Dave Hatfield

Treat rabbit as if it were a high quality chicken & you'll be OK. Bresse chicken for instance. Personally, I wouldn't pair the two, but have a go if you like.

Sorry everybody, but I don't agree. You can preserve your confit in jars; the French do it all the time. Make sure your jars are well sterilized and that they have a good sealing method. I do mine in the oven using tongs to lift them out. Carefully pack in your confit being sure not to touch anything with a non-sterilized hand or implement. Pour duck fat that has been strained through cheese cloth over the confit making sure there is a least a 1/2 inch layer over any piece of confit. Let cool then store somewhere cold & dry where there is some air circulation. To my personal knowledge confit will keep at least 6 months this way. You can even open the jar, dig some confit out, gently heat the fat & pour it back over to reseal. The local French people wouldn't dream of eating their confit for a least 2 months after canning. They say it takes that long for the proper flavor to develop. Make sure you cook the confit thoroughly before eating. In fact I'm tempted to make confit right now as the markets are offering 'cuisse's' (the leg & thigh piece) at about $2.10 a pound. These make the best confit.

Here in France they tend to use hazelnut trees & green oaks. You are right about the roots. Veronique was very careful not to damage the root as she separated the treuffle. You can see a farm on my blog.

Thanks for posting that. I'm going to make sure my truffle growing friends see it.

If you want to see a real Truffle farm go here. This pictorially describes the truffle farm I visited yesterday. You'll love the truffles sniffing dog.

For some good advice go to this link

I'm not so sure that its the amount of lemon juice. I think its the quality of the juice. The old fashioned small lemons are more 'lemony' than the big modern varieties. Ripeness also plays a part. The riper the better. Also, you can cut down on the sugar to increase the sharpness. Cream cheese? I rather use a home made custard base.

Voon I'm concerned about your choice. The location of this restaurant leaves a lot to be desired. Also, I find it hard to rely on Trip Advisor reviews; unfortunately there's a lot of ill informed junk in them. I'd take a closer look at the list by Meg up above or have a look at Paris by Mouth. I think you'd be better served by something on these lists. No ax to grind here, but I'd hate to see you & yours disappointed.

Great idea! My Japanese chef's knife does the job for me without any hassle. I like to use it because the long blade & cutting edge make it easier to cut straight slices in a large pork belly. Must & will do a pictorial on my blog

What a lot of fuss everyone seems to be going through. You can make superior pork belly far more easily. I can't believe that I haven't posted my PB recipe on my blog, but I haven't. I'll rectify that the next time I do a PB. Here's the method: - Score the PB skin using a very sharp knife or box cutter. Make the scores one nice serving slice apart. Make sure you have completely cut through the skin, minimize the amount of cutting the meat underneath. - Peel & Cut several yellow onions in half. You want enough to prop up the PB in the roasting tin. - Line the onions up along the roasting tin & place the PB on top. Try to get the skin as flat as possible by moving the onions around. This will help later when you make the crackling. - Salt & pepper the skin. You can use sea salt & rub it in a bit if you like. - Place the PB in a low oven. (120-140 C)& roast for at least 4 hours. - At the end of the roasting period turn on the oven grill. Watch the PB skin closely as it starts to form crackling. You may want to turn the PB & its tin around about half way through to get a more even crackling.Depends upon your oven & grill. - Take the PB out of the oven & let it rest for a few minutes before slicing. - Slice the PB along the cuts in the skin so that you have nice slices with crackling to serve. - Serve the onions as well, they're delicious. (Also, good is to put carrots, sliced into matchstick size, in the roasting tin along with the onions. Again, delicious!) That's it; works every time with no fuss or bother.

Lots of good stuff in a pig. Make sure you get the belly's whole so you can either slow cook them or cure your own bacon. (pork belly recipe is on my blog) I'd keep the head & boil it then pick it apart to make head cheese. You should find some good recipes on the web. Also, don't forget the trotters, pickled pigs feet are a favorite of mine. The hocks are also a great cut, slowly cooked with beans they're ideal in winter. Are you going to try for your own dry cured ham? It takes a while, but its worth it.

