Adam Balic

I think thay this is correct. The potato thing happened just after moved the UK (approximately 6 years). Nobody I spoke to this about this curiosity had noticed it, but if they had throught about it there would have been not other logical conclusion, other then fakery. I'm not sure that people do think logically in such situations and in fact in regards to the French market thing, quite the opposite. People with disposable incomes may simply want more out of the experience then an honest bargin. Why not buy into the fantasy if you can afford it? Did the author attempt to connect frequency of fakery etc with socio-economic scale? Having witnessed some absolutely furious haggling in Greece for a handful of soup-fish and similar drama in Lithuania, I can't imagine that the social bargin between these vendors and customers extends to maintenance of the a middleclass charade?

This only means that the organic vendors were doing what organic vendors usually do, i.e. define their products as organic. Which doesn't mean that the non-organic stalls were selling lower-quality products. Just that they were not organic. This is defined by a chart of production, and a very strict one — and some vegetable and fruit growers in the other part of the market may very well sell much better produce, and healthier from an organic point of view, but they don't have the label, either because they did not try to get it, or because the criteria were too hard to meet. ← Yes this is true. Jamie - unfortunately, with out reading the book it self it is not possible to make precise comments on the content etc. I find the premise very interesting in the context of presenting this original issue, but I insitinctively shy away from absolutes (sorry if I have mis-interperated this issue). I am sure that what is been highlighted is a very valid point, but surely it indicates one end of a typical normal distribution? Buyer beware and all that. I'm not sure that this is confined to French markets though and ultimately if the customer is happy with the outcome does it matter? In the product is good, is the UK supermarket adding soil to clean potatoes and the creation and marketing of the "Blue Foot chicken—an American facsimile of France’s poulet de Bresse" a deception?

Ah well, if it is a working trip then Prato is perfect. Everything is in walking distance in the walled part of the city. Give me a few days to think about it and I will put together a list of shops etc to visit. The large out door market in my travel blog is outside the city walls, behind the Univeristy, a ten minute walk from the Duomo only. "Antonio Mattei" is less then 2 minutes walk from the Duomo - even if you hop it on one leg.

Developing relationships? I think it's the author's central premise that these relationships are founded on dishonety. But the real point is the romantic notion of the seductive French stall and its seemingly rustic farmer-vendors. According to the suthor, most of them are as illusory as Ralph Lauren. I recently read a book on the romance of markets in southern France. The Canadian author (who was unoriginally setting out to buy a house) naively proclaimed that French consumer has a naturally deeper connection to the soil because of their open-air market mentality and insistence on only very high quality product: fresh, local, seasonal. An awfully lot of bad food writing is based on this flawed premise and its counterpunch: that North Americans suffer a disconnect from the land because they largely shop in supermarkets. I see what you mean, but I guess my surprise was this - as much as I like markets and target them at every opertunity, I would never go as far as to say that I trusted a vendor absolutely. The nature of the game and all that. Maybe the Canadian author you mention above isn't that naive. After all, it is these sentimental memes that people want to hear and that is what sells books and makes money for the author. Prehaps they are playing the same game as the market vendors. The original version of the book may have been entitled "France: God it sucks", but that wouldn't fly I imagine and would result in a rapid re-draft. Regarding supermarkets (off topic, but amusing): He in Scotland I noticed that although most potatoes are sold in plastic bags, some are sold loose in bins, covered in a layer of peaty earth. It is quite interesting to watch the staff put perfectly clean, brushed potatoes into a bin then pour a bag of sterilized earth over them.

AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! Sorry, I'll get a grip. Nonetheless, if you are in a Bologna, asking for spaghetti Bolognese will immediately identify you as an ignorant foreigner (no offence meant). If you manage to find a good traditional trattoria, most of which now seem to be outside the city according to the locals, you should order Tagliatelle al Ragu. Spaghetti bolognese is the southern Italian imitation of the dish which has unfortunately become widespread in Italian restaurants around the world. It's not half as good as the original. ← Tagliatelle al Ragu (Bolognese) surely?

I would always take Bologna over Pisa, which is not as interesting as one might think. Also, while Italian trains are actually very good (and cheap), I would avoid Florence to Pisa on a Sunday (on the basis of one hellish experience). Bologna is a lovely city, I like it a lot and the food can be wonderful even as clueless tourist. But Florence is once of the great cities of the world. It is simply wonderful and I never get tired of it. Yes, there are a lot of tourists, but we are all tourists when visiting these places and really, you make your own experiences. Prato is not quite a suburb of Florence and while it is great for me and has some excellent shops, there are other places that are proberly more rewarding for a day trip.

I thought this also, but I guess you have to consider the temperature of the soil.

