont on Norwegian TV, hosted by John Kaare Hoversholm, directed by Finn-Erik Rognan (aired 7th july 2011) National Geographic Traveler - Alan Richman - March 2011 "Upon arriving (at Domaine Dupont) Iï¿½m invited to taste an impressive range of Calvados. The oldest dates to 1969. I particularly admire those aged about 20 years: The perfume of apples remains profound. Very old Calvados, while sublime, tends to taste the same as brandies made from grapes. I also sample the 2009 Cidre Bouché - fizzy cider - which I declare the best Iï¿½ve had in Normandy, exquisitely complex, earthy, and deep, with a hint of goût de terroir, like that found in a fine red Burgundy." Read the article "A Normandy Invasion" Eric Asimov - New York Times - Dining and Wine - Nov.

17, 2010 In his article on ciders from all countries, famous wine critic Eric Asimov puts Domaine Dupont on the top of the list: "First among my favourites is the Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché , which I've been buying for years. Like many of the top ciders, this comes in a wine-size bottle, topped with a cork. The Dupont is always vintage dated, and the ciders clearly differ from year to year. The 2009, which is currently on shelves, is not as intense as some previous years, but it is dry and deliciously pure, with maybe a hint of caramel to it." Revue du Vin de France - France - December 2010 "A Calvados that is both powerful and fresh. A feast of aromas" Calvados 1977 unreduced : "Etienne Dupont has learned how to distil in Cognac. He prefers a rapid ï¿½coulageï¿½ to a rapid distillation, to keep the eau-de-vie lively and fresh.

The 1977 is the perfect illustration of this especially considering that it aged in large casks which only just gave the faintest hint of wood to the distillate. This Calvados is a rarity in that it is neither diluted nor filtered, which is why it gives sensations of power and vigour. It combines with buttered apple citrus flavours and spice. When aerated the mouth reminds one of pastries. As for the empty glass, itï¿½s a feast of aromas." Jason Wilson - Washington Post - Oct. 15, 2008 In his article on apple brandy and Calvados "Falling for the taste of apple in a glass", Jason Wilson talks about Domaine Dupont in these terms: "My favorite affordable Calvados is probably Domaine Dupont Calvados Fine Reserve , aged a minimum of three years, with an irresistibly freash aroma, an intense apple taste and a buttery finish." Calvados Fine Reserve : * * * * Highly recommended 4/5 "Old sauternes / yellow-gold color; sediment-free clarity.

Smells first of marginaly sour apple and is light, pleasing tart, and slightly spiced; the sour apple turns a bit riper following further air contact and becomes more like apple strudel / apple pastry than fresh apples; a good bouquet. Palate entry is smooth, sweet/sour, astringent and keenly apple like; midpalate highlight the apple peel nearly as much as the apple pulp and is now gently sweet. Composed, slightly sweet, and delicate in the finish. A very charming and evolve Fine Calvados that is contstantly growing and expanding with time. Genuinely lovely." Calvados Reserve : * * * * * Highest recommendation 5/5 "Amber/ burnished gold / maize color; excellent purity. Offers moderately toasted / baked aromas of baked apple, lemon peel, and oak resins; top-drawer notes of apple butter and apple sauce dominate the second stage of sniffing which aromatically carries the essence of aple from start to finish.

Palate entry is delightfuly spiced (vanilla, nutmeg) like spiced apple fresh out of the oven; midpalate showcases the baked spiced apple theme to the max, making the taste profile zesty, ripe, fruity / citrusy, and pastry-like. Finshes with an added dash of spice and oiliness (buttery-type oil). Luscious, period." Read the article Eric Asimov - New York Times - The Pour - December 2008 In an article on wine pairing with indian food, the chief wine critic Eric Asimov describes Domaine Dupont Cidre Bouché as his favorite cider... "It was one of my favorite ciders, a 2007 Brut de Normandie Cidre Bouché from Etienne Dupont, a great producer from Calvados country who sells his unfiltered, unpasteurized ciders in cork-topped 750-milliliter bottles, which are generally under $10.

