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Bleu D'auvergne just mentioned a recipe from the French language Saveur Magazine (and nicely logged the recipe for Clafourtis de Fevettes au Parmesean et Basilic into recipe gullet. My curiosity re: the French Edition was piqued when I noticed that this recipe was not in the US version's current edition, so it seems that they have different content. Can anyone compare and contrast the french vs english language version of the magazines? Does the french version emphasize French food more (or less!) ? Is it possible to subscribe to this in the US? Is is a popular magazine in France? What are other good cooking, wine, dining magazines in French?

I'm following a French recipe, I can get by with the instructions but the measurements are confusing me. The recipe calls for 2dl of Creme Fraiche. DL I have been advised is a demi-litre. Wouldn't a demi-litre be half a litre? Subsequently 2dl be one litre? Well that made some sense to me then I realised that there were some similar measurements in the Michel Bras book and then I got really confused. According to the recipe "stuffed sweet-banana peppers with fresh sardines, jus au pain and tomato juice" 1 cup (2 dl) of water is added. Now to me that means approx 250ml (I think) However, in "slowly cooked pork shoulder in salt, potato bouquets and parsley" 1/3 cup grape seed oil is equal to 1dl which would make 2dl 2/3 cup or in my book, approx 160ml Can somebody please tell me what a dl translates as!!!!!!!

Anybody knows any shops or in markets in Paris that carries a great selection of different varieties of quality tomatoes. I'm also looking for some ancient and rare species. These days, it seems difficult to find decent quality tomatoes, or it's just I didn't try hard enough yet. Any tips to find great quality vegetables and herbs will be appreciated too. Thanks all

We've been meaning to try this place which we've heard is really the best chocolatier in Lyon, Tourtiller. Sunday was Mother's Day in France, and since I have visitors with children visiting, it was the perfect opportunity to pick up a nice cake, diet be damned. Some snapshots from the patisserie side - A budding food photographer... The thing about this place is the chocolate...

At a recent summer barbeque I had the pleasure of enjoying a watermelon infused with Beaujolais. This got me curious. How old is this dish? Are the vodka-spiked watermelons one sees at frat parties in the South a decendant of this dish, or is it simply a contemporary variation?

We went to a 'Rond Point' grocery store in France today and picked out five different saucission sec and decided to do a little tasting. Here are the results. The saucission were: 1. Calixte "Domaine de Mezenc. 2. Calixte '1859'. 3. Saucission sec du Sanglier - wild boar (sorry I didn't save the brand name). 4. Le Pui Zac (d' Auvergne). 5. Justin Bridou 'Le Baton de Berger aux Noisettrs, They are arranged in order going clockwise. the 'Le Baton de Berger aux Noisettes' at the bottom with the hazelnuts is number five. Tasting notes: 1. Calixte "Domaine de Mezenc: strong pork nose, dry and full flavored. We thought this was a very good saucisson. 2.Calixte '1859': hard and quite dry, clean pork nose but lighter and more complex and refined than number 1, this was our favorite of the group. 3. Saucission sec du Sanglier - wild boar (sorry I didn't save the brand name): closed but peppery nose. strong pepper quality....in fact, too much pepper and not enough pork flavor. 4. Le Pui Zac (d' Auvergne: It has a very strong dried pork nose. Salty and less refined than 1 or 2. 5. Justin Bridou 'Le Baton de Berger aux Noisettes: hazelnut nose but not enough flavor from the pork in my opinion. This saucission is not as good as 1,2 or 4 but the crunchy hazelnuts make it fun for an apero.

In a discussion of a mystery gateau which we strongly suspected to be Breton, but the origin of which has been happily muddled even further, ptipois brings up an interesting point. A recipe for Gateau Breton appears in a cookbook entitled 'Parisian Home Cooking'. Does it belong there? It's hard to say... Calling all Parisians, native or otherwise! What is Parisian cooking? Next question, what can we call Parisian Home Cooking, and how does it differ from the home cooking in other regions of France?

I've made the menu from Babette's Feast in the far distant past and, of course, my original recipes and notes are long lost. Has anyone else done the menu and have any comments on or copies of the recipes?

