Caseophile

It’s the mirabelle (cherry plum) season!

On your marks... get set... off you go to the Côtes de Meuse (around Verdun) or the Colline de Sion & Lunéville, the Saintois region or even in or around Metz or make a short trip to Remiremont. I'm talking about Lorraine, of course – my part of the world. That's where you can have the infinite pleasure of savouring a freshly picked mirabelle at the peak of its ripeness.

It's the start of the season! But do remember it only lasts a couple of weeks. You'll be supporting our local production with its two varieties – Nancy mirabelles and Metz mirabelles – 250 producers, 400,000 trees, 2,000 hectares and about 6000 tonnes of fruit expected this year (5000 last year and 11,000 in 2009).

Where does the word "Mirabelle" come from? Is it from the latin mirabilis, marvellous? Or from the Greek myron perfume and balanos acorn? Or quite simply from the name of an alderman from Metz, called Mirabel, who is said to have given it his name around 1430?

When I was small, I took it that it was Stanislas who had introduced the cherry plum tree into Lorraine... quite wrongly, when I looked into the subject, as they've been talking about this fruit here since the return of the Crusades... So why is it so prevalent in this part of the world? To the extent that today over 80% of mirabelles harvested in the world come from Lorraine?

Well it's thanks to our climate. Yes, to our climate:

• An average Summer temperature below 25°
• Warm and cool (I'm not saying "cold") weather prior to the harvest

Still not convinced?

Look it up then on the Mirabelle Growers of Lorraine website (in French) or just call in on the Maison de la Mirabelle in Rozelieures, where the Grallet family who pick the mirabelles and, in particular, make them into jam, bottle them and make various alcoholic products (brandy, liqueurs and creams).

In my case, I often go to buy my fruit at the Fruit Cooperative of Billy sous les Côtes... when I don't have any ready in my orchard (which, sadly, is my case this year as they were hit by a very cold wind – or was it rain at the wrong moment – I can't recall).

And always remember that you don't just travel through Lorraine, you must stop and say "hello"!

There are in fact two main varieties (according to Wikipedia)

• Metz mirabelles: thin skin, orangey-yellow in sun and often greeny-yellow in the shade. Pruinose surface; ripe in August
• Nancy mirabelles: bigger than Metz mirabelles: orangey yellow occasionally slightly greenish or lightly orangey red. Quite often with little red dots and often a small brownish spot, light pruinose surface; ripe mid-August.

And how do you tell is a Mirabelle is just ripe? Its stone should come clean away from the flesh by itself!

National Gastronomy Day in France

We've known about this celebration for some time now: September 23^rd will be named every year from now on "National Gastronomy Day". A decision made by Frédéric Lefebvre, Secretary of State reporting to the French Ministre de l'Economie.

Or to be exact, this will be known as the Fête de la Gastronomie. There's already one such festival for Music and this one will aim to promote French culinary heritage through its chefs and their suppliers – following on from the nomination by UNESCO of the "French gastronomic meal" to their World Heritage list (already mentioned on this site).

Why September 23^rd? Because autumn has arrived...

It's a time to discover what goes on in France's great restaurants - well worth it!

At the same time throughout that weekend (23^rd – 25^th) the 9^th annual Cuisines en Fête celebration will be taking place throughout France, supported by various national ministries and local governments. (Click here for their website with the details - in French).

This will be a vast event involving some 700,000 participants and 900 gastronomic events. They give 30 pages of recipes.

If you're planning a trip to France at that time, it could be well worth looking it up and joining in.

Allez-y et Bon appétit!

Where to take cookery lessons in Orleans?

This is about an imaginative colleague of mine. I could have entitled this note "where to buy your wine and spices in Orleans" but I prefer to tell you about his great speciality: his "cookery course" centre.

Patrick Gedoux founded "Le Panier se crée" several years ago when taking over a wine cellar … in particular some magnificent vaulted cellars in the heart of the town of Orleans. He then built up a fine "classical" delicatessen (including regional products), a "gourmand" basket service for businesses and finally set up with a number of chefs cookery courses in a vast bright space up on the first floor.

It's a busy programme! You can check in at his internet site (in French) to find a date and a theme to your liking.

Le Panier se crée, 6 rue Ducerceau 45000 Orleans – tel 02 38 62 96 79

The name roughly means "the basket fills itself" but it is also a "jeu de mots" - a play on words - as it sounds the same as "le panier secret" – the secret basket.

Chocolate – full of good things good for your health

So the year end festivities are now well behind you – but are you feeling particularly well after all that chocolate? Feeling still a little guilty not to have resisted that temptation? You've heard the story: Q: "What did you do at Christmas?" A: "I put on 7 pounds..."

Well let me reassure you: chocolate is good for your health.

The fibres it contains are good for your digestion, its polyphenols are more concentrated and active than in other foodstuffs, its anti-depressive qualities are not in doubt (if it is of a good quality), it has no effect on the liver, it is rich in potassium... it's only those with kidney stones who should take care, as it is in fact rich in oxalic acid (just like rhubarb).

But nonetheless do go steady! A whole bar is more or less the equivalent of 7 slices of bread ... as it's full of sugar. And if you eat chocolates with a high cocoa content, look out for its lipids (the necessary presence of cocoa butter to make it "melt in the mouth"...)

More info to be found on the Swiss chocolate producers' website

www.chocosuisse.ch    and www.chocolat-delice.com

Cantal cheese in burgers!

Some people are asking themselves... do I go along with it or not, what will be the repercussions on the awareness and the image of Cantal cheese and on the region of Cantal itself? Has the Cantal name just come down to a simple culinary ingredient of poor quality???

The die is cast... we'll know at the end of March if the special "Cantal Burger" in McDonalds boosts the sale of Cantal itself.

This operation, negotiated by the Palais des Saveurs, an operator in the Aurillac area in cheese based products (blocks, dice shaped portions, grated, slices) is working in fact on 3 cheeses: "blue", goat and PDO Cantal which will be strongly promoted in an advertising campaign... but without  "Chantal", the star of the advertising campaign of Cantal

French Christmas treats – (foodwise, of course!)

One of my customers has asked me what food products were traditionally enjoyed here in Nancy at St Nicholas time.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, St Nicholas was our Christmas, celebrated with a clementine, a relatively rare fruit at that time, but a sweet treat full of vitamins for youngsters. But also a slice of gingerbread, on which you placed a figure of the good Bishop of Myre.

Then came chocolate figurines (or those made from red sugar), iced- or chocolate coated gingerbreads representing St Nicholas or his ass (by the way I've no memory of this ass when I was a little girl – so could this be a typical Alsatian tradition? Like their very dry gingerbreads perhaps?)... But that's all I can recall from my days gone by!!

And I'm thinking back to that little rhyme that we all sang as kids:

Saint Nicolas, mon bon patron    (St Nicholas, my good patron saint)

Apporte nous des macarons    (Bring us some macaroons)

Des mirabelles pour les d'moiselles    ("mirabelles" plums for the girls) (or Des bouts d'ficelle pour les d'moiselles)    (a piece of string for the girls)

Des coups de bâton pour les garçons    (a bash with a stick for the boys) (or Des bonbons pour les garçons)    (sweets for the boys)

And we had to beware of the Bogeyman! Because if you had misbehaved, he would not give you sweets but a good hiding instead!

And if any of you want to see pictures of St Nicholas of Lorraine, log into the lorrainedecoeur website for a reportage in Nancy.

Back now to the present for a seasonal view of the magnificent central square of my town, Nancy – la place Stanislas and its 19 metre high Christmas tree. In these temperatures what you really need is mulled wine. But to you good readers of this site, what cheese do you nibble with it? What would go with cinnamon or ginger or nutmeg?

Would you choose a Munster or an old Lille cheese??? Or maybe certain Portuguese or Spanish goat cheeses ... now there are a few ideas!

But finally how about my Christmas log? (Many of you will know that you have your Christmas pudding, while ours is a "bûche de Noël".)

Well my treat is made from gingerbread filled with apricots (from Mulot & Petitjean)

For the past few years, one of my brothers has brought one of these with him for Christmas, and as I am not too big a fan of the traditional French rather creamy and buttery logs, I have always remembered this spicy sensation.

But don't get the wrong idea! This log is far from dry ... it's incomparably soft and spongy – that's the secret of Mulot & Petitjean.
I'll put it with a home-made Mirabelle compote with cinnamon and an organic apricot sorbet (apricots from the Vergers de Cousancelles)

As for drinks?....

Let's keep things sweet. Perhaps a fizzy rhubarb wine from my Moine friends in Xertigny? Or simply a Col de Velours seasoned with a dash of Mirabelle liqueur, or a half dry sparkling Crémant de Loire, in which I'd add a glacé Mirabelle fruit.

There it is. You know all about my Christmas treats. It's a pity so many of you readers live so far away, as all these "douceurs de Noël" (sweet Christmas delights) can be found in my Aladdin's cave delicatessen in Nancy:

L'Epicerie du Goût, 4 place Vaudemont, 54000 Nancy.

Happy Christmas !

 

French gastronomy gets a registered trade mark

Stop! Don't dare to go into a fast food joint in France from now on. You'll risk being fined for insulting la gastronomie française!

I'm only joking of course, but UNESCO has just recognised French gastronomy as part of the world's heritage. Together with Mexico, France's food has been added to the Unesco "intangible" heritage list.Or more precisely "the lunch à la française"

"The choice of good products, mainly rural, the assembly of dishes and wines, the decoration of the table and the gestures of smelling and tasting what has been served on the table" - such are the reasons given for this recognition".