Won't comment on the seasonings, but will on the butter idea. I regularly put SOFTENED butter into my frosting. My normal ratio is about 1/3 butter to 2/3 cream cheese by volume. This seems to work well. I normally mix it with a fork. The softened part on the butter is critical to the mixing part. I add a bit of vanilla & powdered sugar a bit at a time until I get the degree of sweetness I want.

I've been following this topic with great interest & finally have to add my opinion for what its worth. First let me mention my qualifications such as they are. My first visit to France was nearly 50 years ago & I've been eating French pastry off & on ever since especially the last ten years as we now live in SW France. During the 1990's I spent a lot of time in Japan, multiple visits of multiple weeks & ate quite a lot of Japanese made 'French' pastry. Based upon that experience I have a few observations: (first let me admit that I'm not a great lover of pastry. My observations are more along the lines of eating croissants, pain Au raison & pain au chocolate along with lots of bread.) - I think the standards in Paris have deteriorated quite a bit over the years. The quest there seems to be for novelty & new twists. The fundamentals seem to be left by the wayside. - The standards out in the country haven't slipped nearly as much over the years if at all in my opinion. The local customers won't allow it. - The pastry in Japan was good 20 years ago & knowing the Japanese culture I would assume that its gotten even better. In either country (or the states or the UK for that matter)the more complex pastry seems of place far more emphasis on looks over taste. Too much sugar, strange ingredients that don't always work and novelty value are far too common. This trend seems strongest in Paris. (Tokyo currently?I'm not competent to judge.)Provincial bakers mainly stick to older tried & true recipes that their 'country' customers are used to. The Japanese bakers true to their culture will emulate whatever they think is the best at first. Once having that down pat they will steadily & incrementally improve upon it. Thus since they were very good at the standards 20 years ago I'd be surprised if they're not really, really excellent by now. An interesting comparison would be to test a top quality provincial French product with a similar one from Tokyo. Given distance & freshness issues it would be difficult. I don't think I'd put it up against the best, but you'd have a hard time beating the croissants or pain au raisin or plain old bread made by our little local baker in our village of 500 souls. An honest product from an honest man. Great discussion though.

Contrary to other suggestions I like to slow roast leg of lamb. I stuff it with a paste of Dijon mustard, garlic, crushed fresh rosemary and soy sauce. Roll & tie it. Then roast in the oven at about 120-130 C. Keep checking the internal temperature so you get the degree of doneness you want. Finish off under the broiler to give the lamb a nice crust. Let rest. Carve & serve. Yummy!

Once again I'm amazed and impressed by the depth of knowledge possessed by Ptipois. I'm also gratified when she happens to agree with me. (She's taken me to task when I've been wrong on more than one occasion) my take as stated before is that Tarbais beans are a perfectly fine bean to use in a cassoulete, but they are by no means THE Bean nor are they any better than several of the alternatives. Given their price, particularly in the states, I'll always used another variety. I've been making the dish for over thirty years, first when I lived in France, then back home in the states (making my own comfit & sausage)and now for the past ten years back in France. Thus, although I wouldn't claim to be the ultimate expert I'm pretty experienced. My finest hour was when our local village housewives asked me for my recipe. Based on this I said Tarbais beans are fine, but just not worth the price.

Haven't been on eGullet for a while so my apologies for not responding sooner. As they say here in France "Chaque'un a son gout". I'll bow to the bean merchant who I'm sure knows much more about bean than I do. Tarbais uber alles! All I will say is that on over 20 years of making cassoulet with Great Northern, Tarbais, et al I find that in the states Great Northern's work just fine & that here in France lingots work fine as well. I haven't done a real survey, but I think most of the cassoulet's that I've eaten in this area also use lingots. Never forget that cassoulet is a meat dish, not a bean dish. Its the meats & the seasoning that make the dish the delight that it is. Of course lousy bean can & will spoil it. A final point. No less authority than Julia Child in her original 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' recommends great Northern's in her detailed cassoulet recipe. If they were good enough for Julia they're good enough for me!

http://parisbymouth.com/ Try there. You won't find a better source of information. I thought the Uzes Truffle Festival was in January? Or are you just asking early as part of organizing the trip?