I don't normally like French food, nor do I like my fish cooked. But, over the weekend, I dreamt of the most perfect tuna nicoise, the kind you get in a bistro that came with a piece of toasted baguette. So I set about assembling the Nicoise salad. Starting with poached tuna. I got a 1/3 pound piece of sushi grade yellow fin lay it on a bed of onions, garlic and peppercorn, threw in a bouquet garni and pour enough olive oil to barely cover the tuna. I set it over lowest possible heat and watch for the occasional bubble. An hour later, the last part of red just about disappeared, so I turned off the heat and let it cool. Here I ran into a hitch, the tuna wasn't bad but it was on the dry side....Any ideas on how I can make it moist and tender? Or, is it supposed to be dry so that one can flake it into bits and mix it with mayo?

We went hiking in the Alpes last weekend and called ahead to reserve a bed at the refuge des Evettes on the edge of the Glacier bearing the same name near Lans le Villard. The hike, about 3 hours and involving some snow patches and rough spots but generally pleasant, was beautiful. Dinner was served 'family style' and started with a bowl of thinly reconstituted potato soup (from powder) which was passed from person to person to ladle into their plates at our table of 18, and was cold by the time it made it to us. The table (way at the other end) then received one platter containing 20 boiled diots de savoie, small sausages, and a bowl of macaroni to fight over amongst ourselves. The cheese was a wedge of tomme apiece, and then we were each doled a cold soggy rolled crepe which had apparently been flambeed with rum but none of us could taste it. The wine, served in jugs for an extra 6€, was a lovely red vin de savoie. It was the highlight of the meal, basically the only thing that they didn't mess up. The New York Times recently had a feature about hiking from station to station (NYT Article), where they lauded the meals with fanfare as "a dinner whose preparation doesn't include the direction 'just add boiling water.'" Solomon listed several pre-planned trips ranging in price from 900 to 1600 Euros per person. Is there something I'm missing here or did he just get that all wrong? The cost of our lodging plus dinner and breakfast was around €20 a head at the refuge, maps are cheap, trails are well documented and marked, no guides needed. Someone's getting taken for a ride here. Anyway, if anyone wants a station to station guide for €900 a head, please consider calling me - I will not only guide you from station to station, but will use the communal facilities (available outside the kitchens at most mountain refuges for free use) to cook up some real food. Any other experiences or recommendations are welcome if anyone has had better experiences at any of the Alpine refuges.

I'd really like to try my hand at making macarons. As an absolute beginner, what would be a good procedure to follow?

I’m curious if others have made or sampled tourte aux blettes—a double crusted sweet swiss chard tart that’s a Mediterranean specialty. The other day I finally got around to making one. The concept has always intrigued me but I’ve never really been convinced that I want sugar with my chard. This summer my garden’s overflowing with chard so it seemed like the time. Only when I started scanning my recipes did I realize how many variations existed for this tart—from mostly savory to unabashedly sweet. Raisins seem to be the one universal addition, sometimes pine nuts. Francois Payard calls for pastry cream and rum, Daniel Boulud adds cream, honey, and orange zest. The other variable seems to be the dough. Payard and Boulud use sweet pastry dough, while others use dough made with olive oil—some with eggs, some without. For my first try, I opted for a mostly savory version, adding a little honey for sweetness (I dislike raisins) and some pine nuts. For the dough, I went with basic olive oil dough, which I’d never made before. I liked the end result very much, but to my surprise think that next time I’ll move further in the sweet direction. The contrast wasn’t jarring, as I’d imagined, rather the honey nicely balanced the earthy chard. Likewise, I’ll use a lighter dough, probably still olive oil-based but with eggs. I’m not quite ready for pate sucre or pastry cream with my chard.

So here we are in Beaune, and loving it. Cooking to our heart's content (couldn't tear ourselves away from the Saturday market). But I am shocked at the lack of great breads and pastry! In four days, I've tried three different boulangeries/patisseries. The croissants - bleh. None of them would I describe as "buttery" (and I did order the "au beurre"). The breads, not one of four loaves would I write home about. Although one pain au chocolat looked promising, I lifted it and was blown away by how heavy it was...and it was not due to an excess of chocolat! So my questions are: 1) Does anyone know a great boulangerie/patisserie in Beaune; and 2) Do all the talented bakers head straight to Paris?

