Oeufs en meurette

I became acquainted with this Burgundian dish on my first trip to France when we visited a small Burgundy producer and went bombing around his vineyards in a Renault (I forget which model) and stayed for lunch.

It is basically poached eggs served over garlic croutons in a rich, velvety red wine and bacon sauce and it works for breakfast or lunch. We don' usually have wine- containing breakfast dishes but this one works for either course.

There are lots of recipes out there, but they basically resemble this one:

Ingredients:
• 120g speck, cut into 3 cm lardons
• 2 thick slices sourdough bread, crusts removed, cut into 1.5 cm cubes
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 4 extra fresh free range eggs
• 1 small handful of chives, finely snipped
• Salt and pepper

Red Wine Sauce
• 750ml red wine (I used a pinot noir)
• 2 French shallots, thinly chopped
• 250ml chicken stock
• 10g butter, softened
• 2 tsp plain flour

Method

1. To start on the red wine sauce, put the wine, shallot and thyme in a saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce by two thirds for 25-30 minutes then add the stock and reduce for a further 15-20 minutes. Discard thyme.

2. Mix the butter and flour together to form a paste. Bring the sauce to a simmer and, piece by piece, whisk in the butter until the sauce thickens and becomes glossy, about 5–7 minutes. Reserve and keep warm.

3. Cook the speck in a frying pan over medium for 5–6 minutes until the fat begins to render. Now add the croutons and once both speck and croutons are golden and crispy, remove from the pan and drain on paper towel.

4. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add the vinegar, then turn down the heat to low. Gently crack the eggs individually into a glass and, one at a time, slip into the simmering water. Poach for 3 minutes until just set, then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Season the eggs with salt.

5. To serve, add two heaped spoonfuls of the sauce into shallow bowls. Top with eggs, the lardons and croutons. Sprinkle over chives to garnish.

Meurette sauce is also used with fish or meat dishes.

I'm not an egg person, but my companions on tasting trips to Burgundy fell in love with oeufs en meurette. They used fresh pork belly, not bacon or speck, for the lardons, and they also sauteed the aromatics (shallots in your recipe) in the fat from the lardons and then flambeed this with brandy. The flambee step is not traditional but it was widespread in Burgundy when we were there in the late 90s.

-Paul W.