So we'd better keep up our standards.

With this year's Beaujolais Nouveau all around us, may we ask the real question?

Isn't ham and butter on a baguette with a (small) glass of red wine also a truly French gastronomic experience??

But let's not be killjoys but be happy to join all those other countries which have received the Unesco label for their various examples of "intangible" heritage. Click here for more info.

Seaweed is good for you

The Brittany Tourism authorities are worried by the bad image which "deadly seaweed" has been causing and so have decided to emphasise that green seaweed is perfectly good to eat when it is harvested "alive" from spots where there is no pollution. Well it is called "sea lettuce" by the locals!

Raw in a salad or cooked (Japanese style), seaweed is good for you! A slightly sweet nutty taste, according to the IFREMER institute...

And they are right. Green seaweed is good.

And so is salicornia or glasswort.

That's something we know about here in Lorraine. Does that surprise you? Here it's also called "haricot de la mer" and is a "halophine" or orgasm that can tolerate saline conditions and so grows in salty water.

And what do we have in Lorraine? Don't be surprised – layers of salt. These make certain marshland around Dieuze and Marsal (close to Château Salins) lightly saline.

An interesting spot to discover, if you have a free weekend in these parts.

More info on these salty marshes on the Parc Naturel Régional de Lorraine website.

Molecular cuisine ... all in one package :-))

You may be aware of the way foodstuffs can be encapsulated thanks to alginates. That's part of the new "Molecular cooking". If you haven't heard of these things, before you rush for the dictionary, here is the definition my humble translator looked up in his:

Alginate: an insoluble gelatinous carbohydrate found chiefly as salts in many types of brown seaweed.

Well, what we are dealing with here are "flavour pearls" which, for example, you can buy produced by Algues de Bretagne – (Seaweeds from Brittany), a company which has developed two "spherification" processes:

• Indirect gelling which allows a liquid to be encapsulated inside a hard alginate film. These pearls keep their contents liquid in their own juices through osmosis. You are advised to use them in any preparation just before serving, as they will continue to exude slowly, the wall of alginate being porous.
• Direct gelling, which makes the pearl soft and crunchy, and it can be cooked at up to 110°C.

If you come to my store, l'Epicerie du Goût in Nancy (Lorraine), of course you'll find some of their range: e.g. strawberry, fig, mango, peach, lemon/pepper and vinegar/shallot.

There are also other syrup pearls available: caramel, icy mint – soon to be found on our shelves!

 

Get ready for winter ... with elderberries

If you enjoy making elderberry syrup ... why not do it now? It's good against coughs and flu which could be around next winter!

But you'll need to hurry – if you've those trees nearby – as they are probably already losing their flowers. Anyway, here are two interesting recipes:

Elderberry syrup (recipe belonging to Martine, also known as Tartinette, found on "best cook" website)

Ingredients for two litres

• 150g of freshly picked flowers (that's quite a big basketful)
• 1 litre of water
• 1.75 kilos of powder sugar
• Juice of 3 lemons
• Remove most of the flower stems of the elderberries (the green parts make the syrup bitter)
• Cover with water and keep them covered (for example with a plate)
• Filter, then add sugar and lemon juice
• Mix until the sugar has totally dissolved
• Boil it all up for 5 minutes
• Pour into fruit juice bottles which have screw caps
• Put bottles still open in a saucepan
• Heat up to 70°C for 5 mins
• Screw caps on and leave in the water to cool
• They should keep in good condition until the next harvest – at least!

 

Elderberry wine

(Thanks go to one of my friends – Jean-Luc - for giving this to me, as found on the Marmiton.org website.)

Ingredients:

• 1 litre of white wine
• 125g sugar
• 20 elderberry flower heads

Pour sugar into wine and stir until dissolved. Add elderflower heads (be careful not to use any heads which are black) and stir so they are well combined into the mixture.

Cover and keep in a cool place for 3-4 days, depending on how strong you want it. Stir from time to time.

Filter and pour into bottles

If the flowers are past it, you can make do with the berries – but you must use the right sort of elder. And avoid under-ripe berries which can be quite toxic!

If you just don't have time or are unsure about what a "good" elder looks like - and you just happen to be in Nancy (!) – pop in to see me. I stock a superb organic Vosges elderberry syrup in my Epicerie du Goût store here.

:-)

Colza, walnuts and camelina ... all that’s good for you in Lorraine

What do oils made from these three plants have in common? A high level of omega 3 ... and the fact that the Farm Bel Air produces them. I discovered their products at the recent Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris. You'd find me now holding a sachet of their latest offering: caramelised marrow (= squash) seeds. And it was hard going as I had to make sure I did not eat them but submit them to the "comité de sélection" reviewing unusual products for my store – l'Epicerie du Goût - in Nancy!

Not easy, I have to force myself not to eat everything there. But that's THE problem with the products of the Guillaume family: once you've tried any, you're hooked...

For example let's take their "lentillons". No, they are not just small lentils. Nor have they any connection with green lentils from the Le Puy or Berry areas or the pale ones from St Flour. Perhaps closer to the pink little lentils of the Champagne area – though I've never tasted them. What do you think?

And I also like their camelina seeds, a variety of flax we call "bastard flax" which can be used in oils or by sowing those tiny seeds, rich in omega 3.

If ever you meet the Guillaume family, you'll never be the same again... here are dedicated farmers, slowly adopting an organic stance for the benefit of their land and its cultivation.

I promised them I would call on them during their open days at the end of April ... in the meantime if you are ever in the markets of Lorraine look for this label ... it's the sign of good things.

All’s not well in the honeydew market

You might think this is about the death rate of bees but honeydew is not honey of course, it has nothing directly to do with them – it comes from aphids.

Nonetheless, if it's the aphids which suck leaves and stems of fir trees, their excrements are then swallowed by bees...

Which means

More pesticides = fewer aphids

So    

More pesticides = fewer bees

So

More pesticides = less honeydew

And I could even add more to this tale of woe:

More acid rain on land which is already acid = problems for the coniferous trees! (and the subsoil in the Vosges area, composed of granite and sandstone is more at risk than other alkaline soils – and some areas, such as conifers in Poitou-Charentes are under attack).

If you are looking for our local honeydew (e.g. Miel de sapin des Vosges) you need trees in good health with swarms of aphids and bees! And it's all in decline...

Those concerned with Slow Food should take note that all this is in jeopardy - and take action!

Anyway this year, producers of honeydew in the Vosges have sold all their modest production direct to users and not to retailers. Sorry, but don't try looking for any in your shops...

Long live stinging nettles!

No, I'm not joking. In the hills around the Val d'Ajol in the Vosges, I have discovered a strange landscape: a spot where, unlike me, the locals do not root out nettles from their gardens, but on the contrary let them thrive. Quite a surprise!

And when you discover what they make with them – nettle vinegar, nettle jelly, nettle syrup, nettle salt. That really is a surprise!

But if you go into the Domaine du Clos Léry website, you'll learn about all the virtues of the nettle:

All parts of the nettle (seeds, leaves in summer, roots in September) can be useful in medicine. Its properties are very diverse. It is very rich in minerals and can be used to fight leukaemia (deficiency in iron).

It can soothe problems of micturition linked to benign hyperplasia of the prostate (phases I and II). Irrigate the kidneys, the bladder and urinary tract when inflamed, treat or prevent the formation of kidney stones, help in relieving rheumatic symptoms.

Treat anaemia and cardiac insufficiency, calm symptoms of allergic rhinitis (cold or hay fever), treat sprains, pulled muscles, tendinitis, neuralgia, sciatica, burns, haemorrhoids, insect bites, acne, it can stimulate hair growth, relieve arthritic and rheumatic pain.

Did you know that a nettle contains:

100 times more calcium than apples

Twice the phosphorus of carrots

Twice the iron of spinach

Twice the magnesium of green cabbage

6 times the vitamin C of an orange

The nettle is the richest green vegetable in vitamin C

You'll find all this confirmed on an array of websites – though that does not necessarily mean that all this is true. It just leaves one property missing... the aphrodisiac qualities of a nettle...

;-)

And when you hear that nettles are grown by the Hanni (from Switzerland) in open fields, without pesticides and with no other treatment than the manure from their horses... and that their products have the "Vosges Terroir" quality seal, it just makes you want to go and look them up.

Strawberries and asparagus

I have to admit that a couple of Sundays ago I prepared a huge plate of asparagus together with aiguillettes of duck deglazed with late orange vinegar. An absolute feast.

But let me wind the tape back to the start.

The previous sunny day when I was listening to the radio while driving near home, I heard them talking of three varieties of asparagus:

• white (the sort we know best),kept out of the sun,
• green, which grows tall, full of chlorophyll
• and pink (or purple)

And the season is now well upon us.

So I drove up to the top of the Val d'Ornain. In order to sample some strawberry, as well as raspberry "wines", made from the syrup of both fruits. Local gastronomes will have recognised I am talking about the Cellier de Revigny cellar not far from Bar le Duc and run by the Guillaume family ... visit the Saveur d'Ornain site.

Thibault Guillaume had warned me that he would unfortunately not be there but there would be somebody able to tell me about his products.

