bleudauvergne

St. Antoine: Specialty Eggs Cheeses from the Jura Smoked magret de canard with foie gras in the middle

It's a sole, Owen. The skin peels off. You make a slit at the tail and peel the skin off in one piece, on either side. It's heavenly. This kind of fish is often served to children to get them used to eating off the fish, because the bone structure is flat and easy to eat from without getting any stray bones. The bones of this fish are perfect for a delicate and flavorful fumet. I recommend it highly. -Lucy edited to say that this kind of fish is expensive

Hi Carolyn. I would go in completely the opposite direction and choose something on th emild and creamy side, like a chauorce, or crottin. I'd also include fruit. It also depends on what is available to you. What do you have to choose from?

On the window sill: Mint, rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender ( guess you can't eat that) That's it. Not bad for about .2 m2. -Lucy

In an attempt to get inspired with ideas about what to do with the 700grams (that's nearly a pound and a half) of fois gras I've got, I searched and cut and paste dish mentions from the board. Here are some of the mentions that foie gras had in the year 2001 on this board. As time goes on, I noticed that spices like cinnamon began to come out in the beginning of 2002. There were so many mentions I could not conceivably catch them all. But I went as far as January 2002. I will do 2002 tomorrow. And 2003 the next day. 2001 eGullet fois gras dish mentions: -Sauteed foie gras with chestnuts and walnuts with a reduced Sauterne sauce accompanied with a glass of an excellent sauterene -Call it a French burger (well, they call it a DB Burger) - ground sirloin stuffed with short ribs, foie gras and truffles. -Griggstown pheasant was presented with foie gras -the "Venetian pasta" at Peacock Alley: Rich, eggy noodles supersaturated with butter and cream and tossed with chunks of foie gras -and I will do two things: a chocolate dessert--using a new technique, a caramel meringue foam and a savory "truffle"-- a ganache of foie gras, with a liquid center of Inniskillin icewine, enrobed in chocolate and rolled in brioche crumbs and caramel powder. -penne with foie gras and wild mushroom sauce -foie gras baguette is, er a crusty foie gras sandwich (but, like Kingsmill, better bread ;-) ). nuff said. -"cuttlefish cannelloni of duck and maple syrup, parsley broth." According to a New York Times article by R.W. Apple, Jr. (May 31, 2000), the procedure at the Fat Duck is to cut cuttlefish bodies into rectangles and then freeze them to break down the molecules, thus tenderizing them. The filling consists of preserved duck, duck ham, foie gras, cuttlefish and maple syrup, served in a parsley puree. -Feuillantine of crab with marinated salmon, roasted foie gras, crystallized seaweed and oyster vinaigrette -Wonderful foie gras pate -duck with foie gras -The terrine of foie gras and smoked eel -the smoked eel, apple and foie gras starter -Highlights were foie gras with lentils -turkey stuffed with chestnuts and foie gras -I had the terrine of foie gras, chicken and venison wrapped in ham -Assiette Gourmand of ballotine of foie gras, chicken liver parfait, rillette of duck, fig chutney and green beans was a technical marvel -Christina had unctuous jasmine tea and I a glass of the 1997 house label Sauternes, which was a little chippy and earthy, which meant it went great with the thin slices of foie on Poilane grillee and some apple compote -The duck with foie gras, a potato shallot cake and duck jus - was tough and I didn't care for the sauce. -It was seared foie gras, a thin slice (a technical error in my view--can't