Wolfert

I don't really feel qualified to write about wine, and so I rarely suggest a pairing, not unless one has particularly struck me. Also, much of the food I write about is from Islamic countries and doesn't benefit from being accompanied by wine. Southwest France is a great exception, but that book was very long and, again, I could only parrot the suggestions of an expert advisor.

Well...I live in California now. It's been a long time since I've actually lived aorund the Mediterranean, but I average four or so trips a year. Certainly I'm an outsider, but I work hard to establish a rapport with the women cooks (my primary source for recipes and information). This means kissing them on each cheek, touching my heart, bringing them gifts, learning their language (at least as far as kitchen-speak is concerned), and presenting myself as one who is open to what they have to teach me. By the way, this is not an act; when I kiss them and touch my heart, I truly mean it! It's wondrous the way the secrets of food preparation bring people together. As for how I define myself, I tell them truthfully that I have come to act as an intermediary between the way they cook and people in my country who would like to eat their national dishes. And of course I promise not to publish my work in their language which seems to be very important to many of them!!! I am still amazed and grateful at how warmly I'm welcomed. The sharing is wonderful and I am always invigorated by these expeditions.

You're absolutely right, it is nearly impossible to draw firm culinary boundaries between Greece and Turkey. The Ottomans had a 500 year run and the Greeks had an even longer run before that. Then in 1921 there was a major exchange of populations between the two countries, with a consequent blurring of culinary boundaries. I've travelled throughout Turkey, often with two intepreters and a Kurdish speaking driver (for safety). I've found that the excellence of the food is dependent on the ingredients available in each region. For example, a baklava made with sheeps milk butter and pistachios is best in Gazientep...and it just can't be duplicated anywhere else. On the other hand, a lamb soup with green garlic, leeks and yogurt (please see my "Med. Grains & Greens") is sensational and can be easily duplicated here. Contrary to what some have said, Turkish regional cuisine often does involve techniques. In Gazientep (my favorite culinary destination in Turkey) there are special ways of handling yogurt and phyllo and the use of spices that is just as challenging as some recipes from more sophiscated cuisines. Istanbul has some terrific restaurants such as CIYA (of course, it was the center for Ottoman style cooking) but personally I love the food of the southeast, some towns in the interior, and also the cuisine of the Black Sea coast.

Hi Jonathan Thanks for your very kind posting. I'm pretty sure that if you go to a farmer's market and find someone selling homemade honey, you'll find a good source for bee's wax. It's cheap, lasts a long time and really makes a difference. Unless, that is, you opt for using Nordicware's mini molds. I've been very lucky with my editors through the years. Generally they they indulge me. If a magazine "dumbs down" my recipes, I stop writing for it. In this regard, I was fairly surprised when egullet was dividing up the magazines, that no one chose FOOD & WINE. They've been wonderful with me, and I'm proud to have a regular column there. As for "people who bemoan time pressure and the need for shortcuts in cooking," they can always go for the simpler recipes in my books. And, hopefully, on a holiday or weekend when they have time to cook, they'll try a more complicated recipe and appreciate the difference in subtlety and depth. There are plenty of books on quick and easy cooking available; I totally respect those books, and have also chosen not to duplicate them. Certainly, this limits my sales, but then I have people who write me who've made my cassoulet once a year for the last 20 years. Their praise is like sweet music to me, and makes up for any loss of sales. Sometimes cooks will turn up ay my signings with tattered food-stained copies of my old books. I'm just as happy (if not more so) signing for these loyal fans as I am for purchasers of my latest book.

