Dave Hatfield

No sure that I'd agree other than to say that both are pretty good. Cahuzac is slightly closer. If in Cahuzac, however, stop in Annie Delpech's little B&B and buy some of her jams, jellies or chutnies. (06 63 33 95 50) She's in the Place d'Eglise. Wonderful stuff! We're particularly fond of her green tomato confiture.

I have a life long non smoking friend who always sat in smoking on planes & trains. Said he met more interesting people there.

Sacre Bleu! Will no one defend the smell of France? The smell of black tobacco (all those wonderful Gitanes & Gaulois) and cheap wine instantly puts one in France. Eating a filet pur avec fries without that smell isn't the same. It lacks a certain je ne sais quoi! Perhaps one can bottle the smell without the actual smoke. Countries that lose their smell give up a bit of their soul; my bit of philosophy for the day.

I think you got a pretty good deal. Amazon seems to sell the whole range at prices comparable to what you paid. Did a google search on Daniel Boulud Cookware, but couldn't find any reviews. Strongly suspect that you've got a good pot at a good price

Does anyone else have this problem? We have so far been unable to find really good beef down there in the South West. Nothing that matches the best of British or American steaks or roasts. The pork, lamb, mutton, veal and fowl are superb, no problems at all. Our theories are: One, the French like their beef very lean so raise breeds that produce that kind of meat. (we note that there's very little marbling in French beef); Two, they don't age their beef here as long as a good butcher in the states or the UK would; Three, the cows here are mainly grass fed & not fattened up on corn as they are elsewhere; Four, a combination of one through three. Anybody know a good beef butcher? Any other theories?

Don't know the breeds, but our local pork here in SW France is excellent. The local pigs live outdoors with little sty's and a fair amount of roaming room. Several of our local butchers actually post a list of the local farms their meat comes from. Some of our friends & neighbors still buy a pig annually & spend a whole weekend in the butchering and preserving of literally everything. Great fun & the sausages, pates and other ways of preservation are delicious.

A third easy way is to make rosti; frying the potato patties in duck fat. A little herb de provence & minced garlic goes well in the mix. FYI duck fat freezes very well. We normally make some duck fat "ice cubes" then transfer these into a ziploc bag. PS: Fresh duck cuisses (the leg & thigh combination) have suddenly appeared again in the supermarkets here in France. having great fun with those. I'd be embarrased to tell you just how cheap they are.

They're all over the place here. You can buy them for nearly nothing here in France. Personally I won't have one in my kitchen, but that's not for health reasons. I just like to do things the old fashioned way.

You're right. In addition you can buy 'sugar art' in a small shop in Cordes. Its almost opposite the small town square above the covered market. Be very careful where you park as the parking police in Cordes are ferocious.

We traditionally have them (our homemade version) with our Thanksgiving or Charistmas turkey. They go wonderfully with the whitemeat.

Why not make it yourself? See the thread '600 year old cassoulete' in the France forum. I posted an easy to do detailed recipe there. My wife actually prefers this recipe to my full blown takes 3 days recipe. Can't think of any ingredient not readily available in the Uk. Let me know the result.

Can understand that. essence de essence; perhaps? But what was your recipe?

Simple is good. Pan fry duck breasts after having scored the skin side in a criss cross. Rub in lots of coarse sea salt. Fry gently for about 15-20 minutes pouring out the rendered fat every so often. Put a bit more salt & some pepper on the meat side. Turn heat up high & turn the breasts over pushing down firmly. Continue to sear until cooked to the degree of doneness you like. (My personal taste is way towards rare) That's it. One option is to pour out all of the fat just before turning then add a nice slice of foie gras per serving. As the foie gras renders it fat turn the breasts. Then turn the foie gras. Eat & go to heaven. Another option is to serve the magret with a walnut & garlic puree. If you do this don't do the foie gras as the puree over powers the liver. Oops, almost forgot. Serve a nice Cahors wine with the duck.

At the risk of starting another 'cassoulete' type debate I would still like to find one or more "definitive" recipies for Toulouse sausage. The name 'Toulouse' seems to be somewhat generic for most of the pork based fresh sausage produced here in the South West of France. As I eat the sausage produced by various butchers in the towns around our area I can detect differences, sometimes subtle, somethimes not. Please let me have your thoughts. Looking in some of the other forums I note that there seem to be a lot of sausage makers out there.

Not quite savory, but you could make Lemon Cheese. This is similar to lemon curd, but I've never quite figured out the difference. In any case both are delicious & easy to make.