I'll just call her Madame E, a dynamic woman who had been living there for 20 years and who talked with passion about her "children" – still or sparkling "wines", syrups and jams – also about the respectful steps one should take, starting off with the planting, harvesting in the midst of the fields, the transformation of the added sugar (strawberries are the only fruit totally recommended for diabetics as they do not contain sugar) into alcohol by means of yeasts, maturing in a barrel, the production of the syrups as and when... telling me all this with many anecdotes, recipe ideas and tasty pieces of advice.

Such as drinking the sweet strawberry "wine" together with melon, but not inside the fruit as is often done in my part of the world. But in a glass, so as not to "drown" the poor melon! Or that there's no need to throw away a bottle of this syrup if, once opened, some mould has dared to appear: that's normal as it does not contain a preservative... just remember to keep it in a cool place.

Anyway one hour later, after a thorough tasting session, I set off back home... with nine boxes of bottles and two kilos of asparagus!

Because not far from those strawberry fields (forever), the Guillaumes also have fields of asparagus. And as I prefer savoury to sweet, I could not resist a first day harvest. A touch of springtime sunshine in my part of Lorraine.

And if you are by any chance in this part of France on 13^th June, and cannot resist strawberries – go to the Fête des Fraises in Revigny (close to Bar-le-Duc.)

Good sense comes from the country – especially from Lorraine!

I have just discovered that a local man from the Vosges area has registered the trade mark – Le Bon Sens Paysan (= "Rustic Good Sense" or perhaps "Good Sense from the Country").

If you live locally, you might notice the brand very soon in the potato section of your supermarket. I've already seen it printed on the first batch of boxes with the producer himself.

These are potatoes that have not been "treated" (not even when they were in the earth), nor washed (to preserve their good taste) and which are boxed in a way that stops most light getting in (so they do not sprout quickly).

Who is he? Well I have already featured him here in my blog. But in another context.

Not for his livestock – although he has a superb herd of Limousin cows and currently a gang of calves suckling away. And there are the pigs of one of his sons.

Not for his orchards – I've forgotten just how many tons of apples he has picked. And apples that have not been treated – there's no need - with the poultry pecking away around the roots of his trees, insects don't stand a chance!

Do you give up?

Well this time round, it's another root crop. Not onions or carrots (though he does them too) …

It's rhubarb.

I'm talking about Yannick Moine, his wife Sylvie, his brother Damien and his wife Brigitte, all especially because they are GAEC (Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition) farmers.

Full of common sense and not simply doing organic farming but sensible farming:

• Cows, fed on grass, home grown cereals, and on potatoes. Their manure is used as a fertiliser for crops (cereals and vegetables). And they are also fed on a little maize to improve milk yield.
• Straw and lots of it, to keep the animals clean (I saw for myself that none of their rear ends were dirty during my impromptu visit) - but also for heating the farm.
• No artificial fertiliser only natural manure. No pesticides – the cocks take care of the insects.

All of this meaning plenty of manual work and if they need mechanised power , the Moine brothers often put machinery together themselves.

plus, taking time: allowing nature to set the clock. At least 40 months for rearing their calves, unstressed animals…

Indeed I can only suggest you pay them a visit, even in the depths of winter – but not on a Sunday (to let them enjoy family life) – at Rasey between Remiremont and Mirecourt, not far from Xertigny – little more than an hour and a half from Nancy.

You can in fact try (in moderation!) their delicious "Crillon des Vosges" a rhubarb wine, matured slowly in their cellar, but also other products from the establishment:

• dry rhubarb wine (blanc des Vosges)
• sparkling rhubarb wine (perlé)
• rhubarb juice (Rhubis), still and also sparkling
• apple juice, still and sparkling

  And you'll also meet folks who aren't know-alls in the slightest, who love nature, who never give up in the face of difficulty and whose sole motto is:

An excellent product – or nothing at all

 

Forget ice and snow with a warming fondue … and learn who invented it!

I recently read in the latest revue from the Confrérie du Gruyère (who nominated me as a "Companion of Honour" some 7 years ago) an article by Isabelle Raboud-Schüle on this dish. She is an ethnologist who has run the Gruerian Museum of Bulle since September 2006 and from her I discovered the origins of a fondue and "how fondue came to be linked to the Swiss".

I had in mind the definition of a fondue coming from our national gastronome, Brillat Savarin who declared that he had tried in Moudon (this appeared in a publication called "La Physiologie du Goût (Taste) published in 1865"): take as many eggs as there are guests, a third of their weight in Gruyère and a sixth in butter… in other words a dish closer to scrambled eggs with cheese than our idea of a fondue.

And yet Mme Raboud-Schüle found a recipe closer to the real thing in a book published in Zurich in 1699, with a melted mixture of wine and cheese – not grated but cut in thin slices, the result to be enjoyed with bread.

So, when did the Swiss move on to the recipe where eggs hardly appear at all except when the bottom of the fondue dish has been reached and your guests are still peckish?

It would seem to be at the start of the 20^th century…for two very different reasons:

- the first was the appearance of maize-based starch on sale in Switzerland from 1905 which resulted in "providing thickening and leaving out flour, which takes longer to cook, as well as eggs found in historical recipes"

Well yes, eggs do allow you to make an emulsion … but my choice would be to use potato flour.

- but the second reason – with good business in mind – was the action of the Swiss Union for Cheese Promotion which wanted to promote the excess in hard cheese production from the 1930s onwards. A sales campaign which intensified after the Second World War, when the Union generously gave away fondue dishes and created the slogan "la fondue crée la bonne humeur" (a fondue makes everyone happy). And fondues only began to appear significantly as a main dish in many restaurants from 1980.

So it took just 30 years to go centre stage, for a recipe 210 years old!

Well then, just make sure you've got a fondue dish, look up the many fondue recipes on the net and invite some friends round to sample your good work. Baby, it's cold outside!

Salon SAVEURS 2009 – Paris, 4-7 December

It's come round again in the shadow of Christmas, the Salon Saveurs 2009 to whet your appetite and help you stock up for the festive season. Emphasis to be placed on regional gastronomic traditions. So if you are in Paris at that time, you might think of dropping in the Espace Champerret exhibition centre (metro: Porte de Champerret).

 

A fair season for mirabelles

Opinions were mixed a few weeks back about whether many mirabelles (or cherry plums) would be on sale in France this year. But I have been keeping my eyes open near home in the Côtes de Meuse in recent weeks. And yes, there were quite a lot around, as this photo shows.

For instance I went to Billy sous les Côtes, just north of the National Park of Lorraine, where they were all busy – trailers regularly filling up and lots of fruit on sale.

 

You can serve mirabelles of course in many ways – but I prefer just to eat them fresh from the trees, with red marks on their skin and so succulent within. Makes my mouth water, just to think about them.

 

But they don’t stay fresh for long. So you must hurry up in dealing with them. For example, bottling them in Kilner® jars (perhaps adding a tablespoon of sugar – just like my mother used to do). That way, come winter, and you can open them to enjoy by themselves, in a fruit salad, or warm – even laced with a touch of Mirabelle liqueur (in moderation, as always!)

 

But the charm of this Mirabelle season is just to go and stroll around the nearby villages and buy directly from the producers who open their barns to attract customers. And, if you know a little French, to pass the time of day and say how you find these cherry plums. Or indeed the other tasty fruit or vegetables they have on offer.

 

One address among many:

Jacquemin in Heudicourt, just in front of the Mairie (Town Hall) - Tel: 03 29 89 34 85.

A gourmand called Lorrain… from Lorraine !

A couple of weeks ago I met a passionate fellow countryman from Lorraine who has a surname to prove it – it's Lorrain … Daniel Lorrain

You should remember his name and discover his succulent creations whenever you are over this way. Mmmm!

Just head off up towards Verdun – to Haudainville in fact (Le Canta= at le Pont de Belrupt, not far from the A4 autoroute exit – tel 03 29 86 12 27). It's well worth the journey! Especially if you allow yourself, as I did, to be advised to try the day's "inspiration" of this chef.

He's a nice welcoming fellow with a varied experience and is a big truffle lover. He ended up happily landing into a saucepan in these parts. What else can I say? That you are advised to make a booking and you should go there as often as you can.

To tempt you, here's one of his irresistible Lorraine dishes (found on the "Cuisinerie Gourmande" website… using local Brie de Meaux cheese, of course …

Croustillant of Brie de Meaux with walnut oil roasted potatoes – a recipe of Daniel Lorrain, chef of "Le Canta" in Verdun-Haudainville (Meuse)

For 1 person

160g of semi-matured Brie de Meaux

½ potato cut in 4 per person

15 gram sugar

25 gram butter

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

7 tablespoons walnut oil

 

+ brown at a high temperature the potato slices, sugar and butter (keep it warm)

+ Peel rind from the Brie de Meaux cheese

+ Place the cheese on an oven dish and add the quarters of caramelised potatoes

+ Put in oven for 10 mins at 170°C

+ Prepare vinaigrette (oil, vinegar)

+ Decorate

 

Recommended wine: Gris de Toul (a famous local rosé)

Catering students take the big cheese test

A couple of weeksago I sat in on an interesting initiative: how to motivate young trainees in the catering business to highlight cheese as part of a meal. 3 catering teachers from the Lycée "le Gué à Tresmes", a senior school near Meaux thought up the idea of a competition for their students.

