Verjus

Summer is the season to make verjus, the juice of sour grapes. But there is no closed season for using this wonderful condiment to enhance the flavor of chicken, salads, foie gras, beans, game birds, river fish, and stewed wild mushrooms, or just to deglaze a sauté pan to make a sauce.

Unlike vinegar, verjus is wine friendly. With its subtly sharp, refreshing taste, it has always played a prominent role in regional Southwest French cooking, especially in the Périgord, and it is now making a comeback, despite the fact that the proper grapes—bourdelois, gressois, and farineau—are no longer grown. I recently purchased two extraordinary bottles of verjus from the Périgord and another from California (see Mail Order Sources). All three served me well in updating and retesting the recipes for this book. You can also make your own, if you can obtain sour green grapes.