Don't think you're crazy to try. After all most of the French don't stay in hotels during their vacations; they stay at family owned homes, campgrounds, gites & so forth. A good B&B guide would be a help & of course you'll have your Logis de France book. As you head West from Uzes make sure you stay far enough North to take in the viaduct at Millau. It is truely impressive. Then keep heading West via Rodez (a very nice town) and (in this case DO reserve ahead) have lunch at Le Vieux Pont in Belcastel. They do have a star, but deserve more. The main menu is 47 Euros & is really a bargin; wines are fairly prices. Beats the heck out of Michael Bra's place near Laguiole in our experience. Having splurged on Vieux Pont you can now save money by eating at the many Etapes where the local workmen & the truckers stop. The going rate for a 4 course lunch including wine is between 11 & 14 Euros. Just look for lots of large trucks & vans around or just after noon. Emjoy

I'm assuming that you live in the states & can get wonderful beef. ( something that despite all of their other food virtues the French can't match.) If so, why mess it up with a sauce? Just drizzle over the pan juices augmented by a bit of red wine to help deglaze the pan. As for some kind of potatoes try this with no potatoes: Corrots peeled & quaretered. Turnips peeled & cut into chunks Parsnips peeled & quartered Shalotts peeled & only halved if they're large.\ Garlic cloves, slightly crushed & very roughly chopped. Place above in a roasting tin. Then cover all (mixing with your hands) with a light coating of olive oil. (truffle oil is much better if you can find & afford it) Add Herbs de provence, salt & pepper. Roast in a 190 degree C oven for 45-60 minutes. Stir occesionally. If necxessary turn heat up near end to brown veggies for presentation. Guaranteed success. If you decide to try this let me know the result as so far as I know this is my own unique recipe & I'm looking for feedback outside family & friends. enjoy!

But you get a lot of them in a kilo & they are delicious. I love being able to tell my English friends that I put rattes in my potato salad.

Why does Cahors always seem to get left out? They too claim le vrai cassoulet and swear that their is THE only proper wine to drink with it. Hard to argue with them. I'm wondering if I'm the only one old enough to have made their first cassoulet following the recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking? In any case how did you make your first cassoulet? Asking when might be embarassing.

I've never tried a blender method. I'm closer to the CIA method. Could you share your recipe, please. Thanks

Spring brings asparagus & I've always felt that it accompamied by hollandaise sause is a marriage made in heaven. This leads me to want to know more about this classic sauce so I'm looking for any comment, knowledge, recipies (most of us probably have our own technique) and, in fact, anything anyone wants to contribute about hollandaise.

Would you believe that its the Occitan spelling? Thought not, would you believe that I never learned to spell (or type) in any language? You'd be right. How about a multi-lingual spell checke on eG. While I'm here I should say that I agree about the depth of pot being important. I hadn't realised that I only mentioned 'my big green pot' in the recipe. (Michael, the friend I wrote up the recipe for knows my big green pot) Said pot is about 15 inches in diameter and just short of 7 inches deep. Slightly bulging sides with a lip for the lid. Purchased in England some 20 years ago.

