bleudauvergne

I have just had the chance to look over the recipe that you mention, Ptpois, and I really have to say I'm very sorry but it is not a complicated recipe, nor is it overly sophisticated. This recipe is no more complicated than the chapon that Mamie would prepare at Christmas. And I believe that this is a recipe just for that. It involves steps, as many dishes of any quality do. And the recipe covers every one of them, as it should. This is a good working recipe. Step 1 is the preparation of the bird, explained in detail. This is done in every kitchen that prepares a christmas bird, the world over. What's nice is that this time, you're going to make sausages with the leg meat. Clean the bird. remove the legs, because they will be used for another part of the recipe. Wash and slice your truffle (well that's fancy but not unheard of nor overly complicated), and slide it under the skin (as many housewives do with herbs for a regular roasted chicken for Sunday dinner!) Step 2 is the preparation of a lovely variation on a sausage, using the dark meat of the legs. It's quite simple. There is nothing complicated about slicing a mirepoix, putting together a bouquet garni, and pre-cooking by infusion with the herbs that which will be mixed with the dark meat, which is ground like for sausage. Looks easy and looks like something I would do, and have done many times just that for regular sausage stuffings for vegetables I put together at home. My instinct would be to add fat of some kind instead of the egg, perhaps from the jar of duck fat I keep... Step 3 the cream sauce incorporating the truffle whipped thick for the sausage - enriched with cognac, port, and the juice from the truffle. All steps involved in doing this are mentioned and do not require much sophistication or skill. In reading the recipe, I see that this is the most time consuming step, but not in any case complicated, and it sounds just delicious. The steps are straightforward and I find them interesting. This step also includes stuffing the sausage and parboiling them to give them body. Simple enough. Step 4 is roasting the bird with a bouquet garni, herbed butter, and some root vegetables, removing it from the pan, and making a sauce with the deglazed juices. Nothing out of the norm about that. Step 5 is just finishing the sausages you have just made in a frying pan by frying them up in butter, and suggestions on how to plate the dish, which are pretty straightforward to me. This is not a complicated recipe for a Christmas bird. The title of the recipe with my interpretation is: Chapon de Bresse = Festive Bird for a Gathering la poitrine truffée sous la peau la veille = truffles slid under the skin of the breast the day before puis cuite longuement au four, = then roasted in the oven les cuisses en boudin de Noël = the legs made into Christmas sausage. A recipe I can visualize easily in my mind, and no more complicated than any other holiday centerpiece served at tables all over France. I am really very sorry about that but you'll have to come up with a better recipe to show that French cooking has become overly complicated. The thing about cooking at home in a proper working ktichen is that many of these steps that seem complicated when written out in a recipe that are simply natural normal steps that are simply completed from day to day. There is nothing out of the ordinary in this recipe save perhaps the cost of the ingredients (the chapon is always pricey, and also the truffle), and stuffing your own boudin (sausage) de Noel. The use of truffles is not every day, but I do have to say that truffles and chapon do make an appearance in our family meals here in France around holiday time. A big deal is made about them. Note: If I were to execute the recipe myself and then make notes for future reference, I certainly would not use the formal language - the word "confectionner" to describe the process of tying a bouquet garni together, for instance. I think this recipe uses language that may complicate things in the mind of someone without much experience cooking. That would be my only critique. But this is a recipe from Ducasse, a recipe for a holiday dish, presented in a an approrpiately ceremonious way. Perhaps the debate should be : Has the way we have come to discuss and phrase our references to food become overly complicated?

I would be so happy if anyone had a recipe for the white cloud recipe, a marinade with vinegar and chilis - mentioned by Yuki! That sounds like it would really be good. Can anyone come forth with recipes? My way is so basic, and I do remember having them served in wonderful dark sauces the few times I have had them in Cantonese restaurants.

We had a lot of fun the night I brought the feet home from the Bresse producer. I can't say why we thought it was so funny. My Chinese friend and I have both been here for several years, she is from the area of China where I spent the most time, and we really share a certain humor. We thought it was just so perfect that we were preparing those feet that night. I guess you had to be there. This is the same friend who went and got me some feet this morning. You know you have a friend when she'll go to Chinatown for you and drop a sack of chicken feet off at your house, no questions asked.