They were divided into 5 groups, each of which had to “focus” on a different subject and make a presentation to a jury of professionals from the hotel business, the cheese trade and the teaching staff:

Group 1: creation of a cheese platter by a "chef at home"

Group 2: creation of a cheese buffet for 100 people by a caterer

Group 3: creation of a cheese platter for a dinner party

Group 4: creation of a cheese platter for a lunch as part of a €12 menu

Group 5: creation of a complete menu consisting entirely of cheeses

…and they had a 6^th challenge to face: organising an evening based entirely on cheese… and as you can imagine we all sampled this last challenge in common!!

Well it was very difficult to compare the work of the various groups, as some subjects were more attractive than others… The members of the jury gave marks for:

-       the oral presentation

-       respecting the budgetary constraints

-       the originality and creativity of the proposals

-       the way in which they were produced and served

It was not easy to judge it all!

And what impressed me was the involvement of all the pupils taking part and also the originality of certain recipes. Well done, everyone!

Here are the presentations of the five groups:

The winners were… Group No. 1  - scoring the best for its presentation of a “little cheese house” – even if it could be improved, particularly the contrast between the cheese and its box. Do you see how the accompanying drinks were presented in little “units”?

Group No. 2  presented a varied buffet of diverse fondues, served with fruit and vegetables

Group No. 3  (dinner) chose a fondue of two different Bries (Meaux/Melun) featured in a homemade bread roll, accompanied by an interesting, very creative roulé with a fig preserve and a goat cheese “topping”

Group No. 4 had worked on their cheese presentation in the shape of a medallion

As for Group No. 5 , I’ve chosen to show you their dessert… a goat cheese ice cream, with its camembert coulis and “boat”, but there was also flaky pastry, roast pork, blinis and little "glasses" (in French, we say : verrines) with cheese creams etc...

The atmosphere could have been cut with a knife! There were tears, cries of joy … amazing enthusiasm and above all a lot of talent.

Ladies and gentlemen of the catering trade… just get into touch with the School to get the names of the students, they all deserve to be recruted!

And I might suggest that next year’s challenge be opened to students from other catering schools…

Some more pictures of the soirée showing the five “perspectives” of cheese tasting:

The “4 senses”: the “blind” discovery of cheeses both by themselves and accompanied

The fondues, including the ideas of Group No. 2, a stand warmly run by students kitted out in ski gear ;-))

Cheesy desserts, a sweet/savoury balancing act to sample as much as you can

All sorts of spice… and spicy mixtures and a fondue made with Mont-d’Or / gingerbread … an excellent idea!

Molecular cheeses! An attempt to do virtual oysters with Roquefort and a worthy try with a Sainte Maure de Touraine by replacing its straw by…a measure of Pineau de Charentes wine in a very  unusual presentation.

Well done, everyone!!

Looking back on the SIRHA event

Although attending professional salons can be a little exhausting, the SIRHA provides a marvellous occasion to “pick up” trends in the catering business and for me to plant ideas in the minds of the students of the hotel trade about the double life cheese has in cuisine.

-       a “raw” life: on a platter, but why not bring it out at aperitif time? Cheese hates water… so there is a case for serving cheese to promote sales of a new bottle of wine … white wine!

-       a “cooked” life: when the cheese can no longer avoid the rough treatment that comes from being in the fridge all night and on display all day, it can be used in the composition of various main or side dishes, but on one condition only: if you’re generous! A minimum 60% cheese content.

Cheese with almost everything – but not quiche !

You may have heard of the French saying that “a meal without cheese is like a woman with only one eye”. In Lorraine where I come from they would also say that a meal without a quiche or a tart is not what they would serve back home!

In this context I am saddened to read just now on the net that a quiche lorraine is typically French. Completely wrong ! It's from Lorraine. And my sadness increases particularly when I see just how many recipes in France generally contain an ingredient quite absent from our original local quiche recipe – that is to say grated gruyere cheese. So let me say it loud and clear……

PLEASE NO CHEESE IN YOUR QUICHE!

As you will see from the recipe of JP Coffe (in French), a fellow countryman born in Lunéville, it just needs:

 

+ shortcrust pastry

+ smoky bacon

+ fresh cream

+ eggs

+ pepper

Do you get it? NO cheese, but lots of smoked bacon, and eggs beaten up with fresh cream. But if you DO use cheese, then it just becomes a cheese quiche, but no longer belongs to us, people of Lorraine…

Does reading that in a specialist cheesy blog like this one surprise you? Well I’m proud of my own country!!

So you can do me a favour if you read some French and visit the www.lorrainedecoeur.com website.

Truffade : Always made with Cantal AOP (PDO)

Another seasonal recipe for your collection! This time from

Auvergne

…

For 4 people:

1kilo potatoes

250g of Cantal cheese

150g smoked bacon

Salt, pepper, garlic

Cut potatoes into very thin slices and fry them until brown in the pan you’ve already used for heating up the bacon. Add salt, pepper and simmer for about ½ hour…

Cut the Cantal into slices and mix them with the potatoes until the mix turns into long “strings”

Allow to finish browning. To get a golden truffade, turn it all upside down and cook it until brown on the other side.

Serve on a plate and tuck in immediately, with a green salad.

This is quite different from the dish aligot (a purée into which a fresh Tomme cheese from Laguiole is mixed) or from tartiflette (see preceding note).
And once again, it’s so much better with the original cheese, i.e. Cantal !

Tartiflette : Always made with Reblochon AOP (PDO)

This is the weather for making Tartiflette, don’t you think ? It’s just the winter dish you need to keep body and soul together…

In Haute Savoie where I used to live they called it “pela” – as it is made in a pan. As for tartifle – this is the word the French gave to the dish as a deformation of the Savoie patois word for potato.

 Anyway, here’s my recipe for Pela:

 For 4 people

-       one large Reblochon cheese

-       800g potatoes

-       200g smoked bacon pieces

-       2 big onions

-       Cooking oil or butter

-       Salt, Pepper 

 

Brown the smoked bacon pieces and the onions in a frying pan. Cut potatoes into cubes (peeled or not), fry them gently in the same pan adding oil or butter. Pour the contents into a gratin dish.

Cut the Reblochon in two horizontally, place the two halves on the potatoes, with the rind uppermost.

Put into oven for 20 mins at 180°. Serve with green salad.

So what’s there to eat in an “ice hotel”??

Around Christmas time, the media ran a story about a hotel cut out of a block of ice which had been opened for winter in Andorra.. You’ll find the Iglo Dorf at a spot called Granvalira. And you can spend the night in a room at -20°C (that’s the outside temperature, inside it’s between 0° and 2° - still not that hot!) costing from €99 a night, dinner included. Keep your socks on, of course…

 More details in French on the Dépêche du M idi or Pyrénées Découvertes websites

 And what do you eat there in the evening?

A fondue.

And not just any old fondue – a 50/50 served up in special earthenware dishes and described as “Le Gruyère AOC Switzerland”. I had to force myself not to laugh when listening to a journalist explaining how they were serving Savoie style fondue in the

Pyrenees

… a bit rich. Especially as the owner of the Iglo Dorf does not try too hard to hide his Swiss German origins.

 

Ah well! The weather does not look too bright tonight … so I think I’ll make myself a fondue!

A new gadget for the New Year?

I found this picture on the website of the Forges de Laguiole company, who make this ingenious professional tool with three functions:

- for cutting cheese, with its hollowed out blade, so the soft cheese does not stick to the tool

- for “probing” into a cheese to check on its quality, as all cheese specialists are accustomed to do

- for opening bottles, thanks to its built-in corkscrew.

Clever, isn’t it?  

More info – including stockists outside of France on its website    

 

Happy New Year – if you are still celebrating !

Radio silence on this website over most of the festive season has prevented me parleying to you en anglais about this astounding recipe, ideal for the latter part of any yuletide celebration. It’s a savoury Christmas log with cheese (for 6-8 persons), courtesy of Les Compagnons Fromagers and from Xavier Thuret, (for website, click here) which is not too difficult to make…

 

You’ll need

- 250g of Société Roquefort

- 150g of soft butter

- 2 pears in syrup

- 2 slices of dry ham

- 1 loaf of walnut bread

- Salt and ground pepper

 

Cut the crusts from the loaf and then cut into thin horizontal slices along its length.

Then in a salad dish mix with a fork the Roquefort with the soft butter. Do not use a blender as this will make the mix too liquid!

 

Place the bread slices on greaseproof paper and spread generously on them some of the Roquefort butter. Then place the slices of ham on top, spread more of the Roquefort butter (leaving a good quarter of the mix for the end) and cover them with the pears in syrup which you have previously cut into very thin slices.

 

Roll the preparation up very tightly in the greaseproof paper and put it into the refrigerator for a good hour, keeping the rest of the Roquefort mix at room temperature.

 

When your roll is fairly solid, take it out, cut off the ends and spread the remaining Roquefort mix over the log.

 

With a fork, trace horizontal lines along the surface of the log to make it look “like snow”.

Add festive decorations.

 

Xavier adds on his website that if the log is just for adults you can enhance it by adding to the bread a dose of good quality white port.

 

So if you’ve still got your tree all festive and your decorations still in place, celebrate one last time. Remember the Spanish make their celebrations last until Twelfth Night – the Feast of the Kings – or 6^th January, so you won’t be alone!

 

Mmmmmm!!!

Cheese and Jam

The Bonne Maman brand of jams – very popular here in Britain – have for some time been very active in promoting the idea of the use of jam in cooking.
My heart comes from Lorraine and so I react strongly when they talk of Mirabelle cherry plums and my memories of the Aveyron come flooding back when they mention “Roquefort”. So put the two together … and you get flaky pastry with Roquefort and Mirabelles
I wanted to try this recipe which is doing the rounds on the net and can be found on the website of the TV channel M6 femme en ville.