Personally I think the dish was meant for slow steady simmer, not speed. Remember Brillat Savarin called for cooking the spinach in a glazed earthenware dish which probably meant over ashes in the fireplace, or on top of an aga type stove. If I ever do it it will be that way. DeGroot reduced the butter most probably because he was using American butter which has a lot more water in it. If you want to try DeGroot's method, here it is: first cook spinach in a big pot on the stove. it should be the largest available soup boiler, preferably stianless or enameled over fairly high heat. wet spinach is thrown in by handfuls. the only liquid used is the water caught in drops in the crinkles of the leaves. Each layer is immediately pressed down into the hissing water with a wooden spoon and failry heavily salted. The operation is continous and should take about 5 minutes.. Allow to cool in the pot until it can be handled. By handfuls, squeeze out juice through fingers chop until finely cut Place in a cast iron saucpean with tight fitting lid placed over medium heat and add 3 to 4 tablepsoons butter, leave 10 minutes stir gently with a wooden fork dig a hole in the center and check whether there is any loose melted butter on the bottom. If not, add more butter, about 1 -2 tablespoons. The whole operation is extremely flexible. leave it cover for another 10 minutes, stir and check before adding more butter then cool and refrrigerate. next day: simply reheat and rebutter and repeat, leave covered on simmering heat for 30 minutes checking every 10 minutes to test how much loose butter is left on the bottom of the pan there is a limit to the amount fo butter which the spinach will absorb on any one day... the third day: about 2 hours before serving, bring to room temperature. simmer for 30 more minutes, covered more butter is added gradually,up to a maximum absorption but this time one must be careful that there is no excess in which the spinach might swim to the table check for salt; l pound butter, 5 pounds young spinach leaves and crystal salt serving 8 So what have I been doing these past 40 years? Well, I used to follow a recipe inLa bonne cuisine de Mme Saint-Ange which worked quite well: dry out spinach in a little butter; take off the fire, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg; sprinkle with some flour; mix well; and put over the heat for just a few minutes. Take off the heat, add very thick cream or reduced milk, stirring, then put back on the heat and bring to a boil. Cover and let cook very slowly until flour is well cooked, about 20 to 30 minutes. Add knobs of butter without letting the mixture boil and serve at once after checking seasoning.

DeGroot's recipe appeared in 1966. I never tried it but I never forgot it either. Been meaning to try it for almost 40 years!

Here is a recipe from Bresse as related in Roy deGroot's Feasts For All Seasons on page 534 entitled "Brillat-Savarin's Spinach." It isn't creamed but I thought I would pass it along anyway. The original recipe which was one of the great French gourmet's favorite dishes took 5 days to prepare. According to deGroot who whittled it down to 2 days, this time was necessary for the spinach to slowly expell moisture as to absorb the butter. Day 1: pick young leaves; wash; drain; chop and put into a glazed earthenware pan with some butter and set over a low fire. cook for 30 minutes, cool and don't taste or touch Day 2: add another piece of butter about the size of a large walnut and melt into the spinach over low heat. Don't taste or touch. Day 3 repeat same quantity of butter, timing and avoid temptation. Day 4 "Beware of a firece temptation. The spinach will be giving out an almost irresistible aroma. Resist" Day 5 about 30 minutes before serving, a final extra large piece of butter is added to the spinach and the dish is again set over low heat until it is absorbed and the spinach is hot. , In the original 5 days of preparation, each pound of spinach gradually absorbed almost three quarters of a pound of butter! DeGroot's updated recipe: 5 pounds spinach to 1 pound sweet butter

I, too, am a big fan of verjus. Once you've tried food preparation with unripe grape juice or verjus, you are probably going to want to incorporate it into much of your cooking. Because verjus, unlike vinegar, won't ruin your palette for wine, it makes a wonderful alternative to vinegar for use in salads. And because of its lovely, gentle, fruity tart flavor it's able to coax out flavors from hearty peppers as well as delicate green leaves. In the Mediterranean, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean wherever grapes are grown, unripe grape juice replaces the winter standby, lemon juice, in salads, summer stews, stuffed vegettables and even tabooli style salads. . To make verjus: use the most sour seedless green grapes you can find, usually available in supermarkets. Simply crush, strain, let the juice settle, then ladle from the top and strain again. Use at once. To store: Place the strained juice in a saucepan, add a little water and bring to a boil. (This kills any yeasts.) Store the juice in a covered jar in the refrigerator for up to a few weeks. Use as needed, or freeze. For a refreshing drink: Dilute 1/4 cup verjus with l cup sparkling water and some ice cubes. You may also add a scented geranium leaf (if you can find one) as they do in Turkey. If your grapes are not sufficiently sour, you know what to do with them---simply serve them for dessert!

