Cooking with 'The Cooking of Southwest France'

[FoodMan]

dinner last night was from CoSWF. I made the chicken with lemon garlic cream and the famous starw potato cake. Both were big successes, especially the potato cake which can make a wonderful first course on its own. The only different thing I did was use a couple of tablespoons of creme fraich in the leeks mainly because I always have a small jar of the homemade stuff. It added a lovely tangy note to the filling. Unlike Swiss, I do not have a plate big enough to accomodate the cake so I served it direclty from the pan. BTW, it really is simple to do if you follow the recipe exactly and use a nonstick heavy pan.

[Anna N]

dinner last night was from CoSWF. I made the chicken with lemon garlic cream and the famous starw potato cake. Both were big successes, especially the potato cake which can make a wonderful first course on its own. The only different thing I did was use a couple of tablespoons of creme fraich in the leeks mainly because I always have a small jar of the homemade stuff. It added a lovely tangy note to the filling. Unlike Swiss, I do not have a plate big enough to accomodate the cake so I served it direclty from the pan. BTW, it really is simple to do if you follow the recipe exactly and use a nonstick heavy pan.

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Oh my - that's just too moreish for me! I have to get back to that book soon!

[ChefCrash]

Nice looking dish Foodman.

Unlike Swiss, I do not have a plate big enough to accomodate the cake so I served it direclty from the pan.

Neither does Swiss. She used a charger plate.

[Swisskaese]

Actually, it is a cake plate.

[little ms foodie]

I just got the book for christmas also and have been digging into this week.

The first dish we made was the mussels with ham. Very nice dish but we had a hard time getting all the shells off before the mussels got cold. It's a tasty first course though that we will experiment with again (no photo, sorry)

2 nights ago we used the recipe for the lamb chops with tarragon sauce. I served this on a bed of crispy roasted potatoes but the the potato with leek dish is in our future.....

last night we made the white bean, leek and potato soup with the olive puree....this was very good!

pan sauteed duck is on the menu for tomorrow!

[Wolfert]

The first dish we made was the mussels with ham. Very nice dish but we had a hard time getting all the shells off before the mussels got cold. It's a tasty first course though that we will experiment with again (no photo, sorry)

I think you missed reading part of the mussels recipe. I can see where this could happen if you are busy opening 2 pounds of mussels. Check the last sentence in step 2.

"Cover loosely with foil and set in the preheated oven to keep warm."

[little ms foodie]

Thanks Paula, we did that as soon as we got the shells off but they seemed to have already cooled a bit. I think next time we will put half in a dish covered with foil in the oven while working on the others shells, cover those and then swap. Maybe that's what you meant all along?

Anyway I am just in love with your book, Judy Amster here in Seattle was kind enough to give it to me as a housewarming gift.

A question on the Cassole that Coyote does, and others for that matter- should they have a lid of some sort? I'm thinking since it's cooked a day in advance then kept in the fridge and reheated the next day?

[Wolfert]

You can cook the pork stew and beans in advance and store them together in a container in the fridge overnight.

When you are ready to combine the pork, beans, confit and other goodies as directed in step 9, you put everything into an uncovered cassole or pot and set it in the oven to bake.

If you line the sides of your oven with quarry tiles or set in a hearthkit you'll be able to simulate the old fashioned village oven approach to glazing the top.

If your beans don't develop a brown glaze similar to the one on the cover of the book, simply switch your oven to broil and brown for a minute or two.

[hathor]

If you line the sides of your oven with quarry tiles or set in a hearthkit you'll be able to simulate the old fashioned village oven approach to glazing the top.

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Why would lining your oven with quarry tiles change the glaze on top? Something with absorbing moisture? And I don't even want to know what a hearthkit is. My wish list is too long already!

[Wolfert]

If you line the sides of your oven with quarry tiles or set in a hearthkit you'll be able to simulate the old fashioned village oven approach to glazing the top.

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Why would lining your oven with quarry tiles change the glaze on top? Something with absorbing moisture? And I don't even want to know what a hearthkit is. My wish list is too long already!

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Side panels create a chamber similar to a beehive oven with great conductive properties.

You can purchase unglazed quarry tiles at any home depot type outlet.

[little ms foodie]

Paula thanks for the info on the cassole, totally makes sense!

Another dish from Wolfert's book, tonight we had pan sauteed duck breast with shallot vinaigrette served with roasted cauliflower and grilled leeks. Napa malbec in the glass. I'm afraid you will all get a bit tired of my posts for a while as I really see working thru this book for a while!

this was very good, I followed the brining instructions for muscovy as that is what we get here. the shallot vinaigrette went great with the duck and the grilled leeks.

One question, the recipe says "one hour before cooking score the breast" I then put the breast back in the fridge, should it be left out at room temp for the hour before?

