Pompe aux grattons (for 6 persons)
Cette brioche salée dans laquelle le beurre est remplacé par des grattons (petits dés de lard dorés à feu doux) est servie tiède à l’apéritif.

This savoury brioche in which butter is replaced with grattons (diced pieces of fat pork browned lightly over a low heat) is served warm as an accompaniment for an aperitif.

2 handfuls of diced browned fat pork - 500 g of flour - 200 g of butter - 3 eggs – baker’s yeast – salt – lard.

Preparation:
Mix together the flour, the softened butter and the salt. Add the whole eggs and yeast. Mix thoroughly, incorporate the diced fat pork and leave to rest for 2 hours. Arrange the dough in a ring on a greased baking sheet brush with beaten egg and bake in the oven at 150°.

Pâté de pomme de terre (for 8 persons)

A traditional pie made using potatoes, diced fat pork and cream, and served with a green salad.

For the dough: 500 g of flour, 250 of butter or lard, 1 egg, 10 g of table salt, 5 cl of water.
For the filling: 1 kilo of firm-fleshed potatoes, 40 cl of crème fraîche, 4 small onions, a few sprigs of fresh parsley, chervil and chives, 1 egg yolk, salt and pepper.

Preparation:
Use the ingredients to make a shortcrust pastry and leave it to rest for half-an-hour. Wash and peel the potatoes, slice finely, rinse in cold water and dry with a cloth or kitchen towel. Chop the onions and the herbs and mix together. Line a greased pie plate with 2/3 of the thinly rolled pastry and add alternate layers of potato and herb and onion mixture. Salt and pepper the various layers. Cover with the rest of the pastry and seal the edges. Cut an air-hole in the top and brush with beaten egg diluted with water. Bake in a hot oven (210 °C, gas mark 7)for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven, cut off the lid, add the cream and replace the lid. Serve very hot.

Canard à la Duchambais (for 4 persons)
Traditional Duchambais sauce is made with St Pourçain wine, liver, cream and marc.

One duck weighing about 1.8 kg - 150 g of lardons – shallots- 1 bouquet garni (parsley, thyme and bay leaf) – salt and pepper - 10 cl of Saint-Pourçain wine vinegar - 1 litre of crème fraîche - 10 eggs yolks or duck liver marinated in a little marc.

Preparation:
Cut the duck into pieces and cook in a pan until white. Add the lardons, shallots and bouquet garni. Add salt and pepper and stir with a wooden spatula. Deglaze with the vinegar and cover with a stock made from off-cuts of the duck. Cook for one hour on a low heat. Remove the duck pieces and arrange on a serving dish. Thicken the sauce with a little flour and cook gently for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add the crème fraîche and then the egg yolks or finely mixed duck liver. Pour over the pieces of duck and serve very hot.

Poulet Bourbonnais à la moutarde de Charroux (for 6 persons)
Bourbonnaise chickens are raised free-range in the open air under strictly controlled conditions (AOC certification pending). Its skin is very fine and its flesh particularly tender, juicy and appetising.

One 1.8 kg (approx.) Bourbonnais chicken cut into pieces - Charroux mustard - 1 buch of shallots – salt and pepper - crème fraîche – button mushrooms - Saint-Pourçain white wine – vegetables (onions, carrots, leeks, bouquet garni).

Preparation:
Prepare a stock with the chicken giblets and the vegetables, white wine and water. Reduce by a quarter. Brown the pieces of chicken and place them in the stock. Cook on a low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the chicken pieces, thicken the sauce and pour into a saucepan. Add the shallots which have been sweating in a pan. Add the mustard, mushrooms and a little crème fraîche.

Piquenchagne (for 4 persons)
This is a cake made with pears or apples steeped in a mixture of sugar, cream and alcohol and cooked inside the pastry.

500 g of flour - 15 g of baker’s yeast - eggs - 100 g of butter - 25 cl of milk - 1 pinch of salt - 2 dessertspoons of sugar - 500 g of quince, apples or pears.

Preparation:
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and add a pinch of salt/ Make a well in the flour, pour in the milk, beaten eggs and softened butter. Mix and knead thoroughly for a good 15 minutes. Peel and de-seed the fruit. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of half a centimetre and place the quartered fruit on it. Turn the edges of the pastry in towards the middle and knead gently to mix the fruit in with the pastry. Shape into a ring, place on a baking sheet and leave to rest for three hours. Brush with egg and bake in a hot oven, checking occasionally.