Hello Ras el hanout has so many formulas---you could even say every moroccan cook has her own!. But once you get a good formula, the next step is to be sure all the spices are of good quality. I have been using a mix from seasonedpioneers.com. based in Liverpool, England. They have really good spice mixtures including a lot of unusual Tunisian, Caribbean and Eastern mixes. You can find them on the internet. See what you think. I'd actually be very interested to know what you think.

I would imagine a large earthen mixing bowl would work perfectly. I guess I would test it in the oven with some water to see if it can stand the heat.

that's the spirit.

Making cassoulet with cannellini beans should be fine, but if at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. just kidding. let us know..

I received the same email this morning. So much for us getting the unusually low price! Jon: what do we do now?

I am sure you will have a wonderful cassoulet with fresh cannellini. My only advise would be to cut way back on the cooking time of the beans. Do let us know how it turned out.

Absolutely charming story. I think you should consider doing a book on food and memories. My advice: Use that story as a sample when you send in your proposal.

I am not completely sure how it works, but in a side by side test, the chicken done with the clay mattone was juicier and the skin crispier. In fact, there weren't any juices in the clay pan to make a sauce. The breast was finished cooking at the same time as the legs and both incredibly succulent. The other chicken was good, too. Just not the same. By the way, this is a very old method dating back to the times of the etruscans. Chicken is still prepared in Lucca and some other towns using this mattone. If there is anyone who can give me some good scientific reasons concerning the workings of clay versus iron in cooking this chicken, I would be very grateful. I'm writing a piece on the subject.

check with culinarion about the eu discount. I think it will end up being competitive with mdc. Be sure to get the largest size. JP Prince's cannele molds are a wee big fatter than the ones from Culinarion. Please don't ask me why. If the reduced eu price is the same between meilleur du chef and culinarion. I'd go for the latter since they are sleeker when baked. Fred Bridge also sells the rubberized sheets for about $16 so you can make 8 canneles. It works well.

If you live near a sur la table you should pick up a clay mattone for $20. Williams Sonoma is selling the same thing for 30. I think you will be amazed with the results between the iron skillet and the clay mattone. If you do this side by side, I'll be interested in hearing the results. best, Paula

I, too, have a hearthkit and love it. I think roasting chicken in it produces a great skin and an incomparable juicy flesh. But I think it is more to do with the terracotta than just the high heat. Sometimes, I use the convection oven to heat up the hearthkit to 475 and after the chicken is in about 15 minutes, I turn off the oven (saving energy) and still get a fabulous chicken.

I think it is supposed to dry out during the cooking process then the food should just begin to brown, though it is a good idea to lift off the cover so the skin will turn extra crusty. . Miraculously this is just about the time the chicken is fully cooked (165). This is my experience in unglazed earthen covered pots that are soaked first.

Dave: thanks but I was still on writing about flower pots in my head, but that's ok I live in my own little world where they know me.

http://www.jouels.com/traditions/gat-broche.htm update: I purchased the gateau a la broche. It came French snail mail which didn't seem to harm the contents. Absolutely wonderful flavor with a crunchy butter cookie texture. I highly recommend it for Xmas but be sure to tell them when you want it to arrive stateside.

As I understand it, the clay holds water in the unglazed walls, constantly basting the chicken during the first part of the cooking process, and usually imparting a unique flavor to the food. As the moisture gets sucked out of the clay like a wick during the later part of the roasting period, the chicken starts to brown. If you do it properly you'll have very little pan juices but the chicken will be incredibly moist. This is even more evident when you make the spatchcocked chicken in a terracotta mattone (sur latable has them for 20 dollars). No juices leach out.

Dave: you did enough. I do understand, but my mind is made up, you needn't confuse me with anymore facts! Thanks. P