I have been on a duck confit jag for the past few months; can't get enough of it. I have been thinking about making cassoulet, which, from my reading, is classically made with Tarbais beans. at $15/pound + shipping, they seem a bit on the expensive side. What are acceptable alternatives and is there a significant difference between Tarbais beans and any recommended alternatives? (Hope I don't set off a holy war between believers and the rest of the world...!) Thanks Ken K

I just borrowed a copy of James Peterson's "Glorious French Food" from my local library, and I'm pretty excited about the range of recipes and the bits of kitchen science sprinkled throughout the pages of the book. I believe it was first published back in 2002, and I am wondering if fellow eGullet'ers have tried any of the recipes in the book? If you've read it, what do you think of it? There's an old thread about the book here TDG: Is Glorious French Food Glorious? that's quite interesting to read. I would very much like to read the book review by Suzanne Fass, but I haven't located it online yet. Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction? Thanks all!

Hi all, I am a first timer with regard to making confit duck legs. Living out in the sticks, I cannot readily get fresh duck, so have procured some frozen white pekin duck legs. I have defrosted them, trimmed off the excess fat to render, salted them heavily with sea salt, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, juniper berries and pepper and vacuum sealed them. I intend to leave them to cure for twelve hours in the fridge, unpack and rinse then cook sous vide at 78 degrees C for 12 hours. The photos are just after packing. My main questions are: How much liquid should be extracted from the legs? Should I include further seasonings in the bags when cooking? Is 12 hours curing adequate? How long should I let it rest before consumption? I have trawled the forums and google, and I am finding so much conflicting information. Thanks Simon

Here I am back again for my third food blog. I hope everybody will enjoy this one even though it going to be somewhat narcissistic. Please bear with me; I'll try not to be too boring. This blog is going to give my food/cooking history over the years. Because I'm older than dirt that makes for a lot of history. Monday will have me born & my food history up to 1980. Then a decade a day up to Friday and a close off on Saturday. As this is my personal food history elements of my life outside food will have to be included. I'll keep these to a minimum, but they will be necessary to provide context to the food history. What I'll do in answer to questions or comment is the following: (pretty standard, but I like things to be clear.) - I'll answer if I can. - If the subject is too personal or somewhat off topic I'll answer, but either deflect or steer back on topic in my answer. - If really out of line I'll just ignore the question/comment. Equally, I'll do my best to stay on topic. I really don't think that PM's are appropriate when discussing a food blog so I'd like everything to be out in the open. If you have questions that are off topic in regard to food or my food history, but pertinent to France, living or visiting here then by all means PM me. Enough about that. In this blog I'm going to not only take you on a culinary journey, but a physical one as well. The USA to Spain then Spain back to the USA then the USA to Belgium then Belgium to England then England to the USA then back to England then back to the USA and finally to France. There's Japan and Asia squeezed in somewhere as well. I've travelled a bit. At a class reunion a few years ago somebody asked me why I'd travelled so much? My answer then and now is: "I needed to keep one step ahead of the sheriff" Until tomorrow. I'm going to have fun with this. My autofoodography? My cusineography? You name it. PS: Having looked at what I've written I've decided that its too literary. Thus I'm going to post topical ( i.e. what's happening this week) inputs which will be far more pictorial. PPS: Yes, I do have a mystery object. Wait for it.

It looks like my wife and I will be going to Paris in January. While there I'd like to have duck in press, or whatever it's called, like at Alinea Paris 1906 and on Andrew Zimmern. Any suggestions for places?

In the Proencal author Jean Giono's short story "The solitude of Compssion" which is set in Provence a cure has been given a bundle of pig tripes by his brother. His housekeeper initially starts it sizzling in fat with "bits of purple liver like flowers and rice on the stalk". When the cure asks his housekeeper what she's making she responds "it's a picoche", and than pours a a "thin stream of thick wine with the smell of wood root" into the pan. Can anyone tell me what the housekeeper is making

While reading a cookbook recently, I came across a reference to "the nine traditional departments" in the French kitchen, all "run by independent sous-chefs - from the saucier to the rôtisseur." I sat down and tried, but couldn't think of all nine departments, and none of my books seem to list them as such. Could anyone tell me what they are? Or are there more/less than nine?

