Dave Hatfield

given the British penchant for understatement who could doubt them. Amazing though that the British themselves don't seem to know/ Then? who buys all of these varieties.? My investigation starts in early October.

I'll bite. Pure guess here. Its a one egg egg mixer?

I like your analogy. The philosopher of cheese no less. We'll see who buys these combo cheeses when we're over. We'll mainly be in Shropshire. Know any partiularly good cheese makers in the area?

I don't want to stop your getting suggestions from members but in addition, you may want to check out compendia of existing threads on the Aquitaine, Basque country and Pyrenees. ← Peter See my post to Judith today. Will report on both Chez Ruffet & Hotel Chilo upon our return next week. There's good stuff in the compendia & there must be posts on Bordeaux.

Judith Thanks again for the recommendation. We're booked in for next Wednesday evening. Full report will follow. (sans pictures as I don't do that. trop gauche!)

I have copy of that book & it really is great. Don't know if its been mentioned on this or another Charcuterie thread, but a great book if you can find it is "American Charcuterie Recipies from Pig-By-The-Tail" by Virginia Wise. Ah, found it, go here Its cheap too. Great book with lots of good stuff.

Ah! We seem to have really put the cat amongst the pidgeons now. Keep it up. There's too much to answer individually, but I will make a few points: - I love smoked foods & have eaten them all over the world. Texas is one of the 36+ countries I've eaten in. (Joke, Texans, Joke. Don't shoot me.) - Many of you seem to have the impression that I only like 'simple' Western European food. Not true. I like all of the cusines I've ever tried (to varying degrees admittedly) so long as they were true to their traditions and ingredients. - I certainly agree that what was once "exotic" can now be local. Evolution is the path forward. And, of course, it depends upon where you live. We who live in the country have to make do with a narrower range of ingredients than the city dwellers. - Most of the time I like to read about the experiments. Its when they get out of hand & tip into oneupmanship & pretention that I start getting grouchy. - I hope all of you realise that I've been exaggerating to provoke. Sorry if my sometimes warped sense of humor is not always obvious. Meanwhile, lets hear more!

Your hope will be dashed, but your assumption is correct.

I agree. We'll be hiking in the Pyrenees for three days next week & hope to find some interesting cheeses on either side of the border. I'm hoping to take a trip to Galicia this winter & may find good stuff then. Before that we're in England for a couple of weeks in October & I'm looking forward to eating the whole gamut of English cheeses. I'm told with no official backup that the UK now makes more varieties of cheese than France. I find that hard to believe. Does anybody know for sure?

Me too. We've got several people doing remodels either now or in the near future. If they're contractors show up that is. Hopefully they'll be kind enough to document their efforts. I'd really like to see more of a before, during & after post. We've only had one, I think, but it was great. Anyway, I've got one kitchen to go. Well, maybe two. The one for sure is sort of like two in one. This is a friend of ours who has a very nice kitchen, but had a second kitchen built when she decided to open a cooking school. Should be fun. I gave mine some time ago, but it didn't work. Our kitchen is about the same size as yours. Just have to continue being spatially challenged I guess.

Ah, yet again I get put in my place by several of you. I'm loving all of this discussion and getting to hear some interesting viewpoints that hadn't occurred to me. Keep it up! Perhaps I am reactionary, but I still think that there's too much experimentation without much thought going on. Some of the ingredient combinations I see make the mind boggle. As I said earlier I'd like to hear about the failures or in some cases have it admitted that just maybe that cool new flavor combination wasn't so hot after all. Naturally, cooking evolves; ingredients evolve and new things are invented. But Moore's law does not apply to the culinary world. Lentement as the French would say. Take it easy & don't try to out clever each other. As for a French cooking thread I'd not be the person to run it there are far better qualified people than I. Besides French cooking overall isn't necessarily even my favorite national cusine. My contribution to things is to be somewhat crankily outspoken and to contribute a modicum of experience as one who has cooked for a long time and has eaten in at last count over 36 countries. Besides a good discussion is food for the soul. Especially when smoked, foamed and cooked sous vide in duck fat.

So, Dave, under your "eat local" philosophy, what do you suggest we eat in Ontario in February? Pemmican? And heck, there are worse places than this to live in February. Such a philosphy only holds in temperate climates. ← Anna No I'm not such a puritan as that, I could suggest that everyone in Ontario do what the Indians did which was to preserve foods in the summer to last the winter. In the old days everybody relatively temperate climate or not did a lot of preserving. My real point was/is that mixing cuisines doesn't work to well. For instance, I don't think a confit de canard curry would work too well as a 'fusion' dish. An extreem example I admit, but only marginally so when compared to some of the things I've seen.

