How to know when a cake is cooked

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It's a frequently asked question and it's not so easy to answer it, especially for beginners: you can have a cake that's nice and golden brown outside, but which is not cooked enough in the middle.
274K4.1 1 min. May 7^th 2020

You should not push with the sharp edge of a knife

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When you cut something into small pieces on your working surface, it's an automatic gesture to push the pile with your knife blade. It's a bad habit because this will blunt your blade.
57K5 1 min. February 21^th 2011

How to slow cook meat

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By cooking meat slowly with no added fat, it will become very tender - almost melt-in-the-mouth - and can be cut with a fork.
156K5 4 hours 45 min. November 6^th 2011

Foie gras fingers

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An elegant canapé which consists of a crisp layer of shortcrust pastry topped with a layer of foie gras.
127K4.6 2 hours 50 min. December 21^th 2011

How to prepare an avocado

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Here is how to get from an avocado only the flesh of the fruit.
189K 14 11 min. January 9^th 2010

Caramelised walnuts

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These delicious nuts can be used in several cakes, but you can also put them on ice-cream, pancakes, fruit salad, or eat them just as they are.
355K5 22 min. February 21^th 2011

Croque-monsieur

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A classic of French "street food" or bistros: a slice of ham between two slices of bread spread with béchamel sauce. The sandwich is then sprinkled with cheese and toasted in the oven.
247K4 46 min. August 1^st 2010

Ice-cream Vacherin

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Ice-cream vacherin is a festive French dessert. It consists of two different flavours of ice cream (blackcurrant and vanilla here) sandwiched between two circles of meringue, topped with whorls of Chantilly (whipped cream) which is then frozen. It is not too complicated, but involves a bit of work...
164K4.5 8 hours 45 min. December 21^th 2014

Salt cod brandade

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"Brandade de morue" is a classic of French bistro cuisine, especially in the south. It is a puréed mixture of salt cod and olive oil with (or sometimes without) potatoes. Here is a simplified version.
83K4 1 hour 32 min. March 2^nd 2014

How to prepare purple artichokes

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The small purple artichokes, which are more tender than the larger green ones, are almost entirely edible. But they need to be prepared in a particular way. Here is how to do this fairly easily.
649K 44 19 min. February 26^th 2016

How to poach peaches

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To poach peaches, we begin rather like for tomatoes. To peel them, we boil them for a few seconds, then plunge them into cold water. Once the skin has been removed, they are poached gently in a light syrup.
218K3 1 hour 49 min. September 6^th 2012

Potatoes with prawns

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This recipe, originally from Belgium, consists of baked potatoes which are hollowed out and filled with fried prawns. A cream and white wine sauce is then poured over the potatoes before returning them to the oven.
110K3.8 1 hour 49 min. January 14^th 2016

Vegetable stock

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Vegetable stock is a very easy and versatile basic recipe. It can be used in many different ways: for cooking rice, making soups, sauces, etc. It's a good idea to keep a supply of vegetable stock in your fridge or freezer.
253K4.3 1 hour October 5^th 2011

Potato and broccoli gratin

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A very simple recipe: a layer of potatoes, a layer of broccoli, bechamel sauce and grated cheese.
218K3.8 2 hours 1 min. September 21^th 2011

Baked potoatoes with herb butter or cream

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Here's how to prepare good baked potatoes, and two ideas for toppings. Herb butter can be easily be made in advance and store in the fridge folded in plastic film, it can also be served with red meat because it look like very much to the "Beurre maitre d'hotel" (butler's butter, usually with parsley...
187K 13.8 1 hour 42 min. October 24^th 2010

Potato purée

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The French have fond childhood memories of this, and while nothing will ever be as good as "Maman" made, here's a fairly straightforward way to make it.
227K5 1 hour 35 min. October 3^rd 2010

Surprise eggs

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These look like perfectly normal boiled eggs, but when the shell is cracked open - surprise! They contain a mixture of scrambled egg, cured ham, fried prawns and chives.
172K5 51 min. September 26^th 2010