There's been a lot of discussion about pâte à choux technique recently. It's a tricky dough, to be sure. But what are you doing with it? Does everyone just make the traditional éclairs and cream puffs, or are there more adventurous types making glands, salambos or the elusive divorce? Is nobody game enough for the croquembouche? (Sorry for the French links, I couldn't find anything in English) For my two centimes, here's an old favorite: the Paris Brest (originally posted here). Makes a great birthday cake. Bon appétit.

This past Saturday, we had an amazing 9 course tasting meal at the Breton restaurant La Porte in Montreal. It was the perfect way to celebrate our tenth anniversary. The dessert was a Kouigne-Amann, served with a salted caramel sauce and a buttermilk sorbet. I'd never heard of this dessert, much less tasted it, and it was divine. During dinner, we talked about what we wanted to do before our 20th anniversary. For one of my goals, my wife has set me the task of learning how to make a perfect Kouigne-Amann. Can anyone recommend some top quality Breton cookbooks? In English or French? (Preferably French?) Thanks in advance.

This is probably the most delayed dining report ever to appear on eGullet. We went to Paris in May of 2011 and I am just now getting to the point of this report. What can I say – life intervened. But some folks are still PM’ing me with hints about this report, so I thought I’d go ahead for anyone who is interested. We got lots of help and advice on the trip before going from eG folks, especially Forest who we were fortunate enough to meet and have dinner with. If you want to see the England part of our trip you can start here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/139686-england-trip-report/ Wednesday 5/25/2011 That morning we took the train from St. Pancras station in London to Gard de Nord in Paris. We left so early that we didn’t have time to stop for a last English breakfast and had to make do on the train with a Crunchy, an apple and a pain au chocolat. Train food being train food, the Crunchy was the best part! Arriving in Paris was otherworldly. Everywhere we went in England felt like my natural home, but Paris was ‘foreign’ in a very special and wonderful way. You must remember that this was the first time I’d ever been anywhere that English wasn’t spoken. It was exciting and scary all at once. My Mary Tyler Moore moment as the fact of actually being in Paris really washed over me: 25-20m by ozisforme, on Flickr Our hotel was the Familia in the Latin Quarter on rue des Ecoles. Family owned, small and charming with a wonderful, welcoming and helpful staff. When the young lady who served us coffee and croissants in the mornings realized that I didn’t like coffee, she brought me (unasked) fabulous hot chocolate every morning. After checking in and hurriedly dumping our luggage we hit the street. We were still ravenous after our train snack, hour long taxi wait at the station and open mouthed drive through Paris so we stopped at the first place that smelled good and bought two quiches to eat as we walked: 25-20k1 by ozisforme, on Flickr A mushroom for Mr. Kim and a Lorraine for me: 25-20k2 by ozisforme, on Flickr Not fabulous, but perfectly good and much better than any street food that we are used to. We took a bus to the Eiffel Tour area. And, as an aside, we found the Paris bus and Metro system incredibly easy to use. Mr. Kim has a little French and I can say “hello”, “goodbye” and “thank you” and recognize lots of menu French, but even so I think that I could have gotten around on my own fairly well, I think. I was raised in Washington DC and that Metro is supposedly based on the Paris one. I think it must be true because I found the maps very familiar. We walked and gawped and grinned for some time. I loved finding the food stores and wished I had a kitchen: 25-33kby ozisforme, on Flickr 25-34kby ozisforme, on Flickr 25-35kby ozisforme, on Flickr And, of course, the bakeries: 25-36kby ozisforme, on Flickr 25-37kby ozisforme, on Flickr Some of the canned goods gave us a bit of a giggle: 25-56k2by ozisforme, on Flickr 25-56k3by ozisforme, on Flickr The food that French people don’t want us to know about! And, dear Lord, the cheese shops: 25-56k4by ozisforme, on Flickr Since we were taking an evening Seine cruise, we had an early dinner at Café Constant: 