get all the different textures with this thin a slice, or maybe just the hedonist poking up again) with a chocolate-black pepper cookie (including roasted cocoa beans) and bitter chocolate sauce. - Le foie gras d'oie truffé, en terrine -bouillion bresse chicken with foie gras tortellini. -tranche of roast foie gras with chutney-type stuff (my description, not theirs) -chicken breast with fois gras-stuffed tortellini -Sure, one can marinate fois gras in maple syrup and tart up a tortierre with truffles -a salad of foie gras, confit and air dried duck with saute potatoes to begin -terrine foie gras with asparagus salad -a fabulous pork belly and foie gras dish -hot searred foie gras with both hot and cold fruits plus some reduction or another -Pan-Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras Magret with Poached Figs, Soft Polenta and Balsamic-Apple Cider Vinagar -there was foie gras "breaded" with minced truffles on four sides. At the ends were white breast cubes--perhaps pheasant or some other less gamy bird. As the meats were all very moist and the dish devoid of all fat save for the foie gras, and as the breast meats all seemed to have been cut from the center of the breast, I have no idea how this was cooked or assembled, except to say it was done with great expertise. -Tartufi de Alba et foie gras de canard en ravioli -Starter panfried foie gras with lentils and pancetta -Second was fois gras with eggy waffle in drag & shredded/sauced apple with some sort of minor berry accent -crudite of apple and foie gras -foie gras and eel lasagna (caramelized like a creme brûlée) -Foie gras avec des pommes vertes et des truffes, sauce aux truffes -Pan fried foie gras -foie gras (which is offered in 5-10 different preparations, including sometimes as a dessert with a sauce made from violets) -Foie gras pate -Hot Smoked foie gras -The dying François Mitterrand's last meal consisted of: marenne oysters, foie gras, chapon and ortolans. -I've had chocolate with foie gras and with wild hare and both were right on the money -rare seared duck slices topped with some vegetables and seared foie gras -poulet Bresse with garlic and foie gras sauce -Just what we need - bobbing for foie gras -Foie Gras, Lobster and Green Beans with various other ingredients added to make it a proper salad -the foie gras broth w. rabbit ravioli -terrine of foie gras studded with rabbit rillette -Bocuse's soup also contains foie gras and chicken cosumme -a duck dish whose ingredients included foie gras, veal stock and bordeaux -Bonbons de Foie Gras -Ragout de Ris de Veau, de Truffes, de Foie Gras et de Cretes de Coq -ravioli stuffed with either foie gras or lobster -he's not plunging foie gras into liquid nitrogen or whatever. -We saved a quarter of the foie gras to make a foie gras butter which we're keeping in the freezer for last minute whisking -Half to half, butter to raw foie gras - just whizz it up in a bowl or in the cuisinart-type appliance. Use it as you would ordinary butter to finish a sauce for meat or game -a VERY thick slice of fois gras grilled, served with a kind of cabbage -The Rabbit was singularly the best dish I've tasted in a while. Braised, with bacon, foie gras, parsnip and potatoes, shaving of truffles -Foie Gras or Smoked Salmon Pops - The Bresse chicken "G7" style (foie gras and roasted garlic sauce), which had been served at the G7 summit I've got a few ideas going, namely 1) the fois gras tortellini in light of the recent class on pasta making (any my new machine!). 2) the above mentioned aperetifs using dried fruits 3) the fois gras butter for use in sauces 4) torchon - Thanks for the marinade idea 5) slices for pan searing Still thinking...

