Albert Dupont
In 1987, I received a phone call from a Belgian gentleman. He was desperately searching for a source of fresh endive.
My venture with endive production, then located in Dixon, California, was still in its early stage. It was sheltered in a very primitive wooden barn where the endive was grown, packaged and shipped. Nevertheless, I gave my address to the hungry Belgian. A few days later, a large, middle-aged man walked into my office, smiling warmly and visibly happy about his discovery. He spoke to me with a passion about endive.
That started my friendship with Albert Dupont, which was followed with almost monthly visits to replenish his supply of fresh endive. During the ensuing years, we spoke often about the preparation of endive and, eventually, it occurred to me that he must have a few interesting family recipes. Still, when he announced one day, his intention to write an endive cookbook, I smiled politely. 'A book? Maybe a few pages, but not a book!' The prospect seemed exaggerated, frankly improbable, and I was more than skeptical -- I wondered what was going wrong with my Belgian friend.
On the contrary, the completed work is a testimony to culinary well-being. Albert's exhaustive collection of fine recipes has captured my imagination today, as much as the production of endive did twenty years ago. We always considered endive to be a highly versatile vegetable. Here, Albert proves its adaptability beyond expectation with more than 100 sensational endive recipes -- everything but a dessert!
This curious and unique, yet often misunderstood, vegetable has a rich culinary history spanning 150 years in Western Europe. This book gives Americans and Europeans, alike, the opportunity to enjoy endive in many exciting new ways.
The back of our delivery trucks carry a message extolling Americans to 'Eat More Endive...10,000,000 Belgians Can't Be Wrong!'
Albert Dupont is one Belgian-American who has taken our suggestion to heart. Like me, enjoy reading and making these recipes. Like me, enjoy this culinary adventure.
Richard Collins
THE HISTORY OF ENDIVE
Jeff Lambrecht was a farmer in Kortenberg, a small town half way between Brussels and Leuven, Belgium, in the period around 1850. He had placed some chicory roots in a cellar for future transformation into a coffee substitute -- a common practice back then (note that this is the same product found today in New Orleans-style coffee -- roasted and ground chicory root!) Whether he forgot them in the cellar, hid them there to avoid a purported chicory root tax, or became ill for a while is not well documented. However, upon reentering the cellar in the spring, he discovered that the chicory roots had sprouted in that dark, damp environment producing a small, blanched shoot. Curious, he nibbled some leaves and found them to be tender, moist and crunchy, albeit slightly bitter. It was, he quickly decided, a leafy vegetable! Without realizing it, he had started a new farming industry.
The drawback of the shoot's bitterness was surely outweighed, he reasoned, by the fact that it was fresh at a time of year when very few fresh foodstuffs were available. Keep in mind that this was a century before year-round availability of fresh produce. The Belgian farmer had stumbled upon something especially significant: a source for a fresh vegetable in the dead of winter!
Soon, local farmers learned of his discovery, and infused with enthusiasm, it wasn't long before they began aggressively pursuing the commercial development of this new vegetable. An endive farming industry was created around Brussels, eventually gaining a widespread presence in western Belgium, Holland and Northern France. Today, endive is grown to some extent on almost every continent, and worldwide production exceeds 500,000 tons annually.
It isn't clear if Jeff Lambrecht (sources do not always agree about the farmer's name, but this is the one most sources do) ever personally benefited from his accidental discovery, but millions of others certainly have, including diners who have come to love and expect endive at fine restaurants and quality grocers worldwide.
Who says that good fortune can't come from damp cellars?
I was born and raised in Belgium.
At the University, I started cooking for myself after trying a couple of times to ingest the food we were supposed to eat at restaurants for students.
After a while, I also cooked for my friends, and nobody died from those experiences, actually I became very popular. Fortunately, my mother had taught me the basics of cooking skills. When I left the University, instead of looking for a job at a law firm, I started learning Enology and went to Bordeaux in order to add the practical experience to the school theory. Importing wines, the restaurants became quickly my target of choice for developing my clientele.
