No dish exemplifies the glories of classic French cuisine more than “Lièvre à la Royale.” But since this rendition of wild hare in a rich sauce requires two days of painstaking de-boning, marinating, stuffing and braising, most modern chefs do not offer the incomparably delicious dish. Chef Eric Sapet of La Petite Maison de Cucuron in southern France’s Luberon region takes a different tack. He goes “old school” and presents not one, but two marvelous versions of “Lièvre à la Royale.”
“We serve Lièvre à la Royale during hunting season from October 15 to the end of January,” Sapet says. “Our wild hares come from Scotland. Their quality and traceability are perfect. We cook around 6 hares per week and sell around 800 portions each season.”
“Lièvre à la Royale is one of the last mythical French dishes,” he adds. “Guests sometimes come from far away to taste it.”
Sapet learned his two versions while developing culinary savoir-faire at both grand restaurants in the big city and restaurants in the countryside in southern France. Early in his career while working eleven years in 2 and 3 star restaurants in Paris, he assisted in the painstaking preparation of the first concept for Lièvre à la Royale.
“For special events, we occasionally prepared a recipe refined by Antonin Carême, the greatest chef of the 18th century, who served European royalty while also inventing the cook’s white coat, the chef’s toque hat and the names of the members of the kitchen brigade,” Sapet recalls. “Carême adapted a recipe from the Louis XIV era by de-boning a wild hare and then stuffing it with foie gras–which was all the rage in Carême’s time–along with lots of truffles. The hare is then reconstituted and cooked for 5 hours in red wine. It is finally presented whole topped with a very tasty sauce made with the reduction of the cooking wine and blood of the hare enhanced with truffle butter and foie gras. It is a royal court dish of great tradition.”
Sapet learned the second version of Lièvre à la Royale by studying recipes from end of the 19th century. In particular, the prominent Senator Couteaux collaborated with his cook to create a dish served to a “gastronomic circle” of leading businessmen, politicians, and artists.
“The recipe calls for three hares cooked in three bottles of Chambertin with 30 cloves of garlic, 30 shallots and 30 small onions,” Sapet notes. “After three hours of cooking, the hares are shredded and the meat is then blended with spices that have been crushed with a pestle. The dish is served with the rich, reduced sauce. It’s a dish of bourgeois tradition which at the time was considered the iconic recipe for this style of cooking.”
Chef Sapet adapts each version of Lièvre à la Royale for convenient presentation to his guests as La Petite Maison de Cucuron. As the restaurant names suggests, diners find the establishment in the center of Cucuron, the beautiful Medieval town located on a hilltop surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and wheat fields in the Luberon in northern Provence. The restaurant occupies a quaint, little yellow house on a corner facing a lovely, large public basin surrounded by tall, elegant bicentennial trees.
After passing through a delightful small 
terrace and the unassuming front door, guests enter a convivial, warm ambiance that reflects Chef Sapet’s confident, unpretentious style. As befits a former tavern, the traditional decorations include wood panel walls, warm tapestries, terra cotta colored tile floors, and soft lighting. Mounted wall plates with traditional French country recipes provide a whimsical touch. The downstairs room features a “table d’hôte” where guests dine around a large communal table.
The comfortable upstairs dining room provides individual tables for two and four guests. At a recent visit to La Petite Maison de Cucuron, winegrower Sylvain Morey from Domaine Sylvain Morey in Chassange-Montrachet in Burgundy as well as Bastide du Claux in Luberon presented his tasty wines to complement Chef Sapet’s “Le Menu Lièvre à la Royale.”
The meal begins with a playful amuse bouche trio. Then comes a simple, but brilliant dish of mushroom cream soup topped with fresh Parisian mushrooms sliced and garnished generously with Luberon’s famed black truffles grated.