The cider had just a touch of welcome funk to it, a bit of a wet wool aroma that I felt contributed complexity, and while the cider tasted dry because it was so well balanced, it also had a bit of apple-like sweetness to it ï¿½ a kabinett cider! I thought with its combination of kabinett sweetness and Champagne bubbles, it went perfectly with the Indian food. And only 5.5 percent alcohol." Read the article Revue du Vin de France - France - July-August 2009 In the article on ciders and perries by Raoul Salama, the Domaine Dupont came first with an overall mark of 19/20 for the Estate. "A whole range of exceptional ciders. Cambremer is the pantheon of cider from the Pays dï¿½Auge." ... See the whole page (French) Givre is also mentioned in the section on Canadian ice ciders as being the only blend of this type in France. Weekly Volcano - U.S.A. (WA) - May 2008 "The first cider sampled was the Cidre Organic Etienne Dupont.

Organic and unfiltered, it reminded me of Belgium ale with its earthy, tart flavors. The nose is powerful and complex with a nice balance between bitterness and acidity. This could go with many other dishes besides Indian food. " "The next bottle is decidedly different. The Cidre Bouché seems to have a little more carbonation and definitely less yeast. Consider this a ï¿½user friendlyï¿½ cider if you get my drift, with a little more acid and a cleaner finish. Both of these ciders are about four percent alcohol, so one or two at lunch wonï¿½t kill you. Again, this one could pair with many food items, but now I am going for dessert with a warm slice of apple pie and melted cheddar cheese." "My taste buds really perked up with the next cider, their Cidre Reserve . After fermentation, this cider is transferred into barrels containing Calvados that have just been emptied. It will slowly continue fermenting and maturing for six months. This process gives the cider much more complexity and a touch more alcohol, bringing it to 7.5 percent.

Iï¿½ll just drink this by itself, thank you." "Now for my favorite: the Cuvee Colette . This cider is put through a secondary fermentation, like Champagne called Méthode Champenoise. I wonï¿½t go into this right now, but if you like sparking wine, you will most likely enjoy this cider. It is clean and crisp, with a little more acid than I expected. Delicate and fresh, it would be excellent compliment to a soft cheese such as Camembert or Pierre Robert." Le Point - France - November 2009. Calvados Reserve : "Apple, very tasty in the mouth, fresh, harmonious, spicy with white pepper, tonic." Marked: 15.5/20 (best mark for Calvados of this age).

Au fil de la Normandie - France - June 2009 In its special issue on Normandy ciders, the magazine consecrated a double page spread to the Domaine Dupont and commented on two blends: Cidre Reserve : "Strong in alcohol, powerful and refined, its powerful flavours heightened by being barrel aged will be a marvel with white meat, such as a veal blanquette, and also with a Normandy raw milk cheese." Givre : "Rare, this ice cider delights all the senses, the eyes with its amber colour, the nose with its aromas of salt butter toffee, and the taste buds with its sweetness and aromas of Tart Tatin." See extracts from the article (French) Revue du Vin de France - France - Martine Nouet - May 2007 "Etienne Dupont has been able to give a unique character to his Calvados: power allied with an astonishing freshness." Calvados Reserve 45% : "Right from the beginning, the nose shows fresh hints of green apples, angelica and mint. In the mouth, the balance is perfect.

A delight served with a creamy Camembert." Calvados 1977 45% : "Distilled in a small alembic, aged in 1200 litre (264 imperial gallon) casks, this Calvados has kept an astonishing vigour. Neither diluted nor cold filtered, it gives off out hints of crystallised fruits (citrus and quince) with an explosion of spices in the mouth. Complex, it has hints reminiscent of pastries. Splendid." Calvados 1969 41% : "The nose confirms its age with definite signs of ï¿½rancioï¿½: undergrowth (moss, mushroom and humus), animal hints: ï¿½sweaty saddleï¿½ and game. The mouth is powerful and fresh. In the finish, licorice and hints of toast (and a hint of pain dï¿½épices in the emptied glass.

