Chasselas, a cooking grape

It is a grape for which it is necessary to redouble delicacy. The Chasselas, juicy with its sun-kissed grains and its thin skin, is fragile. It must therefore be pampered, whether in its maintenance, its harvest, its handling or its putting in a crate, lying in tissue paper. In the Tarn-et-Garonne, Jérôme Resongles produces beautiful clusters of Chasselas de Moissac, the first fruit having received an AOC. Here, each cluster is arranged to make the most of the sun.

This year, the harvest is done fifteen days in advance and Frédéric Bacou, chef in Lauzerte (Tarn-et-Garonne), wants to be the first served. Each year, in his restaurant, he offers a new recipe based on Chasselas with other local ingredients. This time, it will be with pork tenderloin, accompanied by its stuffing, pumpkin and shallots confit in Chasselas juice. All this cooked over low heat. “No brutality, the Chasselas is something that is delicate“, advises the chef. “We do not change its taste, not its texture, this grape is versatile“, enthuses Jérôme Resongles while tasting this plate. A grain, whose season stretches until the end of the year celebrations.