What to Eat in France: Cou de Canard Farci

Published by Tuesday, August 11, 2015 Permalink 0

What to Eat in France: Cou de Canard Farci, or Duck Neck Stuffed with Foie Gras and Duck Breast

by Jonell Galloway

Stuffed duck neck is considered a delicacy in the Southwest of France. It is often bought conserved in duck fat in jars, sold along with cassoulet, gizzards and other specialties from the region.

Stuffed poultry neck is not particular to France, however. In German, it is called helzel; in English, magel, in Hungarian halsli, and in Yiddish falsa kishke (Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, by Gil Marks). Outside France, it is known as a dish for the poor, since it is usually stuffed with inexpensive ingredients such as bread, matzah meal, giblets and other inexpensive starches so as to stretch the meat as far as possible.

The addition of foie gras in the French version makes it out of the reach of the poor, although many farmers in the Southwest raise ducks, so they get the foie gras from their own ducks.

In France, this is eaten as a starter with green salad and/or potatoes fried in duck fat, but it could just as easily make a main course for lunch.

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Quintessential France: Dijon in Burgundy

Published by Monday, August 10, 2015 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Dijon capital of mustard, escargots/snails and fine wine, is a gastronomic capital. It was a Roman town, and a major crossroads for trade routes, including pewter, tin, amber and exotic spices. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Burgundy, and the seat of the Dukes of Burgundy, from the eleventh to the late fifteenth centuries. Their palace is today the Beaux-Arts Museum, which still houses their tombs.

These half-timbered buildings are near the covered market in the old town, which was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015.

 

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Quintessential France: Rules for Dunking

Published by Saturday, August 8, 2015 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Croissants were made to be dunked into coffee, right? Doesn’t the very shape lends itself to dunking?

One of the first things I fell in love with in France was the general acceptance, albeit a bit common, of dunking my morning baguette-and-butter tartine or croissant in my café au lait. Dunking was forbidden in my mother’s house. She said it was common and thought Dunkin’ Donuts a travesty, so the French acceptance, though not formal, made me feel the reins of my upbringing had been loosened, if not removed.

Some French people, like Mme Verdurin in Proust’s Le Temps Retrouvé / Time Regained, actually suffer when they’re not allowed to dunk:

Mrs. Verdurin, suffering with migraines from no longer having a croissant to dunk in her café au lait, had gotten a prescription from Dr. Cottard allowing her to do it in certain restaurants, which we talked about. This was almost as difficult as getting the government to nominate a general. She ate her first croissant on the morning the newspapers reported the sinking of the Lusitania.

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Quintessential France: George Sand on Soup and Souper

Published by Saturday, August 8, 2015 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Well into the twentieth century, the word souper, meaning literally “to eat soup,” was (and sometimes still is) used for the evening meal. It is also the origin of the word “supper” in English. The history is complex and varies according to region, class and period in history, but the word mainly derives from the fact that French people who lived in the country ate their main meal at noon and only soup and bread in the evening. It later came to be used for meals after the theatre or a night on the town, meaning more something small to fill your belly than a full meal. In Paris, this often consisted of eating onion soup after dancing all night. In all cases, supper is lighter and less formal than dinner. Since 1300, the term “supper” was also applied to the last meal of Christ.

This is an extract from George Sand’s 1872 novel Nanon, about the evening soup:

It was Saturday. For Saturday supper and Sunday lunch we ate bread. The rest of the week, like other poor people in the Marche, we lived only on chestnuts and buckwheat gruel. I’m talking about a long time ago; I believe it was in 1787. In those days, many families lived like we did. Now, poor people are better nourished. We had ways of bartering our staple foods and we used the chestnuts to get a little wheat.

On Saturday nights, my great uncle brought back a loaf of rye bread from the market, along with a small chunk of butter. I was determined to make his soup for him all on my own and I had had someone explain exactly how Mariotte did it. I went into the garden to pull up a few vegetables and I peeled them so that they were perfectly clean, using my horrible little knife. Mariotte, seeing that I was becoming skillful, lent me hers for the first time. Before she had never wanted to let me use it because she thought I’d hurt myself.

My older cousin Jacques got back from the market before my uncle; he brought bread, butter and salt. Mariotte left us and I went to work. Jacques made fun of my determination to make the soup all by myself and claimed it would be bad. I was full of pride. Everyone found my soup good and flooded me with compliments.

From Nanon, 1872, by George Sand

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What to Eat in France: Lapin au Miel et à la Moutarde

Published by Friday, August 7, 2015 Permalink 0

What to Eat in France: Lapin au Miel et à la Moutarde, or Honey Mustard Rabbit

by Jonell Galloway

In the Orléanais and Beauce regions around where I live in Chartres, rabbit is king. They raise them and hunt them as well, eating hare during hunting season. They make distinctions depending on the age and kind of rabbit.

Historically, the French have had a preference for lièvre or hare or lapin de garenne or wild rabbit. Gastronomes like Prosper Montagné considered the flesh of domestic rabbits tasteless and in need of heavy seasoning.

In the late eighteenth century, poor Parisians consumed rabbits regularly. They fed them cabbage leaves and kept the rabbit hutches by their beds.

Domestic rabbit must be eaten young — at 3 to 3 1/2 months old — and is called lapin, while young wild rabbit is called lapereau. Domestic rabbit has white, tender flesh, while the young hares produce firmer meat of which the flavor has more character. It can, however, taste musty. It’s best to check for mustiness before cooking because it can sometimes render it inedible.

Today, the most common recipe is for Lapin à la Moutarde, or rabbit with mustard. This recipe can in fact be made with both honey and/or mustard, giving a classic honey mustard taste to the flesh.

miel_gatinais

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The region has been known for its honey, Miel du Gâtinais, since the Middle Ages, and is a blend of acacia, heather, chestnut and forest honey.