This truly is a great eau-de-vie." Cuisine Actuelle - France - march 2007 La Cuvee Colette 2004 was chosen "Drink of the Month" by the magazine: "This dry cider is well worth discovering, with its fine firm mousse: Cuvee Colette has aromas of sharp green apples and citrus fruits. Wonderful with prawns, ï¿½Normandy styleï¿½ veal chops, apple with black pudding Tatin or a delicate cheese." Dagbladet - Marianne Johnsen - Norway - march 16, 2007 Cidre Bouché : "Its colour is gold and amber. Aromas of sweet apples and exceptional freshness. This is a very good alternative to wine. It contains little alcohol, only 5%. This cider has quite a fine structure with a slight suggestion of bitterness.

It would be an excellent companion to a poultry liver terrine, or as an aperitif." Read the article (Norwegian) Hotell Magasinett - Norway - May 2007 Cidre Reserve 2004 : "An elegant cider, mature (because it is aged in Calvados barrels) with dominant aromas of apple together with hints of lemon and orange. In the mouth, the attack shows flavours of apples, orange, licorice and hints of vanilla. This cider has acquired a fine structure thanks to its sojourn in barrels, and can be served at table. Serve with foie gras and apple chutney." Drinks Magazin - Germany - June 2008 In its article ï¿½A journey to the heart of Calvadosï¿½, the German magazine ï¿½Drinksï¿½ awards the Domaine Dupont an important amount of space. Read the article (German) Harper's Bazaar - Japan - May 2004 In its article ï¿½Voyage en Normandieï¿½ the Japanese language version of Harperï¿½s Bazaar gives pride of place to the Domaine Dupont.

Normandy Normandy From the Catholic Encyclopedia An ancient French province, from which five "departments" were formed in 1790: Seine-Inférieure (Archdiocese of Rouen), Eure (Diocese of Evreux), Calvados (Diocese of Bayeux), Orne (Diocese of Séez), Manche (Diocese of Coutances). The Normans, originally Danish or Norwegian pirates, who from the ninth to the tenth century made numerous incursions into France, gave their name to this province. In the Gallo-Roman period Normandy formed the so-called second Lyonnaise province (Secunda Lugdunensis). At Thorigny within the territory of this province was found an inscription very important for the history of the worship of the emperors in Gaul and of the provincial assemblies; the latter, thus meeting for this worship, kept up a certain autonomy throughout the conquered territory of Gaul. Under the Merovingians the Kingdom of Neustria annexed Normandy. About 843 Sydroc and his bands of pillagers opened the period of Northman invasions.

The policy of Charles the Bald in giving money or lands to some of the Northmen for defending his land against other bands was unfortunate, as these adventurers readily broke their oath. In the course of their invasions they slew (858) the Bishop of Bayeux and (859) the Bishop of Beauvais. The conversion (862) of the Northman, Weland, marked a new policy on the part of the Carlovingians; instead of regarding the invaders as intruders it was admitted that they might become Christians. Unlike the Saracens, then disturbing Europe, the Northmen were admitted to a place and a rôle in Christendom. The good fortune of the Northmen began with Rollo in Normandy itself. It was long believed that Rollo came by sea into the valley of the Seine in 876, but the date is rather 886. He destroyed Bayeux, pillaged Lisieux, besieged Paris, and reached Lorraine, finally establishing himself at Rouen, where a truce was concluded.

