Dave Hatfield

Years ago at a business dinner in Paris I got confused between cervelles and crevettes. Too macho to admit my mistake I went ahead and ate my raw brains vinaigrette. or An old joke for you. Charles De Gaulle had recently announced his retirement so the American ambassador to France threw a small, but formal dinner in his honor. The ambassador was sitting next to Madame De Gaulle whose accent in English wasn't very good. The ambassador asked Madame what she was most looking forward to in her husband's retirement. She replies; "a penis!" There were shocked gasps around the table until Le Grand Charles leaned over and said; " I think you pronounce that 'Happiness' my dear!"

Not truly commercial, but the Kenwood range is top notch. This is the British made Kenwood, not Japanese. They are available in the states the last time I looked. We've had them on both sides of the pond and have had excellent results. I'm assuming that you are a serious home cook and not running a commercial bakery.

Having read all the traffic on this I still hold to my opinion that fresh is best. And that peeling/ chopping garlic is just not that difficult a chore. I must admit that I haven't tried pre-prepared garlic for some time so maybe the quality has improved. It certainly sounds as if, judging by the comments from a lot of you, that the quality of garlic varies a lot in your markets. From mediocre to lousy. I sympathize; if I had that kind of quality problem I'd be tempted to try pre- prepared as well. Fortunately I don't have that problem. Here in France the garlic quality is pretty universally good. The French housewife will not put up with anything less than a high standard. Also, we can buy several varieties of garlic and yes, you can tell the difference between them. There are several seasonal varieties as well. A suggestion. For those of you who don't like peeling garlic much try finding & buying elephant garlic. If its fresh and good it has the same kick as regular garlic, but you only have to peel 1/4 as much.

Amen! We have a blind friend who swears by hers. Solves the problem for those with still joints as mentioned up thread.

Now I know one of the reasons why American cooking is going down hill. Peeled pre-prepared garlic? You've got to be kidding. Freshly prepared garlic is a key ingredient to more dishes than I can count. Pre- prepared stuff just doesn't hack it. What kind of garlic are we talking about here? Violet? Rouge? New? and so on. There are a number of types to be considered depending upon the season and the dish to be cooked. If you're too lazy to peel & chop a few cloves of fresh garlic then what kind of cook are you? I'm disappointed.

Nice to hear that you were in our neck of the woods, but sorry that you didn't give us a call. We know all of the local places you mention except those in Toulouse and enjoy them. Next time you come back let us know and we can make a number of suggestions for dining in the area,

Made some for dinner tonight. Wonderful flavors. My version is a mixture of several different recipes. We love it. Tonight's was especially good as the eggplant had come from a friends garden and had only been picked an hour before cooking.

Totally agree. Why mess with a great taste. You can if you wish serve some picados with the ham. Really good olives for instance. Little shrimp fried in olive oil & garlic. Cherry tomatoes cut in half & drizzled with sherry vinegar & salt. These come to mind as things I've been served in Spain with the ham. Lucky friend.

I.m somewhat amazed that with all of the delicious ways to eat tomatoes that have been posted nobody has posted my favorite way of eating tomatoes at the height of the summer season. . The whole recipe is here, but here's a shortened version: 1) Buy or grow really ripe large beefsteak tomatoes. Wash, then cut off the top third at the stem end. 2) Drizzle on about a teaspoon full of olive oil, then sprinkle lightly with sea salt and place a fresh basil leaf on top. 3) place on a tray in to a hot oven (about 400 F. Bake until the tomatoes are soft and the edges are just beginning to blacken. 4) Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes then pour over about a tablespoon of a 50/50 mixture of olive oil & balsamic vinegar. Top with fresh basil leaf. Let cool to room temperature; its best then. Do not refrigerate as it kills the taste. Serve with the best crusty French bread you can find or make. Die and go to heaven. PS: I paid the equivalent of 30 cents a pound for tomatoes to make my sauce. How does that compare to where you are?

I guess that puts me in my place. Still, I guess corniness & practicality don't always agree. ← Aww, Dave, I didn't say corny was a bad thing, did I? My FIL is a retired physicist who wears purple socks and birkenstocks. Isn't that corny? We also brought my in-laws a tablecloth sold at a roadside stand avec les cigales as the main design element. Equally corny and equally appreciated. Corny and practical are a perfect marriage! Hope you are feeling great! ← I am feeling great after your gracious response. To tell the unvarnished truth many an olive pip just gets chucked over our veranda wall during per-dinner drinks. Its a wonder that none of them have sprouted as of yet. As to the special olive bowl I think there's a fine line between corny & cute. Not sure exactly where they land, but practical they are.

I guess that puts me in my place. Still, I guess corniness & practicality don't always agree.

They say that the French have a word for it. Well in this case they have a dish for it. The olive dish in southern France is normally about 6" in diameter with two raised deep bowls on either side of the surface; one being of considerably larger diameter than the other. The main surface is for the olives, the smaller bowl for toothpicks and the larger for the pips. Voila! Anybody who tried to sell 'slimy' olives in our neck of the woods would quickly go broke.