Four months old is fresh from the oven. I've a wild goose in mine whose use-by date is in Roman numerals. ← How about a one day cassoulette? Just to go to the other extreem. I have my 'classic' version which takes 2-3 days not counting confit making which I used to do when living in the states, but don't do now that we live in France. (aside; we happen to live not a million miles from Najac; ask your friends if they know where Parisot is.) A couple of years ago I decided that I didn't want to wait when the urge for cassoulette struck me so I devised the following recipe. I taught a friend to make this a couple of weeks ago; we started at 09:30, put the assembled beast into the oven for first cooking at 11:00. We & it rested until 18:30 then back into the oven (it, not us) did the breadcrumb thing twice & served it at 20:00. Here goes if I can copy & paste correctly: Quick Cassoulette Ingredients: 1) Vegetables -1 Large yellow onion -3-4 stalks of celery -3-4 medium size carrots 2) Dry & canned goods -1-2 tubes of tomato puree -500- 750g of white (lingot) beans -1-2 cans (4 cuisse to the can) of confit de canard 3) Meats -500-750g fresh Toulouse sausage -1 large ham hock (jarret) OR 2 smaller lightly salted ham hocks -4 or more Lamb shanks. If no shanks use bone in Lamb cutlets 4) Herbs -1+ head of garlic -Thyme to taste -Herbs de Provence to taste -10+ crushed juniper berries -Salt & Pepper 5) Misc. -Duck fat -Freshly made bread crumbs -Chopped parsley NOTES: Using the smaller quantities of ingredients this recipe will make a large Cassoulette filling my big green pot. If, however, you would like to make more then up the quantities as you wish. (The green crock feeds 8 happily) The Cassoulette freezes perfectly. Feel free to vary ingredients & quantities as you wish. Do not, however, be stingy with the herbs or garlic & remember that it’s the combination of meats that is important. Step by Step: (this is roughly the right order) A. Place all of the beans in a large pot & cover well with water. Cover pot & bring beans to the boil. Meanwhile skin, crush & roughly chop all of the garlic. Add to the beans. Boil beans for about 10 minutes. Turn off & let sit covered until you’re ready for them. (if you are using an unsalted ham hock lightly salt & pepper the beans at this point. if hocks salted then don’t) B. Cut the skin off of the ham hocks. If they are salted put in water & bring to the boil for 5 minutes, pour the water off, discard then proceed. In a large deep pot brown the hocks over high heat using some duck fat. Lightly season. Remove & set aside. (Cut the skin into about 1 cm wide strips. Cut 1 or 2 strips into squares & save for later. The rest can be salted, put in a medium oven and turned into crackling. Cook’s bonus never makes it to table.) C. Place the Toulouse sausage in a large frying pan & add enough water to 1/3 cover them. Over high heat bring to the boil. Turn sausages when about ½ the water has boiled off. When dry prick the skins & add some duck fat to the pan. Sear until the sausages are nicely browned. Set aside. D. Put the lamb into the same pot with the same fat as you used to brown the hocks. Brown the lamb & set aside. E. Chop up the celery, onion & carrot fairly finely. Put in the same browning pot. Add fat if necessary & gently (low heat) sweat the vegs for 10-15 minutes. F. Add the vegs to the beans. Add the tomato puree to the beans. Stir well & taste for seasoning. Adjust if/as necessary. Add the rest of the herbs. Taste & adjust to your taste. (I like lots of herbs so am heavy handed, but you will be able to further adjust later so don’t overdo it at this stage.) G. Drain beans reserving all of the liquid. H. You now start to assemble the Cassoulette in the crock or pot that it will be cooked & served in. a. Spoon a layer of beans into the pot. b. Put the hock(s) in the middle of the pot. c. Add some more beans. d. Put the lamb in around the sides e. A few more beans. f. Add the pieces of ham skin. g. Cut up the sausage into 2-3 cm lengths & add ½ to the pot. h. Open the confit cans (if you didn’t earlier to get at the fat.) Wipe off as much fat as possible with your hands then arrange the cuisses around the pot. i. Add the rest of the sausage. j. Add the rest of the beans. k. Press everything down & adjust if necessary to fit the pot with a little room at the top. l. Pour in the reserved bean juice until it just covers the rest of the ingredients. m. Put the lid on & place the pot into a 180C. Oven for about 3 hours. n. Check periodically & push the cuisses back down gently as they tend to float up. Check seasonings & adjust if needed. o. Check beans for softness. If still a little hard add ½ hour to final cooking time. I. Take out of the oven & let stand until ready for the final preparation. A minimum of 3-4 hours is best; overnight in fridge even better. If overnight then take the Cassoulette out of the fridge about 2 hours before you want to start the final cooking. J. Allow 1 ½ hours for final cooking PLUS any extra for beans. Longer cooking within reason won’t hurt. K. Make 3-4 cups of breadcrumbs & add chopped parsley & some herbs de Provence. L. Put Cassoulette into a 180C. Oven. After ½ - ¾ hour check the juice level. a. If it’s not over the top of everything add some more bean juice. (If no bean juice left red wine will do instead.) b. If it’s way over then remove the lid & continue cooking. M. ½ hour before you want to serve sprinkle a good coating of breadcrumbs over the top & put back into the oven with the lid off. N. After 15 minutes push the crumbs down into the Cassoulette & spread the rest of them over the top. O. When the top is nicely browned the Cassoulette is ready to serve. (A little top heat from the broiler may be needed to do the browning.) There you go! Quick Cassoulette. It takes about an hour to get up to the first cooking stage. After that most of the cooking is unattended with a few quick checks & additions. Enjoy. Try it & let me have your thoughts & comparision. By the way I agree about the confit. I find the cheapest way is to buy cans in the local HypeMarket when they're on sale. Fresh duck leg/thighs (cuisses) only seem to be available periodicaly in the spring.

Ok, at the risk of letting everyone into a secret try this area. Go to the SouthWest, north & East of Toulouse where you will find Frence as it used to be. Beautiful countryside, great wines and superb food. Best of all its uncrowded and inexpensive relative to most of the rest of France. Try Cahors, Albi, Montauban, Figeac, Agen & the areas inbetween. Eat lunch as your main meal, not dinner. (we regularly get a 4 course incl wine lunch for less than 15 Euros) Superb markets abound. Fois gras, confit, great lamb & pork, veggies, fruit, you name it. Cheeses most of us have never heard of. This is truely deepest France. Try it. We've lived here for nearly 4 years & it just gets better all the time. Did I mention that the weather's wonderful in the summer.

Knicker twisting can be a lot of fun, but I find the problem is that far too many people are so serious that that don't know when they're being twisted. The sort of competition I find fun is one where everyone tries to find the cheapest possible palatable wine. Palatable being the key word. We've done this both on trips including a notable one to France and as a bring your own bottle(s) to a dinner party. The only 'rule' we set is that the bottle must have a cork; no screwtops or plastic caps. Even I have some degree of decorum. Perhaps some "gulleteers" (Ok, word??) might like to have a go. The results are always interesting & the discussions around defining 'palatable' fascinating. Thanks for the welcome.