His installation was considered so definitive that in the beginning of the tenth century Witto, Archbishop of Rouen, consulted the Archbishop of Reims as to the means of converting the Northmen. Rollo's settlement in Normandy was ratified by the treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte (911), properly speaking only a verbal agreement between Rollo and Charles the Simple. As Duke of Normandy Rollo remained faithful to the Carlovingian dynasty in its struggles with the ancestors of the future Capetians. These cordial relations between the ducal family of Normandy and French royalty provoked under Rollo's successor William Long-sword (931-42) a revolt of the pagan Northmen settled in Cotentin and Bessin. One of their lords (jarls), Riulf by name was the leader of the movement. The rebels reproached the duke with being no longer a true Scandinavian and "treating the French as his kinsmen". Triumphant for a time, they were finally muted and the aristocratic spirit of the jarls had to bow before the monarchical principles which William Long-sword infused into his government.

Another attempt at a revival of paganism was made under Richard I Sans Peur (the Fearless, 942-96). He was only two years old at his father's death. A year later (943) the Scandinavian Setric, landing in Normandy with a band of pirates, induced a number of Christian Northmen to apostatize; among them, one Turmod who sought to make a pagan of the young duke. Hugh the Great, Duke of France, and Louis IV, King of France, defeated these invaders and after their victory both sought to set up their own power in Normandy to the detriment of the young Richard whom Louis IV held in semi-captivity at Laon. The landing in Normandy of the King of Denmark, Harold Bluetooth, and the defeat of Louis IV, held prisoner for a time (945), constrained the latter to sign the treaty of Gerberoy, by which the young Duke Richard was reestablished in his possessions and became, according to the chronicler Dudon de Saint-Quentin, a sort of King of Normandy.

The attacks later directed against Richard by the Carlovingian King Lothaire and Thibaut le Tricheur, Count of Chartres, brought a fresh descent on France of the soldiers of Harold Bluetooth. Ascending the Seine these Danes so devastated the country of Chartres that when they withdrew, according to the chronicler Guillaume of Jumièges, there was not heard even the bark of a dog. When Eudes of Chartres, brother-in-law of Richard II the Good, again threatened Normandy (996-1020) it was once more the Scandinavian chieftains, Olaf of Norway and Locman, who came to the duke's aid. So attached were these Scandinavians to paganism that their leader Olaf, having been baptized by the Archbishop of Rouen, was slain by them. Although they had become Christian, all traces of Scandinavian paganism did not disappear under the first dukes of Normandy. Rollo walked barefoot before the reliquary of St.

Oueu, but he caused many relies to be sold in England, and on his death-bed, according to Adhémar de Chabannes, simultaneously caused prisoners to be sacrificed to the Scandinavian gods and gave much gold to the churches. Richard I was a great builder of churches, among them St. Ouen and the primitive cathedral of Rouen, St. Michel du Mont, and the Trinity at Fécamp. Richard II, zealous for monastic reform, brought from Burgundy Guillaume de St. Bénigne; the Abbey of Fécamp, reformed by him, became a model monastery and a much frequented school. All these dukes protected the Church, but the feudal power of the Church, which in many States at that time limited the central power, was but little developed in Normandy, and it was to their kinsmen that the dukes of Normandy most often gave the Archdiocese of Rouen and other sees. Ecclesiastical life in Normandy was vigorous and well-developed; previous to the eleventh century the rural parishes were almost as numerous as they are to-day.

Thus Normandy for nearly a century and a half was at once a sort of promontory of the Christian world in face of Scandinavia and at the same time a coign of Scandinavia thrust into the Christian world. Henceforth those Danes and Scandinavians who under the name of Normans formed a part of Christendom, never called pagan Danes or Scandinavians to their aid unless threatened in the possession of Normandy; under their domination the land became a stronghold of Christianity. The monastery of Fontenelle (q. v.) pursued its religious and literary activity from the Merovingian period. The "Chronicon Fontanellense", continued to 1040, is an important source for the history of the period. The ducal family of Normandy early determined to have an historiographer whom they sought in France, one Dudon, dean of the chapter of St. Quentin, who between 1015-30 wrote in Latin half verse, half prose, a history of the family according to the traditions and accounts transmitted to him by Raoul, Count of Ivry grandson of Rollo and brother of Richard I Alinea.