Nevertheless I cannot see the interest in putting this jam onto a cheese, which itself does not contain sugar. On the other hand, a jam heightened by a touch of vinegar, pepper, thyme or chutney … or simply fruit with no added sugar …so why not freeze-dried mirabelles?
But having said that … I am not being honest to myself!
I enjoy the trilogy of my friend Xavier Thuret - a thin slice of gingerbread - a thin slice of quince jelly - a thin slice of Roquefort

How can I justify my tirade against jam that’s too sugary?

Cheese + fragrances – courtesy Michèle Gay

 I heard about Michèle Gay on my car radio a few weeks ago and felt I should find out more about her activities. On the web I found about her a press release of "la Semaine du Goût" – Taste Week

It’s not easy to translate into English but here is the gist!
Michèle Gay – Culinary designer of fragrances (In French she is called a parfumeuse!) By putting tastes together, Michèle Gay creates recipe concepts in her kitchen. Her skill is based on the sensitivity of her “nose” which finds expression in countless combinations: savoury, sweet, balsamic and floral, woody and milky…

MICHELE GAY TO HOST A TASTE WORKSHOP IN THE PARIS STORE OF VILLEROY&BOCH IN THE RUE ROYALE. SO WHAT IS YOUR TRADE AS A CULINARY “Parfumeuse” ALL ABOUT?
It’s about “creating”, just as your nose does, compositions made up of plants, spices, resins, balms and flowers aimed at giving a specific character to a dish or a recipe or a single ingredient… In the same way as the “scent” of a house or someone’s skin, a culinary fragrance underlines its personality or tells a story.

HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA OF ASSOCIATING FRAGRANCES WITH DISHES? In exploring new possibilities I need to look out permanently for undiscovered tastes and flavours. After considering spices, tea, coffee and chocolate, I got interested in the scent of plants. First of all working with a classic combination, aromatic sugar, I was quickly taken by the idea of other additives (salts, oils, types of flour, honeys, dried fruit powder…) A great success with my audience having been convinced, imagination had won the day: the vocabulary, techniques and methods of the perfumery business had been transferred to the preparation of food.

WHAT FOODSTUFFS ARE YOUR CREATIVE HIGHLIGHTS? “Perfumed” sugar! Because it smoothes out flavours and aromas like nothing else; because it is widely used in cooking and pastry making; because its neutral taste is easily imperceptible. The concentration of aromas is such that a pinch of sugar is enough, and so it’s not a danger to health. “Perfumed” sugar adds magic to all types of cooking worldwide, makes cheeses wonderful, heightens marinades that go with vegetables, meat and fish. Gives texture to pastries…

IN YOUR OPINION, HOW IMPORTANT IS FRAGRANCE IN THE PERCEPTION OF TASTES? A fragrance introduces tastes, enhances and strengthens them. By remaining in the mouth, you remember it well. ARE THERE ANY “FASHIONABLE” FRAGRANCES? In the traditional world of fragrances, “green” notes symbolising renewal, nature and freshness are considered sophisticated, sensual, indeed subdued. Fashionable fragrances in cuisine for me are found to be in harmony with unusual aromas of amber, powder and woods (sandal, cedar, vetiver, tonka bean, benzoin, almond…)

HOW HAVE THOSE WHO HAVE TRIED YOUR CREATIONS REACTED TO THEM? Straightaway, the concept has attracted and convinced them. Nonetheless, in term of taste, you either like a fragrance or you don’t, but you can’t be indifferent. This subjective perception “I like / I dislike” leads to strong opinions being expressed around the table.

I particularly like this last sentence! We’re all different, so of course we do not perceive aromas in quite the same way. The main thing is to please. I remember a restaurant near Batignolles in Paris (who has since moved it seems to the rue des Entrepreneurs) which was called “Macis + Muscade” which mixed together fragrances and dishes to the great displeasure of passing trade but to the delight of their regulars…
So let’s not try to have prejudices in advance nor be set in our ways, but to go and discover the new “combinations” proposed by Michèle Gay and Gaëlle Deshoulières?? Because they most kindly gave me details about these things: during the recent “Semaine du Goût” (Taste Week) there was a tasting of fragrant sugars with a selection of different cheeses (cow, goat and sheep). The sugars used – Citrus Wood, Pomme d’Ambre, Vetiver – definitely add a new dimension….

Some addresses for gourmets ... in Brittany

It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to an association of restaurateurs in Brittany – “Les Crêperies Gourmandes”. Here is their website.

 

Discovering Lorraine: Southern Meurthe et Moselle

Heading South makes quite a difference (I’m about to fall out with my friends from Longwy) … the climate is much better ;-)

 

Let’s start with Vannes le Châtel – known throughout the region since the setting up of a manufacturing unit of Daum (and its crystal from the Compagnie Française de Cristal)

 

The workshop is at present under complete reconstruction – it seems people no longer buy crystal glasses as gifts as they don’t go into the dishwasher! What a pity! … But you can always go window-shopping in the “glass platform” shop which is a training centre for the glassmaking trade: ID verre. Artists regularly come for a refresher in this village of some 500 souls.

You’ll find there jewellery, table settings (including one in the shape of mirabelles), decorative objects (“animal” clocks … in the shape of cows, also vases etc…)

 

Once you have had your eyes full of these delights, it’s the turn of your taste buds – head for Colombey les Belles (no connection with Colombey-les-deux-Eglises, resting place of Charles de Gaulle) – and if you stop off at the Boulanger bakery (with that surname meaning “baker”, he just had to ply this trade), you will leave a happy person.

Their speciality is a mirabelle “kouglor”.

Yes indeed you’ll be hooked.

 

Are you thirsty now? From there it is very easy to pop along to Bulligny and visit Michel Vosgien at 24 rue St Vincent (tel: 03 83 62 50 55) – easy to find in the main street of Bulligny. You’ll have to sample (in moderation!) its Gris de Toul, both white and red, its sparkling wine and its “Mirabelle de Lorraine” brandy. You’re heading into the Côtes du Toul region… for its AOC wines…

 

Now make your way back to Blénod-lès-Toul, with its 16^th century fortified Renaissance church, as well as its wine growers, then to Toul, episcopal town of Lorraine (with Metz and Verdun - in fact the bishop in residence in Nancy is called the “bishop of Nancy-Toul”) and its cathedral dating back to 1221 (this photo comes from the internet site of the Toul Tourism Office). Toul is also a fortified town you can visit on foot.

 

25 km to the East is Nancy – which I will not describe here – just allow yourself at least two days, the time you’ll need to see all the buildings of the Nancy

School

(wiki in French only)

, the Musée des Beaux-Arts and its Daum collection, the Ducal Palace, etc.... It deserves a full description from me about it all. But today I’ll just suggest a gastronomic stop to you: the Maison Lalonde, confectioner since 1850, to be found at 59 rue St Dizier, where you can treat yourself to its bergamots (IGP): for this house is where this typical Nancy speciality originated, based on sugar and bergamot essence.

 

However their other specialities include – and it’s thanks to you that I’ve learned of one that was created in 1936 – “craquelines”: marzipans with various flavours dipped into caramelised sugar. Mmmm!

For macaroons, I go to the soeurs Macarons at 21 rue Gambetta.

 

Next let’s head for St Nicolas de Port and its basilica – it’s an important city in the history of Lorraine, where you can also visit the not less famous Brewery museum (these photos come from the website of the town of St Nicolas), then go by Vézelise (another town with a brewery history) and you‘ll finish your trip in the midst of mirabelle bushes at Sion-Vaudemont. A place of pilgrimage with a column in memory of Maurice Barrès, famous writer and nationalist. There are two panoramic viewpoints over South Lorraine and the Vosges close by.

 

Last but not least: before returning to where you are staying (places not difficult to find), do make a stop at Thorey-Lyautey, where is to be found the property of Maréchal Lyautey , famous marshal and minister born in Nancy in 1854, containing his Moroccan salon and a scouting museum.

 

Have a good trip and see you soon on the roads of Lorraine !

Happy holidays – with this cheesy fishy starter

Your humble servant – the translator – wishes you happy holidays with a simple summery dish (for 4):

Heat the juice of a lemon, dissolve half a chicken stock cube in it and pour over 400g of shelled prawns.

Take 4 large radishes and cut them into “roses”, making a series of vertical cuts round their edges to 3/4 way down.

Mix together 100ml tomato sauce, 60ml double cream, 30ml chopped onions, a splash of Worcester sauce and 80g of crumbled blue cheese.

Arrange 8 small lettuce leaves around 4 old fashioned champagne or wide open cocktail glasses.

Mix prawns with the blue cheese / tomato sauce dressing and place on lettuce.

Sprinkle finely chopped parsley on top and add radish roses.

 

Bon appétit! – or, as the English might say : “Eat it while it’s hot!”

Now’s the season for redcurrants

So what do you do with your currants? For me, it’s mostly making jelly and, solely for redcurrants, fruit salad and enjoying other “garden wanderings” as my grandfather used to say…meaning to have your dessert by going around the garden and helping yourself!

For those who do not know how to make currant jelly – it’s a fruit that turns into jelly almost without heating the juice – you have 3 solutions:

-       You crush your currants with a press: easier to do that twisting them in a piece of muslin like our grandmothers.

