Terroirs by Adeline Brings Burgundy’s Food, Wine to the Table

Artisan Chef Adeline Borra of Terroirs by Adeline has filled a large, turquoise-tinted bowl with half a dozen breasts of pintade. The poultry is French guinea fowl, which is related to chicken. Into the deep bowl she pours – of all things – carbonated water. The level is just high enough to submerge the pintade.

“It’s a fabulous trick to use with any meat, beef, pork, veal, duck, or tough cuts to tenderize them very quickly,” Adeline reveals. “It also cleans the meat. We’ll leave it at room temperature for half an hour, then pat dry. At that point, you also could marinate it.”

Well now, soaking raw meat is a new one on me. I’m all in with learning this Burgundian cooking technique, as well as any other tips Adeline imparts during her half-day Cook and Taste hands-on market tour and cooking class in the famed Burgundy region of France.

Her website, Terroirs by Adeline, beckons food and wine lovers to join her for authentic food and wine experiences. Happily, I’ve no worries that my minimal knowledge of French won’t translate, because Adeline’s teaching our class in English. She lives in the charm-filled, ancient, walled town of Beaune, the heart of Burgundy’s wine industry. I’ve answered her call, as have my friend Penny from Maine, and newly-met David and Susan from Long Island, NY.

Penny’s and my recommendation to attend came from our friend Sarah Bird of Detours-in-France, a small, family-run business in Beaune that designs quality tours and explorations.

Market tour in the rain

Our time with Terroirs by Adeline begins with the easy-to-find meeting point at the entrance to the Musée de l’Hôtel-Dieu (aka Hospices de Beaune), Beaune’s historic monument and visual symbol.

Dating from 1443, this imposing stone building served as a hospital until as recently as 1971. Flemish artisans crafted the distinctive tile rooftop. Its repetitive pattern in shades of red, green, and gold represents the fall harvest.

A few steps away is Wednesday’s outdoor farmer’s market. It’s the little sister to Saturday’s grand, bustling, always-packed affair, where farmers sell their own products. Despite inclement weather, however, the twice-weekly market tradition goes on. Today’s market turnout is even smaller than usual,  given the steady rain. Barely a handful of vendors braves the conditions. And, at the moment, we’re the only customers in sight.

We listen as Adeline chats amiably in French with a woman under a dripping canopy that barely covers her few end-of-season tomatoes. The market’s near-washout does little to dampen my enthusiasm, and I break away to check out the two other tables and their earthy scents. One bears only truffles. The other sells only porcini mushrooms.

We walk to Alain Hess Fromager, a terrific cheese monger whose shop claims some prime real estate on the popular Place Carnot, known for its cafés, retailers, and colorful carousel. It’s proper etiquette to request permission to take photos in shops and markets, and Monsieur Hess thanks me for asking.

“Not everyone does,” he says. “But just the cheese, not me, because I’m too old,” he laughs. Being inside, he’s in a much better, and amusingly self-deprecating, mood than his counterparts in the outdoor market.

Anticipating lunch

David asks the obvious as we pile into Adeline’s car for the trip to the Terroirs by Adeline Lab. “What are we making for lunch?”

Adeline launches into instructor mode. She speaks rapidly and energetically, with passion and enthusiasm, which undoubtedly will ensure an especially fun and lively class.

The menu: Gougères, a Burgundian staple using the same pâte a choux dough as for éclairs, profiteroles, and cream puffs. Given Susan is gluten free, one batch will be regular flour and the other a mix of rice and tapioca flours and potato starch. Tomato gazpacho topped with ice cream (Ice cream on soup?! Who knew?) containing three mustards – Edmund Fallot Dijon, whole grain, and wasabi – as well as spicy crystalized ginger. Adeline already has made the ice cream.

“That much mustard will give a big kick,” I laugh.

“Yes,” Adeline agrees with relish. “And you’ll also get some lemon zest on it.”

Back to the menu: For the main, a pintade supreme with a tarragon mustard chardonnay sauce. Tomato and basil risotto, hence the tomato purchase at the market earlier. Fresh spinach. Rounding out, a gluten-free fruit financier with cherries, raspberries, and end-of-season rhubarb, accompanied by verbena ice cream (also already made). Using the last vestiges of seasonal produce excites Penny, a gardener. “They’re precious.”

About Adeline Borra

It’s a large and tantalizing menu, and par for the course for Adeline. She’s a Beaune native from a family steeped in the wine business. She trained alongside a number of Michelin-starred chefs. While living in Turin, Italy, she started a cooking school. Having relocated to Atlanta, she was a private chef, cooking instructor, and contributor to Atlanta Magazine.

