A delicious quiche-like pie that costs only the price of a cup of milk, 2 eggs and a few onions to make. This is a good week-day dish as it is economical, does not require much of your attention, and you are very likely to have all the ingredients on hand
French
Gastrique
A Gastrique is a subtle, syrupy, French sweet and sour sauce. It can be used on its own as a drizzle, particularly with meats such as pork, game, or strongly-flavoured fowl, or added to sauces, as it is in classic versions of Duck à l’orange. A simple version is made by melting white sugar until…
Pernod
Pernod is a famous brand of Pastis. See the entry on Pastis. The Pernod Ricard company has, over the decades, bought out many other alcohol companies.
Crêpes
Crêpes are pancakes made in the French style, large and very thin. They are served with toppings, or rolled up with fillings inside. They can be a sweet or a savoury dish, and are meant to be a dish in themselves. Assume white wheat flour was used in making them, unless otherwise specified. The batter…
Galettes (Pancakes)
In the eastern part of Brittany, France, they use the word “Galette” to mean savoury crêpes (pancakes) with buckwheat flour. These buckwheat pancakes are made with just three ingredients only: buckwheat flour, water and salt as ingredients (though in some parts of Brittany, such as Cotes d’Armor, up to 10% wheat flour is also snuck…
St Valery Carrots
St Valery Carrots grow up to 10 inches (25 cm) long. They will be up 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7 1/2 cm) broad at the top, and tapered. Above ground, the fine leaves grow up to 20 inches (50 cm) tall. The carrot itself is orangey-pink, with a fine texture, and a complex…
Steak au Poivre Recipe
Classically served with French fries and leafy salad.
Pierre Pérignon
Life and Times Pierre Pérignon is the man better known today as Dom Pérignon of Champagne fame. Sadly, much of the “information” that is written about him in material for marketing is just that — marketing myths. He was not the creator of the bottled wine called today “Champagne.” Pérignon dedicated his wine practice to…
Dom Pérignon Champagne
Dom Pérignon Champagne is a sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France by the Moët & Chandon company. It is to be emphasized that, ironically, the man after whom this sparkling wine is made, Dom Pierre Pérignon, in fact focussed his work on preventing wine from developing bubbles. See the entry on Pierre…
Blanquette Wine
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…
Citron Pressé
Citron Pressé is a chilled lemon drink served in French cafés. It means literally, “pressed lemon.” It consists of a tall glass filled with ice cubes (no doubt one of the rare times you’ll see an ice cube in France.) Poured onto the ice cubes is the juice from a freshly-squeezed fresh lemon. This is…
Gougères Recipe
This recipe is a faithful rendition of the classic, authorized version in Larousse Gastronomique.
Pig Sauce
Pig Sauce is an Acadian meat sauce. The main ingredient is pork — fresh pork meat, along with brain, and marrow from the pig’s spinal column. To this is added chopped ham, green onions, parsley, garlic cloves and dry white wine. The brain serves to thicken the sauce and whiten it. To make it, you…
French Revolutionary Calendar
The French Revolutionary Calendar, created at the same time as the metric system, was an attempt to create a metric calendar and time system. The calendar year still had 12 months, but each month was divided into 3 weeks (called “décades”) of 10 days each. Each day had 10 hours, each hour 100 “decimal” minutes…
Jean-Pierre Clause
Life and Times Jean-Pierre Clause is known now as the creator of Pâté de Contades. Cynics point out that really what Clause really achieved was to take a peasant dish, dress it up, and make all the rich people swoon over it. But still, he does seem to count as the one who thought of…
La Maison Dorée
La Maison dorée: 20 Boulevard des Italiens, Paris Life and Times La Maison Dorée, located at 20, Boulevard des Italiens, was one of the most famous restaurants in Paris in the 1800s. It opened in 1840 in a building that was five storeys tall. Previously, it had been the site of the Café Hardy, and…
Patxaran
Patxaran is a clear, reddish-brown, sweet digestive liqueur made in the Basque areas of Spain such as Navarre, and somewhat in the bordering Basque-speaking Pyrenées area of France. Thus, you will see both Spanish and French terms used in discussing it. It is made from sloe plums let steep for several months (between 1 and…
Raymond Calvel
Life and Times Raymond Calvel (1913 to 2005) was one of the 20th century French leading authorities on bread. Julia Child referred to Calvel as her first breadmaking teacher. Her husband Paul had been trying to make French bread to help Julia, but then gave up and pointed Julia at Calvel, whom he’d run across…
Vichy Carrots Recipe
And you thought boiled, sliced carrots were another word for boring? Not these ones: very good, very sweet, even the older ones that have been stored a few months.
Solilemmes
Solilemmes are bread rolls made in northern France from a yeast-risen dough that is like an eggy brioche dough. They are served hot. Cooking Tips To serve Solilemmes, split horizontally and butter with melted, salted butter, replace the top. They are often served with slices of smoked fish. History Notes Some speculate that Solilemmes actually…
Marseille Vanilla
The term “Marseille Vanilla” is an in-joke amongst cooks. It means garlic. The joke is that garlic is used to such an extent in cooking in Marseille, France, that they might almost be using it in their desserts.
Louis Eustache Ude
Louis Eustache Ude. Drawn by Daniel Maclise Source: V&A Collection. Life and Times Louis Eustache Ude (born c. 1769) was a French chef and the author of two cookbooks, the man who Lady Chesterfield called “whimsical, good-natured, exorbitantly vain.” Not only vain, but intolerant of being crossed. Once, Eustache was hauled into court in London…
César Ritz: Hotelier to the stars
César Ritz Life and Times 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. Ritz startled everyone by the depth and breadth of the luxury he provided,…
Grimod de la Reynière
Grimod de la Reynière early 1800s painting Life and Times Grimod de la Reynière was one of the world’s first food reviewers and restaurant critics. Scathing and witty in his observations, he wrote the “Manual for Hosts” (“Manuel des Amphitryons”) and published the annual “L’Almanach des gourmands” in the early 1800s in Paris. Chronology 1758…