May 1, 2007
Beurre de Brebis
[Ewe's Milk Butter]
Every once in a while, life presents the gourmand with a scintillating novelty that tickles his curiosity with such insistence that he is left with the willpower of a charmed snake. So when I read about ewe's milk butter in ELLE a couple of weeks ago (you would do well to keep an eye on those Vie Privée/Cuisine pages at the end of the magazine, they're full of inspired ideas), it was all I could do not to run out and buy so...
"Beurre de Brebis" continues »
May 22, 2006
Parmesan by the Hunk
Earlier this year, I received an email from an Italian blogger named Massimo, who announced to me that C&Z had been voted Best Non-Italian Food Blog in the awards he'd been hosting on his website, Peperosso* -- I'm sure that having an Italian word in the name of my blog helped. And since Massimo puts his mangoes where his mouth is (Lost, season 2:episode 17), there was a prize for each of the winners, and the prize was a 100€ gift certific...
"Parmesan by the Hunk" continues »
November 11, 2005
Ossau-Iraty
When I was a wee little girl I was sent to colonies de vacances (the French equivalent of summer camp, except it can be at any season) once or twice a year during school breaks. Both my parents worked and us kids had way more vacations than they did, so partir en colo was a good way for us to breathe fresh air and make new friends instead of staying in the city. To be truthful I didn't like it that much -- I was always a bit of an individualist...
October 26, 2005
Fondue Savoyarde chez nos Voisins
[This is the republication of a post originally featured in October of 2003.]
[Cheese Fondue at our Neighbors']
We are lucky enough to be very good friends with our next-door neighbors: Stéphan and Patricia live on our floor, in the apartment to the right of ours, and we met on the night of our housewarming party. We had posted a note to apologize in advance for the noise and music, and to invite everybody over for a drink. We were very happy...
"Fondue Savoyarde chez nos Voisins" continues »
September 28, 2005
Cheese Course
I have a new piece appearing today on NPR's weekly Kitchen Window column: this one is all about putting together a cheese platter, how to serve it and what to enjoy it with.
And on the picture above, you will recognize -- from left to right -- an ash-coated goat cheese from the Deux-Sèvres, a Pont-l'Evêque from Normandy, and a Perail des Cabasses, a sheep's milk cheese from Aveyron.
(Previous contributions to Kitchen Window:
- Fresh Herb Muff...
August 8, 2005
(Not So) Chique
One often hears complaints about how things aren't the way they used to be, how everything is going downhill fast, how nothing works the way it should and nobody cares anyway, but back in the days, boy, <insert whatever was so great back then>.
I am wary of this kind of statement, not only because hindsight is subjective -- ten years from now those same people will surely miss what they have today -- but also because it's a negative att...
August 3, 2005
Ricotta Maison
[Homemade Ricotta]
The minute I read Heidi's post about making your own ricotta and her comment that "this ricotta tastes and smells like the milk it is made from so use the best and freshest dairy you can find", I instantly thought what a perfect use it would be for the bottle of raw milk that Christoph and Susanne gave me for my birthday as part of their superb farm-fresh gift basket.
I set to work in late afternoon the next day, slightly i...
September 27, 2004
Les Petites Horreurs de Cécile
Cécile's Little Horrors. What a fantastic movie or book title this would make.
So far though, it is merely a sign in the window of a cheese store in Bergerac (Périgord), where we bought our tray of Cabécous. Handwritten on a thin circle of wood taken from the bottom of a cheese box, it is here to introduce a selection of extra extra dry -- and I do mean extra extra dry -- goat cheese ("séchons de chèvre") of various origins.
A little freak s...
"Les Petites Horreurs de Cécile" continues »
September 20, 2004
Our Smelly Travelling Companions
Try spending eight hours in a car on a sunny day, with a tray of twenty cabécous in the backseat. It's an interesting exercise in willpower and determination to bring home the magic. Not the most orthodox way to age fresh cheese for consumption at their optimal stage of ripeness, but it certainly works!
Ah, what one woudn't do, for the love of cabécous!...
"Our Smelly Travelling Companions" continues »
September 15, 2004
Cabécou
Maxence and I have left the Vosges, and after a diagonal drive all across the Great Kingdom of France, we now find ourselves in the Périgord, the Land of Aplenty. We will spend a few days here, enjoying the breathtaking sights, walking around medieval villages, and eating as many Cabécous as we can lay our hands on.
Cabécou is this little jewel of a goat cheese, a thin little wheel of cheese perfection, ideally sized for a single serving (ha!)...
May 6, 2004
Les Petits Suisses
[Little Swiss Cheeses]
Un petit suisse, literally "a little Swiss", is a fresh cow's milk cheese that's shaped like a small cylinder.
The story, I gather, is that it was originally invented in Normandy in the 1850's, at a dairy farm owned by a Madame Hérould. One of her garçon-vachers (an employee who tends to the cows, literally a cowboy), who was from Switzerland, suggested she enrich her cheese with cream, like they did in his home country...
"Les Petits Suisses" continues »
April 7, 2004
Lait Ribot
Lait ribot is a traditional fermented milk that has been made in Brittany for thousands of years, dating back to the Gauls. It is in fact fermented babeurre, or bas-beurre (litterally "low-butter"), which is the white liquid that remains after you've beaten cream to make butter. Ribotte, besides sounding cute, is an old word for churn, hence the name of the milk (laez ribod in Breton).
Because it was nutritious and cheap, it used to be widely ...
December 21, 2003
Mousse de Chèvre Frais à la Confiture de Tomate Cerise, Chips de Lard
[Fresh Goat Cheese Mousse with Cherry Tomato Jam and Bacon Chips]
Yesterday, we had two of Maxence's oldest friends, Baptiste and Jérémie, over for dinner. The occasion was to finally open the bottle of St Julien that Baptiste had given us a while ago, a 1996 Sarget du Château Gruaud-Larose. As I have done in the past, I will tell you about the dinner menu over the next few entries.
While I wanted the main dish to be classical to compliment t...
"Mousse de Chèvre Frais à la Confiture de Tomate Cerise, Chips de Lard" continues »
October 15, 2003
Fondue Savoyarde chez nos Voisins
[Cheese Fondue at our Neighbors' place]
We are lucky enough to be very good friends with our next-door neighbors. Stéphan and Patricia live on our floor, in the apartment to the right of ours. We met on the night of our housewarming party : we had posted a note to apologize in advance for the noise and music, and to invite everybody over for a drink. We were very happy to have several neighbors show up (which was a very favorable omen in regar...
"Fondue Savoyarde chez nos Voisins" continues »
October 7, 2003
Homemade Yogurts
The yogurt maker (yaourtière in French) is often used to illustrate the concept of an appliance that seemed like a good idea at the time of purchase (back in the seventies), but ends up collecting dust in the dark depths of a kitchen cabinet. It strikes me as terribly unfair a way to disparage a perfectly respectable peace of household equipment.
I grew up on the homemade yogurts my mother made using her yaourtière, so much so that she is pr...
"Homemade Yogurts" continues »