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Monthly Archives: February 2012
Hey Presto, it’s Pesto al Mortaio
St Patrick’s Day 2012 will be very different for me and all the better for that – with respect to friends Donal, Joe, the Millikens, et al. No Guinness, no cabbage and bacon – instead I’ll be in the beautiful, historic … Continue reading
Posted in Basil, Best Pasta, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Food travel, Ingredients, Kitchen Equipment, Ligurian, No Compromise Shopping, Nonna's Cooking, Real Italy, Simple Food, supermarkets, Techniques, Terroir
Tagged Camogli, Carrara Marble, Genoa, Liguria, Ligurian Basil, Palazzo Ducale, Pesto alla Genovese, Roberto Panizza, Trofie, www.gustiamo.com
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See Ya at the SIA
Like the Stones’ 2nd EP, ‘Get Your Ya-ya’s Out!’, I’m in Paris at the world’s finest food fair, and it’s ‘ya-ya’s’ all the way. I first started coming when it was much more an agricultural show – even then, better … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged biggest farm in France, Royal Show, SIA agricultural show
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SIA 2012 will be Ferrets to Foie Gras, Fine Foods and All
Excitement builds across France this week, as well as for this writer - I’m like a 5 year old those few days before Christmas Eve. Why? Because we are a few days off the opening of the ‘grande spectacle’ that is the 2012 … Continue reading
Posted in Agrumes, Alcohol, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Brassserie Lipp, Bread, Capon, Chicken, Fish, Foie Gras, Food Influencers, Food Marketeers, Food travel, French Markets, French supermarkets, Graisse d'oie and Confit de Canard, Guinea Fowl, Label Rouge, Latest Trends, Lenten traditions, No Compromise Shopping, Oysters and Shellfish, Pigeoneau, Poulet, Poulet de Gournay, Poulet Fermier, Simple Food, South West French Cuisine, supermarkets, Terroir, The Food Business, Veal, Wild Food, Wild Funghi, Wine Making and Viticulture
Tagged Basse-Cour Farming, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Chapons, Concours General, Ducks & Geese, Paris, Porte de Versailles, Poulets Fermiers, Rare Breeds, Salon des Fromages, Salon International de l'Agricole, SIA 2012
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Proust’s Legacy makes us all Beneficiaries
As a serious 19th century writer, Marcel Proust possibly did more for the populace for cake than he did with his books. Those few opening lines about how nibbling at a madeleine transported him almost immediately back to a happy childhood at his grandmother’s house in Cabourg (Normandy) … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Coffee, Food travel, French Markets, French supermarkets, Memories
Tagged Andre Gide, Benedictine, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Cabourg, Cafe au Lait, Calvados, Caramel Beurre Sale, Cidre, Corot, ENO, Etretat, Francis Bacon, Genovese Sponge, Guy de Maupassant, James Joyce, John Minihan, Les Madeleines de Commercy, Louis XV, Madeleines, Marcel Proust, Monet, Offenbach, Oscar Wilde, Pissarro, Samuel Beckett, Tales of Hoffmann, William Burroughs
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The Monogamous Fowl of the L’Aude
Guinea fowl have intrigued me for more than their flavour since I first encountered them en-masse in the L’Aude region of SW France – I could have written ‘en-floc’ (read below for why). We used to rent a house there … Continue reading
Posted in Chicken, Great Chefs, Guinea Fowl, peasant cooking, Simple Food, South West French Cuisine, Terroir
Tagged Blue Collar Gastronomy, Castelnaudary, Edith Piaf, Guinea Fowl, L'Aude, Lauragais Farmers' Cooperative, Les Agrumes, Maize, Melon, Michel Guerard, Pintade, Quail, Sun Flowers
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Table Quails are Males
Quails are cute little round, feathered bundles whose sound is more a squeak than a chirrup. Their meat is less sought after than their eggs, so quails sold for cooking are the male by-product of a lucrative egg business. Animals, like … Continue reading
Posted in Agrumes, Alcohol, Blue Collar Gastronomy, Citrus Fruit, Foie Gras, Food travel, Foraging, French supermarkets, Perfect Eggs, Quail & Quail's Eggs, Real Italy, Simple Food, Southern Italy
Tagged Cepes de Bordeaux, Civitavecchia, Foie Gras, Gull's Eggs, Melun, Quail, Quail Eggs, Spaetzle
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‘……….since Sliced Bread’ goes the Saying
Sliced bread may have been a breakthrough in modern food manufacturing when it was first launched, following on from the dreadfully named ‘Chorley Wood Process’ for batch baking cheap bread, bleach included in every bag of flour. Then, like so much … Continue reading