Blanquette Wine is a sparkling wine that is drier and more subdued than Champagne — as well as being historically older than it. It is made in the vicinity of Limoux in the Aude area of France. It is produced in sweetnesses of Brut, Demi-sec and Doux (dry, semi-dry and sweet.) The “base” grape used…
French Food
Bordeaux Mustard
Bordeaux Mustard is made from brown or black unhusked mustard seeds ground into a fine flour, mixed with sugar, tarragon, and white verjuice. It has a sweet taste (sweeter than Dijon) with just a tang of sourness to it. The heat is relatively mild. The mustard is a pale yellow colour (though darker than Dijon.)…
Bosc Pears
Bosc Pears © Denzil Green Bosc pears have the classic pear shape — elongated, bird-like neck atop a full, bell-shaped base. Their russetted skin is browny-gold. Inside, the flesh is creamy-white with an almost spicy taste at times. They are sold firmer than Bartletts or Anjous because they can be harvested and eaten earlier than…
Bouchées à la Bénédictine
Bouchées à la Bénédictine are small vol-au-vent shells fixed with a dollop of a savoury sauce and garnished with a truffle shaving, then heated. The savoury sauce is made from diced truffle stirred into a purée of cooked salt cod, oil and cream.
Bouchées à la Reine
Bouchées à la reine are very small flaky pastries that are essentially vol-au-vents. Some say they’re different from vol-au-vents but Larousse describes one as being a “small, individual vol-au-vent.” The pastry is garnished with a dollop of a savoury mixture bound together with a creamy white sauce. You make the pastry and bake the shells…
Boudin Blanc à l’Oignon
Boudin Blanc à l’Oignon de La Vallée de La Meuse is made from pork from Ardennes, France, fresh white onion, fresh eggs (optional), milk (optional), starch, seasoning and spices. The ingredients can be from anywhere in the Ardennes département, but production is limited to the Meuse valley, specifically the Revin, Fumay and Givet cantons in…
Boudin Noir
Boudin Noir (blood sausage made in French-speaking countries such as Belgium and France) gets its colour from the pig’s blood used as an ingredient.The sausages are made from pork, pigs blood, bread, pork fat, and spices. In central France (Limousin, Auvergne or Périgord) chestnuts may be included. In Belgium, for the year end holidays, raisins…
Bouillon
There is no difference between bouillon, broth and stock according to Larousse Gastronomique. In practice, and in today’s English usage, a broth tends to be something that you would serve to someone to eat on its own, while bouillon is something you buy in tins or make from cubes. Much tinned bouillon is actually made…
Brandy
Brandy is an alcohol made from fermented fruit, distilled in such a way as to still retain some of the taste of the fruit. Brandy must be aged a minimum of two years; they are usually aged 3 to 7 years in oak casks. Brandies made in France are called in France “eau de vie”,…
Bresse Chickens
Bresse Chickens are a special breed from France, prized because their meat is marbled with fat. Everything about the breed is controlled by a French AOC designation granted on 1 August 1957. The standards laid out in the designation are governed by the “Comité Interprofessionnel de la Volaille de Bresse.” Almost 30% of the Bresse…
Brillat-Savarin Birthday
On the 1st of April in 1755, Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was born in France. He wrote the first book about the pleasures of food, and is considered the father of gastronomy.
Brioche
Brioche is a French bread made from flour, salt, yeast and water, but enriched with eggs and butter. Sugar is often added, and the water is often replaced with milk or cream. The result is a soft, buttery, slightly sweet and rich dough approaching the category of pastry. Some recipes will call for additional flavouring…
Calvados
Calvados is a brandy made from apples in Calvados, Normandy, France. Calvados is the name of the region. It can be a blend of apple brandies that can be from any of the areas in Calvados. There is a single-blend version called Calvados Pays d’Auge from a small area of a valley called “Auge”. VSOP…
Camargue Red Rice
Camargue Red Rice is a browny-maroon coloured, short grain rice with an earthy, nutty flavour. It is grown in southern France in marshland on the coast between Marseille and Montpelier It is grown by the Griotto family. Since 2005, it has been run by three brothers: Serge, Philippe and Olivier. The rice is harvested with…
Capons
Capons are roosters that are castrated when they are very young, around 3 weeks old. The EU definition is: “male fowl castrated surgically before reaching sexual maturity and slaughtered at a minimum age of 140 days; after castration the capons must be fattened for at least 77 days.” After castration, the rooster’s comb doesn’t grow…
Carême’s Birthday
On this day, 8th June, in 1784, a boy named Marie-Antoine Carême was born. He would become the world’s first celebrity chef, and codify French cooking in a way that still serves as a foundation today for European cooking.
Carpentin Apple
A small fragrant apple, about the size of Lady apples. The thick skin has cinnamon or yellow-coloured net russeting with a shiny bright red flush. The flesh is highly juicy and crisp, with a taste that has tones of liquorice or anise. History Notes Known in France at least since 1798, and was introduced to…
Castelnaudary Cassoulet
Castelnaudary cassoulet is a French pork and beans dish, baked in a pottery vessel called a “cassole”: thus the name “cassoulet.” It hails from South West France and is perhaps one of the most famous of French cassoulets. It is made from lingot beans, pork feet and rind, a ham bone, bacon, pork knuckle, pork…
Catherine de Medici
Catherine de Medici is credited with being France’s first Foodie Queen, and introducing many food innovations to France. It’s a great story, but how much is true?
Catherine de Medici’s Birthday
Catherine de Medici became Queen of France. The 13th of April is her birthday. She is credited with many food innovations — but how much of that is true?
César Ritz: Hotelier to the stars
César Ritz was the first, great modern hotelier. He created the concept of the “grand hotel”, which turned out to also be the perfect stage for the “grande cuisine” being created by his business partner, Auguste Escoffier.
Champagne
Champagne © Denzil Green Champagne is a sparkling white wine. The grapes used to make champagne are the same, for the most part, as those used to produce sparkling wines all over the world. What’s reputedly different about the sparkling wine made in the Champagne area of France is the climate and the techniques used;…
Champagne Vinegar
Champagne vinegar isn’t actually made from champagne, though all the marketing would invite you to believe that it is, with words such as sparkling, crisp, clear, etc. Rather, it is a mild-tasting, slightly dry white wine vinegar that happens to be made from the same grapes as champagne is — Chardonnay or Pinot Noir grapes….
Chantilly Cream
Chantilly Cream is whipped cream flavoured with vanilla. The French name is Crème Chantilly. In France, housewives have been buying Crème Chantilly in aerosol cans since the early 1970s (though flavoured with natural vanilla pods from Madagascar, bien sûr.) Orange Chantilly Cream After the cream has been whipped and flavoured with vanilla extract, it is…