Herve

The rolling hills of the Pays de Herve formed the backdrop to an unusual scene recently. A gleaming black truck, reminiscent of a space module, was drawn up in the yard of the Colyn farm. De Krux, the name by which the vehicle and its owner is known, is in fact the contribution of the space age to gastronomy and vice versa. This vehicle, completely self-contained, with its own power source, water supply and waste-disposal unit is built to carry ‘Grande Cuisine’ to the wide open spaces.

Imagine the scene, a slender-wristed, white-gloved hand, deftly places the gossamer cover over your plate. The same hand removes the porcelain cover from your wine glass to fill it once more with Lanson Black Label champagne. The exquisite table decor, with the gossamer covers, gleaming silverware and reflecting crystal becomes the focus of the evening’s activity for Fr*EU*ndship’s intrepid group of Euroregional explorers. They have followed De Krux to the heart of the Herve country in search of a cheese, famous from the time of Charlemagne.

Although the focus is on the table and the delights that are to come, the setting is made even more unusual; because, within an arm’s length of the splendid table, the presence of the cheese-makers themselves forms a shadowy accompaniment to the evening’s pleasures.

In referring to the cheese-makers, we are not thinking of Farmer Joseph Colyn and his wife Simone; but, of the prime movers in the cheese industry: the bovine race, and in this instance, of the black and white Holstein variety and their Swiss-Brown sisters. Although their ruminating pleasures form the audio backdrop to the scene, the dominance of the table is never in doubt; as one superb creation succeeds another, each accompanied by an exquisite wine.

After the chicken livers with the Ardennes ham and local fruit-syrup sauce, all from the Herve region, the diners moved on to smoked salmon with the last of the season’s asparagus and chervil butter, accompanied by an exquisite white Tripudium from Sicily. Then came a soup of Bear’s garlic - entirely appropriate in the rustic setting - with Dutch shrimps and smoked eel.

Spring lamb chops from a little river, which crosses the border come with Herve-flavored potatoes and a little lightly-fried lettuce. In the meantime, on the oenological front, Mezzana Rosé and another splendid Sicilian, a Harmonium red, have passed review. And yet another ‘pièce de résistance’ emerges from the module. Yes, it is the famous Herve cheese. Baked in puff pastry with a sauce of honey and crispy bits of bacon - Vina del Sole soothes the palate and prepares it for a chocolate beignet with a pear and apple cider Sabayon, redolent in the perfume of the local fruit.

At last the summit came into sight and a glass of Noë Px sherry, with a prune and dried fig nose and thirty years in the cask, brought things to a more than satisfactory conclusion. At the same time, the bovine onlookers, who no longer have names like ‘Daisy and Buttercup’ had moved on to pastures fresh. It had been an unusual venue, but the style of the presentation and the quality of the local products, the fruit and cheese, the cider and syrups had so entranced the diners that it made the setting ideal.

Not only was the inner man and woman gastronomically enriched; the evening also provided food for thought from Astrid Krux, the Limburg poet and ‘raconteuse’, who was able to move her listeners with a short homily on the subject of cows and men. This prompted a committed movement on the part of the red bull as well; as well as from the ladies and gentlemen present on the Plateau de Herve.