Clarified butter

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This is a way of melting butter to eliminate all the impurities. The clarified butter can then be heated without spoiling, and is more digestible. It is ideal for cooking at high temperatures where small black specks would spoil the appearance, or for emulsified sauces like béarnaise or mousseline.

Almond cream

(Found inTextsStages)
Light and delicious, it is used in a lot of desserts like tarts, cakes and pies (epiphany galette).

Guacamole

(Found inTexts)
For this typically Mexican recipe there are two main methods: smooth mashed avocado (made with a blender), or simple mashed avocado (made with a fork) with small pieces. And you can add, or not, finely diced tomato. You will find the first version (smooth) below.

Hummus

(Found inTexts)
Hummus (or houmous), is one of the famous and delicious Lebanese "mezzes".

Natural leaven

(Found inTextsStages)
Leaven is a natural raising agent, a fermented mixture of water, flour and the microscopic yeasts which are present in the air. It's a delicate living substance, sensitive to the external environment. The recipe is around 4000 years old and dates back to the Egypt of the Pharaohs, via a beautiful history...(note: the ancient Egyptians seem not to have had exclusive knowledge of the process: in Germany evidence of cooking a fermented dough has been found from 8000 BC (the Neolithic era). The...

How to make chocolate chips

(Found inTexts)
These chocolate chips, very fine, are perfect for decorating a dessert, but they can also be incorporated in a preparation like mint ice-cream for example.

You should not put an aluminum container directly in the oven

(Found inTextsStagesComments)
If you put an aluminum container, containing food to be cooked or reheated, in your oven directly on the shelf, the shiny base will reflect a large part of the oven heat (like a mirror). This means that the food will take much longer to cook or heat through than usual.

Butter cream

(Found inTexts)
Butter cream is made with egg yolk, sugar syrup and, of course, butter. These days it has fallen rather out of fashion, probably because it's very rich, but it still has its aficionados. Here is the classic plain version, which you can lighten and flavour as you wish.

Pistachio cream

(Found inTextsStages)
Very similar to almond cream, pistachio cream is ideal for filling or topping all kinds of cakes and tarts. Just like almond cream, it swells during cooking.

Vegetable rosette tart

(Found inTexts)
Blanched courgettes and carrots arranged in a rosette with a feta filling.

Jura bread

(Found inTexts)
This speciality bread is full of all the character of the Jura: dry white wine (made with Savagnin grapes, of course), diced Comté cheese and toasted walnuts. "Jurassic bread" was is first name... The loaves can be made long, as shown here, or as small rolls. This is ideal as an aperitif snack, served sliced and maybe reheated briefly in the oven.

Noisette butter

(Found inTexts)
"Noisette" means hazelnut in French. Noisette butter is made by melting butter, then boiling and raising it to a high temperature until it takes on both a light brown hazelnut colour and also a characteristic nutty smell. Compared with simple clarified butter, this noisette butter has a delicate yet distinctive flavour which is a welcome addition to both savoury and sweet recipes (particularly in cakes and pastries).

Parmesan cauliflower cheese

(Found inTexts)
In this recipe, the cauliflower is cooked first in milk and this is used to make a Parmesan-bechamel sauce. The dish is topped with more Parmesan before being browned in the oven.

Frangipane

(Found inTexts)
Frangipane is an almond cream enriched with crème pâtissière, it's the ideal filling for the galette des rois, but also for many other desserts.

Rich hazelnut buttercream

(Found inStages)
This delicious preparation is an alternative to almond frangipane: a nutty buttercream enriched with eggs, designed to be cooked into various pastries.

Strawberry-mint sorbet

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For this strawberry and mint-flavoured sorbet, we will be using an unusual method: blending the strawberries with mint leaves. This mixture is then left overnight for the flavours to mingle before being strained and then churned. This makes a delicious sorbet with its full-on strawberry flavour boosted by a definite mintiness.

Raspberry sorbet

(Found inStages)
To make a seriously good raspberry sorbet, the fruit must be of the best quality, of course, but there is another little secret: you need to remove all the seeds to make a really smooth coulis. It is this smooth coulis that makes the sorbet so deliciously velvety.

Lemon Mayonnaise

(Found inStages)
This is almost as simple to make as a plain mayonnaise, but with the double lemon flavour of both zest and juice for a delicate, fresh tang.

Roscoff loaf

(Found inStages)
This speciality bread from Roscoff (a small town in Brittany, northwest France) is enriched with onions, red wine and smoked sausage. What really sets this bread apart is that instead of water, the dough is made with red wine in which the sliced onions are left to soak overnight. The onions are drained next day and cooked before being mixed into the dough. This gives the bread a very distinctive flavour: onions, red win, smoked sausage.

Marchand de vin sauce

(Found inStages)
The rich "marchand de vin" sauce, made with red wine and shallot, is a classic accompaniment for meats that is traditionally made in the roasting tin or dish. This is a simplified version that can be made while the meat is cooking, even beforehand, so there is no risk of it going cold.