My husband who is neutral on duck really liked this!

[Anna N]

I'm afraid you will all get a bit tired of my posts for a while as I really see working thru this book for a while!

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I am betting you will be tired of cooking long before I am tired of seeing your posts! Keep them coming, please!

[Wolfert]

One question, the recipe says "one hour before cooking score the breast" I then put the breast back in the fridge, should it be left out at room temp for the hour before?

My husband who is neutral on duck really liked this!

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You score the duck breast fat while it is still chilled. I think it is best to cook the breasts at room temperature so I suggest leaving them out for about an hour.

If the muscovies are very thin you can leave them out for less time.

[racheld]

This is lovely. It's like being talked through your violin lesson by Perlman.

[snowangel]

Tonight was the Roast Chicken Stuffed with Garlic Croutons in the Style of the Correze. I have no photos. Such is the life in a household with three kids.

I wil admit right off the bat that I had a smaller chicken than the recipe specified; mine was only just over 4 pounds. And, sadly, the bird I had was heartless, but did have more than the one chicken's worth of livers. So, I couldn't stuff as much bread in as requestion. I will also admit that I did not use a regular country-style white bread, rather I used a few slices of an Acme levain that was languishing on the top of the fridge.

I will also admit that this family does not normally like stuffing. They loved it. I will never stuff a bird with anything else.

This is a magnificent dish. I had no trouble turning the bird as the recipe suggests, I just used my silicone hot pads, which I normally hate, but work well when they are going to get wet.

I've only had two problems with this book. My family wants the Garlic Soup at least once a week, which leaves not enough time to further explore the book. And, the wonderful aromas which pervade the house dissapate by the next morning.

[Marc Olson]

Last week I made the Salt-Cured Pork Belly (along with the corollary, Confit of Pork Skin). I bought the belly from Niman ranch and split the 9 lb, skin-on wonder in half. Half went into the freezer for future endeavors. I skinned the other half and prepared it per the recipe(s). I started on a Sunday and cooked the belly Wednesday night.

3/4 of the braised belly went into the roasting pan with the vegetables and wine per the instructions. The last 1/4 I vacuum packed and set to cooking at 82 C for 12 hours in a water bath, sous vide. The 350 degree oven seemed hot to me for a 'braised' dish, but I followed the instructions. I found that I needed 30 minutes per side to get the meat to brown; that could have been the shape of my roasting pan. I removed, vacuum packed, and chilled.

The sous-vide portion I took out of the water bath the following morning, decanted off the fat and cooking juices, and then packed and chilled.

Friday night we feasted on fresh pork belly, cooked two ways. Both were delicious, but different in texture and flavor, despite having been cured the same way. There was also some conceptual difficulty with eating 'what's with all the fat?!?', which I countered with 'come on, you love bacon, and you eat the whole slice, not just the 'meat' portions'. Not an easy sell...

I prepared the portions for serving by pan-roasting (unweighted) with a little duck fat. Perhaps the extra weight would have squoze out a bit more of the delectable fat for the calorie conscious in our house.

The sous-vide belly had a stronger 'pork' flavor and had retained a bit more of the juice in the meat.

For our first home-cooked pork belly, it was great!

The pork skins are in the freezer having been cooked in their own fat, tightly rolled and tied, and then cooled, cut and vac-packed. There are a couple of interesting recipes that call for this condiment, stay tuned...

[Richard Kilgore]

I have made two from the book recently. The squash soup was wonderful. The Piment d'Espelette has a subtle fine flavor that adds a lot, and the textural contrast between the creamy soup and the crispy proscuitto de Parma and garlic rubbed baguette I used was just right.

I also made the eggplant with garlic recently. I checked my Vietnamese grocery, which had not the small Japapanese eggplants, but long (12 inch) Asian ones. I did six of them for a large group and served 1/2 per person. They were delicious.

I'll do both again.

[little ms foodie]

On Sat we started working on the Toulouse Cassoulet recipe. Dayne made me the sausages out of the book also. I did the traditional duck confit recipe. Last night we served it to friends and family with a starter of Celeric Roumalade. It was fantastic, better than the one I made last year by far!

I made double the amount of duck confit that it called for so I have the rest in the fridge and will let it cure for at least a month. Even though the other duck was done right before making the cassoulet the flavor was really good- also much better than what I've made in the past.

[FoodMan]

Little Ms Foodie, your dishes look spectacular.

This weekend we ate Garbure. Now, do not confuse this with “this weekend we cooked Garbure”, because I followed Paula’s advise and made the Garbure more than five days before! I cooked it last Sunday and we enjoyed it of Friday and Saturday with fresh homemade country bread and lots of French Burgundy. It does not look like much but it is truly fantastic, especially in this semi-cold weather that we got this weekend. It has lots of deep flavors and smooth textures and when heated up more than once develops almost a porridgy texture that is very satisfying. Next time around I want to add an extra confit of duck leg since the recipe only uses two.