Looks like it was an excellent party. This is a great blog, thanks!

A chorus line of spatchcocked quail - served with sauteed fresh champignons de Paris and country bread, followed by salad and cheese. Edited to say that I was so ready to get these birds to the table as they came out from under the broiler that I did not think of taking a photo of the finished product, which was really very beautiful indeed.

Yes, and how should I be pronouncing "cumin"?

I just brought home a fois gras cru. It's like butter. Coming out of the fridge, it's hard like butter. After a 1/2 hour at room temp you touch it and your finger imprints. So about shaving, it's solid when it comes out of the fridge. you can shave it like you'd shave butter, I will try a fruit peeler when I do the soup above. All this talk about fois gras including the other thread, I was subliminally inspired yesterday when I saw big huge lovely yellow lobes of fois gras on sale. I now have in my fridge a 700g. (enormous!) fois gras de canard. It's huge. Hmm. What to do with it. I do not want to limit myself to just one thing, it's huge and I can do a whole lot of different things with it, I think. I don't have the cookbooks mentioned in these two threads. I can't order the cookbooks and get them anytime soon. The recipes in my cookbooks (which are mostly written about French cooking for the American cook) are all so conventional (They all say do not under any circumstances freeze the stuff, for example) or they tell these very exotic anecdotes featuring a mystery marinade or a legendary method and how heavenly it tasted but do not describe any details about how exactly it is done. I plan, as inspired by the Terrine thread and some things I've seen at Les Halles to make a terrine and put a lengthwise sliced lobe from it in that. That's one thing. Ah but everyone has had it in restaurants so interestingly prepared. It's so wonderful to hear about what you've had. My husband has heard the ideas being thrown around here - figs, dates, etc. he's raising a few eyebrows and this makes me want to do this 100% - I want to change his ideas (and upcoming guests ideas) completely about fois gras - Questions about the above ideas: 1. For "au torchon" which is the one classic thing aside from insertion in the terrine I want to do, - What's the marinade? I want to do that. Please help! Can't find a reliably sourced recipe even in French. 2. I want to do a few different aperetif bites mentioned above like the figs and dates stuffed with slices and mousse, that I can take out of the freezer and pop in the oven. Has anyone done this and frozen it? How was it? If you use doughs like phyllo or little brisee shells do they freeze before or after cooking? What's the best medium for a piped mousse? 3. For slicing to freeze and sear, how should I slice the liver? lengthwise? crosswise? Really, how thick? I want to pu 8 or 10 slices on reserve for a dinner in the future. 4. What herbs should I be thinking of when I think of Fois Gras? Thank you very much -Lucy

My niece Amy, at the age of three, was constantly in tow with her grandmother and great aunt, sisters by the name of Sadie and Ethel, originally from Manhattan. They ate in restaurants at least twice daily. They worshipped the ground my niece walked on, took her into their arms and into their world whenever possible, and wanted her to have the best of everything. Forget kiddie menus. I used to babysit her a whole lot. So one day I asked her what she wanted for dinner. "Flaming Yawn" was the only thing she'd have. I was about 13 years old and could not figure out what she was talking about. Flaming Yawn! Flaming Yawn! She trumpeted. She was on the verge of tears until I finally convinced her that french toast would be an adequete replacement. When I told the story to her mother, she told me that it was the most expensive cut of beef on the menu.

If the ground pork isn't fatty enough, consider adding 1/3 weight ground (and blanched if in the U.S. to remove as much salt as possible) salt pork, which is the unsmoked bacon. You can buy it in one chunk and grind it at home. If you use it, don't add salt to your sausage (or chinese dumplings, which is what I use it for.) It does seem bizarrre that they're choosing to grind the chops when they could be selling them at (maybe) a higher price? Maybe he told you that because he thought that's what you wanted to hear?? Happy sausage making! Are you going to tell us about it? - Lucy

This is wonderful because I just spent last week with "Cuisine de Louisiane - Histoire et recettes" by Jaqueline Denusiere and Charles Henri Brandt. I am really looking forward to your upcoming blog! When I was a teenager, my mother and I on a road trip and driving through Louisiana and stopped in a small town called Crowley where a hand written sign in a store front said "Crawfish Tonight". Being a teenager, I whined about stopping there. I was silenced just as soon as our hot steaming platter with 5 lbs of crawfish and butter to dip it in came to the table. We ate another platter after that and took yet another order back to the hotel with us. I took pictures of the crawfish. I still have the photo somewhere. -Lucy

That reminds me - my husband's grandmother, who is French, said she really loves to receive gifts that she can "use up". For example hand crafted cards or notes, decorative cocktail napkins, chocolates, bottles of aperetifs, etc.

What kind of wine were you drinking with that? Therein may lie your answer. fix spelling

I think a solution would be to have bar code stickers to mark all luggage and link it to a ticketed passenger on the train. The checkers would scan all luggage (stowed in an orderly way with the bar code accesible in the baggage section of the car) immediately after the ticket check. If an unaccounted bag shows up, It would instantly show up. But that's too simple. It would take 10 years to get something like that in place.

