Bux

Once again, to discuss the problem, one has to understand the problem and there's problem with the quality or health or nutritional aspects of the chickens. It's a matter of the slaughtering. I am totally ignorant of Canadian laws regarding importation of meat, but my understanding is that you cannot import meat into the US unless it's approved by the Department of Agriculture and you can't get that approval unless the slaughter house has a USDA inspector in residence. Naturally the cost of his salary is borne by the slaughter house. This is just a part of the law. Arguing that the meat is tastier, healthier or better in any way is not germane to the reasons it is banned. French chickens are not banned, it's just not economical to import such a small number of them legally.

Actually - no. From Cantabria. Close, but not quite. Like Normandy and Brittany: neighbors and solid eaters, but different. There has been some recent discussion on the simultaneous anointment of three new Asturian restaurants with stars in the 2004 Michelin Guide to Spain. This brings the total in the region to seven. Of these, the granddaddy is Casa Gerardo in Prendes, where one can have both great traditional food (the best fabada - one of Europe's great traditional dishes) and excellent creative cuisine. It's clear I pay less attention to where you are from than to places you find worthy of returning to eat.

I knew they made pastries but only those with chocolate and I was only familiar with the one simple version of galette des rois. I didn't know or think of one with chocolate. I fully approve of chocolate. I am mostly familar with Hévin by reputation, but I had the most luscious chocolate macaron from them. I only know what I read about religion. I thought Three Kings Day, Epiphany and the Twelfth Day of Christmas were one and the same and celebrated on January 6. Epiphany - Three Kings Even dictionary.com gives three references to January 6 or the 12th day of Christmas.

To keep us focused, It's my understanding that live chickens may, and have been imported, but as young chickens to be raised her on this side of the Atlantic. To qualify for the appellation d'origine controlee of course, the chickens have to be raised in France according to strict conditions.

Epiphany, or the twelfth night of Christmas, also know as Three Kings Day--January 6. As I mentioned before, in at least some parts of France the "prize" was a sacred icon or a baby Jesus. A small Micky Mouse being the least sacred image I've seen. This whole thing cakes and all were discussed briefly last year in a thread started by Louisa. I'll join the two threads for continuity.

Vserna's familiy is also orignally from Asturias, or so I believe he's said here and I recall his mentioning Asturian restaurants several times. Those posts would be well worth a search. Whether you share his subjective taste or not, you'll find valuable information in his recommendations for restaurants all over Spain, and all over Europe where he knows enough to voice an opinion.

My first reaction was "from Hévin?" and then I read on and looked at his site. Bear in mind that I tend toward being a purist in terms of traditions I fear will be lost, but it sounds as if Hévin has his own classic or at least a pastry worthy of being a classic on his (chocolate) terms. Chocolate and almonds are a wonderful combination. I can't imagine the pistachios hurt either. It appears from his web page, that this is not a new recipe. Do you know how long they have been doing this? Paris is such a pastry lover's feast. I still remember my first visit to Paris as a student. I was by no means all that interested in food, but it was just impossible not to pay attention to what one was eating there. A lot of my consumption occurred between meals and although Paris is not a city like NY where one walks around eating out of hand, I found myself stopping to look in patisserie windows all over Paris all day long. The sheer visual delight alone should have been enough to satisfy any architectural student, but I was seduced by the wanton pleasures of their flesh and soon found myself in the habit of buying a single pastry and eating it out of hand as soon as I turned the corner of the shop. I'm glad you posted on the Epiphany, Twelfth Night, or (Three) Kings' Cake. I found a politically humorous reference in the Larousse Gastronomic recently and have been looking for the opportunity to post on it. I trust no one will read any more into this than my opinion that all politicians are to be mocked. In 1794 the French Revolutionary government (perhaps an oxymoron in itself as one can either govern or rebel against government) found royalist meaning in the feve as the finder was declared a "king." Thus they decreed an end to such attempts to undermine liberty. "Liberty cakes" were substituted for Twelfth Night or Three Kings' cakes by the very sharp witted patissiers. According to the Larousse, these were cakes offered as gifts to clients of the bakery and possibly not the same as the galletes des rois we know now, but there must be some relationship if only in connection with the bean (feve) which is more often a trinket or charm and was traditionally a baby Jesus earlier in the last century although now may be any sacred or profane piece.

My experience has been that Spain is the new France. So it Japanese is the new French, what are they speaking in Madrid these days? Or is the question "what are they eating in Madrid these days?" I appreciate what she's saying and I've enjoyed her articles, so I suppose I'll just have to allow her some journalistic license here, but thirty years ago, no one was referring to French American fusion food if only because French food dominated the best cross the board restaurants, was an influence in the top restaurans of NY for at least a century and French culinary techniques dominated in the most banal intitutional kitchens as well as the best hotel kitchens. That there's a hot trend this year, is something else. For all the talk about Japanese restaurateurs and their sources of provisions, I think the reason Spanish restaurants have not succeeded well here is that the cuisine is so dependent on the raw materials we don't have. I've yet to visit Batali's new places in the Gramercy Park area. Perhaps I'll have more to say after I read the article which appears to be informative and interesting at least in discussing the new places.