From my very brief exposure to the a French market in Mens (Dauphine), there are a few points that are relevant. The 'tradional' market under the village covers had some nice looking local produce, but also quite a bit of fakery as noted. There was also another market on a seperate day. This was the 'organic' market, which was held in the open village square. There was apparently some comflict between the two groups of vendors, and quite a bit of pressure from the Mayor for the organic vendors to join the regular market. The organic vendors resisted this on the basis that they wished to better define their products. Many of the later group are quite young and idealistic. I'm quite sure that a lot of the tricks described in previous posts do happen. What I don't understand is why this is such a surprise? Vendors have been playing games with customers from the very begining of trade. What is also true is that there are also honest traders that work hard and make many sacrifices, either due vocation or lifestyle choices. I know this to be true as I actually know such people. Most vendors are more then likely somewhere in the middle of these two extremes and I do not doubt that there are regional differences also. But again, I'm not sure why this is such a surprise, that is the nature of markets after all, interacting with people and developing relationships with them.

In this case I imagine there was originally and 'n' in the name?

In Europe a huge percentage of the Blood orange crop comes from Sicily, but they are also found in Spain also. Common types are: Sanguinello - originally from Spain, deep red flesh, good flavour Sanguigno comune - (Sicily) pale red flesh Tarocco - (Sicily) the most common type, varible redness, but very sweet. Moro - a new variety, a very deep coloured flesh. It is grown around San Diego, but also in Sicily. Not so sweet.

Fantastic. Cultural anthropologists will go crazy when they see this. Is this specifically a Christmas tradition?

Actually, "pullet" is still used. It now refers to any young hen less than a year of age. What I find intriguing is that the Norman-French words now refer to the flesh of the animals, while the Anglo-Saxon words are now applied to whole, live animals. I think that "pullet" has fallen out of use because young birds are now marketed as "fryers" and "cornish game hens". April ← The word "pullet" is still used by people that actually raise chickens and I think that is a clue to the divergence in word usage in Modern English, were the animal name is derived from Anglo-Saxon (germanic) origins and the product (meat) is derived from Norman French. This process is still going on now, I imagine that there is a growing percentage of the population that associates the word "Chicken" with the meat, in various forms, rather then the bird. Some animal word origins are likely to be onomatopedic representations as suggested above. An example of this might me the word 'cow' which with some imagination sounds a little like the sound the beast makes. Better examples would be the Sumerian gu and Chinese ngu, ngo which means Ox etc, but is basicaly the English sound equivalent of 'Moo'! Other words are not so clear and while modern urban types have a limited vocabulary attached to animals (like the Norman consumers), people directly involved with animals have a much wider range. For example "Pig". A pig originally refered to a young animal, the adult was refered to as 'swine'. An animal that was ready for slaugter or sale was a 'hog'. This is around the age of one year and so is related to the 'hogget', which is a sheep aged between one and two years of age. Under a year it is 'lamb' older then two years it is 'mutton'. These multiple names for the same animal in different stages of development, sex, sexual maturity or the age based on the product that can be derived from them is very common. As these names get jumbled around and there meanings get changed (USA 'Hog' v UK 'Pig'), the original meanings get confused and lost, so many name origins are not obvious and it is rare to get a directly onomatopedic representation, but it is nice when the connections occur.

Tips were mostly in the form of "Don't eat the type the Parisian's make as they put jam in them!!!". But also a suggestion indicated above by Paula that you can make batches and take them out at different stages in development, as it creates a range of different products. This seems to be the way they are sold in Bordeaux, and also tiny ones are also made to go with a cup of coffee or chocolate. The story in Bordeaux seems to be that the orginals of these pastries were made by medieval nuns for distribution to the poor. Obviously, the use of vanilla and rum as flavours must be a more modern addition.

In a very hot oven for 10 minutes, then allowed to rest until cooled. I think that their basic structure means that they are able to go through this process quite well without drying out.

Ah Alberto, thank you very much. This comfirms the recipe I dug up in the seventh circle of google searching hell. The recipe I have for Luganega di Monza is 3 lb pork, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp Parmigiano cheese, 3/4 tsp white pepper, 1/8th tsp nutmeg, 1/8th tsp cinnamon, 1/3 cup marsala. Switzerland eh? One wonders if these sausage has multiple sources. Sausages with similar names at different locations, that get mixed up and confused over the years - obviously it doesn't help that for some there always has to be an ultimate source. There is also sausages with a similar name in Latin America and the Philippines, most likely from the Spanish connection. Anyway, this weekends cooking project is solved.

And all these chaps ended up as Sicilian cuscus (couscous), which was delicious. Normally, I'm not sure the fish fillets would be eaten at the same time, but we were spoilt for choice.

I was discussing with a friend who's family lives in Bordeaux that I was thinking about making cannele and did he have any tips, which he did, but look what arrived in the mail! As you can see in the cross-section, lots of vanilla seeds which provides a very pleasant crunch and a great contrast to the custardy interior.