What is this site, and who am I?

The important thing is the content of the site, the recipes and information you can find, but some of you want to know who is behind it all.
November 16^th 2025253 K 44.2

Films and papers in the kitchen

It's now fairly easy to find a range of papers and plastic films that are invaluable, and sometimes indispensable, kitchen aids. Here's a quick overview of the main products available, and what you can and can't do with them.
August 29^th 2023616 K 93.6

Ice-cream and sorbets

Making homemade ice cream may seem complex, but with the right methods and a few tricks, you can achieve a creamy texture and incomparable flavors. On this page, we'll be revealing the secrets of successful homemade ice cream, guiding you step by step through the various stages of preparation. ...
August 12^th 2024476 K4.0

Bread oven

Building a bread oven was until a few years ago a job for the professionals. But now you can buy a kind of kit which allows you to build your own bred oven without professional masonry know-how. You should know that the kits only provide the main part of oven, the hearth, where you light the fire...
October 15^th 20241.20 M3.6

Homemade plancha

The plancha is a cooking method that originated in Spain. It consists of a very hot metal plate on which food, usually cut in small pieces, is cooked with little fat.Contact with the hot plate means that cooking is very rapid, only a few minutes, and there is an obvious "cooked" side. Food is well...
June 3^rd 2024285 K 43.7

Some hints for a pizza-party

A pizza party is always a very pleasant and convivial occasion. Good people (friends and family) get together to enjoy delicious pizzas, baked right in the oven. Here are a few tips to help you make yours a success.
July 14^th 2025196 K3.7

My best addresses...

Quite a few of you often ask me where I can find this or that? or is such and such a thing a good buy? or which brand is best for this or that? On this page, I'm going to group together my good addresses for suppliers of this or that product or utensil, and good books on the subjects that interest...
August 29^th 2023337 K4.0

Cooking with herbs

Herbs: there's nothing else so small that can add so much to a recipe. They are not only for garnishing, but are a true part of the dish, sometimes one of the main ingredients. A small example of the "power" of herbs: you make a chopped carrot salad, which is very good with a vinaigrette, but if you...
June 3^rd 2024227 K 13.9

The oven itself (hearth)

The main part of the oven (the hearth) as sold by the producer ("Fayol" company) consists of 9 slabs (to form the sole) and the curved sections which make up the domed oven, plus a keystone which fits in the top.
August 30^th 2024132 K3.8

Oven housing

Once the domed oven is finished and dry, we can start to construct the housing around it.
August 30^th 2024122 K3.9

Foundations

A bread oven is very heavy (over a ton), so you should start by preparing a solid base on which it can be built.
August 24^th 2024127 K4.1

Roof

Once oven housing is built, it needs protecting from the elements with a roof.
August 30^th 202487 K3.9

Finishing touches

Is an oven really ever finished? Well there are always ideas for improvements. Here are af few...
August 30^th 202479 K4.4

Advice on heating oven

For good results with a wood-fired oven, it's very important to manage the heating process well. Here is some advice to help you succeed in this delicate operation.
August 24^th 2024188 K4.0

Open fire cooking

In this method the fire is kept going in the oven, and we put in dishes that cook in a minute or two. It is, of course, the method for pizzas, pitta bread, etc...
August 24^th 202499 K3.9

Closed fire cooking

For this method, the oven is emptied of embers, cleaned, and door closed until it drops to the cooking temperature of 250°C or 482°F. It's the method used for breads, pies and tarts, cakes, etc.
August 24^th 202459 K4.4

Make your own hot-wire or styrofoam cutter

A filicoupeur is a hot-cutting tool for polystyrene, which can be used to enhance any piece of polystyrene you've salvaged, and to do all kinds of things with it: model building, model making, arts and crafts, and so on. See here how to make your own.
February 20^th 2024546 K 433.5

Slashing loaves

When it's time to put them in the oven, the dough pieces for future breads or viennoiseries need to be "lamés", i.e. made with a very sharp blade, by making quick incisions at the top, known as "grignes". Let's see how it's done.
August 29^th 2023294 K 43.6

A Mendeleiev periodic table in 3D

It's an old idea that was in my mind for years: making a real periodic table of Mendeleiev (who always fascinate me) in 3D, where in each element box, there is some atoms (at least) of this element.
August 24^th 2024225 K 13.6

Polynesian arrow

A Polynesian arrow is an arrow with a tail that is thrown by hand, using a piece of string. The result is a "slingshot" effect that propels the arrow much further than if it were simply thrown by hand.It's a craft to do with children, for example on an afternoon when they're a bit idle...
August 29^th 2023218 K 14.3

You will no doubt have come across this problem while cooking: after starting a recipe, when you already have some ingredients in a pan and have maybe cooked them, you need to know the weight of the pan's contents so that you can take half out, or add the same weight of sugar, for example.
May 9^th 201130 K4.6

