Bouland

I wrote an extensive article a few years back that gives lots of information on crepes. It should answer most of your questions.

I did! I figured it was "used up"... what can one do with it? I pack them into a terrine and chill until solid. Then I cut them up and use 'em in a salad. Here's a recipe that starts from scratch, but that can be adapted to veal cooked as part of another dish.

And you, eGulleteer, do you agree or disagree with this theory?? I solve the problem by using both the original from the 1930s—which has some interesting recipes—and the most recent version—which I use in both the French and English-language versions since they are often quite different. What I've found to be useless is some of the intermediate versions.

But what did you do with the gelatinous material leftover from the feet. Hopefully you didn't toss it out?

I guess if one was going back into history looking for a teacher, I'd choose François Massialot, of whom very little is known outside of his cookbooks—my favorite being first published in the 16th century. Unable to locate Massialot, I'd go looking for Henri Babinski in the first few decades of the 20th century. His Gastonomie Practique is my favorite cookbook of all time.

Paule Caillat is an old friend of mine. Her students all seem very happy with her courses. If you're interested, you can read an interview with her here.

Is there a better generic name for these thingies than “commercial cream whippers"? I need to use it in an article...

Make jook from the carcass.

Liquid or granules?

Culinary history is a collection of questionable happenings of dubious credibility. How true...

Williams Sonoma only sells the light-weight tableservice copper pots, not the heavy professional grade pots. Even so, when I priced the same size pots that I bought from Dehilerin a few years ago, their price was three to four times what I paid, including shipping, ordering the heavier grade from France.

It has never been totally clear to me whether Dehillerin represented a significant savings compared to, say, a Falk Culinair sale once you figure in the cost of shipping overseas, the currency exchange charge from your credit card and whatevever taxes are added. I would be very interested to hear from someone in the US who has actually purchased from Dehillerin over the Internet. For me -- and this is a personal preference, of course -- it would be worth a little extra money to have the convenience of faster delivery and interaction with an English-speaking company based in the US (and subject to US laws should anything go wrong). I purchased pots from Dehillerin on a number of occassions. The total price with shipping was about 130 to 150%, depending on shipping method, of the untaxed price listed in their catalog. Everything arrived fine.

Mail order Mauviel from E. Dihillerin in Paris is tsill the least expensive way to get the stuff.

These may not be the same books. It is rare that French cookbooks are published simultaneously in English. Also, the physical sizes as well as the titles seem to be different.

That may be due more to the translator than the original. There are a number of very poorly translated French cookbooks on the American market. Often, on the title page, the translator will be listed as “translated and adapted by.” Many translations are laughable when compared to the originals. The translation of Robuchon’s book based on his Dimache columns has been translated and published in the U.S. as La Cuisine De Joël Robuchon: A Seasonal Cookbook. There are a number of notable blunders by the translator in instructions for recipes that would make it very difficult for the home cook to duplicate the original recipe.

I've prepared a number of recipes from this book, but they have to be prepared knowing that these are Patricia Wells’ Americanized versions of M. Robuchon's original recipes. If you look at many of the illustrated recipes carefully, the recipe as printed doesn't match the picture, which was probably because the pictures were taken of the restaurant versions, not the book versions. In fact, it’s hard to tell if the recipes were actually tested as printed.

I think you’re thinking of Azaka’s Market. The ribs were pork ribs, frozen, sawed crosswise into 1/4" slices, thawed, and marinated in a soy sauce-sugar marinade. They sold them as Korean short ribs.

Because of its low water content, Parmesano-Regianno lasts quite nice under refrigeration. I can't ever remember it going moldy. For a 1.75-pound piece you could portion it into 3 or 4 smaller pieces and vacuum pack the ones you want to refrigerate longer, if you don't want to chance it.

This is an excellent book, but it is becoming a bit dated, having been originally published in 1967. I find it useful as a guide but the cuts of meat can be different and you'll have to adjust around her salt peter usage.

I have a variety of porcelin terrines that I use on a regular basis. The cast-iron one you mention makes too many portions for my use. A small 350-gram terrine such as shown here or here can produce 10 to 12 portions. I prefer rectangular terrines, but oval ones are nice for some preparations, too.

I’ve used an AccuLab for many years. It has a readibiity of 1 gram but the minimum weight it will display is 2 grams. When I've looked at other scales with the same readibility, it’s usually been difficult to determine the minimum weight without trying them. Some have not displayed a weight of less than 5 grams, even with a 1 gram readibility.

The spelling is "brik." It's French and is similar to phyllo but slightly thicker and not as fragile when fried. Whenever i've used it, the sheets came packaged in a plastic bag similar to Chinese spring roll wrappers except each sheet of brik had a paper seperator. I've only seen these supplied as round pieces of dough, but I believe they are available as square pieces, too.

I like this one, too. Some fo the recipes are off-the-wall, but most are quite good (and the illustrationsare usually fun). I think Cusine et Vins de France is also on the same level.

I assume that you are referring to the smoker temperture and not the sausage temperature? The internal temperature of the sausages should reach about 160 to 165°F when finished. If you go higher, you'll dry them out too much. This is the final temperature I use when I make sausages that are poached, such as boudin blanc.

From my experience in the Jura, that is not the case. Certainly, the average Frenchman spends his free time these days watching soccer on his widescreen TV, but there are still plenty of people there buying cookbooks. The cooking classes for locals at the restaurant I work in — a Michelin one star — are always over subscribed. When I go to the bookstore I frequent in Besançon, there's a large section of cookbooks and a substantial subsection of books by chefs. Someone must be buying these. Plus, many of the fancy French cookbooks available in English in America or England were originally written in French and sold in France.