How to prepare a pumpkin (or potimarron)

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Here is how to prepare a pumpkin for use in a recipe like the delicious potimarron soup.
397K4.6 25 min. February 21^th 2011

Tomato ladybirds

(Found inStages)
Tomatoes filled with a tuna mayonnaise and rice mixture, in a fun ladybird shape that kids will love, served with a puree of fresh garden peas. A good way to encourage them to eat vegetables.
266K 14 1 hour 47 min. February 21^th 2011

Potato tortilla (Spanish omelette)

(Found inStages)
Tortilla is a recipe from Spain, which can be eat hot or cold. It's a kind of omelette, with several ingredients, in this recipe potatoes, onion and smoked ham. Ingredients are cooked first, then mixed with egg, to make a tortilla which is cooked on both sides.
283K 34 1 hour 17 min. February 21^th 2011

Ice-cream and sorbets

All about ice-creams and sorbets, their differences and how to make the most of them .
420K4.0 August 29^th 2023

Making your own bread

In praise of home-made bread, so much better.
562K 63.9 August 29^th 2023

Slashing loaves

Cutting the top of the loaf so that it rises better during baking: slashing.
279K 43.6 August 29^th 2023

Start off well to cook well

How to get off to a good start in cooking; what equipment and basic ingredients you should always have to hand.
302K 13.6 August 29^th 2023

How to choose a centrifugal juicer

A centrifugal juicer is an appliance designed to extract juice from all kinds of fruit and vegetables. It will produce juice from tomatoes, carrots, apples, pineapple, blackcurrants, etc. The idea is simple: the chosen fruit are fed into the top of the machine through a tube.The fruit should be...
39K4.4 April 1^st 2011

When should I change my knife?

I already spoke to you in a previous post about knives, those without which nothing is possible (or almost) in the kitchen, so I'm going to come back to them a bit and try to answer the question "When should I change my knife?
11K4.7 November 2^nd 2017

The Holy Grail of French bakers

While browsing through the recipes on this site, you may have noticed that while I adore cooking (everything, in fact, to do with eating and drinking), I am particularly drawn to bakery: bread, viennoiseries and all that goes with them – it’s a real passion of mine; I love making them and I...
14K 34.7 March 24^th 2018

The 3 essential knives

You must have heard a chef or cook say: "There’s no good cooking without good ingredients". This is very true, of course, but for any amateur or beginner it is equipment that really counts to start with. What I mean is that you should not skimp on kitchen equipment, good utensils, a food...
19K5 May 30^th 2018

For well opened (puffed) cakes

It's always nice to have a well puffed up cake after baking, not only will it taste good but it looks great too. Let's see how to get this beautiful shape almost every time.
26K4.2 January 23^th 2019

Drawing a pattern in pastry

Often in the kitchen, in pastry-making, or in baking, we need to trace a pattern on a pastry. It's just a question of aesthetics but it has its effect after baking on a galette, pithiviers, pâté en croute (terrine in a pie crust), etc.
25K4.1 May 23^th 2019

In praise of the whetstone

Have you ever seen a butcher or a chef sharpen his knife before using it? Usually he uses a special tool, a long thin cylinder made of very hard metal. And in a smooth and elegant gesture, he very quickly passes the edge of the knife against the rifle, which makes a very characteristic noise,...
5,7814.8 June 5^th 2021

The right bread knife

We almost all have a bread knife in our kitchen, that is to say the knife we use almost exclusively to cut bread. Is this knife efficient, is it really the one you need? Here is some information to guide you in your choice. .
7,379 September 15^th 2022

Cooking cauliflower

Dramatic observation: cauliflower when cooked has a bad reputation ("it doesn't smell good!" and the like), and yet it's an excellent vegetable, very Breton, that deserves to be treated well, to give the best of itself.
7,0313.3 August 29^th 2023