Grand Aioli, Provence’s Ultimate Vegetable and Fish Platter
I recently reread Robert Carrier’s ‘Feasts of Provence’, and was reminded of Le Grand Aïoli, a Provencal dish I don’t make often enough. In it, he states “If bouillabaisse vies with bourride and its lesser-known cousin le revesset along the southern coast from Sète to Menton, aïoli is the undisputed star of the arrière-pays, the herb-scented backlands that separate the famed ports of the Riviera from the austere mountain villages behind.” The arrière-pays, or hinterlands, are where farms reign supreme so it is not a total surprise that a primarily vegetable dish with salt cod and snails is king.
AÏOLI VERSUS LE GRAND AÏOLI
Quite simply, aïoli (a.k.a. le beurre de Provence) is an uber garlicky sauce similar in consistency to mayonnaise, usually made with a per-person ratio of 1 egg yolk, 4 fat garlic cloves, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. As Carrier explains, ‘an unctuous mayonnaise sauce plentifully endowed with the magic fire of pounded fresh garlic.”
Le Grand Aïoli, on the other hand, is a meal which celebrates all that is good about Provence. The dish is traditionally served warm; I would say hot but there are so many components to a good Grand Aïoli that it is next to impossible to get them on the platter at the same time.