Apparently she is quick to use an inferior product if it is more expensive than than the more natural and better product. She's a product manufacturer's public relations dream. She will spend time shopping for the ellusive product in a box even if the search requires more time and energy that preparing the real thing from scratch. She's far more perverse than lazy. Sandra Lee is the anti-Martha Stewart as much as she is the anti-Julia Child. Martha represents the epitome of make-it-from-scratch philosophy and is one hell of a cook and perfectionist. It's also unlikely than anyone would ever refer to Martha as a trophy wife. I don't think Sandra and Martha would get along very well for long if the issue of food arose.

Can you really say you have to make that particular substitution? I would have no trouble saying you're not making Vichyssoise anyway. I would suggest that the substitution of such a product for cream alters the recipe in such a way as to make it unvichyssoise as the original recipe is unkosher. A mild mushroom broth might be better substituted for the chicken broth and the dish could be served in a parve or dairy meal. Any number of vegetables or beans could be added to flavor the cream soup, but no one has to make such a soup with "Coffee Rich." Certainly you're free to choose to do so if it pleases you, but it doesn't, so why make such a soup when there are so many others to choose? If I were invited to dinner and told I had a choice of chicken broth with noodles or potatoes or "vicyssoise with "Coffee Rich," I'd choose the plain broth. With the memory of incredible homemade chicken soups alone, I'd say one could be a foodie and keep kosher In fact, if anyone could justify saying a person who "gave up" lobster, shrimp, scallops, ham and catfish couldn't be a foodie, I'd say that anyone who didn't love tripe couldn't be a foodie. We all have somethings we won't eat, be it bugs, slugs, eyeballs or monkey brains, that another person cherishes.

I'm not a religious individual, but I think this statement is a little bizarre. It's the exactly the centrality of food to one's basic needs and happiness that makes food an important part of religious belief, and I believe that there are few major religions that don't include food at some significant level as part of its practice -- from Jewish/Muslim dietary laws to Catholic feast days (not to mention transubstantiation and consuming the Host) to Buddhist vegetarianism. We weere talking about children whose tastes were already developed and whose beliefs didn't require then to abide by the dietary restrictions abruptly imposed on them. I did not believe they would be further drawn into the religion or into a more conservative or orthadox form of a religion by imposing dietary restrictions unless they were ready to accept such a restriction based on belief. I'm sorry if my post sounded as a more universal statement than it was meant to be, but I don't think it's bizarre to offer an opinion that belief should almost always follow the practice of ritual. Perhaps it's just that I would suspect the beliefs of somone drawn to a religion by the lure of its rituals and respect the practices of someone who was moved by his deep beliefs.

You know it's pricey when you're invited to purchase. It's like being an American Express member. I agree that offering WS a short term exclusive is a reasonable marketing ploy, but what I'd be looking for from a truly functional and innovative product would be the reviews by professionals. If I had a hot product that could really perform, I'd have one in the hands of every cooking journal and newspaper with a food section. There may a group of consumers eager to be the first on the block with the new technology that is larger than the group of skeptics I represent. There's a good reason I'm not in sales or marketing. I look to Barnum and Menken for warning not inspiration.

I loved that. I would have stopped there. It's almost a good enough idea to start someone on development. I suppose it would work best on electric ranges. I can almost see it on late night TV. The George Jetson hoverpan.

I think it wasn't just "I'll do it anyway" as much as ''I'll do it for the woman I love." That should be his problem and not his kids and as much as I question the concept of agreeing to let one spouse bring up the kids in a religion the other has no faith in, it's far worse to take kids whose faith, or lack thereof, is already established, and tell them they must adhere to certain formalities, but not the essential core of the religion. To tie this rant to food, I have to say that I think food can be too central to one's basic needs and happiness for it to be the place to start one's religion. An honest belief in a religion, or even in the continuity of a culture can make following dietary restrictions reasonable and even easy. Following an abstract dietary regime is not going to bring one to the religion. As easy as it is to laugh at the jokes about dietary laws, it's a cheap shot to get a laugh by offering up the old misconceptions to the general public, but I enjoyed his closer as cited by Jason.

The Michelin refers to them as les étoiles although they are popularly referred to as macarons and sometimes even as rosettes. I will assume from Louisa's comments that macarons, now shortened to "macs" is how professionals in Paris refer to them these days. I'd personally be shy about referring to them as "macs" in front of a French chef. With my accent, I'm afraid they may think I was looking for the nearest McDo.

