Duck Sauce À La Bidouze

As I drove the several hours southeast from Bordeaux to the Gascon city of Auch last summer, it was hard not to pull into driveway after driveway, lured by signs advertising home-jarred confit and foie gras. Farmers in the valley of the river from which the Gers, the area around Auch, takes its name grow corn on an industrial scale, and save some to feed the ducks and geese each family fattens as a sideline.

All families put up their own confit and foie gras as a point of pride, even if they don't sell it. Gascon chefs are famous for showcasing their fantastically rich meats in a whole repertoire of dishes with similarly deep and straightforward flavors. Twenty years ago Paula Wolfert started a Gascon vogue in this country with her great The Cooking of South-West France . But with the rise of fat-fearing nutritionists, even those who wished ...