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What to Eat in France: Truffle Salad

Published by Friday, August 7, 2015 Permalink 0

What to Eat in France: Salade de Truffes, or Truffle Salad

by Jonell Galloway

The Périgord is truffle country: these large black truffles that grow underground next to oak trees and sometimes hazelnut trees are highly prized. Today, three-quarters of them come from the Var, Drôme and Vaucluse. They are harvested in autumn and winter, but the best ones are found in January.

They are often eaten raw, but can just as easily be cooked.

Recipe

  1. Peel truffles.
  2. Bring white wine, salt and pepper to a low boil and simmer truffles for 10 minutes.
  3. Drain and slice.
  4. Place truffles in a salad bowl. Add walnut oil, diced shallots and a trickle of wine vinegar. Mix carefully so that truffles don’t break apart.
  5. Cook soft-boiled eggs. Peel and slice.
  6. In another salad bowl, season sliced eggs with salt, pepper, walnut oil and verjuice. Mix carefully.
  7. Pour eggs into truffles. Add a few pickled nasturtium pods and some chopped chervil.
  8. Mix carefully and serve either one its own or over toast.

Note: The eggs can be replaced with artichoke bottoms or boiled potatoes. One should avoid adding aromatic herbs and spices so as not to interfere with the deep flavor of the truffles. Capers may be substituted for the nasturtium pods. If you like your eggs runny, place them directly onto the toast and pour dressing and truffles over them.

 

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What to Eat in France: Fougasse aux Anchois

Published by Thursday, August 6, 2015 Permalink 0

What to Eat in France: Flat Provençal Bread Cooked in Wood Oven with Anchovy Paste and Rosemary

Fougasse is a traditional flat loaf made in Provence and cooked in woodash. It can be served plain, or with olives, bacon bits, anchovies or cheese. Some even add sugar and spices or jam.

The word fougasse, fougace or fouasse comes from Provençal, but variations have spread all over Europe, and include Italy’s focaccia and Spain’s fougassa. It originally came from the Latin panis focacius, meaning “a flat bread cooked in an oven or over the ashes of a fire.” It was originally eaten plain, but there are endless variations these days. The sweet version can be eaten for breakfast and is usually eaten cold, while the savory version is eaten hot out of the oven.

The ingredients are simple: flour, water, sometimes eggs or milk, and yeast. Even though recipes vary from village to village and region to region, some using baker’s yeast and others baking powder, it is always flat like a pancake, and shaped into the branches, giving it the shape of ears of wheat. It is the shape that makes it distinctive.

See recipe on the next page.

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What to Eat in France: Melon au Pineau

Published by Thursday, August 6, 2015 Permalink 0

What to Eat in France: Cantaloupe with Fortified Wine from the Charentes Region

There are few things that please more than a ripe melon in summer. This is a simple starter that can be made before your guests arrive.

Pineau des Charentes is a fortified wine from the Poitou-Charentes region, made from a blend of lightly fermented grape must and Cognac eau-de-vie. In France, it is drunk as an apértif.

Its history is colorful. In 1589, a wine producer in Burie stored his must in a barrel to let it ferment, as was the custom in those days. He had forgotten that the bottom of the barrel contained just a covering of alcohol, which was the local tradition. A few years later, he had a large harvest, so he needed to use all the barrels he had available. He tasted the must, sure it would have turned to vinegar and he would have to throw it out. Much to his surprise, it was exquisite. His name was Pineau, and he had discovered a new recipe, one that came to be called Pineau des Charentes.

See recipe on the next page.

 

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Lists of Food Writers

Published by Wednesday, August 5, 2015 Permalink 0

Lists of Food Writers

Historical Food Writers

Archestratus

Apicius

J.A. Brillat-Savarin

Grimod de La Reyniere

Carême

Artusi

Escoffier

Historians of Food and Foodways

Rachel Laudan

Lizzie Collingham

Alan Davidson

Claudia Roden

Margaret Visser

Carolin C. Young

Michael J. Twitty

Waverley Root

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What to Eat in France: Buckwheat Crêpes

Published by Sunday, August 2, 2015 Permalink 0

What to Eat in France: Galettes de Blé Noir, or Breton-style Buckwheat Pancakes

The buckwheat crêpes of Brittany are unique in the context of French cuisine. They go by many names: galettes de sarrasin, crêpe bretonne, galette de blé noir.

Crusaders brought back buckwheat from Asia in the twelfth century, but it proved to be hard to grow until they took it to Brittany, where there is always plenty of rain, yet the climate is not harsh and the soil is acidic: all the right conditions for growing blé noir, meaning literally “black wheat,” even though it’s not technically of the wheat family.

It was Anne of Brittany who had it planted it all over Brittany and made it part of the Breton diet at the beginning of the fifteenth century. It grows fast and is ready to eat in 100 days, so it helped feed Bretons for centuries, and is often referred to as “poor people’s wheat,” since wheat was only affordable for the rich in those days. It was probably used for gruel or very thick griddle cakes at the beginning.

It still took centuries before the buckwheat pancake as we know it to became popular. The original recipe, which dates from some one thousand years ago, contained only buckwheat, salt and water and was much thicker than the crêpes we know today, which also contain milk, eggs and regular wheat flour, giving a thinner crêpe.

On February 2, Catholics celebrate Candlemas by eating buckwheat crêpes together. For farmers, this date concurs with the end of winter and the beginning of the new farming year, so superstitious farmers keep the candles from this celebration lit to protect their future harvests.

Traditionally, buckwheat galettes are reserved for savory dishes, and are not used for dessert. The Bretons drink apple cider with them.

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