bleudauvergne

helenas That dish sounds delightful. Can you give us some details of what went into it? Did you use butter? Simply the mushrooms in the hollowed squash? Thanks.

Thanks ptpois, I will keep an eye out and get some.

Dear Pan the musician, QA means to rehearse and go through your directors notes. In the business world, it would also mean to document your procedure to make sure that the end product or your transaction is going to run smoothly and the proper way each time. In short, what he means by this is Test. Sam, the pie looks heavenly. My grandmother used to use chicken fat in her cornbread, and also in her biscuits. The browned crust is really the best, do have a taste. I also break out the cornbread and crumble it on a cookie sheet and let it sit for a day or two to dry out more. I'm getting so much from your blog because we don't have to do Thanksgiving until Saturday and you're getting me all excited to get started.

I find beets delightfully simple to cook, and not messy. I cook them when at home in the States. In France, I buy them from my market cooked. In fact come to think of it, I don't think I've seen raw uncooked beets for sale at the market here in France, but maybe I just haven't had my eyes open. If I did, I'd certainly cook them. It's easy. How to boil beets: 1) Cut off the leaves from the beet. 2) Wash and carefully scrub the beet thoroughly to remove all dirt, like a potato. 3) Boil a large volume of water (3 times the volume fo the beets), and add the beets. 4) Bring back to a boil, then simmer 20 minutes. 5) Remove from heat, drain, run under cold water until cool enough to handle, and slip the skins off (they come off easily). 6) Slice and serve warm, drizzled with vinaigrette, add to salads cold, serve with the classic mayonnaise cold like the French do, eat them plain, with a little bit of salt. I admit that in France, I do as the French do. I have never encountered a beet with an off taste at the market here. This was my worry when I first saw them, what if they're old or otherwise unfit to eat? You certainly can't tell by the looks of a cooked beet if it's in good condition. In any case, I saw people lining up for beets at the market, obviously they thought they were good. The man had a pair of tongs and picked them up and put them in plastic bags. I just brought them home and sliced them up for salad. They tasted fine and were perfectly acceptable as is.

The reason why certain neighborhoods get taken over by chains is because the local businesses die. So I say trumpet it loud and clear, and then we should go there and keep those businesses alive.

Wow.

How lovely. I'll have to get some. I've been thinking it would be nice to be transported back to hot summer age 10 if only for a moment... I'm sending further comments on the Beaujolais Nouveau from the thread on the France forum over here.

May I suggest this year's tasting notes to be posted over in the Beaujolais Nouveau thread in the Wine forum? Click for the Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Tasting Notes 2004 on the wine forum Note, your general stories about BN would be appropriate to continue in this thread. Kind regards.

Nice!

That's a nice idea for the leftovers, if you have any!! I'd make little tartlettes because there's not much meat, I think little tartlettes using the quail would be wonderful starters. I always buy and prepare more than we'll eat. Quail is nice to pull out of the fridge and eat cold. I use leftover meats to garnish market soups. Here is a link to a market veg soup using quail. Both little ms foodie and johnder make sauces containing sweet elements. I've never done this, but it's worth a try. I wonder if I could make little tartlettes using a tarragon/grape/raisin sauce...

Druckenbrodt, I love you description of the neighborhood. What's the best metro stop to get off and be right in the thick of things?

I just keep a camera in the kitchen. It's a good habit to get into. Almost every photo I take is of food these days. A group is seated at the table and I say - Wait, let me take a photo! So everyone smiles and I lean over the plate at the end of the table. I will try them in rings next time. I was thinking that they'd kind of curl somehow if I sliced them into strips. I don't know why.

Well, I just dove right in, started simple, and it cooked itself. The soup and caramelized leek combination was stellar, and something I will do again. Super easy to have my way with the leeks, took about 15 minutes. Slice them into strips. Sautee in butter on medium heat - until done! It was really really a wonderful combination. I encourage anyone to combine scallops and caramelized leeks anytime.