-        You use a superb triple-decker machine: water below, fruit up top and it ends up bursting open under the pressure of the steam, the juice collecting in the middle, on top of the sieve. Then you add the same quantity of sugar as the juice and cook for 5-15 minutes, until the moment when a blob of juice you drop on to a plate is no longer runny but firm.

 

But in

Lorraine

and to be exact in Bar le Duc, we have a special recipe:
seedless redcurrants “à la goose feather”…

This tradition goes back to 1344; well that’s the date of the first recorded references to this subject… Why is this technique of such interest? By removing 7 pips per currant (on average) with a feather, you keep the fruit almost intact, allowing you to cook it whole, retaining in this way both its “bite” and its taste. In fact with this recipe you don’t mix sugar with the juice, but you begin by making a very pale syrup in which you almost “conserve” the redcurrants rather than cook them.

You can see the entire berries clearly inside the glass container. 

A luxury product – especially since you really need an expert hand to extract the pips without tearing open the skin!

Two websites you should immediately consult:

-       A Lorraine site in Bar, www.groseille.com where you can buy this local marvel on line.

-       The Redcurrant brotherhood of Bar, http://confiture.groseille.free.fr where they explain simply and clearly how to prepare it.

See you there next summer?

Bread and cheese … from J L Poujauran

Is gluttony really a cardinal sin? Well yes, but not the grilled hazelnut and raisin loaves from Jean-Luc Poujaran!!

Shame on me that I had never heard of this baker who does not sell retail (or hasn’t since 2003) but just deals with catering professionals or wholesale. So you’d need to club together to give him an order for these marvellous loaves which go together a treat with Bleu des Causses cheese. Top quality grilled hazelnuts and raisins that melt in the mouth just as they should do, and with a very tasty dough inside a good crispy crust.

You can trace the steps of this expert from S.W. France on paris-bistro.com

I’ve not had the opportunity to meet him, only to collect an order in his den which is filled with extraordinary appetising smells. And to breathe in deeply…while I was conversing.

And Good Lord, I even almost did without my lunchtime cheese as the bread by itself was so good!

Cafés de Pays

Here’s one more sign to add to my collection! I took this photo the other day in Bourdeilles in the

Dordogne

just across from its magnificent 13^th century castle.

“Café de Pays” is a collective name given to cafés which respect a specific code of practice including a genuine tourist welcome as well as the inclusion in their menu of many regional products. The managers of these Cafés de Pays undertake to enhance our local gastronomic and cultural heritage which is the greatest asset of our countryside, as the Aquitaine website spells out (in French).

I had already heard of the National Federation of “Bistrots de Pays” based in Forcalquier whose charter seems to me very similar and whose members are to be found in the east of France whereas the Cafés du Pays are in the west (Brittany, Aquitaine…)

In any case, these are interesting developments as they draw attention to local products and help those villages, which are sometimes deserted in the off-season, to gain a living.

So where do you prefer to get your macaroons from?

Oh! This is a much debated subject for us, which often crops up when you are together with people from the Lorraine, Auvergne or the Basque Country. In fact it happened to me just a short while ago.

My reply was – of course – those from Nancy, biased as I am… (the article in  Wikipediain fact confirms this partisan attitude) and then I made the honest comment that if ever you are in the Auvergne, you absolutely must stop in Massiac (easy to find, it’s a charming town to stop off in below the A74 autoroute between Clermont Ferrand and the Millau viaduct). And just go to Delos on the main square. But this shop is only open in the morning, so in the afternoon you need to ask your way to the “head office” in a little back street not far away. Just remember the name:  Delos

Massiac macaroons are smaller than those from Nancy and theirs are in fact two small macaroons with cream in between and with hazelnut. All to melt in your mouth. A real feast.You can find their recipe on a French/English culinary blog from Bourg en Bresse, sundaylunchbourg.

Those from Nancy are large and can’t be beaten. What’s so special about them is their meringue, both crunchy and – how can I say it – slightly runny, sticky. I don’t find this a negative but the meringue has to be – at the same time – crunchy, soft and a little elastic. I hope I make myself understood. The overall impression should be as a meringue that’s just right?
 

“The” point of reference for macaroons in  Nancy is the house of the “Soeurs Macarons”. An unusual name, isn’t it? To know its origin, go to their website : it comes from a religious foundation, as it was nuns who founded this enterprise in 1792, after the dissolution of their convent.

Another town in Lorraine claims a macaroon tradition going back to only 1854. This is Boulay in the Moselle  department. (see their website) if you read french

But I have a Basque friend who swears only by macaroons from St Jean de Luz. The problem is she always forgets to bring me some. So I’ve been unable to involve her in a comparative taste testing session and show her that the Lorraine version is different…and better !

Honour where honour’s due, you can find mention of macaroons from maison Adam, dating from as far back as 1660.

But then my research has led me to discover other towns making macaroons as specialities … Amiens (from the 16^th century), Montmorillon in the Vienne department for instance and Paris of course with macaroons by Ladurée and those by J P Hermé for example.

The website of the French publisher “Mercure de France” gives rather a restricted list of the major macaroon brands in France, with an invariable recipe based on egg whites and sugar to which are added almonds or hazelnuts, pistachio or … many other things. They come in all sorts these days. And I’ll tell you a secret: those from Picard are full of flavour, in particular those with salted caramel!! Leave them to thaw for a few hours before eating them.

However if you’d like to make them yourself, there are many recipe books in bookshops or on the net – they’ve been a topical subject in recent years!

And you can even take part in a competition like “le meilleur macaron de Paris” (the best macaroon in Paris) So pinafores on! And I’ll willingly serve as a guinea-pig / or a member of the jury…

Teurgoule from Normandy

I’m being a little unfaithful here to my native Lorraine but I give you here a typical recipe from where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake (well not really because this is from Lower Normandy (Basse Normandie) and not Upper Normandy!)

;-)

But when you’re fond of it and it’s made with raw full-cream milk… and if you’re a gourmand you won’t be able to resist the temptation to eat it and above all to bring it back with you from Normandy.

The photo below was taken in Cambremer a couple of weeks ago of the stand of Odile and Jean-Marie GASSON from the Les Pâtis farm in Mery-Corbon. They’ve got a website www.fermedespatis.com and would welcome you with pleasure on any of your future trips to Normandy!

Yum! Yum! It’s not like the rice puddings you got in your childhood, which I used to HATE! But rice that has literally melted into milk and cinnamon with sugar, salt and perhaps a little vanilla… Its secret: cooking it for a long, long time and very, very slowly…

 

Here’s the recipe given on the Confrérie de la Teurgoule et Fallue de Normandie website :

 

Teurgoule : Rice with Normandy milk

Preparation : 10 minutes   Cooking time : 9 hours

2 litres raw full-cream milk
150g round rice
200g white powdered sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of powdered cinnamon

Put rice in bottom of an earthenware dish of 2 litres capacity.
Add powdered sugar, salt and cinnamon and whip together.
Pour milk gently so that the rice remains right at the bottom of the dish.
Place in a very hot oven (260°C) then lower to 110° after one hour.
After 2 hours’ cooking, lower the temperature further to 50° and leave to cook for a further 5-6 hours.

But Teurgoule recipes there are hundreds! Just for the pleasure, look at the website of a nice young Normandy woman, Anna D. tropgourmande.canalblog.com

But where did Teurgoule come from?

Pirates from Normandy regularly brought back these two ingredients from their sea battles when they pillaged Spanish vessels. Thus the peasants would mix in a pot, rice, cinnamon and good raw Normandy milk … and certainly at the time also honey rather than sugar (or nothing at all!) and then allow the pot to cook all night in the hearth.

The women also used to take advantage of the end of baking their bread by putting their teurgoule to cook in the ovens as they cooled down.

And why “Teurgoule”? Two origins are suggested:
1. The strange taste of cinnamon without sugar made the Normans pull a long face
2. the greedy ones did not allow the pot to cool before enjoying the contents and thus burnt their tongue and throats..

Just try and pronounce it. You’ll pull a nasty face when you do so!

But be careful not to get hooked on this delicacy from the Pays d’Auge!

Spotlight on Spain …and its hams

Spain is known for its cheeses (23 cheeses with protected denominations – you can check out their definition on the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture website, the MAPA by typing in “quesos”)
Goat cheese, ewe, cow, and even mixtures of 2 or 3 milks, Spain stands today at 6^th position in Europe for cheese manufacture.

Hats off!

And you know of course of that famous Spanish ham.
But this description is a little general! You mustn’t confuse “jamon Iberico” and “jamon Serrano”.

SERRANO comes from the word “sierra” and simply means ham from the mountains. It’s an STG (Guaranteed Traditional Speciality) which is not strictly speaking a quality symbol but simply protects a recipe or a production process for this raw ham. Thus no prescription of a breed of animals, or of an origin, or of a production area – unless you just talk about “Spain”.

Nevertheless, there are two Serrano hams protected by European quality symbols:

 

Jamon de Teruel AOP from a mountainous zone (>800m altitude) in that province to the east of Madrid, 12 months maturation.

-          Jamon de Trevelez IGP from one of the highest villages in Spain, situated in the national park of the Sierra Nevada, and whose drying sheds are to be found at more than 1200m altitude.

IBERICO means that the ham has had to come from Iberian pigs, the famous “pata negra” breed, because of their black feet.