I got no problem with bone spitting, though I would have thought the French had a special chicken foot fork or something to make that unneccessary. It was the idea of sitting in a darkened room surrounded by people making that little "thhhpt" sound and the tinkle (as my friend described it) of bones and nails on concrete that kind of put me off my (chicken?) feed. ← A special fork? Oh goodness no, the French don't eat the feet! I wouldn't even serve them to the adventurous French friends unless they had a special history with them or said they liked them. It was very funny when I served the poulet de Bresse feet. It was with a Chinese friend. She and I were having a good time in the kitchen skinning them but it took a long time. Therefore we started with the meal before the feet were done. We then realized that they were way undercooked when I brought them out to the table, but I wanted to serve them because she'd been with me all evening. We all had a good time and gnawed on these tough feet for the heck of it. My husband (French) did the same, though quietly and with less gusto. We had a good time, or so I thought. My husband later expressed to me that he really didn't like the experience at all. I have spared him the horror of eating chicken feet since. I have full respect for his food aversions. I'll see if I can dig up some photos from that evening, they're funny.

Dick, can you tell us what the marinade consists of? I'd like to expand my horizons on this one of a kind dish.

They should not be overcooked, because there is cartilage there that tastes very good for you if you don't cook it out of existence. I once had a yucky batch in London, they had simmered them till there was nothing left and I felt like I was eating sacks of bones. However if you do prepare them yourself, and don't simmer them for hours and hours, you should be able to enjoy the nice texture of the flesh in the feet. I must tend to the other dinner now.

The broth is like ambrosia. Really just as good as the feet. It packs a powerful chicken punch. It almost reminds me of the country version of the last consomme I prepared. Plus the star anise ... In my circles it's totally appropriate to spit the bones. No messier than eating a taco in my opinion.

Here's a more end of the day kind of photo of the feet I am eating now. Yes, a cold Qing Dao would be perfect just about now with these feet. Sorry about the first creepy pic.

Oh sorry about that. -- they taste really good.

I've recently had an operation and am at home without much to do. When cooking I've been favoring the long cooking less labor intensive dishes, because I'm not up to much. But oh my goodness did I have a huge craving for chicken feet today. They're really rather simple to prepare, my Chinese Ayi showed me when I lived in Beijing. First you get the scales off and parboil them. There are lots of places you can buy them ready to cook, with the scales already off. They're kind of a bother to peel, as I discovered once when I cajoled my poulet de Bresse vendor once to give me all of his feet. Today I got a friend to bring me some already de-scaled from Chinatown. What I do is throw them in a pot with star anise, cloves, a little ginger, and a good spoonful of salt, bring to a boil, and simmer for an hour and a half. Then I turn off the heat and let them cool down to room temp. My method of eating them is to first pick the claws off. I don't debone them, I like them better with the bones because there's some nice cartilage in them that adds texture in between the digits. I always save the meaty pad for last. The broth is lovely and nourishing. I am eating these alone, as my husband does not particularly like chicken feet. I'd love to hear other's recipes and stories. I know that chicken feet are not only eaten in China, but my father, who was a deep Southerner (U.S.), also loved them in his youth. I have only had them prepared the Chinese way since we didn't carry that tradition along with us growing up.

Beautiful photo, Jason.

Great reading, Ellen, thank you so much for sharing your story and photos.

We have a vitro-ceramic cooktop with one induction burner as is quite common on the new ones. Yes, we have to cook with flat bottomed pans, and it was an opportinuty to get rid of my cheap pans. The vitro cermic heats up just as quickly as gas, I simply adore it because I can use the cook top as a prep space before I begin cooking (our kitchen measures 1.5 x 3 meters). I have kept a pot of water at 68 degrees celcius for 3 hours over the induction burner. Very easy to clean with the paste made for cleaning this type of cooktop. Much easier to clean than any other cook top I have ever had before. I have used the cast iron crepe pan to make crepes and they turned out great. I'm not going back.

What a wonderful post. I wish I had your tamale lady.

This thread made me pick some up recently. Prepared very simply, scrubbed with salt and braised, then served with a sauce mornay. My husband prepared these, I have been bedridden (but getting better).

I believe ideal circumstances are possible, and that these circumstances can allow for greatness on many levels. However a universal ideal gastronomy is impossible to define, even if it is in the end a set of circumstances. When we speak of gastronomy the discussion inevitably involves one or more cultural standpoints.