You can actually just order the units themselves without the doors, rather than buy/return. They price the inner construction, then add the specific fronts, but you don't need to take the facades. I've done variations, though I must say with IKEA fronts: Bathroom - put their kitchen units in a redone bathroom - the only way I could get drawers 60cm wide. I even put the kitchen cutlery trays in two, which are great for separating make-up, pill bottles, etc. Two cupboard units on either side for towels/supplies, etc., and then a granite top with dropped in washbasins. Our plumber was rather surprised that we would have an IKEA unit under the granite, but it fit our needs, and still looks great after 7 years. Kitchen - I needed an island, with lots of drawer space - so again, used their bases, and had our carpenter put walnut end panels to match the existing walnut cabinets, and an oak slab on top. Again, the drawers are well designed, strong, slide beautifully, and do exactly what I want them to. ← Carlux - You're absolutely right about not having to order the fronts in the first place. We didn't do that because at the time our French wasn't up to puzzling it out. We bought our kitchen in the IKEA near Toulouse.

I'll share a trick we did a few years back when we installed our IKEA kitchen. We choose the simplest cheapest cabinet fronts then never put them on. We had a local cabinet maker build custom cabinet cabinet fronts instead. In our case they were oak, but we could have had anything we wanted. We simply took the unused & un- unpacked IKEA cabinet fronts back & got a refund. Worked a treat & we have what looks like a custom kitchen at a relatively low cost.

California when I'm in California; French when I'm in France; Australian when I'm in Australia, and so forth. I just don't think you can beat drinking local wines wherever you are. This is especially true if you can get some good local advice. I've been lead to wines I'd never heard of and probably wouldn't have chosen without local advice that have been just wonderful. An example. We were on vacation in the Capetown area a couple of years ago & had a local wine shop pointed out to us. The owner was wonderful. He recommended some outstanding wines to us including the local Pinotage and Zifs that I thought only grew in California. None were expensive by the way. Another example. This spring we went to Spain for a brief vacation. Our friends took us to an upmarket restaurant to celebrate my birthday. The food was great, but I really loved the wine list. Mainly all Spanish wines as one would expect, but each wine had the blend of grapes it was made from (and their percentages) listed. I was able without knowing much about the intracity of Spanish wines to choose intelligently.

In all due modesty mine is. You can find it somewhere in the archives or on my blog. It ain't the beans only, but the combination of flavors that counts.

Chris, If you look at Dave's blog, French Food Focus, I believe you'll see a picture of said apricot tart - very pretty, by the way. Looks like "halved and seeded" but not sliced. ← John Thanks for looking at my blog & as per my post above my apologies for being slow to respond. As it happens we just came back from dinner at a friends where she served apricot tart. She uses the same method as do I, but she added a glaze made of apricot jam, brandy & a bit of water. She boiled & reduced that a bit then glazed the tart & baked it for 15 minutes more. The result was terrific! Think I'll try this addition. ← As threatened I made an apricot tart the other night and I glazed it. In this case I used some Four Fruit marmalade that I recently made as a glaze. (the marmalade hadn't set up as firmly as I would have liked, but the slightly runny consistency was about right for a glaze.) I cooked the pie then took it out and gently brushed on the glaze. It was very very nice. A nice addition to this simple open faced tart. edited to correct typos

Mark, You might want to consider brining the pork loins. (there's a recipe in 'The Chez Panise Cookbook" or on my blog) The advantage is that they're ready to cook after 48 hours of brining, stay moist and can have any spices you like added at the last minute. Because of the brining you only have to cook to 135 internal temp. Much easier to handle as most of the work is done in advance.

How much per night? And do you have to have demi-pension?

I found a copy on eBay for $2.00. Looks interesting, but it was published in 1986 and I don't know if it has been revised or updated since. Still, it should be an interesting read in any case.

Robert, My apologies for getting it wrong. Are the names a coincidence? Or does the modern guide take its name from the original?

Not too sure on this one, but her's a try. Since a tatin is upside down I'd assume that the tomatoes are on the pastry side, then the eggplant. (I'd fry the eggplant sliced thinly in some EVO with some Salt & Pepper & Herbs de province until just softening before putting them on the tatin.) Now with two layers i"d add the artichoke hearts which had been well steamed, then cut. A bit more olive oil & put the whole thing into a very hot oven until the crust is done. Obviously as you assemble the artichokes go in the pan, then the eggplant then the tomatoes then the crust. When the crust looks cooked take it out then invert to get the artichokes on top again. This would be a classic tatin assembly, but may not be what you had. Lets hear how you made out.

Their guide is still going strong. You should be able to buy the latest version at Amazon. Unfortunately, their website seems to be "under construction"

Try:Logis On line version. Plus as John says any :Logis Hotel.

Following up on John's recommendation you might also want to look at: Relais du Silence. This is an association of independent hotels around France. They're normally a bit up market from the Logis (which we use all the time by the way) and the food can be pretty good. We've been using them for many years and have never had a bad experience. These, Logis and Michelin plus some research should get you what you want.