Duke Robert the Devil (1027-35) was already powerful enough to interfere efficaciously in the struggles of Henry I of France against his own brother and the Counts of Champagne and Flanders. In gratitude the king bestowed on Robert the Devil, Pontoise, Chaumont en Vexin, and the whole of French Vexin. It was under Robert the Devil that the ducal family of Normandy first cast covetous glances towards England. He sent an embassy to Canute the Great, King of England, in order that the sons of Ethelred, Alfred and Edward, might recover their patrimony. The petition having been denied he made ready a naval expedition against England, destroyed by a tempest. He died while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre. It was reserved for his son William the Bastard, later called William the Conqueror, to make England a Norman colony by the expedition which resulted in the victory of Hastings or Senlac (1066).

It seemed, then, that in the second half of the eleventh century a sort of Norman imperialism was to arise in England, but the testament of William the Conqueror which left Normandy to Robert Courte-Heuse and England to William Rufus, marked the separation of the two countries. Each of the brothers sought to despoil the other; the long strife which Robert waged, first against William Rufus, afterwards against his third brother Henry I Beauclerc, terminated in 1106 with the battle of Tinchebray, after which he was taken prisoner and brought to Cardiff. Thenceforth Normandy was the possession of William I, King of England, and while forty years previous England seemed about to become a Norman country, it was Normandy which became an English country; history no longer speaks of the ducal family of Normandy but of the royal family of England. Later Henry I, denounced to the Council of Reims by Louis VI of France, explained to Callistus II in tragic terms the condition in which he had found Normandy. "The duchy", said he, "was the prey of brigands.

Priests and other servants of God were no longer honoured, and paganism had almost been restored, in Normandy. The monasteries which our ancestors had founded for the repose of their souls were destroyed, and the religious obliged to disperse, being unable to sustain themselves. The churches were given up to pillage, most of them reduced to ashes, while the priests were in hiding. Their parishioners were slaying one another." There, may have been some truth in this description of Henry I; however, it is well to bear in mind that the Norman dukes of the eleventh century, while they had prepared and realized these astounding political changes, had also developed in Normandy, with the help of the Church, a brilliant literary and artistic movement. The Abbey of Bec was for some time, under the direction of Lanfranc and St. Anselm, the foremost school of northern France.

Two Norman monasteries produced historical works of great importance; the "Historia Normannorum" written between 1070-87 by Guillaume Calculus at the monastery of Jumièges; the "Historia Ecclesiastica" of Ordericus Vitalis, which begins with the birth of Christ and ends in 1141, written at the monastery of St. Evroult. The secular clergy of Normandy emulated the monks; in a sort of academy founded in the second half of the eleventh century by two bishops of Lisieux, Hugues of Eu and Gilbert Maminot, not only theological but also scientific and literary questions were discussed. The Norman court was a kind of Academy and an active centre of literary production. The chaplain of Duchess Matilda, Gin de Ponthieu, Bishop of Amiens, composed in 1067 a Latin poem on the battle of Hastings; the chaplain of William the Conqueror, William of Poitiers, wrote the "Gesta" of his master and an extant account of the First Crusade is due to another Norman, Raoul de Caen, an eyewitness.

At the same time the Norman dukes of the eleventh century restored the buildings, destroyed by the invasions of their barbarian ancestors, and a whole Romance school of architecture developed in Normandy, extending to Chartres, Picardy, Brittany, and even to England. Caen was the centre of this school; and monuments like the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames, built at Caen by William and Matilda, mark an epoch in the history of Norman art. In the course of the twelfth century the political destinies of Normandy were very uncertain. Henry I of England, master of Normandy from 1106-35, preferred to live at Caen rather than in England. His rule in Normandy was at first disturbed by the partisans of Guillaume Cliton, son of Robert Courte-Heuse, and later by the plot concocted against him by his own daughter Matilda, widow of Emperor Henry V, who had taken as her second husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. When Henry I died in 1135 his body was brought to England; his death without male heirs left Normandy a prey to anarchy.