Spatchcock them, smear them with the fat you have, season them with herbs in season, salt and pepper, and put them in a prehated 400f/200c oven for 15-20 or until they're done. (or do johnder's recipe it looks really good)

Hi all - On the France forum, Zoe posted about a new restaurant where she was served scallops with caramelized leeks, and it inspired me to do something like this in soup form, being the soup lover that I am. I'm making a potage with coquille St. Jacques (scallops) which consists of my habitual market root vegetable potage with the vegetables braised in white wine, and using fish stock, then finishing with a touch of vermouth, creme fraiche, butter, & salt plus white pepper. Coq. St. J added last & pureed before serving. What I want to do is top the soup with caramelized leeks, and not only make it taste good but make it pretty. What do you do to caramelize leeks or endives - I am talking basic techniques here - I've never caramelized leeks before. Do I actually use a little bit of sugar? Butter? duck fat? Braise and finish hot? How do I bring out the most from the leeks? Steam & finish quickly in a caramelized sauce? long slow cooking? Remember I want this to look good as well as taste good. Please help me decide the best way to do this. Thank you

This thread is so inspiring. I'm just delighted with your photos, Ellen. Thank you ever so much for all of the incredible content from everyone. There is a lot to digest in this thread and I'm just loving it.

We've done the same and also were able to watch the milking and visit the barn where they had the newborns. They were really adorable. They had a little lamb as well that had lost it's mother and was in the same pen. I looked the mother goat in the eyes, she stood up and came over and stared at me very hard - I felt like I was looking into the eyes of an alien space creature - well, if you make it to a farm where they make chevre you'll see what I mean. But do visit the farms who put their signs on the side of the road, they are used to visitors and will show you around, you can arrive without calling ahead.

I heartily recommend Zoe's suggestion to get into a cheese shop while you are in Paris to try the corsican cheeses. There was one wonderful herb encased sheeps cheese, you know it by the little red peppers on top called Brin d'Amour that is really wonderful. Our Paris source had it in perfect condition, La Maison du Fromage. I have seen it in many other places, sometimes I see similar cheeses. It's got to be Brin d'Amour - any old herb encased brebis is not going to be the same. La Maison du Fromage 118 r Mouffetard 75005 PARIS 01 45 35 13 19

Hey Druckenbrodt, We are still seeing them at the market, at one vendor who imports from Russia. So they're still in season somewhere. Its true this is not a pungent mushroom. I think that they have a wonderful flavor but you have to be prepared for it and keep the cooking as dry as possible. When serving alone, I cook them in hot fresh butter alone, without shallot or garlic, which can overshadow the flavor. I make sure they are completely dry so that you don't dilute the flavor. I pour off the juice during the cooking process if it starts to get excessive (and pour it into the soup!) Some people don't really like them - for the reason you describe, not much flavor punch in comparison to say a cepe for instance. This mushroom does compliment some things very well. I find that keeping things simple is best for them. As for cleaning them, if they're covered in excessive layers of bark and moss and pine needles at the market, I'd pass them over. If you've got a batch that needs washing, my mother in law suggests a brief soak in a receptable that you can agitate to get things to fall off. Then a whirl in the salad spinner which has been lined with a dish cloth. Some purists say you must never wash them but more often than not I do find it necessary. If they're clean, you can just trim the stems that are dirty. You want to make sure they're good and dry before you start cooking. Laying them out on a clean cloth for an hour or so can help too.

Growing up we always had the oyster stuffing pushed into the neck cavity. My mother used to add canned oysters but I use fresh. It's just the regular cornbread stuffing with oysters and their juice added. I've just been to see the recipe that woodburner posted and it looks simply delicious.

Hmmmm...

One thing that struck me when I first came here was the way almost everyone would lapse into a discussion about food in one way or another almost everywhere you go. I mean you're walking down the street and the garbage men are talking about food, people o the bus are talking about food, people on the street, in the stores, etc. This is not a myth, almost everyone you meet has a sincere interest in and suprising knowledge about food. When I first started entertaining I thought it was wierd that every time I served something, especially something they were not familliar with, my French guests all tried to list all of the ingredients. The focus on food actually made me uncomfortable at first because in my mind they were supposed to simply enjoy it and not deconstuct in a long drawn out discussion. But then I realized that France is at heart a nation of foodies. I did not grow up here but I believe what ptpois says. I can only imagine what it must have been like many years ago when there was more to enjoy. But the hypermaches are continuing to be built, and global logistics and superfarms take over providing for the masses. The seasons are dissapearing in the stores.