Holly, it's also possible that Sunday is the busiest day when the most farmers show up. It's often the case that even when markets operate all week in France, there's one day that's special and the market is three times the size on that day. Sunday would be a reasonable choice since that might be the day most shops are closed and therefore a better day for farmers to come to town. Lots of foie gras is sold outdoors in France as there are many small artisanal producers who are best able to sell their entire production directly at farmer's markets. In the southwest where most of the ducks are raised, there's hardly a market around where you don't see jars of farmhouse foie gras for sale. Lyon is a particularly good city for dried sausages of all kinds. I remember the butcher shops in Les Halles de Lyon displaying all manner of pork and game dried sausages. Tripe seems to be the local dish, by the way. Lyon is a good place to order tripe in one of several ways.

Sadly, many of these dishes are ellusive to even the adventurous gourmet tourist. Either we don't recognize then on a menu or are so clueless as to how they might taste that they don't get ordered as a full course in a restaurant. One of the reasons I like tasting menus is that I hope there will be something I would not think of ordering. Tapas bars serving local specialties are good too as you can point to whatever looks most unappetizing. It's usually just a few bucks and you can leave it over if it tastes as bad as it looks. Seriously, the bars are good because you can try a lot a things. Given the Spanish affection for canned goods, we've made some supermarket selections of canned goods to bring home. Our results haven't been successful to date. It may be because we've shopped in ordinary markets and purchased inferior brands, or it maybe that we've selected lesser varieties of roe, but the ones we've tried weren't that interesting, at least not canned. Our one successful foray into an unknown roe, was in Sanlucar De Barrameda. Huevos de chocos, although by far the less expensive than the langostinos, cigalas, gambas and cañaillas (sea snails, bulot in France?) we also ordered, were a real treat for us, both because we enjoyed them and because we had never seen, let alone had the chance to eat them. These are cuttlefish (or squid?) eggs and served cold in olive oil. At nine euros a kilo, they were also a fraction of the price of the shrimp and prawns which is not unappealing. Then again, white bread dipped in a little seawater might taste fine if I had a fresh bottle of Manzanilla to wash it down as we did in Sanlucar. We've yet to have the opportunity to sample monkfish liver or any other fish liver in Europe and have only had it in Japanese restaurants in NY. In Spain and in Brittany, we saw it for sale in markets, but I don't recall it on a restaurant carte. A while back, a few New York restaurants featured it, but never when I was there.

If I'm not mistaken the open market along quai on the Presqu'ile across from Vieux Lyon can be found every morning except Monday. I think it's the quai St. Antoine.

Lyon is a very nice place with many distractions from its food, including some excellent museums that are manageably sized and a wonderful park. It's not only the expensive restaurants that feature the cheese of Mere Richard. I have had the local St. Marcellin offered at the end of the meal in restaurants across the board including some very inexpensive bistros and bouchons.

We'll be looking for your weekly report starting on January 15.

In New York City, we have a local sushi restaurant often maligned by connoisseurs for the same reasons it is loved by many not attuned to the finer points of sushi--the pieces of fish are much too big. The fish nevertheless is absolutely fresh and if one is less a connoisseur, one can eat raw fresh fish relatively inexpensively. Ignorance, they say is bliss. Anyway, they offer a dish they translate as Ika-Uni special. It's a small bowl of seaurchin, strips of cuttle fish or squid and salmon roe. From time to time, I wonder if this discussion is not getting too far from being centered on Iberian food and if it belongs in the general board. It's not my place to discourage e-mail or private message contact between members who have common interests, but it is my job to encourage members to share as much information about food and restaurants as they can in the public forum. eGullet covers a lot of ground. Unfortunately, beyond the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, the posts are very thin and the rest of Europe together in a single forum entitled Elsewhere in Europe is not as active as this board. It is however, always interested in new topics and discussion.

You should wander Les Halles de Lyon. It's one of France's better markets and you'll find a host of merchants supply some of Lyon's best foods. In general Lyon has good bread and pastry bakeries, but it also has one of the finest producers of chocolate in France, if not in the world--Bernachon. What is your hotel style and budget. In the center of town, where I enjoy staying, I'd recommend the Grand Hotel Concorde and then the Carlton personally. The Carlton may have been renovated recently and more expensive than I remember it, or perhaps they've upgraded the last of the inexpensive rooms. More economical choices might be the Globe et Cecil and the Beaux-Arts, although I've not stayed in either of them. There are other hotels that are even more economical. Other people prefer staying in Vieux-Lyon where there are some very elegant hotels in restored historic buildings.

By the way, "seafood" as I understand the term in the US would include shellfish, but not necessarily exclude fish. A "seafood stew" should contain shellfish or shellfish and fish, but should never be just a fish stew. Of course Fats Waller wasn't referring to anything that came from the water when he sang "I want some seafood mama."

That's why we have so much good poetry in English and so few good treaties. It may also be why we have so many lawyers in the US.

Some of my best friends are nice.