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You sit down at a small table in the front row of a friendly looking sidewalk cafe in Paris. You are briskly approached by a waiter with menus under his arm and a couple of glasses which he places on the table and in that very same moment asks you “Bonjour désirez-vous un apéritif?”What are your options? 1) You can get up and try another place; 2) reply in English “do you have a wine and beer list?” (pegging you right there as a true Parisian); 3) speak louder; or 4) say “oui monsieur, pour Madame un Kir Royal et pour moi un pastis a l’eau avec deux glacons.” Having said all that, it’s quite alright to feel smug. Mission accomplished ol boy! If your not successful you will most likely be promptly arrested as an imposter and hauled away in a little camionette with the sirens whaling “pinn ponn, pinn ponn.” You know what I mean. Hauled away, no passport and in French jail. Merde! (French for gosh I’m in trouble) Just kidding they don’t do that anymore that is unless you order a hamburger.
Since you are wondering why this topic? I was asked recently if I could shed some light on the “apéritif” and “digestif” terminology. Is it a type of cocktail, was it meant to refer to a light dinner, cocktail food . All good questions because they have slightly different meanings depending on what you are doing and where you happen to be doing it. If you plan on eating your way across France you ought to understand the various meanings. So I thought I would start with the apéritif.
The apéritif was born in Europe and travelled to the United States, in a highball most likely, around the beginning of 1900’s. An apéritif is a before-dinner drink designed to stimulate the appetite. The word apéritif comes from the Latin word “apertitiuvum”, which means opener. One can imagine centurions rushing from the battlefields (hey Caesar take five) to make it home in time for their apéritif. So it has a long history and pretty soon everyone was getting in on the “apéro” (slang for apéritif.) Think of apéritif as being a drink along with a light snack before the main meal. In a café your apéro would most arrive with a bowl of peanuts or chips. With enough peanuts or olives or chips you have the makings of an early dinner.
Let me give you a litte more insight. The word apéritif is also used in conjunction with an invite for cocktails with friends coming over for drinks and the host and/or hostess serving a selection of bread and cheeses, cold meats and a selection of wines and most definitely champagne. Now if the host or hostess invites you for an Apéritif dînatoire (root word being dinner) this means drinks and food will be served but not “officially” at the table so everybody sits and talks, nobody serving, you just eat a range of different things. We might call this “heavy hors-d’œuvre” or something like that. I never particularly cared for that term. So now you have a better understanding as to the subtelties of the word apéritif.
So what are some of the more commonly known “apéros”?
Let’s get the two most obvious ones out of the way.
First would be your glass of wine (of course). Wine is served by the glass, by the demi-pichet (a carafe with enough wine, conservatively, for two) and a pichet which is your full carafe. Some places may even have un quart pichet which will handle about two glasses of wine and perfect if you’re flying solo and moving from scene-to-scene. What’s nice about all of this is the fact that you are most likely going to get a very pleasant red table wine, a cotes du Rhône or Beaujolais type in all likelihood if its a red wine. Of course if you are insisting on ordering a specific wine, the wine list is always available and the waiter will be more than glad to bring it to you.
Second, if all you really wanted was a cold glass of beer, whatever is on tap, then ask for une demi pression s’il vous plait (a demi is a half-pint measurement so there is no large medium or small just a demi. A demi is a demi. Voila). If your thinking about name beers other than your hometown favorites, a couple of good ones are 1664, Kronenbourg or Heineken.
Now that beer and wine have been addressed let me mention a word about champagne (which will be difficult given the beauty of this drink). Champagne is, I believe, about as commonly asked for as we would ask for a Bud. Une coupe de champagne or a Kir Royal which is part crème de cassis (black current liqueur) and champagne, are both big hits and definately with the ladies. Side note: Cassis, created in France by Monks was thought to cure “wretchedness.” I won’t go any further with that right now but interesting to ponder.
Next on the apéros list is a Muscat, a sweet fortified wine, vins doux naturels, from muscat grapes. Also in that general family are two more types of fortified wines, Byrrh and St.Saint Raphael both fortified wine drinks made from wine, spices and herbs.
Let me just conclude my abbreviated list on Apéritifs with one of my favorite apéros known as a pastis. Le pastis is a liquorish-flavored drink (a bit like ouzo, I suppose) and is backed up with a mule kick. This is an apéros that’s very popular especially in the south of France. Personally, I usually order a Ricard which is a commercial brand name of a pastis and I usually take it with two ice cubes and water on the side. Try it. Your friends will love watching you become the science guy as you add water to your pastis and they witness the miracle.
Parting thought. Let’s say you’ve ordered your cocktails/apéritif and are settling down to soak in la vie Parisienne from a sidewalk café but oh wait, little Johnny or little Suzy are demanding something, anything and now. Confidently signal your waiter (not hey garçon) and order deux sirop à l’eau, which is basically grenadine syrup with water. Grenadine is a pomegranate flavored red sugar solution that when added with water makes a fine version of a French version of Shirley Temple (you can also ask for a ST as most waiters have resigned themselves to it.) Everybody is happy for a few moments.
I will talk about digestifs after dinner.