I have just chipped the surface of the world of chocolate. There are so many aspects to consider. I think the article does the right thing in judging the quality of the product experience as well, including the look and feel of the shop and experience when opening one of their packages, the combinations of chocolates they package together, etc. Opening a box of chocolates is a very tactile and complex experience.

Hello, a few weeks ago I was engaged in a serious discussion with a friend for several hours as we sipped on glass after glass of wine. I live in Lyon, but it should not be any different in Paris. My advice to you is to go to a rather upscale cafe and all should be fine. Most have an area near the bar where they seat people in for drinks only. I say upscale because this is the type of establishment more likely to have good wines by the glass and the service will be more attentive. You can take the opportunity to try several different wines that way. Hope you have a nice afternoon.

I always use fermented milk from the middle eastern shops. I actually had this for the first time in Turkey so that when it was time to find buttermilk it was easy to find here. It should work fine in buttermilk pancakes and also cornbread, which is what I primarily use it for in cooking. This has more butterfat than the buttermilk we know, but I have found that it does not in any way adversely affect the dishes I prepare with it. It also tastes simply delicious, exactly like buttermilk. packages vary from grocer to grocer, I know you can find this product in all mainstream supermarkets as well. You should be able to find it in your neighborhood Monoprix in the dairy section.

Yes it was a pecorino and parm mixture. For the given combination of the flavorful consomme and the pasta, I would have preferred a filling that served more as structure - Ricotta, or if I was making it myself, a local white farm cheese of any kind. Slightly spiced. Really the pasta itself was flavored enough with the truffles and what it really required was something quite neutral. The spices in the filling would possibly pull something warm out, i.e. minimal: paprika, salt, just a whisper of cayenne, white pepper, perhaps then a very basic herb flavor - just to give depth but no more. Even without the pasta the consomme is just fine as a first course.

Heck no, I left that to the Italian traiteur at Les Halles. Do you think I'm crazy enough to make a pie and make pasta??? The idea popped into my mind when some discussions of pasta at Thanksgiving had been echoing through the halls here a couple of weeks before T-day. You know I was thinking of a Turkey consomme, then while I was thinking of logistics I realized that this first course would be the ideal chance to celebrate the one most treasured culinary love I have come to fully appreciate this year, that particular poulet. You know, we went on that pilgrimmage to Vonnas to visit Georges Blanc's empire this year, and I began cooking them in various ways with birds from the producer's market... So many times you see the Poulet de Bresse being served with truffles. I was thinking about pasta in general, I had dropped my husband off at the train station and decided to take a stroll though Les Halles. I stopped at the Italian vendor and saw that truffle pasta and bought just a few to try. This is the lady who sells them at Les Halles. That evening I had the truffle raviolis (plain) and Rachel mentioned trying a certain lasagne to serve at Thanksgiving. At that point my decision was made to do the Poule de Bresse consomme and the truffle raviolis. I think I may try to do those raviolis at home from scratch, using truffle and a more mild cheese, though. I think they're wonderful alone or with perhaps a light cream sauce, but for the consomme, I think they should play a supporting role, so I'd go with a lighter filling.

Dear Margaret. I too was a Roman Meal outcast. All of the kids lined their boots with bread bags to keep their feet dry on those horribly cold and wet winter days. While all of my friends sported the stylish Wonder polka dots, I had to schlep along with ugly orange hued sacks with the picture of the gladiator blaring out of the tops of my boots. We never got good snacks, unless it was at friend's houses. We never even had sweet cereal. Oh well. I do remember the divinity making days with my grandmother and also how my grandfather on my father's side used to mix honey and butter and spread it on toast for me.

Your father's remark really says a great deal about your situation. The lifestyle change and the physical activity must have paid off handsomely in terms of your overall health. (gears are churning here) It's good now that you have reached a point where you have the stamina to work this job and also communicate with us. What is the subject of the photo after the two of the curds in their packaging?

We made a comsomme de Poule de Bresse with a one year old hen. I used only a bouquet garni containing a bit of sage. The eCGI class "On Consomme" was strictly followed. It would have been better alone without the truffle raviolis.

Ooooh! Ooooh! Yay! Amir! This is a dream come true. Congratulations for your great career move and thank you ever so much for sharing this with us!