Le Potager

At Le Potager in Durfort, the 'potager' is a large, open-sided wood-burning fire. Oak branches are burned and, after the flames have been allowed to burn down, the embers are used to cook the dish of the day - lamb chops, magrets de canard, duck breasts from ducks raised on the farm a few kilometres down the road. The duck farm also provides the foies gras used to make the foie gras maison at Le Potager.

Si j'avais un mas en Provence"Le Potager", from "Si j'avais un mas en Provence by Lizzie Napoli, published by Equinoxe.

In this delightful book, she describes how the Provençal 'potager' is  a sort of cast-iron rack place over the opening of a usually tiled shelf. The embers on the grill at the bottom of the rack are gently fanned by the air coming up from the opening below.

 
 

Normally a vegetable garden, in this part of France 'le potager' is next to the chimney - even inside it sometimes - and is traditionally used to keep pots warm.