For this region was immediately disputed between Henry Plantagenet, grandson of Henry I through his mother Matilda, and Thibaut of Champagne, grandson of William the Conqueror through his mother Adèle. After nine years of strife Thibaut withdrew in favour of his brother Stephen who in 1135 had been crowned King of England. But the victories of Geoffrey Plantagenet in Normandy assured (1144) the rule of Henry Plantagenet over that land, which being thenceforth subject to Angevin rule, seemed destined to have no further connexion with England. Suddenly Henry Plantagenet, who in 1152 had married Eleanor (Aliénor) of Aquitaine, divorced from Louis VII of France, determined to assert his rights over England itself. The naval expedition which he conducted in 1153 led Stephen to recognize him as his heir, and as Stephen died at the end of that same year Henry Plantagenet reigned over all the Anglo-Norman possessions, his territorial power being greater than that of the kings of France. A long series of wars followed between the Capetians and Plantagenets, interrupted by truces.

Louis VII wisely favoured everything which paralyzed the power of Plantagenet, and supported all his enemies. Thomas à Becket and the other exiles who had protested against the despotism which Henry exercised against the Church, found refuge and help at the court of France; and the sons of Henry in their successive revolts against their father in Normandy, were supported first by Louis VII and then by Philip Augustus. The prestige of the Capetian kings grew in Normandy when Richard Cœur de Lion succeeded Henry II in 1189. Philip Augustus profited by the enmity between Richard and his brother John Lackland to gradually establish French domination in Normandy. A war between Richard and Philip Augustus resulted in the treaty of Issoudun (1195) by which Philip Augustus acquired for the French crown Norman Vexin and the castellanies of Nonancourt, Ivry, Pacy, Vernon, and Gaillon.

A second war between John Lackland, King of England in 1199 and Philip Augustus, was terminated by the treaty of Goulet (1200), by which John Lackland recovered Norman Vexin, but recognized the French king's possession of the territory of Evreux and declared himself the "liege man" of Philip Augustus. Also when in 1202 John Lackland, having abducted Isabella of Angoulême, refused to appear before Philip Augustus, the court of peers declared John a felon, under which sentence he no longer had the right to hold any fief of the crown. Philip II Augustus sanctioned the judgment of the court of peers by invading Normandy which in 1204 became a French possession. The twelfth century in Normandy was marked by the production of important works, chief of which was the "Roman de Rou" of Robert or rather Richard Wace (1100-75), a canon of Bayeux.

In this, which consists of nearly 17,000 lines and was continued by Benoît de Sainte-More, Wace relates the history of the dukes of Normandy down to the battle of Tinchebray. Mention must also be made of the great French poem which the Norman Ambroise wrote somewhat prior to 1196 on the Jerusalem pilgrimage of Richard Cœur de Lion. As early as the twelfth century Normandy was an important commercial centre. Guillaume de Neubrig wrote that Rouen was one of the most celebrated cities of Europe and that the Seine brought thither the commercial products of many countries. The "Etablissements de Rouen" in which was drawn up the "custom" adopted by Rouen, were copied not only by the other Norman towns but by the cities with which Rouen maintained constant commercial intercourse, e. g. Angoulême, Bayonne, Cognac, St. Jean d'Angély, Niort, Poitiers, La Rochelle, Saintes, and Tours.

The ghilde of Rouen, a powerful commercial association, possessed in England from the time of Edward the Confessor the port of Dunegate, now Dungeness, near London, and its merchandise entered London free. Once in the power of the Capetians, Normandy became an important strategical point in the struggle against the English, masters of Poitou and Guyenne in the south of France. Norman sailors were enrolled by Philip VI of France for a naval campaign against England in 1340 which resulted in the defeat of Ecluse. Under John II the Good, the States of Normandy, angered by the ravages committed by Edward III of England on his landing in the province voted (1348-50) subsidies for the conquest of England. The Valois dynasty was in great danger when Charles the Bad, King of Navarre, who possessed important lands in Normandy, succeeded in 1356 in detaching from John II of France a number of Norman barons. John II appraising the danger came suddenly to Rouen, put several barons to death, and took Charles the Bad prisoner.