That's where the problems started, from supplier, it was clear that the next step would be food consultant and from tastings to recipe improvements, my weight, my profile and my customers profits increased parallelly.
In Belgium, forty years ago, nobody cared about fat or cholesterol. But my doctor did care. His advice was, 'Everything in life is about balance, Mother Nature shows us that excess in the enemy, one way or another, eating too much fat is bad, eating not fat at all is as bad as eating too much.'
Today we know that there is bad and good cholesterol and we can use our knowledge to make an even better choice, olive oil instead of butter, yogurt instead of cream, or duck fat instead of butter, I lost a good chunk of fat but never quit the food and wine scene. After a restaurant in Brussels, two deli cafés in California, a charcuterie company, a pastry company and a patented machine for the wine industry, here I am writing my 'memories' of an endives lover, and working to open my next restaurant.
Albert Dupont
CALIFORNIA ENDIVES COUNTRY SOUP
(4 servings)
The base for all the endives soups, but so good that it stands easily by itself.
Ingredients:
1 lb. California endives, trimmed, rinsed, drained, chopped
1/2 1b. potatoes, peeled, grated and cut in large slices
4 cups chicken broth (canned)
2 oz. Butter
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon shredded Swiss cheese
salt and pepper
Instructions:
1. Melt the butter in a skillet, add the endives. Stir with a wooden spatula. Cover and cook over very low heat for 20 minutes.
2. Season the endives with salt and pepper. Add the sugar. Stir until sugar is melted. Add the potatoes and the chicken broth. Cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes.
3. Pour the mixture in a blender and blend thoroughly at high speed for a few seconds, enough to obtain a very smooth soup.
4. Divide the soup among 4 soup-bowls and spread the shredded Swiss cheese over the soup.
5. Serve immediately.
Comments: If you feel the Swiss cheese has too strong a taste, you may substitute for any other cheese you like better, but I strongly favor a cheese with taste.
Utensils: 1 medium size skillet - 1 wooden spatula - blender
Wine Suggestion: Some people never drink wine with a soup, others like it very much. In France, a glass of red wine with soup is usual. But, do not think that the quality of the wine does not matter, it could be a big mistake. A great soup like this one request a great wine. Enjoy the Cabernet Sauvignon from Benziger Winery with this soup and you will understand what it is all about.
GRATIN OF HAM WITH ENDIVES
(4 servings)
~This is probably the #1 and the best known of the 12 traditional Belgian family recipes. It is also as delicious as it is easy.
Ingredients:
8 large California endives, trimmed, rinsed, and drained
8 Thin slices of cooked pressed ham 4'x6'
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter (for the sauce)
2 tablespoons butter cut in small dices (for topping the crumbs)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 lb. shredded Swiss cheese
salt and pepper
Instructions:
1. Cook the endives 'flemish style' (see recipe page 108).
2. Meanwhile prepare the sauce. Place the butter and flour in a bowl. Mix with a wooden spatula until smooth. Bring the milk to a boil in a medium saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. With a wire whisk, scoop the butter and flour mixture into the milk and whisk vigorously to avoid any lumps. Bring the sauce to a boil and cook at low heat for 4 to 5 minutes while progressively adding the cheese, whisking continuously. At the end, you may add some heavy cream if your sauce looks to thick.
3. Wrap each endive in a slice of ham.
4. Place the wrapped endives, tightened in an ovenproof dish.
5. Pour the cheese sauce over the endives.
6. Spread the bread crumbs over the sauce and spread the diced butter over the bread crumbs.
7. Broil in oven until nicely brown.
Comments: I like this preparation with good sweet French bread.
Utensils: 1 medium size saucepan - 1 medium size bowl - 1 stainless steel wire whisk - 1 ovenproof medium dish.
Suggested wine: A Merlot from Hawk Crest Winery.
