A Literary Culinary Journal
We are having technical difficulties with the booking system for the Chartres Festival of Lights & Autumnal Equinox with a Food & Wine Tasting Masterclass. If you want to reserve, simply click on the Paypal button at the top right of the sidebar to pay by Paypal, or the blue Contact Us button at the top right of the home page to pay by bank transfer. We’ll send you all the necessary details. Sorry for the inconvenience!
|
|
It is the height of the Valais apricot season, I thought it timely to offer you a few ideas for using them while they’re ripe and ready.
The first and most important thing is to buy tree-ripened apricots. By definition, this means local ones, since ripe apricots are soft to the touch and do not travel well.
If you plan to eat them fresh, they should be soft, but not blemished or bruised. The riper they are, the more flavorful they are.
If you are using them for cooking, the riper the better, and you can even get by with blemishes as long as they are not rotten-looking. As a general rule, the softer the sweeter.
You will often see crates of extra-ripe apricots discounted in farmers markets. Look them over, and if there are not too many black or rotting ones, they are actually the best for cooking purposes, especially for jams, cakes and sauces.
Note: With all apricot recipes, the amount of sugar used depends on the acidity of the apricots. The acidity depends on the ripeness, origin and variety. With so many factors coming into play, taste tests are indispensable and the quantity of sugar should be determined by taste, using the quantities given here as a guideline.
|
|
//
Balsamico, Balsamico: How to Choose a Good (and authentic) Balsamic Vinegar
by Gareth Jones
“When we think that 100 kgs of grapes converts into just 2 litres of Balsamico after 25 years ageing, we appreciate what’s quite so special.”
1985 aged Balsamic vinegar
Imagine a magical elixir which has a history charted back to 1785 – and probably earlier — that takes skills passed down through the generations of families, and is years in the making. Made traditionally, this elixir has the power to transport one to Heaven on a spoon, and just one word on the bottle tells us the real from the manufactured.
That word is ‘Tradizionale’ and to a cynic it could read like a word from the marketeer’s limited lexicon. This one word, however, divides the Heavenly stunning from the just special and Earthly – and sometimes not special at all for its added caramel and sugar. Time to become acquainted with the genuine Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP.
|
|
//
English: Black corn Español: Maíz morado (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Cobs of corn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Green Oaxaca corn Français : Maïs vert d’Oaxaca (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
red corn on the cob (Photo credit: MelanieAnneMarie)
Red corn, blue corn and cucumber seeds for sale in Fresno, California… (Photo credit: Nate Gray: A Culinary (Photo) Journal)
Blue Corn (Photo credit: Big Grey Mare)
English: From left to right, haba beans, haba beans, blue corn and white corn for sale at a tianguis market in Metepec, Mexico State. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Boy in corn field, Woodbine, New Jersey (Photo credit: Center for Jewish History, NYC)
Public relations of high-fructose corn syrup (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: A display of six ears of field corn with dented yellow kernels (Zea mays var. indentata) which won ribbons for “best of show” at the Steele County Fair in Owatonna, Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
|
|
Immortal Cheese with Eric LeMay: A pithy and picky video tour through everything worth knowing about cheese.
|
|
//
Memories of Old Belgium and Malmedy’s Gooey Kisses, including Recipe
When two chewy, gooey meringues come stuck together either side of a slather of butter cream or crême chantilly, the pâtissiers of Malmédy call this a ‘kiss’. Their description is obvious – it’s a fond embrace. Such is its fame, the Baiser had a place in the original Larousse Gastronomique compiled by Prosper Montagné in 1938.
The story goes that the Baiser de Malmédy started life in the late 19th century in this region of the Eastern Ardennes that many still prefer to call ‘Old Belgium’. The name appreciates that here, in the small towns like Malmédy, Stavelot, Bastogne, Spa and Francorchamps, the old ways continue and courtesy comes before all else – much as continues in Norfolk and Suffolk, Dorset and Somerset, where people living here still have time for each other.
|
|
Jane and Antonio’s recipe is based on foraging and what they imagine post-neolithic cooking to be, foraging and all, but with a modern twist, i.e. the olive oil.
|
|
When you talk about rhubarb cream in Switzerland, you mean rhubarb cream, not pudding or custard. This naughty dessert is one of the easiest rhubarb desserts around, and is so thoroughly Swiss.
Photo courtesy of Robin Stewart
1 lb. / 500 g rhubarb
3/4 cup / 200 g cane sugar
2 egg yolks
Cinnamon or lemon juice, according to which taste you prefer
3/4 cup / 0.2 l whipping cream
|
|
This is a new list for sustainable living in Geneva and Lausanne and we’ll be adding to it and updating it on a regular basis. We will extend it to other French-speaking cities as we add to the list.
The city of Geneva is in the process of setting up free WiFi hotspots in and around Geneva, referred to as “GeSpots”. The project is a long-term project, but terminals are already available at the locations marked in green. Click here to see the map.
Free WiFi hotspots are available in the following locations in Lausanne: Saint-François, Riponne, Flon, Palud, Montbenon, Navigation, Port d’Ouchy and at the Service des Automobiles automobile registration and inspection office and the Blécherette aerodrome.
Sandrine Chapuis’ own mesclun, mixed greens from hills of Geneva
This site lists all the markets by day. A handy map is included with each listing so you can see where it is located in Geneva.
The Marchés Lausannois site lists the weekly markets:
Nettles
|
|
by Jonell Galloway
I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as “consumers.”
—Wendell Berry, The Pleasures of Eating, Center for Ecoliteracy
The Times They are a-Changin’: Move Towards a Local Economy
After a few very difficult years, we are now only starting to talk about the importance, and even necessity, of maintaining and supporting a local economy. This is important not only to our health and taste buds, but also to our vital economic self-sufficiency. It is perfectly in line with the concept of Mindful Eating, and, by definition, involves local farmers as well as others who contribute to eating and drinking.
|
|
Meet Jonell Galloway, a freelance writer and editor specialized in French cuisine. 
