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Thierry Mechler

BAECKEOFFA
Baeckeoffe is a traditional dish from the Alsace region of France, near the border with Germany, and the name translates to "baker's oven" in the local dialect. ​
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
Main ingredients
  • 600 g pork
  • 600 g beef
  • 600 g lamb
  • 2 kg potatoes
  • 200 g onions
  •  salt and pepper

For the marinade
  • 250 g leek whites
  • 200 g carrots
  • 2 onions
  • 2 garlic
  • 1 bottle Alsace white Riesling or Pinot gris wine, thyme, bay leaf

For the bread dough
  • 400 g flour
  • 1 cup (250 ml) water
METHOD
Prepare the day before:
  1. ​Cut the pork, beef and lamb into large 4-5 cm cubes.
  2. Peel and wash the leeks, onions and carrots. Cut into slices.
  3. Peel the garlic, cut in 2 and remove the germ.
  4. Prepare the marinade by placing all the chopped vegetables in the wine, adding the garlic, thyme and bay leaf, dipping the meat in the marinade and marinating, turning several times.
  5. Strain the container and place the marinade in the fridge for 24 hours.
Same day:​
  1. Drain the meat. Add 1 litre of water to the marinade and cook until reduced by a quarter (1.5 litres should remain). Set aside.
  2. Peel and cut the potatoes into slightly thick slices.
  3. Peel and chop the onions.
  4. Assemble the terrine, starting by placing ⅓ of the potatoes and ⅓ of the onions at the bottom of the terrine. Then divide between half the meat and half the vegetables from the marinade. Season evenly with salt and pepper.
Thierry Mechler
Thierry Mechler
Thierry Mechler's career has taken him worldwide - both as organist and pianist and he has built a reputation as an exciting performer and improviser. 

​Thierry was born in 1962, and he started piano and organ lessons in his home town of Mulhouse and then went on to Strasbourg where he studied piano with Helene Boschi and organ with Daniel Roth at the “Conservatoire National deRégion”.

​In 1981, he won first prize with highest congratulations at the “Concours International de Paris” and in 1984, he went to Paris to study with Marie-Claire Alain, where he won, in succession a gold medal and a first prize of excellence with congratulations from the jury. In 1986, he won a laureate in improvisation and a first prize for virtuosity with congratulations from the jury in the concert class from Marie-Claire Alain in Paris. He also studied the Art of improvisation with Jacques Taddei, and won the medal of honour at the contest for composition in Mulhouse.

He is invited each year to numerous European Organ Festivals. As a renowned teacher and juror, he is invited every year to Germany, England, Finland, Island, USA, Korea and France to give masterclasses in various academies. He has made many recordings of which the reference can be found in the international catalogue.

During 1995, Thierry Mechler performed the entire works of J. S. Bach in a famous series of 12 recitals. In 1998, he played all the Six Vierne Symphonies. Member of the Jury of international Competitions, in 1998 Thierry became Professor for Organ and Improvisation at the University (Musikhochschule) in Köln. Since 2002, Thierry Mechler is an organist and a curator of the prestigious Philharmonie of Cologne (Germany). Fêted also as a composer, his "6 Métamorphoses on B.A.C.H " Opus 14 was created at the Philharmonie of Cologne in January 2009.

Thierry Mechler is a Knight in the french National Order of " Arts et Lettres". 
​(See his full biography on his website)

Thierry's website: thierrymechler.com
Thierry muses about some amusing moments linked to the world of the Alsatian organ:
​
At Thierenbach, Édouard Andrès was improvising with finesse and fervour during Vespers, and the bishop present asked him:
​
“What did you use for registration?
Édouard replied in a hieratic manner:
“Bishop, it was the night horn in the closed box”.
On the following 15 August, the bishop asked him:
“When will you make me that closed heart in the nightclub again?

AND:

In Mulhouse, Marius Trommenschlager refused to accompany a song of mediocre quality during mass, remaining stoically with his arms folded in front of the keyboards of the Roethinger in Ste Geneviève, muttering: “I’m not a bar organist”.
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