Morey’s first wine, the 2018 Bastide du Claux “Barraban” Luberon Blanc, offers a lively blend of Grenache Blanc, Vermentino, Ugni Blanc, and Viognier that pairs nicely with the first plates. The wine’s lovely floral notes and ripe peach and apricot flavors balance with zesty acidity and pleasing creaminess through a dry finish. Morey uses only minimal oak in finishing the wine.
Next comes Chef Sapet’s first version of Lièvre à la Royale based on the original Senator Couteaux recipe. Sapet improvises by putting a layer of polenta and shaved truffles atop the tender hare and rich sauce. The polenta’s creamy texture adds a delectable rustic touch appropriate to wild hare traditionally served as game at farmers’ tables in the French countryside.
The dish pairs beautifully with the 2017 Domaine Sylvain Morey, Chassagne-Montrachet “Champs Gains” 1er rouge, a delicious red burgundy. The wine’s pure, juicy red fruit with medium concentration has a well-defined backbone of generous freshness and smooth, elegant tannins. Morey destemmed the Pinot Noir grapes then fermented the must with native yeasts. He uses only a small percentage of new oak in finishing the tasty wine. The wine’s purity and finesse delivers the precise style that Chef Sapet recommends with Lièvre à la Royale.
“I prefer pairing the dishes with wines of finesse with freshness and silkiness to balance the slightly strong, rustic flavors of the hare,” Sapet says. “If you try instead to match the richness of the dishes then the wines would make the Lièvre à la Royale seem too heavy.”
In addition to red burgundies, Sapet recommends pairing the dishes with a Châteauneuf-du-Pape red, made mainly from Grenache grapes. He says the wine should have ample bottle aging to mellow the alcohol with notes of truffles. Rich, off-dry white wines can work, too, according to Sapet.
“I recall fondly a beautiful pairing of the Lièvre à la Royale with a late harvest gewurztraminer from winegrower Catherine Faller in Alsace,” he says.
Returning to the dinner, Sapet’s memorable second Lièvre à la Royale presentation is nothing short of spectacular. Adapted from famed Chef Carême’s intricate recipe, the dish’s deeply colored hare and rich, dark sauce offer up aromas of truffles and subtle gaminess. The marvelously tender meat delivers succulent flavor wrapped in the rich, savory sauce. For the wine, once again Sylvain Morey’s fruity and fresh Chassagne-Montrachet “Champs Gains” 1er cru offers the perfect counterpoint.
After two such spellbinding versions of Lièvre à la Royale, Sapet proposes an equally memorable dessert. He presents a light and delicious Babas au Rhum cake, plated on a citrus sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. A generous splash of aromatic Dzama Rhum “Cuvée Noire” Prestige from Madagascar pulls it all together.
It serves as a satisfying and fitting finale to Chef Sapet’s masterful display of French culinary savoir-faire and warm, unforced hospitality at its best. Amidst the hustles and fads common in the modern culinary landscape, thankfully the gastronomic gods continue to smile on La Petite Maison de Cucuron. It’s a welcoming spot where guests can relax and still enjoy the fun delights of classic French cuisine with Chef Sapet’s “Le Menu Lièvre à la Royale.”
Information On Visiting:
You will find La Petite Maison de Cucuron at Place de l’Etang, 84160 Cucuron in the Luberon region in southern France. When available in season, the “Menu Lièvre à la Royale” is 90 euros person (not including wines). Throughout the entire year, Chef Sapet offers a standard fixed price “house” menu for 60 euros per person (not including wines). Sapet also has an intriguing à la carte menu and excellent wine list. For reservations either call + 33 (0)4 90 68 21 99 or send an email to info@lapetitemaisondecucuron.com
For comfortable overnight accommodations in Cucuron, try “Les Chambres de Charlotte,” just a five minute walk up the hill and around the corner from the restaurant. Thibaut Leyendecker, the friendly, helpful proprietor who grew up in Alsace, provides a warm welcome to this bed and breakfast located in a renovated three-story townhouse on a quiet street. The spacious rooms have high ceilings and good views, and the delicious breakfast includes local products such as jams and honey.
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