I have got to get some Stinking Bishop.

Last night: Tonight: Contents: 1 egg, andouille, grated beaufort d'ete, S&P.

Thanks to Paul for his guidance.

Food and exchanges involving food are sacred in all parts European. Universally, refusing to even taste something home made by a co-worker's fiance and presented along with an engagement announcement is a personal insult thinly veiled beneath a food combination aversion. The guys must have been childish schoolboys succumbing to that kind of herd mentality. Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done about it. Best to have a really fabulous party and not invite the childish bores who shunned your divine labors of love. From the French people I know, I can say it would be a rare occurance for someone to come home from the bakery and say, "Man, I just hate it when people don't say :Bonjour, Messieurs-Dames ! Its so - RUDE!"

The anchovy was and idea put forth by sentiamo. It was delicious, and distinctive. Although I did not use much, it was fully there. I actually debated, in the course of the meal, if it overshadowed the sauce, and wondered if I should have either omitted/reduced the anchovy (one fillet per two chops) or included garlic in the sauce in order to bring it out to the level of the anchovy. The beans were delicate in flavor, it was a simple contrast to the grilled meat. The anchovy married really well with the mint jelly.

The lamb chop dinner's over. I decided to follow Paul's advice and go classic, with a concentration on the stock for the sauce. I based my stock on a chicken stock I had going in the crock pot, since although I love lamb, I felt like it too is volatile and would be better to start with something more "background" and grace the stock with the lamb flavor. I put the chops to marinate about 2 hours before dinner. EVOO, rosemary minced, rinsed/mashed anchovy fillets, pepper, and parsley. I did as Paul said, included the mirepoix in the stock - I put the lamb ribs and cuttings in the chicken stock for about 45 minutes. and made a mint jelly (actually cheated by adding minced fresh mint to a rhubarb jelly I had handy). I then added the rosemary sprigs to the stock , and timed their presence for 30 minutes, and then removed them. Last 20 minutes was after a hearty grind of black pepper. This morning, I had also begun by soaking the white beans and had them simmering in chicken stock by late afternoon, with a sage and bay leaf bouquet. Our guest arrived and I served a cocktail made with rum shaken with leftover voilet flavored ice cream. It so happened that there were violets at the market this morning for 50 cents a plant (they attracted me because of the violet flavored ice cream we had recently enjoyed) so I pinched off a flower for each cocktail. They were great and looked really elegant, and I'll serve them again. She opened her birthday present at that time. Since at the last minute we had a visitor for dinner, I had to add a course in order to still serve the lamb chops (since they were so small). It was a small chevre for each person wrapped in bacon and topped with fresh thyme, wrapped in phyllo, the packets browned in the oven, and served on a bed of lettuce, drizzled with a honey balsalmic vinaigrette. That's walnuts sprinkled on the top. I will do that again. Once that course was over, in a period of about 4 minutes, I put the chops under the broiler, strained the fabulous stock and whipped butter cut into small cubes into it off heat, and napped the ribs served over a helping of the beans. Dessert was cheesecake, and hazelnut and salted butter caramel ice cream. It was ugly and we devoured it with pleasure. Our guest did not drink coffee but I would have served it if she had. - edited to say thank you for the advice, encouragement, and inspiration. Lucy

The cheesecake is now in the gullet. There's also a link to the brownies.