Returning to Beaune, she launched Terroirs by Adeline. Besides her Cook and Taste classes, she offers wine classes, and a full day’s immersion in Burgundy’s wine and food culture. In addition, she has opportunities to create a personal dream experience, and to hire her as a private chef. She also offers team-building exercises centered around preparing a meal together.

Terroirs by Adeline kitchen

We arrive at the Terroirs by Adeline Lab. The rectangular room has a long wall of windows, bringing in welcome light on this grey day. Adeline’s assistant, New Zealand-born Carlene, is at work. She welcomes us with glasses of chilled crémant de Bourgogne, the local sparkling wine, as we shed our wet coats.

I look around, inhaling incipient cooking aromas, and savoring the setting. Appliances and kitchen gadgets are high-end, centered around a hulking range with an induction cook top. The décor is clean and contemporary with white walls and light woods, Ample shelving displays cookbooks, ingredients, and, naturally, wine. An elongated dining table of French oak accommodates seating for 20 (!) on zingy chartreuse chairs. Adeline had the outsized center island specially treated to prevent stains. Four workstations with cutting boards, knives, bowls, and black aprons (branded with the Terroirs by Adeline logo and ours to take home) await us.

Adeline designed and built this dedicated space from the garage of the previous owner, a wine maker. He used to park his Porche here. The Lab is adjacent to her family’s home just outside the ring road that encircles Beaune’s enchanting center city.

Nearby are the swimming pool and the potager,  or kitchen garden. The ground abounds with nearly two dozen kinds of herbs, vegetables, such as cucumbers, celery, and tomatoes, and several types of fruit trees. Some of the produce is destined to be incorporated into today’s menu.

Cooking commences

She divides us into two teams – Penny/me and Susan/David. We assume our places at the island and get down to business on our assigned recipes. The counter is pre-set with trays of ingredients, some already measured.

The tunes from Adeline’s French and English playlist rock in the background. We provide an accompaniment of our own, but ours are culinary sounds.

“Beat, beat, beat,” Adeline urges as we quickly stir melted butter, flour, and water with wooden spoons in metal pots for the gougères. “Don’t go slowly, or you have to start over.” Off the heat, a Kitchen Aid mixer whirs in the eggs.

Pots clank as we place them on the induction cooktop. Baking pans laden with gougères, made extra savory with comté cheese and herbs, clang when we insert them into the oven. David manages the pintades as they sear and sizzle in a large skillet. They quiet down to a simmer after he adds wine, tarragon mustard, cream, and herbs, just now picked from the garden.

Continuing our “musical” renditions, Susan loads a hefty blender, layering in fire-engine-red ripe tomatoes, olive oil, Xeres vinegar, and American catsup (Adeline’s secret ingredient) for the gazpacho, and the ingredients blitz away. I wipe away tears as I steadily chop growing mounds of onions and garlic. We gasp as Penny stirs in more, and yet even more, butter into the risotto. A round of mmmms follows as we grab tasting spoons and sample the cooked fruit, now reduced to a dark, rich confit.

Throughout our class, Adeline deftly directs the activity with the all-seeing eye of a symphony conductor. As she moves from one side of the kitchen to the other and alternates between both groups, she provides guidance, demonstrates techniques, and freely shares her wealth of gastronomic wisdom.

We feel gratified and encouraged when she praises us with the occasional, “Parfait! Excellente! Exactement!”

At the table with Terroirs by Adeline

I love taking cooking classes on the road, and learning about a place’s food culture and traditions, social customs, and its particular history. Moreover, their very nature fosters an instant connection and camaraderie among the participants. An undeniable bond develops as you shop and cook together to create a special meal to be shared at the table.

Anticipation is high as we seat ourselves.

We begin with slices of the blue cheese from Hess, presented alongside slices of fresh baguette and squares of focaccia. Also, we have little, thick chunks of jambon persillé, a beloved Burgundian delicacy made with, as its name signifies, ham and parsley.

Adeline and Carlene finish, plate, and serve each course. In addition, they pour designated wines (a Premier Cru chardonnay and two pinot noirs). A chorus of oohs and aahs ensues. Conversation carries on non-stop. As expected when in France, the topics of travel, food, wine, restaurants, art, fashion, cookbooks, shopping, and must-see destinations prevail.

We unanimously declare our meal and partnered wines to be absolutely delicious. Moreover, I’ll remember our feast as a happy marriage of fresh, seasonal, and local ingredients, creative recipes, and the satisfying efforts of an inspiring chef and her four proud protégés.

I’ll do my best to recreate the Terroirs by Adeline recipes back home in Charlotte. Granted, my outcomes will be an interpretation fashioned in the American South rather than a true replication of the flavors and accents of the Burgundian originals. Nevertheless, the meal is sure to be delicious.

Photos of Adeline Borra in her kitchen are courtesy of Terroirs by Adeline.