Francois Mitterrand's Last Meal Was For The Birds...

Dying of cancer, Francois Mitterrand ordered a last meal of:

Oysters

Foie gras

Capons

L'Ortolan: which is the eating of a Ortolan bird, a tiny, yellow-throated songbird that is illegal to eat in France. The bird is roasted and eaten bones and all.

L'Ortolan recipe is as follows.

Preperation: The birds must be taken alive; once captured they are either blinded or kept in a lightless box for a month to gorge on millet, grapes, andfigs, a technique apparently taken from the decadent cooks of ImperialRome who called the birds beccafico, or 'fig-pecker'. When they'vereached four times their normal size, they're drowned in a snifter ofArmagnac.

Cooking: Simply pop them in a high oven for six to eight minutes and serve.

Eating: When cool, begin to chew. It should take about 15 minutes to work yourway through the breast and wings, the delicately crackling bones, and onto the inner organs. Devotees claim they can taste the bird's entire life as they chew in the darkness: the wheat of Morocco, the salt air of the Mediterranean, the lavender of Provence. The pea-sized lungs and heart, saturated with Armagnac from its drowning, are said to burst in a liqueur-scented flower on the diner's tongue. Enjoy with a good Bordeaux wine.