While on the subject of cooking schools I'll give a little plug for my friend Anne Dyson. Anne is a lifelong cook, has lived in France for many years & was a school headmistress in the Uk. She recently started a cooking school based at her home which is both a gite & chambre D'hotel. She's has a purpose built kitchen installed and is off to a flying start. Her website is: greedygoose and has all of the details. Anne's good, she's flexible, she knows how to teach so you'll learn as well as having a good time. By the way I did her website so have vested interest as well as being a friend.

Bigbear, you guys are way too smart for me. Come on, sombody give them a real challenge while I think about something harder.

Hey guys, I hear you and you say things that I agree with. BUT - I'm still not there. When I say simple I really mean good honest food that makes the most of the ingredients available LOCALLY. When I lived in Rhode Island I cooked more lobster & chowder. In the Uk it was beef & root vegatables. In California we did a lot more Mexican & Asian.Here in France its what's in season (see today's post in the France forum about seasonable cooking. There's a lady I admire!) and, yes, its cheeses and fois gras and confit BECAUSE that's what's available. To see my definition of simple cooking have a look at the recipies I've posted on my blog below. Nothing difficult. What I rarely see work is mixing things up too much. Most cusines are based upon local stuff. For a reason, it was available & people wanted to make the most of it. Its only pretty recently that you can get almost anything anywhere any time. Unfortunately, much of it when out of place is pretty awful. (gruesome example; Febuary supermarket tomatoes. UGH!) Thus the whole fusion thing rarely in my opinion comes off. I'm all for the experimentation, but how about posting the abject failures? "I tried this greek, nicagragian, figian pork roast the other day & it sucked!" Never seen one like that. I love the whole eGullet concept & admire many of the folks who post for their cooking and their infinite generousity in helping others. I do, however, get frustrated when I see or at least think I see the 'fringe' getting far too much attention. Maybe there was & i missed it a thread on food philosophy; if not maybe we need one. Meanwhile, its dinner time & I'm off to grill local Toulouse sausages to eat with the yellow string beans given to us by our neighbor, accompanied by local vine ripened tomatoes with vinegrette & my own grown basil. We'll have some cheese & drink some nice white wine that comes from about 20 miles away. No foam tonight. sigh!

Knew you would be too knowledgable for me. I'm far better looking than Jeremy Irons. Quite a bit older too! Ok, here's another one. Hopefully a bit more of a challenge.

Here's a little game we can all play. The greater the challenge the better. Somebody puts up pictures (or for those photographically challenged writes up a description, suitably obscure, but workoutable) for the rest of us to guess what the function of the item is. After a suitable time interval for answers (guesses) the correct use of the item is revealed. The current thread on gadgets you've never used was the inspiration for this piece of tomfoolery. Here's a start. What is this? Pretty easy this one, but it should get thing rolling.

Good for you! Bet it was just as delicious as it looks. By the way, we can get 'spring' lamb three times a year locally. Bernard keeps his ewes indoors most of the time (they're out with their lambs for a couple of hours each day weather permitting) and he has three lots of lambs each year; spring, late summer & winter. We just got our late summer lamb, strictly milk fed & weighing 15 kg dressed out. Yummy! Lucy, out of curiosity what are the cepes selling for in your market? At Caussade yesterday the going rate was 12 Euro/kilo.

Thanks for the kind words. rillette d'oie (see Pip, I can spell if I put my mind to it) is a paste made with goose meat & goose fat. When one is making confit there are always small bits of meat that you can cook in their own fat separately from the main pieces. Once cooked these are then shredded (typically with a fork) & then preserved. Rillettes are also made with pork, duck & other meats. Its easily obtainable & absolutely delicious when spread on bread.

Ok folks. Maybe I'm just getting grouchy in my dotage. I didn't mean to imply that eGullet had totally gone to pot. There's all kind of wonderful stuff on the site and it keeps coming. I was ranting about my perception that there has been a lot of 'fringe' madness of late. Maybe I'm wrong or maybe Its just a symptom of summer silliness. All true, but how often do most of us make exotic foams, cook sous vide or use sodium whatsit. Mark, welcome! You make a good point. I just get impatient with the "ingredient too far" syndrome & what I see as novelty for the sake of it.

Hey, sorry everyone, but I'd like to see more good 'plain' cooking on the forums. I see great Thai, Sous vide (yeah, yeah, yeah!), Mish mash (ah, I meant to say fusion), I've belholded far to many butts and No I'm not a cool kid from anywhere. I've nothing against any of this, but I'd like to see more good food that uses ingredients available easily to most of us. Food that uses imagination coupled with common sense to achieve results & does not try to be trendy or reach way too far to make an impression. No, I'm not a geat fan of foams & I've been to E' Bulli & won't go again. I'll trade a solid menu for a 'tasting' menu any day. I've been cooking for over 50 years & spent 40 years of my professional life travelling the world & eating at top restaurants. The best aren't trendy; they're just plain good with a respect for their ingredients and their customers. Can't say that for many of the latest 'fashions'. Having had my little rant I'd like to see if anyone agrees with me. If so I'd like to see see a thread that concentrates upon food that is good, wholesome and cookable by the average person who likes to cook, has a reasonable amount of skill, doesn't want to spend a fortune doing it & has Ok, but not unlimited access to ingredients. Let me know. Pro? Con? Either way I'd like to see a good discussion. Think I'm a nethanderal jerk? Let me know, don't be shy. Think I'm a voice of reason? Let me know that too. Let's have at it & see where a good healthy discussion ends up.

Oh, so that was you!!!! ← Got me! ; but its to late now.

In order to help Foodmuse acquire some of those delicacies, I'll propose a few translations. Ahem, boulangeries - rillet d'oie = rillettes d'oie (reeyet dwah) - pate de fois gras = just say foie gras (fwah grah) - garlic sausage, smoked = saucisson à l'ail fumé (smoked) ou non fumé (unsmoked). Unsmoked is really nice, and garlickier (as you'll be reminded all day long). - cherry tomatoes (probably still just available in early October) = tomates cerises - radishes = radis roses - clelery ( you can buy it by the individual stalk, no need to buy a whole head) = céleri branche - celeris raves = do you really take these on a picnic? - julliened carrots vinagrette = carottes râpées (carrot rahpey) - potato salad = often labeled "salade piémontaise" at charcuteries - an epi (small loaf which I prefer to a baguette for picnicing.) = "épi" imitates the shape of an ear of wheat. It is not available everywhere but it is indeed the best choice for picnics. If you can't find it, you should rather pick a few ficelles (thin baguette) than a baguette. - My favorite happens to be the little lemon tarts. = tartes au citron. When they're good, they're really good. - Red wine. Lots of nice inexpensive Corbieres out there or try a good Buzet (usually better than a cheap bordeaux) = always better than a cheap bordeaux. ← Pip You know by now that I can't spell in any language. (or type either) Thanks for the help. Dave PS: Foodmuse, Listen to him, not me. PPS: I'm going to download my new A-Z dictonary of French food to my Word dictonary then figure out a way to get it to spel check my posts where I try to use my pitiful French.

You've got excellent advice from Pti & John as to where to eat & shop, I'll pitch in with a picnic shopping list. Highly personal this, so let your own inclinations & taste buds be your guide. Also, when shopping for picnic items at good charcuteries, fromageries & bouloungaries follow the advice of your eyes - if it looks good ; it probably is! My list: Meats - rillet d'oie - pate de fois gras - garlic sausage, smoked Cheeses - camembert or brie - cabecou - salers - blue de causses Veg & salads - cherry tomatoes (probably still just available in early October) - radishes - clelery ( you can buy it by the individual stalk, no need to buy a whole head) - celeris raves - julliened carrots vinagrette - potato salad - an epi (small loaf which I prefer to a baguette for picnicing.) - Let your eyes & waist line be your guide as to which patesserie you choose. My favorite happens to be the little lemon tarts. - White wine - chardonnay from the pays D'oc for cheapness or a nice Mersault for quality without breaking the bank. - Red wine. Lots of nice inexpensive Corbieres out there or try a good Buzet (usually better than a cheap bordeaux) That should keep you going for a few picnics. Consider full lunches as advised previously & early evening picnics in populated places. (trocadero, sacre coeur, lower streaches of the champs, in front of the louvre ......) You'll save a ton of money & have some great people watching.

Do I sense the incubation of a business plan?