Pech Merle and the Marzipan Entremet

The most amazing pre-historic experiences to be had by visiting Pech-Merle, a cave in the Lot that features the cave paintings 15-25,000 years old. Yes, we are in the general region of France that we could have paid a visit to Lascaux, but it’s a tour of a replica. The real Lascaux has been closed to the public since 1955 because signs of deterioration were evident. Pech-Merle is limited to 700 visitors per day.

The cave is incredibly mystical; the artistry of pre-historic mankind virtually unchanged from the time it was created is right there within breathing distance. Our host Barbara calls Pech-Merle the Lot’s Sistine Chapel. There are animal and human images that seem to convey a reverence early man felt for animals, death and of course, goddess/female shapes. There is also another spot in the cave where ambitious 300-year old tree roots hang down into the cave. If you view the tree from above (in a moment fraught with inattention, I actually forgot to grab a photo of the tree!!) you can see its three trunks which spring from these adventurous roots that reached down and down through the dirt only to find…hollow space. Hey what the…it’s only stale air down here?!!

The cave also has breathtaking footprints of an adolescent child- approximated at 10,000 years old. It’s called Pech-Merle because pech is the French translation of the Occitan word meaning hill. Merle is a word believed to be derived from Gaelic or other ancient language and could mean “hill” or “high area.” Merle also has a less common translation to mean “blackbird.”

With last night's performance done, it was time for our own Medieval feast to be had. Of course, all we had to do was dress up in costumes, forego electric lights, abstain from silverware and we were good to go. We assembled for our last night together in the same hall (main floor of the mill) where we first walked in on dinner 6 nights ago.

Theresa shown here wielding a mysterious Medieval device. My similar mystery device was very unhappy with the lighting, as you can see.

The highlight of the feast was the surprise course, historically known to the French as an entremet. In the case of our feast, it occurred at the end of the feast because it was a spectacular display of hand-rolled marzipan horses, dragons, fish, birds, prehistoric creatures and bugs all elegantly arrayed around a sweet baked pastry-crust (tasting) castle built into a fortress. The course was meant to delight and dazzle (thanks to Ruth and Tyler who spent hours creating the thing).

Historically the entremet can also be the palette cleansing course. By the Renaissance, the entremet was the forerunner to ballet and opera because it was the entertainment portion that came at the end of the French meal.

I haven’t researched this specifically, but I believe it’s an entremet that is the climax of the Gerard Depardieu film Vatel. For food and arts lovers, I highly recommend this dose of over the top foodie/hedonism garnished with some decent acting by Uma Thurman and a sumptuously evil Tim Roth to appropriately flavor the love story.

And of course, it must be noted that marzipan is almond paste- a further extension of our earlier courses in how important almonds were at the time.