Of course you can tell the difference. The question is which are better? The essence of a great cassoulet is in the meats & seasonings. Any decent bean that holds its shape during the long cooking process works fine, thus lingots in France, Great Northern's in the states will work fine. No doubt the Tarbais beans are good, but worth huge amounts per pound? I don't think so. Believe me,I've used them. In fact I bought a kilo's worth at the same time I bought my cassole. They were OK, but nothing to write home about. & believe it or not I didn't pay a fortune for them. The French housewife would never waste her money like that.

Good old Great Northern beans work perfectly. Tarbes & thus Tarbais beans are less than an hour away from where we live. Nobody here rates them all that highly. The locals mostly use plain lingots. Tarbais beans are a great marketing ploy by the local farmers coop.

I like some lamb in my Cassoulet so a shank is good. No pork belly except for some skin cut up small. I use loin roasted & cut into bite size chunks or some times hocks. The belly much as I love it makes the cassoulet too fatty. In all due modesty the recipe on my blog works well with USA ingredients and is pretty authentic without going to extremes. Paula Wolfert's recipe is very good as well. Whichever way you do it enjoy!

It very much depends upon the breed of duck. Anything less then a moulard just doesn't hack it for doing a duck the French way. If you're lucky enough to get a Moulard duck then you're in good shape to to fry the breasts (magret) gently which will give you lots of fat from the skin. The leg/thigh (cuisse) pieces can then be confited. Th skin can be used to make more fat by slowly cooking it with water to render the fat. The wings can also be confited. The neck can be skinned, the meat slowly cooked then added to onions & bread crumbs then stuffed back into the skin to make Cou de canard. Finally the carcass can be fried in the fat to make make what is called friton. Or at least that's how my French neighbors have taught me to do it. There's quite a bit about this on my blog.

Life is too short to drink bad wine!

I'm surprised given the attention its had that nobody has mentioned Dorie Greenspan's mustard batons. One sheet flaky pastry. Cover half with Dijon mustard. Fold, cut into strips, bake, eat. Delicious. Gourmet version: Brush with beaten egg & sprinkle on sesame or cumin or poppy seeds prior to baking.

I recommend just putting it in a 65C oven for 5-7 hours with just salt, pepper & rubbed rosemary on top. Add some whole peeled garlic cloves about halfway through. You can also add any vegetables (carrots, onions, parsnips) about the same time. It will be delicious & just fall off the bone. We've been doing it this way for years & its hard to beat. Our friend Rob's ewes are lambing now so we'll have fresh lamb before long so we can have out slow roast shoulder. Can hardly wait!

Well, I broke down & bought the book. Nice recipes. I'm particularly enjoying the asides & vignettes about French life & culture. They ring very true and many make me chuckle. I tried the Daube de Boeuf to start my exploration of the recipes. Dorrie's version is very good. For my personal version I start with a miripoix to add depth of vegetable flavor. With French beef I'd always add an extra hour of cooking and whenever possible let it age over night. Tonight I did an all Dorie meal. Chicken Diablo - very very nice. Easy & she recommends just the right amount of curry. Go with anything celery root - Another winner. We loved it & our dog thought he's gone to heaven when he got ti lock out the serving dish. Broccoli with bread crumbs & garlic. Yes, a classic. Next time I'll revert & leave out the bread crumbs. Peperade- Another winner. I like it even better than my own similar recipe for roasted peppers. My wife thinks you should add the onion & garlic to the pan just before taking the peppers off heat. Maybe? We'll try it that way next time. We throughly enjoyed our Dorrie Dinner. I'll certainly try more of her recipes and play around with some of them. More details about the whole episode over on my blog.