vivelafrance

Just experience Paris....don't try to cram everthing in 3 days...it can't be done. I would go to the Marais and walk around. Take a look at the local restaurants that you walk by and give it a shot....Also, you could watch Tony Bourdain episode in France, it has a couple of cafe and restaurants that look worth trying. Breakfast...Go to a cafe, order a grand creme and a croissant, or tartine beurree (baguette with butter). Simple and heavenly. Just take a deep breath and relax... walk around and hold hands, you'll have the best time.

Foie Gras is usely served as a canape or as an apetizer. Pate de foie gras is spread just like a pate since it is mixed with other ingredients. Foie gras entier however is sliced (can't really spread it even if you wanted to). When I was growing the popular foie gras to be had was the goose foie gras which seems to have been replaced in popularity by duck foie gras. Duck is more rustic and somewhat more flavorful...so I do prefer it. Serve it with a sweet wine, although I enjoy my foie gras (and other do too) with a nice glass of a good bordeaux wine. Lately the "fashion" in France has been to serve foie gras with a fig coulis or fig gelee. Nice touch, I have to admit. Voila for my two cents.

That is an interesting point...What is the answer to that?

So we are having our New Year's Day brunch, eating black eyed peas, which is a Southern Tradition I am told, even though being from France, Foie Gras is much more in my culinary tradition for New Year's (Don't worry, we'll have that tonight with our French Onion Soup), when all of a sudden I question myself....Is a black eye pea really a pea or is is a bean...and what is the difference anyway. So I google it, I find a site that informs me that peas grow on vines and beans grow on bushes. That peas like cooler climates and have a shorter maturation period....So what's the scoop here? Is a crowder a pea or a bean? How about lady peas? Can anyone enlighten me????? Getting smarter and more informed about peas is one of my new year's resolution...So, help me out.

Sorry it took me a while to get back to you guys...The duck breasts were delicious and the marinate was nice. We thought the result was missing a bit of ompf if you see what I mean. So next time, we are thinking about using port instead of white wine. It would give a bit more body and a bit more dimension. Overall good recipe though. Thanks for the tip. We ended up making confit with the rest of the duck and are planning on making cassoulet in a couple of months with it. Can't wait!

Thanks a lot. I think we are going to go with the balsamic cherry reduction. Sounds great! I'll let you know how it turned out.

So we are planning on buying a whole duck. We are going to make confit and eat the breasts separately. Does anyone have a good sauce or a good preparation to recommend for our duck breasts?

Just to clarify the Beef Bourgignon that I make is not a stew. It is thick slices of beef tenderloin, browned and then served in a wine sauce. It is actually one of Julia Child's recipes and I have followed her advice on preparing the dish up to the point of browning the tenderloin and making the sauce in advance and then just reheating the meat in the sauce over a low heat for three or four minutes. As long as you don't over cook the meat to begin with you will have lovely rare beef. Ann ← What you are referring to, I am afraid, is not boeuf bourguignon which is a stew, but steak a la bordelaise (in a wine sauce). Quite different. Personally I would stay away from steak au poivre for 8 and go the stew route. Boeuf bourguignon, boeuf carotte, blanquette de veau...all are easy handle and very tasty. Just my opinion.

a I know I love the Tarte D'Alsace from Trader Joe's. I keep it on hand. It makes a great dinner with a nice side salad

You can make a La Rosita 1 3/4 Reposado 3/4 campari 1/2 sweet vermouth 1/2 dry vermouth angostura edit: oops, Jaz pointed out the correct topic that has all these already in it. ← When I lived in Paris, we used to go to this bar that served a cocktail called the black velvet: Guiness and champagne. My best friend swore by it. Just a suggestion.

Wow...That's a positive spin if I ever saw one...then again, if this were true it would be a miracle. Although, do they really use fres herbs when cooking TF's stuff at Applebees. Somehow I doubt it. Bottom line, he is about to make more money and that's his point, not introducing arugula to the masses and their undervelopped taste buds.

And I forgot. Reading Le Figaro, therein lies your first mistake....

The truth is this has been coming for a while and the French are not really surprised. We'll moan and groan (one of our favorite past time after all) and then we'll move on. The new generation is a lot less into the smoking this than its ancestors (Sartre, Camus, Gainsbourg are all a thing of the past). I think it will be a smooth transition and there will be not demonstrations (although we love a good demonstration whenever we can). Voila, c'est tout!

So, here is my take on it. Bye bye Rachel Ray, Sandra Lee (where did she come from?) and Emeril. Keep the Iron chef (original) and, why not, Iron Chef America. Love Alton Brown...Good Eats rocks.

I always found him kind of bland so I am not surprised. No big loss in my opinion. Do you really have to be a chef to come up with chicken with rosemary?

← Yes, we did all of that. We actually split the batch into 4 small portions. Does the choice of potatoe matter???

Just cook it the same way you would cook regular couscous. Not that much different, just a little bigger.

Being a philistine who's never been to France, forgive my ignorant question -- why don't they have French Dressing there? (My guess would be that it's an American creation, and thus the French probably scoff at it.) Ugh...wretch! ← Yep...there is nothing french about french dressing....

So about a week ago, my significant other and I decided to have a true french bistro experience cooked at home. Steak au poivre and frites were on the menu. We checked out a couple of recipes for the frites. Plunge the potatoes in hot oil (350) for about 3 min, remove them, repeat until brown. This was suppose to give them a light, crispy, fluffy taste. Instead we ended with mushy and greasy. Where did we go wrong????? HELP.