Category Archives: Simple Food

‘Grass is ‘Sparagus

A weekend comes on us with promises of continuous fine weather and we are deep into the English asparagus season which correctly ends on Mid-Summer Night’s Eve. Please may I pass on tips (sic). First buy asparagus that is fresh … Continue reading

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Posted in Asparagus, Aubergine, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Farm Shops, Sensory Cooking, Simple Food | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

First Choose Your Trotter, then Find Your Feet

Pig’s trotters were elevated from food of the immigrant poor to a delicacy for wealthy Londoners around 35 years ago. Pierre Koffmann, probably the finest French chef  in London since Auguste Escoffier and Michel Bourdin left town, made the pig’s trotter his … Continue reading

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Posted in Alcohol, Black Peppercorns, Blue Collar Gastronomy, French Markets, French Regional Foods, French supermarkets, Great Chefs, London Dining, No Compromise Shopping, pied de Porc, Pork, Simple Food, Stocks and Stock Making, Trotters, Vinegars | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Mobile Speck Knodel & Strudel

After 15 or more years working in high pressure restaurant kitchens, with their long hours and back-to-back shifts, Franz Schinagl knew he had to break free from his last posting as chef at Asia de Cuba. “As exciting as it was, I became so thin and … Continue reading

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Posted in Alcohol, Austrian Cooking, Beef, Black Peppercorns, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Bread, Curing and Smoking, Good Potatoes, Onions, Pork, Rare Roast Sirloin, Salad, Simple Food, Slicing Machine, Stocks and Stock Making, Veal, Wines | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Bretons’ Best Silver

How can one improve on eating sardines? The little fish described by London chef Rowley Leigh of Le Café Anglais as ‘the rabbits of the piscatorial world’. Wouldn’t we prefer this Chef/Writer had kept his English plainer and written ‘sea’, but otherwise I loved what he said, specially … Continue reading

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Posted in Blue Collar Gastronomy, Brassserie Lipp, Bread, Fish, Food of the Ancients, French supermarkets, Harry's Bar, Label Rouge, Simple Food, supermarkets, Terroir, The Food Business, Venice, Vinegars | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Schmaltz, Oma style

  With more and more UK food stores, from hypermarket barns to our neighbourhood late night shops, most times now stocking Duck or Goose Fat and some delicatessens even selling Italian Lardo, a third option is missing. It’s where we should go next. … Continue reading

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Posted in Austrian Cooking, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Bread, Comforting Foods, Curing and Smoking, Fish, Good Potatoes, Graisse d'oie and Confit de Canard, Simple Food, Smoked Fish, South West French Cuisine, Terroir | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Katie or Kate’s Great Legacy

The world of food and cookery writing lost a hero a few weeks ago. Much saddened as we are to lose a friend, we lost Katie’s writing about a decade earlier when she retired from the mainstream. In what was to … Continue reading

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Posted in Seasoning, Sensory Cooking, Simple Food, Stocks and Stock Making, Subsidised Food Production, Techniques, Terroir, Watercress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Perfumed Potager in L’Orne

There are buds showing and daffodils coming up right now all showing us Nature’s rebirth, but a finely tended garden in mid-summer is another thing altogether.  I saved this piece for our winter time with the intention of delighting my readers. I write … Continue reading

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Posted in Alcohol, Bread, Chicken, Food travel, French Regional Foods, Organic Food, Pigeoneau, Poulet Fermiers, Salad, Salad and Digestion, Simple Food, Terroir | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment