Dave Hatfield

I care about nutrition, but I don't think about it much anymore. I don't talk about it unless asked. I decided about 15 years or so ago to really take a close look at nutrition, the more I looked the more silly things became. If you believed everyrthing the 'experts' told you, you would probably starve to death. So I gave that up & applied some common sense. I asked myself what did our ancestors eat? Meat when they could get it, fish the same, lots of whole grains because they'd learned to store them, fresh vegatables in season, fruit in season, dairy products both fresh & preserved (cheese mainly) and natural alcoholic drinks. What didn't they eat? Processed (in the modern sense) foods, simple carbohydrates (refined suger, white flour, white potatoes, unless they were of North American origin.) This not only made sense to me it appealed to my taste buds and love of eating & cooking. A couple of years and 15 pounds off later I discovered the Montangac method which reinforced these ideas in a more scientific way. I've been eating this way ever since with occesional lapses into the simple carbs. I'm not over weight & rarely ill. At 69 I feel great, walk a lot and eat very well thank you. My blood tests are good as is my blood pressure. I cook a lot as you can tell from my blog & posts. I do get asked how I can eat the way I eat, cook the things I cook & stay at the weight I am. That's the only time I talk nutrition.

Aged Gouda I presume. One of my favorites. We can get it here, but I'm not sure if the quality is as good as in The Nederlands. Thinking of aged cheeses, another favorite is aged gruyer from Switzerland. Like Gouda it is transformed when aged from being a nice cheese to being a magnifigent cheese. Thought so, but didn't want to put words into your mouth. I'm with you all the way. Well almost; I baulk at velveeta with pineapple stuck on a stick.

I'm excited by this thread so I went out & bought some cheeses today so I could play around. Here's the first result. The cheese is St Nectaire. Not a rare or unusual cheese, but one that has a long history. It has certainly been made for hundreds of years and has very likely been made for over a thousand years. It is made in the uplands of the massif central not far South of Clermont-Ferrand. Hopefully the map above will locate the area for you. St Nectaire is a cows milk cheese and is made with raw milk on the farms. Tradionally the milk from the salers breed of cow has been used, but new higher yielding breeds have been introduced since the war. Some of the latieres pasteurise their milk which yields an inferior cheese. You can tell which is which by the label. The Farm cheese has a green oval mark & the commercially made has a square mark. In fact the labeling system is quite detailed and with the right knowledge you can trace each cheese's origin down to the individual farm where it was made. For more information go here Although not a dramatic looking cheese, here are a couple of St Nectaire pictures. St Nectaire is normally aged for 2-3 months, longer under the right conditions. It's flavor is mild, slightly nutty with a strong after taste. The rind is edible and St Nectaire goes well with a fruity red wine. There is lots more information available on the web and, I believe, St Nectaire can be bought in the states.

Very conventional, but there's nothing much better than a very young chevre topped with really good jam. Both smeared on good french bread. of course. Or you can always dip your slightly older chevre in cumin seeds for a different taste. I'm not sure whether Gfron1 was bragging or complaining???

Made the Baked eggplant with garlic yesterday since this is a great time of the year to get really high quality specimins. They were absolutely delicious. So much so that one of our guests said they although normally she didn't eat aubergine (eggplant in English) she'd eat these every day. Here are some notes & liberties that I took as I made the dish. - I put all of the garlic ,cloves & minced, into the olive oil at once. I used a very fruity oil of the type you'd use for dipping. - I fished out the cloves with a fork & cut them into rough quarters (they'd been halved originally. - I found trying to lard the eggplant was a bit difficult as the eggplants were tightly closed & the garlic slivers a bit flexible. The solution was to use my oyster shucking knife with its thick stiff blade & to give it a slight twist just before removing it. This helped get the garlic in neatly. - I decided to BBQ the eggplant. Mainly because it was a hot day & I had lamb shoulder slow roasting in one oven & didn't want to turn on the second oven; especially up to 400F!! So, I got my gas BBQ up to 400F & placed the eggplant packets over indirect heat & baked for 30 minutes. Worked a treat although next time I'll probably give them another 5 minutes. - I could have used more oil from the baking packets. Maybe this was because my eggplants were larger than called for, don't know, but I'll do more next time as the oil & minced garlic looks wonderfull spread over the cut eggplant. - I cut mine into quarters for serving which looked good & was good for putting on the plate. - We had some discussion over whether to eat or not to eat the skins. I ate them & enjoyed them others didn't. Next time & there will definitly be a next time I'll take pictures & make a few further adjustments. All in all a nice nice recipe & great dish. It went perfectly with the lamb shoulder by the way. Thank you Paula!

Ok; with that encouragement I'll see what I can find. Normally I buy my cheeses on either Sunday at Linogne market or on Monday at Caussade market. Sometimes I go to Villefranche de Rouergue on Thursdays, but the best guy there is the same guy who does Caussade on Monday. As a starter if you go here you'll find a post I did on "A tale of three cheeses". I'd like to hear about the good artisanal cheeses that are increasingly (I think) becoming available in the states. What's good?

Has the Capital Grill disappeared since we left Providence 3 years ago? Would have been our upmarket choice (& was) if its still there.

I'm amazed! How do you get these Italian cheeses in New Mexico? Even knowing that you're a pro & have your own shop I'm still flabbergasted. I'd love a cheese forum, but got a frosty answer when I asked. I'm also a bit concerned that because I live in France much of what I can get is ungettable in the states. You give me hope. I'm in if like minded folks want to start a very long cheese thread.

A true tea story. Some years ago a goumet friend of ours & his wife were visiting us in England. My English wife offered him tea, but he was reluctent to have any as he said he didn't like it. Turned out that his greek mother gave him tea as a curative whenever he had a stomach upset as a child. The momories had lingered on. My wife said let me make you some proper english tea & see what you think of it. Well, he loved it & we drank a lot of tea during the rest of the visit. Then the next afternoon he asked Linda why she didn't make her tea in a silver pot since that's how they did it at the Dorchester & other fancy places he had been to. Her reply was that it didn't taste as good and that 'proper' english tea was always made in china, not silver. She said it doesn't matter how expensive or posh the china is, but good tea MUST be made in china. He's a dogmatic sort & continued the discussion until finally Linda told me to go out to the garage & get Grandma's silver tea service out of it's box. He was a bit nonplussed by the fact that we didn't even have the silver service unpacked. Anyway Linda set up a blind taste test. Two pots made identicially, one in silver the other on our ordinary china tea pot. You guessed it! He could tell the difference & he did prefer the tea made in china. Argument over! The kicker to this story is that our friends went onto Vienna where they bought a beautiful china tea service. We didn't know this until some months later when we visited them at their home in Utah. He brought out the Viennese tea service which he's been saving & asked Linda to make the inagural pot. He then observed very carefully & got her to write down in detail how to make tea. We still send them tea from Betty's Tea Room in Yorkshire from time to time. I've always loved the mystique of teat & tea making around the world.

Your recommendation seals it. We'll give them a try. John, think Judith's right. Overnight guests only for food it seems. Maybe next time as the place looks stunning. Thank you both Dave

Soapy water immediately after use, then good old white vinegar about once a week or so depending upon use. Just pour a bit of vinegar on & rub it in with a clean sponge. Rinse with cold water. I find bleach & peroxide too harsh on the wood.

If you haven't yet try to read this book before you come. Its as much a social history of the region as it is a cook book although it's a fine cookbook also. I know from your last post that you give a hoot... so try it!

Might be pretty good if you go easy on the chilli oil.Don't think the other two would work too well as they're both reasonably delicate flavours & the chilli could overwhelm the other flavors. Adding a bit of your 'killer' oil might make for a formidable salsa! Also, add a bit (instead of olive oil & hot sauce) to a gaspacho. And, of course, one of the classic chilli oil uses is on pizza. I take no responsability for seared taste buds!

Six of us are off to the Northern Pyrenees in mid- September. We're staying at the Hotel/ Restaurant Chilo in Barcus. Their rooms look nice if a bit quirky, but we understand the food is outstanding. Question? Has anyone eaten/ stayed at the Chilo? Opinions sought. We've done half pension for two of the three days we plan to stay, keeping one night free for another restaurant. So, we're looking for recommendations within driving distance of Barcus. I see that Chez Ruffet just outside of Pau got a second star this year. Does anybody have any recent experience with them? I can't seem to find any reviews in either French or English. Their website is a bit hard to decipher. Any help appreciated. Since this is a 'walking' trip we're expecting to be hungry & might even stretch to a full lunch & dinner. All assistence gratfully accepted. Thanks!

Probably the wrong edition, but here's what I found

May be a bit too simple, but you could try the Lemon Brulee recipe that I posted in Recipe Gullet. You could dress it up by adding kiwi slices at the bottom of the glass, then the mix, then the apricot/peach, more mix, then a berry layer (rasberries would be my choice), more mix and finally the brulee top. Sorry I don't have a picture, but I think you can visualise the appearance.

Try: Alibris They usually have everything at good prices.

Sigh... I'm not sure I like the way this thread is going. Too many of our local treasures are being exposed. We who live in the area sort of keep quiet about it for fear of being over run. However; for a gulleteer I'll spill some more beans knowing that the information will be well used. The restaurant across from the train station is wonderful (never can remember the name), the bridge & Saturday market are musts. More good local wineries than you can shake a bottle at. Head east to St. Cirq Lepopie for a visual treat, Figeac yes, Villefranche de Rouergue is neat (Le Epicurien is good for lunch or dinner.) Continue to Belcastel & Le Vieux Pont (Hotel as well as stared restaurant.) Albi is not to be missed. A favorite vintner is Domaine de Chalon just up the hill from Cordes. Try his Gaillien both red & white. Local grapes, limited production, damn good. Salettes wine is pretty good as well. Enough! You have a wonderful selection of advice. I can echo much of it from personal experience. THE Viaduct is truely a wonder of the world; don't miss it. Montpillier is where we may move if we get a hankering for city life again.

Sorry as usual I had the address slightly wrong. The real address is: salletes Sarlat is very nice & should be Ok in December. It has become very 'touristy' in the season from June through September. I was there in late June on a market Saturday & it was a zoo. In any case Sarlat is probably about 3 hours north of Gaillac. Of course Cahors is right on the way & they do have a few wineries & just south of Cahors are the Quercy wineries. Could be an itinerary? Just so happens that this is our area of "le France profound" so we know it pretty well. More than happy to give more info if you're interested. Can echo Margret's recommendation. We've stayed there & its nice & very friendly. Also, its right in the heart of L/R/.

Just a bit north of the Languedoc, but very nice & they do have a wine route if you go to Gaillac's page Chateau de Sallers is a very nice place to stay with a good restaurant. If you're interested in this area let me know & I can post more information.

That time of year hotel bookings outside of Paris should not be a problem. Just take the gudes John suggested. A gite is a great idea & in Sept/Oct you can get great rates as well as grat produce. Try: www.homlidays.com for a huge selection all over France. You can even look at ours by going to my blog & clicking on the link. You will be in THe best time of year in my humble opinion.

In July? I'm jealous! Good no matter who wins. Now I'm the one who's drooling. Turns out that we will be in Italy for the final so I think we'll have pizza topped with escargo & brie. If you don't hear from me again its because my Italian friends did me in. Allez blues!!

Missed the traditional American barbeque fare on the 4th this year as our friends didn't hold their hamlet wide barbeque. (the older villages didn't quite get Independance day but went along with celebrating the end of the war. They quite like hamburgers, but turned up their noses at hot dogs.) Anyway; what's traditional (if anything) for the 14th? Open to any & all suggestions.

Can't stand it! Lived in England of 15 years & am married to a Geordie, but never got used to mint sauce on lamb. Now, malt vinegar on my chips; that's the way to go.

cheap & cheerful Braun multimix. Beats, purees, whisks, is easy to clean & store. Extras? A selection of micro graters if you don't already have them