A recipe halfway between Occitania and Tahiti

Terra Fenua is an encounter between the two cultures that drive Mathieu Marquet, the chef who concocted it: Occitania, his adopted land, and Tahiti, where he was born. It is with this astonishing sandwich that this Montpellier food-truck manager The Go Fast, competes on Wednesday at the French Burger Cup. This former metallurgist, who converted five years ago into a cook after a wave of redundancies in his first job, combined the saltiness of Occitan products with the sweetness of exotic fruits typical of his native land.

“It’s a risk to offer such a burger, it’s true, smiles Mathieu Marquet. But this year’s theme was the “Burger trotter”. It immediately spoke to me, and I wanted to create a burger that honors my two lands. Quite to surprise the taste buds of the jury. On the savory side, the Montpellier chef has selected a Pélardon cheese for his sandwich, “which I went to find in a goat farm, not far from the village of my childhood, near Béziers”, he confides. The meat is Aubrac, smoked with Crau hay. On the sweet side, Mathieu Marquet chose to put banana bacon, mango and papaya chutney and even a little pineapple in his burger.

A red and yellow bread

Bread, too, is not like the others. Made by a local baker with fresh cream and olive oil, it is red and yellow, like the flag of Occitania, thanks to a “natural dye, made from apple, blackcurrant and radishes,” confides the chef. And it sports, on the top, a spiral, reminiscent of “the traditional Polynesian tattoo”, the Koru. The icing on the cake, the burger is seasoned with two sauces: a homemade mayonnaise, seasoned with a hint of yuzu lemon and a pineapple purée, and a barbecue sauce, made from Hinano, a Tahitian beer.

The Terra Fenua, by Mathieu Marquet – Emmanuelle Grimaud

If the Terra Fenua is very far from the traditional meat, cheddar, bacon, Mathieu Marquet has however designed, he confides, a completely balanced recipe. “I trained a lot! “says the candidate from Montpellier. With a sweetness, which remains light. “Even someone who isn’t necessarily sweet and savory could appreciate it, that’s for sure! “says Mathieu Marquet. His companion, Hélène, a Ch’ti expert in Belgian fries, was in the front row when the Hérault chef developed his explosive recipe. “Me, I’m not very objective, she smiles, but I think her burger can really have its effect! You have to know how to take risks. »

For now, Go Fast customers have not yet been able to taste it. Only the couple’s relatives had this privilege, and they are “unanimous”, continues Hélène. “They really like it! On Wednesday, a jury of around twenty experts – including a journalist from 20 minutes​ – chaired this year by chef Laurent Favre-Mot, who will have to be won over. At stake, a check for 2,500 euros for the winner of the French Burger Cup. And a hell of a spotlight.

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