eG Foodblog: Abra and Chufi in SW France - Tantalizing Tales of Tripe

[heidih]

Your writing is so visual- gosh maybe that is why your pics speak a thousand words. I can just see you all standing around looking at each other and then at the cooking vessel with disappointment. Give it time- as Lucy said about splitting the trotters for ease of serving, maybe that would have made it quicker, but they just need more coddling. We are all here for you however long it takes.

[bleudauvergne]

Coffee, check.

Pyjamas, check.

Presents, check.

Vin de Noix, check.

eG apron, check.

List, check.

I am outa here!

(written from Lyon)

[Chufi]

I don't think of myself as squeamish. Really. I like to buy whole chickens, ducks and rabbits and cut them up myself. I've helped my aunt butcher her bunnies, and I remember watching my father butchering a pig when I was very little, being fascinated and not the least bit disturbed. I don't mind buying quail with their furry heads still on and then whacking them off in my kitchen with one big blow of the knife. I don't mind getting my hands into all sorts of stuff. But really, handling a couple of sticky, slippery pigs feet first thing in the morning, while it's still dark out and the kitchen floor is cold and unwelcoming under your feet, and you've just left your soft and comfortable bed where a cuddly cat kept you company all night, well, yes, that wasn't the most pleasant culinary activity I've ever participated in. I needed to drink a glass of milk before I could actually get to work. But then, I did.

Here's what it looked like after 12 hours in a very low oven:

The vegetables still crunchy, and the tripe definitely too chewy (we both tasted a small bit). The pigs feet, which, according to Abra, should become meltingly tender, had not reached that stage. We were supposed to bone them, but that was impossible, they resisted too much:

Back into the oven with those. And we had breakfast:

The headline reads: Why are the wild boar entering the towns?

I also had one of the yoghurts (sheep/vanilla).

and now we're off to pick up bleudauvergne!

Edited December 11, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[jackal10]

The oven should not be too low. You are trying to get the collagen to dissolve, so it needs to be around 75C, and I think it takes 24 hours

[Abra]

Thanks, jackal. We had it at 95 C for 12 hours, which is as the recipe prescribes. But we put it back in at 175 C for a couple of hours, and soon we'll have another look. Of course we can still let it cook all day, but we're hoping not to have to, as we want to gather up Bleu, go out to lunch, then apply ourselves to the poule au pot and the quince tart.

And I have to add that Bleudauvergne is the only person I know who makes a list, and puts "list" on the list, so she can check it off!

[Rehovot]

Quelle fabulosity!

Am still laughing over "innard beauty."

Looking forward to the week.

[Chufi]

trotters and tripe have cooked some more and yes, they became more tender. We deboned the pigs feet, reduced the cooking liquid, and put everything together in one of Abra`s beautiful clay pots (made in a town nearby). I have to admit it looks perfectly edible already, and lots of other stuff will go in it later - ham, capers, garlic. I'm not so scared anymore.

And yes, now we really have to go to the trainstation!

[Dave Hatfield]

Terrific tantalizing tripe talk tempts typing tyro to type trite tripe - today.

Taste terrific tantalizing tripe & trotters - please - terrific traditional tripe tasting trio - Tell tyro taste - tonight?

Beware!! lest:

Tripe & trotters triggers trots on trotters to toilette.

Terrific tripe & trotters tasters take tyro's trite tripe typing trop - tenderement!

Great blog!

edited to add: The French isn't quite right, but I hope you get the sentiment. I was running out of T's, trotters & trite tripe.

Edited December 11, 2007 by Dave Hatfield (log)

[Marigene]

I am loving every minute of reading this most wonderful blog!

[Abra]

The calm before the storm. When next you see this table the festivities will have begun. We're off to fetch the wizard.

[johnnyd]

We're off to fetch the wizard.

[Shaya]

Hey ladies, I miss you both! I have braved the cold down here in Siberia (the corner of the new house where our computer llives) for a few minutes to catch up with ya'll but now I am typing with blue fingers...

The photography is stunning, the duck, the pastry with the ham, the squeaky clean tripe - it looks divine, and I would give anything to be in a bar in Southern France right now sipping on some vin rouge with you.

Here's to tripe and pig's feet!

Oh, and there really is a croissant bread pudding, I saw Nigella Lawson do it once, click .

[Dejah]

THIS is what I call the A.B.C. of POWER BLOGging!

Three super eGulleteers cooking three of my favourite ingredients: tripe, trotters and chicken inards.

[Busboy]

Dear Abra & Chufi, I am waiting impatiently for tomorrow to arrive.  I have my train ticket and have gathered a few things to bring down to you.  Luckily Les Halles is just near the station for a last minute errand before my train leaves.  It will be a pleasure to cook with you!

←

You know, I'm always the guy who calls dinner guests just as they're leaving their house as says "can you pick up some butter on the way over." I think I need to have more guests who can stop Les Halles for me before they drop by.

[racheld]

I can't tell you how wonderful this is. I woke, opened the bedroom door, and emerged into the lovely glow of the small buffet tree, which Caro (or the tree fairies) had set up and sparkled and lit while I was sleeping.

First glug of percolator sent that lovely aroma wafting round the rooms, and I sat down to this---isn't that a nice way to start a cold morning!!!