Shortly afterwards Normandy was one of the provinces of France most faithful to the Dauphin Charles, the future Charles V, and the hope the English entertained in 1359 of seeing Normandy ceded to them by the Preliminaries of London was not ratified by the treaty of Brétigny (1360); Normandy remained French. The victories of Charles V consolidated the prestige of the Valois in this province. In 1386 Normandy furnished 1387 vessels for an expedition against England never executed. In 1418 the campaign of Henry V in Normandy was for a long time paralyzed by the resistance of Rouen, which finally capitulated in 1419, and in 1420 all Normandy became again almost English. The Duke of Clarence, brother of Henry V of England, was made lieutenant-general in the province. Henry VI and the Duke of Bedford founded a university at Caen which had faculties of canon and civil law, to which Charles VII in 1450 added those of theology, medicine, and arts. This last attempt at English domination in Normandy was marked by the execution at Rouen of Blessed Joan of Arc.

English rule, however, was undermined by incessant conspiracies, especially on the part of the people of Rouen, and by revolts in 1435-36. The revolt of Val de Vire is famous and was the origin of an entire ballad literature, called "Vaux de Vire", in which the poet Oliver Basselin excelled. These songs, which later became bacchic or amorous in character, and which subsequently developed into the popular drama known as "Vaudeville", were in the beginning chiefly of an historical nature recounting the invasion of Normandy by the English. Profiting by the public opinion of which the "Vaux de Vire" gave evidence, the Constable de Richemont opposed the English on Norman territory. His long and arduous efforts in 1449-50 made Normandy once more a French province.

Thenceforth the possession of Normandy by France was considered so essential to the security of the kingdom that Charles the Bold, for a time victorious over Louis XI, in order to weaken the latter, exacted in 1465 that Normandy should be held by Duke Charles de Berry, the king's brother and leader of those in revolt against him; two years later Louis XI took Normandy from his brother and caused the States General of Tours to proclaim in 1468 that Normandy could for no reason whatever be dismembered from the domain of the crown. The ducal ring was broken in the presence of the great judicial court called the Echiquier (Exchequer) and the title of Duke of Normandy was never to be borne again except by Louis XVII, the son of Louis XVI. The Norman school of architecture from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century produced superb Gothic edifices chiefly characterized by the height of their spires and bell-towers. Throughout the Middle Ages Normandy, greatly influenced by St. Bernard and the Cistercians was distinguished for its veneration of the Blessed Virgin. It was under her protection that William the Conqueror placed his expedition to England.

One of the most ancient mural paintings in France is in the chapel of the Hospice St. Julien at Petit-Quevilly, formerly the manor chapel of one of the early dukes of Normandy, portraying the Annunciation, the Birth of Christ, and the Blessed Virgin suckling the Infant Jesus during the flight into Egypt. As early as the twelfth century Robert or rather Richard Wace wrote the history of Mary and that of the establishment of the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Norman students at Paris placed themselves under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception which thus became the "feast of the Normans"; this appellation does not seem to date beyond the thirteenth century. During the modern period the Normans have been distinguished for their commercial expeditions by sea and their voyages of discovery. As early as 1366 the Normans had established markets on the coast of Africa and it was from Caux that Jean de Béthencourt set out in 1402 for the conquest of the Canaries. He opened up to Vasco da Gama the route to the Cape of Good Hope and to Christopher Columbus that to America.