[rjwong]

Here is a Los Angeles Times book review (25 Jan. 2006) of Paula's book, "The Cooking of Southwest France", and the reviewer mentioned eGullet ... twice:

Extreme Wolfert? Mais, oui! / by Amy Scattergood

Viewing the LA Times website, www.latimes.com, requires registration. If that is unacceptable, try clicking this link here, enter the URL address of the LA Times and proceed accordingly.

Members of the foodie website eGullet, who had been enlisted to test Wolfert's recipes, were positively effusive, gushing at electronic length about the glories of every ingredient, every method, every dish ... 

Even given the normal vagaries of cooking (differing climate, pans and products, oddly calibrated ovens) one can't help but conclude that maybe it wasn't a good idea for Wolfert to rely on her fans on eGullet to test the recipes.

FIRST, please read the entire article to get the whole context of the review. Overall, a very good review.

[Swisskaese]

Here is a Los Angeles Times book review (25 Jan. 2006) of Paula's book, "The Cooking of Southwest France", and the reviewer mentioned eGullet ... twice:

Extreme Wolfert? Mais, oui! / by Amy Scattergood

Viewing the LA Times website, www.latimes.com, requires registration. If that is unacceptable, try clicking this link here, enter the URL address of the LA Times and proceed accordingly.

Members of the foodie website eGullet, who had been enlisted to test Wolfert's recipes, were positively effusive, gushing at electronic length about the glories of every ingredient, every method, every dish ... 

Even given the normal vagaries of cooking (differing climate, pans and products, oddly calibrated ovens) one can't help but conclude that maybe it wasn't a good idea for Wolfert to rely on her fans on eGullet to test the recipes.

FIRST, please read the entire article to get the whole context of the review. Overall, a very good review.

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I don't agree with her second comment. I don't think we tested recipes to kiss Paula's ass. I for one took the assignment seriously as I think everyone else did. Who would she suggest to be Paula's testers? Man on the street that wouldn't cook this anyway. We are cooks that enjoy cooking this type of food and want it to come out tasting and looking good.

[bleudauvergne]

I'm really sorry to say, but I felt it lacked credibility, for a book review. There were holes all through her story and was missing a sense of responsibility. For example, as I was reading it, I felt like the review went downhill from journalism to a cutesy bit of self-congratulatory fiction here :

Food people would lend their copies of James Beard or Julia Child, but they kept this book in locked drawers or hidden under pillows. One friend even kept hers with the unpublished manuscript of her first novel — in the freezer in case the house burned down.

But isn't it strange that this type of exaggeration strangely does nothing to offset the sting of her blaze through a list of dishes she burned or otherwise messed up, without hesitation pointing critical fingers in all directions.

The recipe for poached chicken breast, Auvergne style, for example, doesn't tell you what kind of cabbage to use, or how exactly to wrap up the chicken. I assumed it should be Savoy — that's what the photo showed, and so that's what I used.

OK. You look into the cookbook. You see the picture of the cabbage. You go shopping, you choose that kind of cabbage. How difficult can it get?

Or, maybe it really happened this way: You didn't actually do your own shopping, and you give a photocopy of the recipe to someone else, and you get a call from the "test kitchen" with a guy saying - hey, Amy! What kind of cabbage! And, well, you have to haul your ass down to the kitchen with a copy of the book and show them the picture because you can't tell by looking what kind it is.

[docsconz]

Even given the normal vagaries of cooking (differing climate, pans and products, oddly calibrated ovens) one can't help but conclude that maybe it wasn't a good idea for Wolfert to rely on her fans on eGullet to test the recipes.

Unfortunately, there is nothing in the article to back up this "conclusion". She may very well be correct, but this article gives me no idea why. Obviously, I was not one of the test cooks, although I would happily have been a "taster"

Edited January 25, 2006 by docsconz (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

One problem with the review, which I found humorous and entertaining in many respects, is the misleading distortion of the testing process. She didn't ask apparently, so she doesn't know that there were three testers for each recipe, which were then tested yet again by Paula.

Nor did she mention that anyone can get help with the recipes and their questions answered right here in this thread in the eG Forums.

[bleudauvergne]

One thing this did accomplish though, is that I have decided to do the stuffed onions tonight - if I can find 1 lb. sized onions. Off to market!

edit - Back from market - I did not find onions of the right size. I think that for the stuffed onion dish, you must follow the recipe and get a very large onion for the recipe to work out properly. As soon as onions this size are available where I live I'll try it.

Edited January 25, 2006 by bleudauvergne (log)