For Iberico ham, the pigs are traditionally raised in the open, and fattened naturally with acorns over the period known as “montanera” (September to February) in the “dehesa”, a marvellous eco-system where sessile, cork and holm oaks abound.

These pigs, direct descendants of boars, have one particularity: they are able to assimilate the fat of the acorns which filters deep down into their muscles, thanks to the physical exercise that they get by grazing in the pastures.

There are three categories of Iberian ham:

•   “bellota” (bellota = acorn): at the end of the montanera period when there are no longer acorns on the ground. The pigs have already put on weight.

• “recebo”: when there are insufficient acorns to be had and the fattening is finished off by using cereals.

• “cebo” for pigs who have never eaten acorns

 And there are 4 PDOs which have particular constraints to give hams that are unbeatable:

Jamon de Huelva: 31 communes in the province of Huelva, all situated in mountainous areas, including the famous village of Jabugo

Jamon Dehesa de Extremadura:  85 communes in the provinces of Caceres and Badajoz (Andalusia)

 
Jamon Guiluejo : 77 communes in Salamanca province.

 
Jamon Valle de los Pedroches : 26 communes in the Cordoba region, the latest to be recognised – in 2006.

 
Do I in fact need to point out to you that the price of an PDO Iberico ham of the “bellota” variety can push up towards €150-200 a kilo?!?

To know a little more, there are two very informative websites of two Spanish ham merchants:
www.ocusporcus.com
www.lopezortega.eu

And to go with these… I suggest a white Spanish wine… and there are some excellent ones, to be drunk in moderation, as these are sunny wines! I’ve a soft spot for the 2007 Rueda Marqués de Riscal, very floral, which I bought at Cap Hispania 23 rue Jouffroy, Paris 17e – THE specialist of Spanish products.

A little aside about the Rueda appellation: 36 million bottles in 2007 – 52% is Rueda (composition = 50% Verdejo + 50% other vines – Vioja, Palomino, Sauvignon), 42% Rueda Verdejo (100% Verdejo).

The zone covers 72 communes in the province of Vallalolid (where you’ll find the village of Rueda) and Salamanca, some 170 km NW of Madrid. It gained its PDO (DO) in 1980.

Or try…Chez Cap Hispania also, a cider from the Asturias, from Villaviciosa to be precise by the sea… El Gaitero the bagpipe player… a very fruity cider, not too sweet, nicely sparkling…which goes a treat with a soft cheese with a mouldy rind.

La grande Dame au cœur Tendre 2008

On April 10, as holder for the year 2007, I handed over the title of “Grand Dame of the Tender Heart of the Year” – which is awarded by the Syndicat of Fourme d’Ambert AOC cheese - to this year’s nominee.

To another great lady of course.

And I say it in all sincerity as I have had the pleasure of meeting her and of discovering her love of the “terroir” (the “land”), of the men and women who live there and who keep alive an everyday gastronomic tradition.

This year’s laureate is Odile MATTEI, a regional TV journalist from the Rhône-Alpes Auvergne region who has a regular food programme.

Bravo Odile!!

And by the way, the Syndicate has just published a collection of new recipes - based on their cheeses - with very creative names.

• Olé olé – tapas with bananas and Fourme d’Ambert
• Route to India – gamba curry with Fourme d’Ambert
• Rising Sun – spring roll with Fourme d’Ambert
• Flavoursome Savana – yam and Fourme d’Ambert

• Arctic Circle – mixed green salad, Russian salmon and Fourme d’Ambert

 

Cooking with cheese, from the chef Jean-Charles Karmann

A deliciously instructive encounter! I’ve just had the pleasure of being next to Jean-Charles Karmann for two days at the SIREST catering exhibition in Paris

This great chef from St Laurent Gastronomie, winner of many competitions, including “the best young cuisinier of France "some years back, is a fan of mechanical sports…and of cheese.

He’s created many cheese-based recipes. In the photo above you can see him putting the final touches to a “Basque sushi”: Bayonne ham, black cherry jam, Ossau-Iraty AOC ewe’s milk cheese from the Basque country, Espelette pimento – another Basque speciality - and I won’t tell you the last ingredient, so that you can just ask him about it yourself!

I also sampled his “Return from the wine harvest” Pélardon panacotta - a dessert made of goat cheese from the Cevennes, pine nuts, grapes, a “Norman survival kit” (camembert, apple, calvados… all in a sort of toothpaste tube –see photo), a “tout feu, tout flamme” (fire and flame) (brochettes of peppery sheep cheese), a “Northerner’s fog” (with Maroilles cheese), a beetroot carpaccio with little smoked sheep delights (fresh sheep’s cheese smoked using an amazing implement – a tobacco pipe - see photo), not forgetting a new-style Karmann-special tartiflette, with “vitelotte” (blue) potato puree and melted Reblochon cheese….

Yummie – as bon viveurs would say

He has had two books cheese recipes published by Minerva (in Frenc) and I wait impatiently his new book due out this month !

Where to eat good cheese in Paris 11th

                          MELAC
42 rue Léon Frot
75011 Paris

Reservations : 01 43 70 59 27
Website : www.melac.fr (in english)

In the East of Paris, just above Place de la Nation, near Charonne metro station, you’ll find a vine… and its owner, a most colourful character: Jacques MELAC, who comes from the Aveyron in the deep South of the Massif Central, like a good number of other Parisian restaurateurs – from Bozouls to be precise, a village well known for its geological “hole”, called “le Trou de Bozouls”.

He’s one of my friends from down there, a producer of Cantal and other Auvergne PDO cheeses, who has shown me around his slightly old-fashioned Paris establishment, as well as the vine on its façade.

I do advise you to go there, for the quality of the regional dishes to be served up to you there (accompanied of course by “aligot” – potato mixed with tomme cheese) as well as for the patron’s verve in taking you through different personally chosen bottles, which explains his nickname: the “Bacchus of Charonne”. He has a personal reserve of Corbières: “Le Domaine des Trois Filles” (3 daughters'domaine).

In fact the “Bacchus de Charonne” is the name of a project which Jacques has set his heart on: to install on the façade of his restaurant a Bacchus clockwork mechanism which would come into life several times a day. They are already making a collection for it!

A date you must not miss: 13^th September 2008 for the next vendange of the front of the restaurant … High point of the 70 years’ celebration of this wine bar, created by Pierre Melac in 1938 at the sign of “The Palace of Good Wine”

Did you know there are some “patrons” of bistros who, when they are closed, put up a sign saying “Bistros de Garde” – a list – just like that of emergency doctors - of the ones which are open on that particular day? Something that’s just typical of Jacques Mélac!!

Terroir: how do you translate that in English??

For us French, when awarding an PDO (= a label guaranteeing an origin), the notion of “terroir” is an essential element, but can you translate it into English? The dictionary offers “soil” “land” or “countryside” but that does not go far enough. 

In fact PDOs incorporating this concept were protected in Brussels by a European regulation on 14 July 1992 – our National Day – Cocorico!  As we French would say. 

Well the latest Vitisphere newsletter informs me that there is a country where this concept does in fact exist in the native tongue – and a country far removed from our world of AOCs. Gildas L’Hostis, a French sommelier living in Australiaexplained the fact in the magazine of the Union of French Sommeliers:

The word “terroir” does not exist in English. This notion which is truly so French, embracing suitability of the soil, of the climate (or microclimate) and of  local winegrowing practices is something indelibly linked to our culture.

But if this word does not have an equivalent in English, it does exist in the aboriginal tongue. “Pangkarra” is a concept embracing climate, soil and the relationship between rain and soil. The “connection” which different aboriginal communities have with nature is fundamental. Moreover it is doubtless more correct to refer to the notion of “unification” rather than relationship. And there are some Australian wine producers today who are trying to apply this philosophy to their own wine production.

Wow! The aboriginal word does not seem to translate exactly the notion of “terroir”, as no reference is made to the practice of tending the crops (terroir is the complex interaction between man, a crop and a piece of countryside) And yet…the fusion with nature which G. Hostis talks about translates into a certain vision of how man exploits his environment. In other words, distinctive and ancestral practices. That’s in truth what a terroir is.

So let’s start looking at Australian products with a different eye, and give recognition to those fighting for the respect of this notion of terroir, such as for example those fighting for the specific conditions of the Coonawarra (cabernet sauvignon vines, not far from Adelaide, 59 meters in altitude), who have succeeded in protecting their name following a bitter battle over more than 8 years (see website winediva.com) .
Another interesting site: that of the Coonawarra Vignerons – is there an English word for “vignerons”?

Irresistible! The magical world of Carl Warner

You can spend mouth-watering hours gazing at the parmesans and other Italian cheeses captured by the London photographer Carl Warner. Look at his site www.carlwarner.com and the slide show on Telechargementpaysages.ppt. Mmmm!

Cheese restaurant in Caen (Normandy)

Put to the test… and approved ;-)

1) for its décor…here you are some pictures to amuse you!

2) for its menu: an impressive collection of crusty delights, cheese omelettes, salads, “tartiflettes”, fondues and co with a variety of cheeses. Not forgetting: a panful of St Jacques scallops à l’Abondance!

3) for the quality to be found in every dish…there I had a Tartiflette normande – in short a mini-camembert with cider, truly a feast.

4) for the friendliness of the patron: Jérome Epinette, a really big cheese when it comes to cheese

So don’t miss
Maitre Corbeau, la cuisine au fromage
8, rue Buquet 14000 Caen tel : 02 31 93 93 00 (not far from the château)

More to be found on his website.