More then likely, as "Kitâb Wasf al-Atima al-Mutada" appeared in "Medieval Arab Cookery" by Charles Perry et al. This book is now out of print, but the earlier work that it is based on called "Kitâb al Tabîkh" has just been published (although there are less fish recipes in this book). Link to Book

From earlier in the year, an unknown species of red bream from the west coast of Africa, stuffed with a middle-eastern combination of herbs, spices (especially sumac) and walnuts. It think that this is one of the best stuffed fish recipes there is. It appears inthe 14th century text "al-Kitab Wasf al-At'ima al-Mu'tada's" ("The Book of the Description of Familiar Foods") and is seems to be pretty well distributed in the region. The stuffing mix

In Basilicata it can be called lucanica or lucania which are derived from the Latin lucanicus, said to be the name of a sausage invented by the Lucanians, an ancient people of southern Italy. This sounds a little bit of a fairy tale to me as there are similar names for sausages in many regions Longaniza and Llonganissafrom Spain and, like It is also mentioned in Apicius and by Varro and Cicero. There is also a Greek variation from Loukanika. But there is a famous version that has developed in the last 2000 years in Lombardy around Monza and as we are doing food from Monza this is the veriosn I want a recipe for.

Yay the long beards. I found this site that has some interesting recipes Click. Now, for various reasons I am busy at the moment, but I would like to make some Luganega sausage, specifically the famous one from Monza. I have one recipe that lists nutmeg, pepper, cinnaom and marsala as flavours, but another source mentions vanilla. Does anybody have a clear idea of what the flavours should be?

I think you need to ask what happens to the smaller fish in the USA. They are still being landed after all, but with no market, they most likely get dumped or end up processed in one form or another. Also, since the average size of fish landed within a species is decreasing, what happens to the smaller fish? Scomber japonicus is also called a 'Chub Mackerel', but it is found on the Western Atlantic. There is also another species found in Australian waters. Not a bad little fish, but people pretty much want non-oily white fleshed fish, which produce big thick fillets. Me, I would rather eat the Chub then Tilapia. Also, there is nothign wrong with smaller fish as a food. As long as stocks of fish are stable I have no problem with targeting them. If you only target the larger fish I think that this has numerous problems related to sustainability etc, but from a culinary point of view you are missing out as well. Some of the finest fish in the sae just don't get that big and in some species that do get bigger, the smaller speciems have a better texture and taste. The Red Mullet and Colley are examples of this.

I read an article today by an English food writer who commented that it was all very well trying new fish types, but unless they where brill, halibut or turbot they often didn't taste that good. There is some truth in this, but I thought I would go to the fishmonger and see what 'also rans' were for sale. This is the final selection. In all they cost £12 and would feed 8 people. Some of them are highly prized, some of them not so much. Tub Gurnard (Trigla lucerna). A really lovely fish, if underated in the UK. Saithe/Coley/Coalfish (Pollachius virens). Historically and commercially very important, but pretty much regarded as cat food in the UK. Young fish like this are very good though. John Dory (Zeus Faber). High status fish, excellent eating. Hake (Merluccius merluccius. A hugely popular fish, especially in Spain. Soft flesh, but a great flavour especially when cooked on the bone. Red Mullet (Mullus surmuletus). Very highly prized, great flavour. There are two species in the Med, they are pretty similar in appearance and flavour, but this is the bigger species. For fish nerds the other species (Mullus barbatus) doesn't have the red stripe on the first dorsal fin. Forkbeard (Phycis blennoides). A weird one. There are two species common around Europe, this is the larger one (if a small specimen). They have soft flesh, but a good flavour. They are highly prized in Corsica and I have also seen them for sale in Liguria. The Italian name for them is Mustella. So after removing the fillets, this is the basis of and excellent stock which will be used to make a Sicillian couscous dish.

Adam, what do you mean, Dutch herring dishes? I would love to hear more about that. Or do you mean fish recipes in general, well, I would love to hear more about that too. ← Dutch recipes in general. I haven't got the book I need at the moment, but I will get in during the week and let you know what the recipes are. ← that would be great Adam. Growing up as a butcher's daughter, I was never really educated in the fish department, as you can see in the Dutch Cooking thread! maybe you can help me fix that. I can make some Dutch potted herring maybe!! ← Chufi - not a huge amount of information, but this is from Annette Hope's "A Caledonian Feast". "Probably the most significant trade of all was with the Netherlands, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. A few Scots dishes bear Dutch names, or a prepared ‘in the Dutch way’; and the availability of cheaper spices and dried fruits brought to Europe by the Dutch East India Company had a considerable effect on the housewife’s baking repertoire. The most important culinary lesson learnt from Holland, as we have seen, was how to pickle herring so that it kept well." There a few recipes for very plainly poached cod, served with mustard sauce (which is 'in the Dutch way) and a recipe for Aberdeen "Crulla". Aparently the Dutch had a big inflence in Aberdeen, The Scots version of Crulla is not the same as the version made by American Dutch.

Good, widely distributed wine from Friuli also. Interesting fruit stuffed pasta as well. Just saying.