And you'd all be surprised how familiar this all is---the pigs feet, the tripe, all the lovely vegetables and herbs afloat in that golden broth---I can smell it from here.

The cooking is so reminiscent of the good old Southern kitchen, with even a still-recognizable whole chicken, crown still resolutely aloft despite the slumpy naked little body---I'd expect it to be still warm from the henyard dance with the hatchet.

And I am no stranger to a head in the pot. I especially remember one resigned blue eye once, peeking from the pot as I lifted the lid.

Just the idea of three wonderful cooks bustling about a warm, fragrant kitchen, each of a different cooking and lifeplace---I cannot think of a better cyber-present for this glorious season.

C'est magnifique, Y'all!

[Busboy]

Back into the oven with those. And we had breakfast:

The headline reads: Why are the wild boar entering the towns?

Midi Libre! -- I'm homesick now. Sniffle.

Any sangliere on the menu for the near future?

[Genny]

Can I just say this blog has me running to the computer this morning like a kid on Christmas morn! Coffee in hand, slippers on chilled toes, I sit hunched over my desk poking a hand out to move the curser waiting for the house to warm up.

Melange de madams, what - pray tell- do you plan on doing with the lovely hen? And its gizzards? The photo of the gizzards is amazing, you can SEE how fresh they are! Do you all eat the gizzards and liver? Will those be prepared separately?(I'll eat it all except for the liver, DH gets that all to himself!) And have you decided if the head will be included in the eating?

Hugs,

Genny

(gosh, now I have *another* reason to get myself across the pond!)

[bleudauvergne]

While Klary sits with her arms folded and relaxes as she gazes at the two of us with a mysterious smile, and Abra types furiously in order to head me off at the pass, let me begin by saying that indeed the trip to Les Halles was fruitful.

I have been put in charge of the cheese plate.

I also brought wine to go with the course, but that's for later.

Edited December 11, 2007 by bleudauvergne (log)

[Abra]

Ok, we're here, all three of us, after a cozy restaurant lunch, in case we starved to death before dinner.

I wish there were going to be sanglier, and in fact I have ordered some, and considering that they're running loose on the streets of Perpignan they should be easy to get, but no, there's no wild boar for dinner in the forseeable future.

The poule is going to become Paula Wolfert's poule au pot, and since we're also using her recipe for tripe and her quince and prune tart recipe, I guess you could call this a

Dinner in Honor of Paula's Cooking of SouthWest France, as interpreted by Klary, Lucy, and Abra, with the aid of several bottles of excellent French wine and a veritable ton of cheese that Lucy hauled over here on the TGV, and a few sniff-inspections courtesy of Beppo.

And now, let's get cooking!

[Chufi]

And have you decided if the head will be included in the eating? 

←

the head did, eventually, end up in the bin...

It's a veritable blogging beehive here, with the 3 of us fighting over 2 laptops, lots of cameracords, cameras, phonecalls to homefronts about technical stuff, negotiating and discussion of all things Blogging.

I'm going to retreat into the kitchen and apply myself to the tart now for a bit. I'll leave you with this picture, taken just an hour ago on our after lunch walk through town:

Edited December 11, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[bleudauvergne]

Clary is working diligently on the tarte, another one of Paula's recipes.

Psst. The tripe & trotter dish smells and looks wonderful. It took all I had not to reach in and snag a piece straight from the cooking pot. Just to confirm it's properly cooked, of course.

I heard the knife sharpening. Abra's man came down to handle the ham, a gorgeous Spanish beauty fed on acorns and walnuts during its living days. The knife slid through it like butter. I remarked on the smooth cut, and complimented the sabatier. He said that he wished he had one with a heftier handle, and a bigger blade. "The knife I want is right now in my mother's kitchen" he said, smiling.

I am in the livingroom, and I can hear them discussing (alright, arguing about) the meaning of "well blended". They are putting the tart together, and finishing the last steps to the tripes and trotters dish. I'll go take some pictures.

Edited December 11, 2007 by bleudauvergne (log)

[hathor]

Ciao Ragazzi!

I would give my left trotter to join you guys!

Thank you Klary for giving me a heads up that you were blogging, I remember you telling me that you were going to visit Abra...and now Lucy in the kitchen....pure heaven! Now, if Paula Wolfert magically showed up, all of our fantasies would be complete!

I hate working on meats before breakfast, so I share your morning squeamishness. Coffee first, then body parts.

What cheeses did you bring, Lucy?? I don't care if you are squabbling over laptops, cameras and computers....post lots and lots of pictures, ok?

[bleudauvergne]

Just to let you all know:

Abra took us to the candy store this afternoon!

[Kent Wang]

The cooking is so reminiscent of the good old Southern kitchen...

←

Or a Chinese kitchen. It's great that so many cultures have recipes for all the cuts of an animal.

[hhlodesign]

A/B/C,

I must admit, I've skipped a few of these blogs in the past few months. But when I heard this amazing holy trinity would be gathering at Abra's Southern French kitchen, I had to stop in to say hello. Damn! I wish Lorna and I could come over for real! So glad you are enjoying your time over there Abra. Although we miss you back home!