25-61k9iby ozisforme, on Flickr I’m sorry that I can’t remember who recommended this to us, but thank you! Every single dish was excellent. And the restaurant itself was charming with a nice mix of old and modern: 25-61k9bby ozisforme, on Flickr 25-61k9aby ozisforme, on Flickr We had a nice chat with the waitress and bartender while we were waiting for our table and it turned out that the waitress had worked in NYC for some time. Again, as I noted in my England report, folks on my side of the ocean don’t do near as much traveling as the British and French folks that we met. I started out with Bisque de crustaces aux queues d’ecrevisses a la crème legere: 25-61k9dby ozisforme, on Flickr Creamy shellfish bisque with crayfish tails. Perfect. So light and intensely flavored with the shellfish. Mr. Kim’s starter was Terrine of ‘Kako’, pressed foie gras and pork shin, lentil salad: 25-61k9eby ozisforme, on Flickr No idea what ‘Kako’ is, but this was stellar. Albeit a tad scary looking to a fellow raised on middle class American food, but he bravely tucked in and cleaned his plate! Mr. Kim’s main was duck and potato pie with crispy apples: 25-61k9fby ozisforme, on Flickr Perfect pairing and really good. My main was veal cutlets from the Basque country with white Tarbais beans: 25-61k9gby ozisforme, on Flickr Just gorgeous. Tender and flavorful and the beans were so perfectly cooked firm, tender and each one separate. And that little wedge of lightly grilled romaine on top: 25-61k9hby ozisforme, on Flickr was just astonishing in its simplicity. I’d love to know how that was done. Of course, I couldn’t possibly find such perfect little lettuces in Richmond VA, so I’ll just have to make do with the memory. More than a year later, I can still feel the texture and taste it. The cruise was wonderful. One of those things that seem slightly too touristy before you go, but something that I’d recommend to anyone visiting Paris for the first time. Especially if you only have 2 and a half days there. Since it was an evening cruise, we got to see Paris light up for the night. Breathtaking! After the cruise, we walked along the Seine and took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe and wandered down the Champ-Elysees. I ended up having a head cold for most of the trip (irritating, but not bad) and was hoping to find something like Sudafed. Just down from the Arc is the Pharmacie du Drugstore des Champs-Elysées. The sign indicated that this was an ‘American Drugstore’. Translation is everything. This was NOTHING like an American drugstore. Gorgeous place with little specialty shop-type areas, amazing confections, Joël Robuchon’s L’Atelier in the freaking basement. Tres posh. But alas, no Sudafed. At least not that we could find. One of the travel guides that we read said that when in Europe resistance to McDonald’s was futile. That, no matter what we thought ahead of time, no matter how lofty our culinary standards, we’d end up in a McDonald’s. Primarily because of the bathrooms. Once inside, it posited, we’d succumb to the familiar fragrance and the cheap food. Well, we didn’t eat there, but strolling along the Champs-Elysées, we DID need a bathroom and lo and behold there was McD’s. So, we’ve been into a McD’s in Paris. But not even a cup of coffee passed our lips. We felt like we’d passed some arcane test. Cab ride back to the hotel – around the Place de la Concorde, past the Louvre, across the Pont Marie and into the Latin Quarter. To our first view of Paris at night from the balcony of our room: 25-150kby ozisforme, on Flickr Coming up - first full day in Paris and my favorite meal.

Help, I am having a dinner party on Thursday night which is difficult for me as I work all day everyday. I am making lie flottante, I am going to do the creme anglais sous vide on Wed. I want to make the meringues early, but don't know how long they will keep. I also have a chamber vacuum sealer and am having trouble keeping the liquid in the bags upon sealing. All help is greatly appreciated. Ike

Hi everyone, I was hoping you help me recreate Joel Robuchon's mini french baguettes. I have had them many times in l'atelier in Las Vegas, and I think it is the tastiest baguette I have ever had. This is what they look like: I have looked for the recipe all over the internet with no luck. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated!!