Come now. Everyone's got their own take on things. Don't bash someone just because they noticed something is done differently and felt squeamish about it. Heck I sometimes give the French a really hard time just because I woke up on the wrong side of bed. Speaking of beds, I remove the hotel bedspreads everywhere I go, because they're more often than not made of super scotch rite teflon coated polyester. What other reason do I need? About bakeries. The simple answer is that a good 98% of the people buying bread are buying it in their own neighborhood. Bread is roughly the same price everywhere. In France, as soon as you move into a neighborhood, you try every single bakery on the block, and you go back the one you like. Some people will go out of their way for a superior loaf of bread, but everyone has their limit. This limit to how far people will go for bread ensures that you're going to see a lot of bakeries everywhere. If you feel like you've got too many choices equidistant from where you're standing, perhaps you need to move. Take a tour of the block. If a bakery is clearly superior, there will be lines. Sometimes long ones. Get in the longest line. I'd like to add that most bakeries don't touch the bread, they use little paper thingies to pick it up, which they hand you the bread with. You've got lots of choice. Choose a bakery that uses the paper thingies if it means a lot to you. The specialty items are made in house, always, unless they are a depot.

Keith, it's the luck of the draw sometimes, really, but there are some things you can do. How to identify a restaurant that's going to give you quality if you don't have help from a guide. 1. If it looks too good to be true, most likely it’s not. First of all, nowadays we can't expect miracles. Thus the 8€ lunch menu that includes cheese, wine, and coffee is most probably going to get you micro waved frozen food. Try and come to some understanding when you first get into a town what the menus in that town generally cost, it's common practice for French and foreigners alike to examine menus carefully. It's the law to post them outside. What I like to do is choose one somewhere in the middle that's not the highest, and not the lowest. This way I minimize my risk of disappointment (I hate being disappointed with a meal, and I’ve found that a quality/price ratio does not always directly apply, i.e. you're more likely to have a better quality price ratio on middle ground than in the higher priced plain eating places), this way I’m more likely to be pleasantly surprised. Always try to compare several menus, even if it takes you an extra few minutes. Second, The idea that you get outside the tourist areas and eat home-style country food like kings for a song is now myth, unfortunately. Now that reality has set in, much of rural France is extremely economically depressed, and the little towns you roll into are more likely than not to be cutting corners or buying the cheapest available to them, which is not always the local product these days. Try and always keep that in mind, and look carefully at the menus. Understand that now all over France, the highest quality local products are going to be sold at a higher price to boutique markets all over the EU. So assuming that local products will necessarily stay local no longer applies. Third, and this follows from point 2, You not only have to get to know what the region offers, you're going to have to look further and make sure you're actually getting local product. Example. When we ate in Epoisse - I was hankering for a nice slab of Charrolais beef which is really wonderful in all of its incarnations. I didn't look closely enough at the menu at the time (although I did take a picture of it which I will paste up later). At the bottom, in small wording there's a disclaimer about the beef. That should have set the alarm bells ringing... "All of our beef is either French beef or E.U. produced beef. " I should have understood by looking at the lowest common denominator - Frozen beef from a warehouse in the hinterlands is a possibility in that scenario. In most circumstances, if there's a disclaimer, it means something. It tasted -eh-. I detected freezer burn. if you see this, you know you're most likely not getting local beef 4. If you don't have a guide, and you just don't know, Ask. Practice asking and make it a habit. Go to the post office, buy a stamp, and ask where the best place for [insert local food you seek here] is to be found. Practice your French write it out, tell them clearly. You want the best quality, not the most expensive. People normally answer with candor when approached by someone they think is taking this seriously. Mussels, Crepes, cakes, cassoulet, etc. If you can't bring yourself to speak, you need to get the book. 5. You simply cannot judge the quality of a place by the number of people inside or the looks of the place. France is in hard times right now. People who live in a town don't necessarily go to the best place in town for a local product because they are trying to save a few bucks here and there. A price difference of 3 Euros on a pot of moules frites is enough to fill a place up with locals even if the moules are not the best in town. But when asked where the best in town are, the fixtures in town (ask them at the, post office, grocers, butchers, etc.) will tell you. You can still get excellent food, don't get me wrong. It can be really fabulous. But it's the exception now and not the rule. Try and maximize your chances.

It's a riot you are shopping for things forgotten the day before. My forgotten things time is that morning and I send out the scout for those things. He's a very good finder.