Two of his chaplains, Pierre Bontier and Jean le Verrier, gave an account of his expedition in a manuscript known as "Le Canarien", edited in 1874. Jean Ango, born at Dieppe about the end of the fifteenth century, acquired as a ship-owner a fortune exceeding that of many princes of his time. The Portuguese having in time of peace, seized (1530) a ship which belonged to him, he sent a flotilla to blockade Lisbon and ravage the Portuguese coast. The ambassador sent by the King of Portugal to Francis I to negotiate the matter, was referred to the citizen of Dieppe. Ango was powerful enough to assist the armaments of Francis I against England. He died in 1551. Jean Parmentier (1494-1543), another navigator and a native of Dieppe, was, it is held, the first Frenchman to take ships to Brazil; to him is also ascribed the honour of having discovered Sumatra in 1529. Poet as well as sailor, he wrote in verse (1536) a "Description Nouvelle des Merveilles de ce monde".

The foundation by Francis I in 1517 of the "French City" which afterwards became Havre de Grace, shows the importance which French royalty attached to the Norman coast. Normandy's maritime commerce was much developed by Henry II and Catherine de Medicis. They granted to the port of Rouen a sort of monopoly for the importation of spices and drugs arriving by way of the Atlantic, and when they came to Rouen in 1550 the merchants of that town contrived to give to the nearby wood the appearance of the country of Brazil "with three hundred naked men, equipped like savages of America, whence comes the wood of Brazil". Among these three hundred men were fifty real savages, and there also figured in this exhibition "several monkeys and squirrel monkeys which the merchants of Rouen had brought from Brazil." The description of the festivities, which bore witness to active commercial intercourse between Normandy and America, was published together with numerous figures. After the Reformation religious wars interrupted the maritime activity of the Normans for a time. Rouen took sides with the League, Caen with Henry IV, but with the restoration of peace the maritime expeditions recommenced.

Normans founded Quebec in 1608, opened markets in Brazil in 1612, visited the Sonda Islands in 1617, and colonized Guadeloupe in 1635. The French population of Canada is to a large extent of Norman origin. During the French Revolution Normandy was one of the centres of the federalist movement known as the Girondin. Caen and Evreux were important centres for the Gironde; Buzot, who led the movement, was a Norman, and it was from Caen that Charlotte Corday set out to slay the "montagnard" Marat. The royalist movement of "la Chouannerie" had also one of its centres in Normandy. DUCHESNE, Historiœ Normannorum scriptores antiqui (Paris, 1619); LIQUET, Histoire de la Normandie jusqu'à la conquête de l'Angleterre (Paris, 1855); LABUTTE, Hist.

des ducs de Normandie jusqu'à la mort de Guillaume le Conquérant (Paris, 1866); WAITZ, Ueber die Quellen zur Gesch, der Begründung der normannischen Herrscher in Frankreich in Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen (1866); BÖHMER, Kirche und Staat in England und in der Normandie im XI und XII. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1900); SARRAZIN, Jeanne d'Arc et la Normandie au XVe.

siècle (Rouen, 1896); LEGRELLE, La Normandie sous la monarchie absolue (Rouen, 1903); DE FÉLICE, La Basse Normandie, étude de géographie régionale (Paris, 1907); SION, Les paysans de la Normandie Orientale: pays de Caux (Paris, 1909); SOREL, Pages normandes (Paris, 1907); PRENTOUT, La Normandie (Paris, 1910); COCHET, Normandie monumentale et pittoresque (Rouen, 1894); BLACK, Normandy and Picardy, their relics, castles, churches, and footprints of William the Conqueror (London, 1904); MILTOUN, Rambles in Normandy (London, 1905); FREEMAN. Hist.

of the Norman Conquest of England (Oxford, 1870-76); PALGRAVE, Normandy and England (2 vols., 1851-57); LAPPENBERG, Anglo-Norman Kings; NORGATE, England under the Angevin Kings (Oxford, 1887); KEARY, The Vikings in Western Christendom A. D. 789 to A. D. 888 (London, 1891). GEORGES GOYAU.

Question: Which spirit gives 'Sauce a la Normandie' its name?
Answer: CALVADOS