Sugared almonds only from Verdun?!

There aren’t that many almond trees in Lorraine where Verun is situated So why is there a tradition of sugared almonds in Verdun, near the Belgian border ?

A little bit of history:
The Crusaders returned to France with their bags full of almonds, but also sugar cane, especially. In 1220 an apothecary in the good town of Verdun had the idea – in order to preserve almonds and to be able to transport them – to surround them with this famous sugar as well as honey, and then to harden them, thereby creating a sweet that cleans the breath and helps digestion… these famous bonbons were called “Épices de Chambres” and were sold in particular to pregnant women. The sweetmeats were served at the end of the meal, following a glass of liqueur, in gold or silver containers called “drageoirs”.

At first made in a rough shape, by the start of the 17^th century they had become smooth, following the shape of the nut.

The French call them dragées – but what is the origin of the word? Perhaps from ”tragêma” - the Greek for “sweetmeat” - or from “diagragum”, a medieval sweet made from the sap of a tree from Asia Minor? Or could the word be because the Roman confectioner, Julius Dragatus, who dropped an almond into a jar of honey? In any case they existed around the Mediterranean a long time before they were “invented” in Verdun!

But by 1500 the reputation of Verdun sugared almonds had spread across Europe and it is said that Catherine de Medicis was largely responsible for this.
In 1777, a royal edict forbade apothecaries to trade in this very profitable product and so the business was naturally taken over by confectioners.

How to recognise a good sugared almond?
- a fine layer of sugar and a good quality almond, of course.
Two exceptional sources: Italy and Spain. And right at the very foot of italy, there’s a magical region for it: Avola.

A well-known brand: BRAQUIER – of course, a confectioner established in Verdun since 1783 You can liven up your family meals with one of their chocolate “shells”, full of sugared almonds and other little treats.
A dynamic sweet then to end a feast … success guaranteed!

Did you know?
The little bags of sugared almonds, traditionally given out at a French wedding, must contain 5 dragées:
-one for health
-one for prosperity
-one for a long (common) life
-one for fertility
and
-one for happiness;

Check out the website: “net envies de marriages”.(in French, of course)

My special Madeleine…

Firstly it comes from Commercy.
Pure butter.
According to the traditional recipe, favoured in the court of Stanislas, Duke of Lorraine in his good town of Commercy, where he stayed regularly while hunting, which was born the day his pastry cook had stormed off, slamming the door: flour, butter, sugar, eggs, lemon or orange-flower essence – these are the indispensible ingredients in the making of a Madeleine (named after the servant-girl who prepared this cake when she had to replace suddenly the famous pastry cook!!)

Originally madeleines were baked in scallop shells, the origin of their so-called “little pastry shell so richly sensuous inside its strict pleating”, as Marcel Proust described it…. A tip when serving madeleines: warm them for a few seconds in the microwave in their individual wrappings before tasting them, that way you’ll get close to the taste they had when just leaving the oven… 

Do make a stop in Commercy: there are two businesses continuing with the Meuse tradition
- “La Boîte à Madeleines” from the house of Zins, as you enter the town, with a tour for you to see how they are made.
- Grojean on the Place de la Mairie, at the sign of “the Lorraine Bell”, where since 2007 they have a projection room showing a pleasant short film about Lorraine, the story of the Madeleine as told to children and pictures of the products being made in a bakery on the outskirts of town, and in addition a tea room where you can buy a hot drink (or a cold one depending on the weather), accompanied by …a freshly cooked Madeleine! 

Worth discovering too are Madeleine type specialties, with Mirabelle pieces inside. Or even flavoured with bergamot essence. A feast for natives of Lorraine, like myself ! 

Also worthwhile in this region: an “Art Nouveau” tour looking at quite splendid buildings. Go into the website of the Office de Tourisme of Commercy.

Gastronomy from Lorraine: truffles

In the course of some professional gatherings, I’ve bumped into Jacky Haim, Grand Master of the Confederation of Lorraine Truffles and President of the Academy of Confederations of Truffles of France.
J. Haim is from the 5^th generation of restaurateurs in Houdelaincourt in the south of the department of the Meuse. The yellow painted front of the Auberge du Père Louis (3 knives and forks in the Michelin) is striking … and I encourage you to step inside. The “black diamond”, as we call the truffle, has pride of place there…Does that surprise you? Did you think the truffle was only prevalent in the South of France? From Luxembourg to Burgundy, the soil is fertile. And in the Meuse you find mesentericum truffles (also called Meuse truffles) or incinatum (those from Lorraine and especially Burgundy). Certainly not to be harvested before September / October… I advise you to visit a website of a fanatic: www.truffiere.org running a truffle “farm” below the Côtes de Meuse. You’ll learn all about a truffle, its life cycle, how to recognise a “truffle tree” (I suppose you should not call it that!)

From it I learnt that one should be generous about the quantity of a truffle that you serve in order to appreciate its taste (around 20-30%... and not the 1% which is often served…), that you should let a truffle infuse for 24-48 hours rather than cooking them for too long and that each variety has its own precise date for use and has a distinctive taste (which seems logical). 

So just let’s enjoy listening to those quaint names of tuber aestinum, incinatum, mesentericum, mascoporum, magnatum, melanosporum, brumale, indicum, borchii… and let’s sample them!! And don’t let’s hold back from visiting Houdelaincourt, where Jacky Haim will welcome you with his straight talking. And even put you up. So? Be quick, look into the “ID week-end”(in English) of the Regional Committee of Tourism of Lorraine website!

And for more info about the future of truffles in France   : there’s an article on the website Agrisalon du 23 janvier .(in French)

Shoulds and shouldn’ts

Do this, don’t do that!
How often have I heard these diktats dished out by “experts” in gastronomy.
So now, I’m taking a stand: Stop!

We all react differently: each one of us has a physiological reaction to tastes, our own individual olfactory neurones and their 358 genes, our upbringing (i.e. the way we have been brought up as far as diet is concerned), our own taste experience… and all the very varied things we have learnt along the way!

So for pity’s sake, no hard and fast rules.
If I advise certain drinks with certain cheeses, this is only advice, not gospel truth.

I’d even go further: tell me what you like and I’ll tell you something about yourself…if you like a very tannic red wine with a Brie or a very young Camembert, it’s clear you are less sensitive to metallic tastes than most people.

And that’s not a problem!But always keep one thing in mind: putting wine and cheese together should be an enjoyable experience.
So over to you.
But also keeping in mind those who are tasting it with you.
Don’t be selfish and don’t try to impose your taste on others… try to look for a consensus.

If you are serving very tannic wines, choose very mature cheeses and avoid brutal “mixtures” with penicillium, whether it’s “candidum” (a too thick white rind on a camembert, for example, where the red ferments have not had time to emerge on the surface of the cheese) or “glaucum” or “roqueforti” (which are inside some cheeses). Your guests don’t have to like a metallic taste ;-)

And from another angle : what if you have planned a plate of 5 different cheeses?  A dry white wine or a red with very low tannins (Beaujolais, Alsace,Burgundy, Loire valley…) won’t have your guests grinding their teeth. But do not forget also that you must avoid pairing up a wine that’s too subtle with a cheese that’s too strong. It’s a never-ending puzzle!

Cheesy Wednesdays at the Urban Caffè (Paris 8)

Some of you have asked me from time to time if there still exist any “cheese” restaurants in

Paris

. With menus based solely on cheese, less and less. But a few remain.

But let’s just ponder on their main problem: yes, they have faithful clients but they don’t come regularly – far from it! And let’s be honest with ourselves… would one go several times a week, or say, a month, to a place only serving cheese? The answer is “no”.

Which is the reason why the little “Fromages and Affinités” restaurant at 58 rue des Mathurins ended up closing its doors. But a new restaurant has now taken over there since May '07: “Urban Caffè”, open from 7a.m. to 7 p.m. in this business district, between the Boulevard Malesherbes and the Square Louis XVI. The new “patron”, Laurent Olivier has not of course picked up the “cheese restaurant” concept, but on Wednesdays he does serve up one of the “star” dishes of his predecessor: the “cheese trio” made of

- boiled egg with Roquefort “soldiers”

- gnocchi with Moulin de Carel PDO camembert

- caramelised potato chunks with honey and farmyard Saint Nectaire

A little sample to awaken your taste buds! And all accompanied with cleverly chosen drinks, a small collection which is changed regularly.. So, if you are shopping on Boulevard Hausmann and "les grands magasins" (= Printemps, Galeries Lafayette), carry on westwards for a bit and drop in at least for a coffee accompanied by maple syrup Canadian chocolates or have a bite to build up your strength ! You'll be back there on a Wednesday lunchtime, I bet .... 

Alsacian Charcuterie

Do you feel like a raclette tonight? Cyrille Lohro, my cheese friend from Strasbourg, suggests to me that I make it go with some Alsatian charcuterie, of course!

And not any old charcuterie… go along to PORCUS the Alsacian specialist who knows how to choose his pork-based meat products. And don’t say his address is only reserved for people from Starsbourg …

You’ll find Porcus

- in Neuilly – Carreau de Neuilly, 108 avenue Charles de Gaulle

- in Bordeaux – Mérignac Soleil shopping centre

- in Clermont Ferrand – Marché St Pierre

- in Nantes – la Belle Alsacienne, 3bis allée Flesselles

- and of course in Strasbourg, 6 place du temple Neuf