Interesting Drink in Strasbourg in Alsace

by Alison
(CA, USA)

I had a delightful drink in Strasbourg (under a giant ancient tree in the Tanner's District) called Picon Bière.

I asked what picon was and was told it was an épice (a spice), but I haven't been able to find out what spice or spices it is.

The flavor was reminiscent of angostura bitters, so I'm thinking it might be a blend of things. Can I get it in the US? or make it?

Also, I LOVED the tarte flambée and (you probably already know) Trader Joe's has one in their frozen section under Onion Tart, or Tarte d'Alsace or something.

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How to Make Flammekueche or Tarte Flambée
by: Suzele

Hi Alison,

For the crust, a Flammekueche basically is like a thin crust pizza cooked in a wood burning oven.

If you can't do the wood burning oven part, thin crust pizza dough will do.

And then you'll need some little pieces of bacon, chopped onions, and heavy cream (although low fat cream will do if you can find it)...

That's the original flammekuecha recipe. In restaurants, they have versions with mushrooms, real Alsatian Munster cheese, goat cheese, etc...

Good luck with it...

Suzele

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The Great Food in Alsace
by: Alison

Thank you so much. I never thought to check french wiki:)

It seems like my taste buds weren't teasing me thinking it was like Angostura bitters. I'll check some good liquor stores for Picon here.

We loved the fruit syrup drinks, too. My daughter was just talking about them. The other thing we can't get anywhere near as good are ice cream flavors.

Our ice cream tends to be vanilla or chocolate with sweet junk added in (cookie chunks, bits of candy, etc). Nothing like pear or some of the nut flavors. At the holidays we can get pumpkin or gingerbread ice cream which are good, but not as refreshing as a good fruit flavor.

The flammekueche from Trader Joe's is pretty good, at least to our American palates:)

Do you have a good easy recipe? I wasn't confident that I could do a good crust.

Thanks,

Alison

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Picon Bière in Alsace
by: Suzele

Hi Alison,

This is what you are looking for...
French Wiki article on Picon

It's something they add to the beer...apparently in north-eastern France and Belgium.

My husband's not a big beer drinker so we've never tried it. I'll have to add it to my restaurant food section!

We usually go for the sparkling wine with some fruit syrup in it...yum : )

I only get to the US every other year or so...so I have no idea if you can get it over there, but there's probably some store somewhere that sells it...maybe a liquor store that carries a lot of imported things...

Next time you're in France, you can probably find some at the grocery store...

You'll have to let me know if the Trader Joe flammekueche tastes good...

I've tried frozen ones over here and...they were ok. But you can make it pretty easily yourself if you're up for it.

My personal favorite Alsatian food is Fleischschnacka or Coq au Riesling with Spaeztle.

It's soooooo good... : )

Thanks for the info!

Suzele

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