St. Nectaire may very possibly be my favorite cheese of all - to the extent that it's possible even to have a favorite. Actually, might be more accurate to call it two of my favorite cheeses, since the same piece of cheese has an entirely different character once ripened and warm. Yes, most cheeses do, but most are decidedly better one way or the other, whereas with St. Nectaire it's a really tough choice between slightly under-ripe and slightly over-. Apparently, though, I've been very lucky in my St. Nectaire experiences. A couple of years ago, after recommending it enthusiastically to someone whose palate for cheese is quite sophisticated (and whose knowledge is much greater than mine), I was shocked to hear that he was not at all impressed with it. On investigation it turns out that there is a mass-produced form - mainly for export, I suspect - which is considerably inferior to the incredibly, mellowly beautiful-flavored St. Nectaire fermier which was the only one I knew. Bleu, can you tell us any more about this? Balmagowry, I find that with St. Nectaire, the flavor has a rather unremarkable briny metallic taste and not enough cream comes through if it's consumed before it is ready. You can tell a not yet ripe St. Nectaire because the center of the cheese has a very consistent and firm appearance, almost like cooked cheese from rind to core. You want your wedge to be affined throughout, which means it will begin to "melt" right under the rind, and the center will begin to bulge. You can also tell if it's ready by toching your wedge, if it's firm and wont yield, it's not ready, if it is flexible and "bounces" back under your finger, you know you're getting closer. If you get a wedge that isn't ready, no need to fret, just let it wait on the cheese plate. Your cheese plate should be at room temp when serving, so a daily airing at room temperature (we take our plate out to warm up at the beginning of dinner time) brings this cheese to it's full fruition within a couple of weeks time. Once it's mature from rind to core, it takes on that beautiful creamy volcanic flavor. There are two types, the St. Nectaire Fermier, which is never pasturized, made only in the springtime from the cow of Ferrandaise and Salers cows, it is best in the summer. By AOC regulations the cheese must be labeled fermier co-op, or industrielle. You can tell you've got a St. Nectaire fermier if it sports an oval label. The St. Nectaire Industrielle has a rectangular label. Honestly though, the St. Nectaire industrielle can be quite good if it is fully aged. The industrial version of the cheese, which is only sometimes pasturized (and must be labeled so watch the labels), came not from a need to export and pawn off on unsuspecting foreigners, but from a demand for this cheese all year round. They can both be excellent.

Cheese Cake Serves 12 as Dessert. This is the cheesecake part of the chocolate cheesecake brownies I made. The brownies are truly wonderful and can be found Here. I think this cheesecake stands perfectly well alone and reminds me of the rich New York style cheesecake my sisters mother-in-law used to make. 20 choclate sandwich cookies 5 T butter (salted is ok) 150 g cane sugar 500 g cream cheese or white farmer's cheese (2 packs Philly) 2 eggs + 2 yolks 1 tsp pure vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350F/175C. 1) Puree the cookies in the food processor until they are ground fine. Add half of the sugar (should be about 1/3 cup) and melted butter, mix with a spoon until crumbly, and press into the bottom of a springform pan. 2) Cream the cheese, eggs, remaining sugar, and vanilla in the food processor with the dough paddle until light and fluffy. Pour mixture into the springform and spread to the edges, smoothing the top. Bang on the counter top to remove any bubbles. Bake until the cheese mixture is set. It will turn slightly brown on top. Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Cheese, Food Processor ( RG952 )

Cheese Cake Serves 12 as Dessert. This is the cheesecake part of the chocolate cheesecake brownies I made. The brownies are truly wonderful and can be found Here. I think this cheesecake stands perfectly well alone and reminds me of the rich New York style cheesecake my sisters mother-in-law used to make. 20 choclate sandwich cookies 5 T butter (salted is ok) 150 g cane sugar 500 g cream cheese or white farmer's cheese (2 packs Philly) 2 eggs + 2 yolks 1 tsp pure vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350F/175C. 1) Puree the cookies in the food processor until they are ground fine. Add half of the sugar (should be about 1/3 cup) and melted butter, mix with a spoon until crumbly, and press into the bottom of a springform pan. 2) Cream the cheese, eggs, remaining sugar, and vanilla in the food processor with the dough paddle until light and fluffy. Pour mixture into the springform and spread to the edges, smoothing the top. Bang on the counter top to remove any bubbles. Bake until the cheese mixture is set. It will turn slightly brown on top. Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Cheese, Food Processor ( RG952 )