If you're using only the egg whites in a recipe (such as meringues ), you'll need to store the yolks until you're ready to use them again. There's nothing very complicated about this in principle - all you have to do is chill them, but there are a few pitfalls to be avoided in practice.
June 18^th 202410 K5

In cooking, cooking means bringing food into contact with a source of heat, to transform it: improving its taste, and sometimes its texture. This contact with the heat source can be achieved in a number of ways: these are the cooking methods, and let's take a look at the main ones.
July 24^th 202411 K4.7

It's something you have probably have done yourself: cooked or pre-cooked vegetables before adding them to a recipe. This is almost always done the same way: peel the chosen vegetables (carrots, for example), cut them up, boil them in salted water (using a tablespoon or so of coarse salt per litre),...
November 22^th 201633 K5

The vanilla is a delicious taste that can be found in many many dessert recipes, creams (the cream and the cream for example), ice creams, but also cakes and entremets. Whenever you need to add this vanilla note, you have several possible choices because vanilla is commercially available in...
December 14^th 201713 K5

Maybe you use food film in your own kitchen. You know, the very thin, clear plastic stuff that you can stretch, often used to cover food and protect it from the air. It’s become so widely used that it’s now an essential item for pros. They even have a verb for it in French: “filmer”: to...
May 12^th 201825 K 14.9

Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...
November 26^th 201859 K4.6

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.
January 23^th 201937 K4.2

Ever used a pastry bag? Handy, isn't it, but unfortunately not very easy to fill. In fact, to be comfortable with this tool, you'd need 3 or 4 arms, which isn't very common. Does that mean it's a goner? No, of course not. Here are 2 or 3 tips to help you get comfortable with it.
December 5^th 202010 K4.7

When you make a cake, pound cake or whatever (what bakers call a "travel cake" because it's easy to carry around) you've most likely made a batter, either by hand or in a food processor, which you then pour into a buttered pan. It's a classic, and I've already talked to you about 2 or 3 tips on...
February 6^th 202141 K4.6

Making a salad for a meal, a few ingredients of your choice and a sauce to bind it all together is still one of the best ways to cook something really good quickly and simply. And since there is often a "fresh" aspect with the vegetables in the ingredients, not only does it taste good, but it's...
March 13^th 202112 K4.6

Quite often, in cooking or pastry-making, we have recipes that use only egg yolks: gâteau breton (brittany butter cake), confectioner's custard, spaghetti carbonara, etc. And so, inevitably, we end up with unused egg whites that will have to be used elsewhere, in another recipe, and certainly...
June 12^th 202113 K4.9

In cooking, and especially in pastry, we often use sugar syrups, a simple mixture of water and sugar in varying proportions. Here is a presentation of their differences. .
January 17^th 202314 K4.8

When a recipe or preparation calls for something solid to be pureed, as in a soup for example, the natural reflex is to take out the blender and plunge it into the saucepan. This works very well in most cases, but there are times when you'd like to puree something and at the same time remove the...
July 12^th 202313 K5

When you've finished preparing a salad, green or otherwise, it's usually time to add the dressing and toss. It's often said to "toss the salad", which means to season and mix. Is it easy? Not so easy...
March 8^th 202415 K5

Gelatin is a magical ingredient for making light, creamy, structured desserts, yet it's often misused in the kitchen. A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around...
November 21^th 202412 K5

When you need to add cream to a recipe, you might be wondering: thick (heavy) cream or liquid cream? In most cases, there's no big difference: you can use either. But there is one exception, and that's when the cream needs to be cooked, for a sauce for example, and here the difference between...
December 13^th 20249,6155

In the kitchen, sugar doesn't just sweeten, it also has an exceptional ability to capture flavors. Combined with aromatic ingredients, such as citrus zest, it acts as a veritable sponge for aromas. By taking the time to let the sugar soak up the flavors, you can transform your desserts, making...
December 25^th 20248,1875

You may have come across the term "travel cakes" ("gateaux de voyage" in french) for certain pastries, so let's take a look at what they're all about.
January 27^th 20258,994

When it comes to cherry clafoutis recipes, there's often a camp of those who argue that you absolutely have to leave the stones in because it tastes better, and the other camp (myself included) who prefer cherries without stones, which makes a much more pleasant clafoutis to eat. But is it true...
June 29^th 20255,3825

Grease

(Found inTexts)
The term "grease" in pastry-making refers to the action of coating a container, mold or baking sheet with a thin layer of fat, usually with a grease spray or spray bottle, before baking.
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Bannetons (bread rising baskets)

(Found inTexts)
Once dough is kneaded and worked, it needs to be left to rise in a warm place before baking. Turning the risen uncooked dough onto the peel for transfering to the oven can be a tricky moment, especially if the dough has stuck to the container. To avoid this, bread is traditionally left for its final...
13 K4.7

Salad spinner

(Found inTexts)
A salad spinner is a simple device: a kind of mesh basket which is spun by turning a handle on the lid. As the basket turns very fast, any items in it are forced agaisnt the sides by centrifugal force, and the water (or other liquid) they contain is spun off and collects in the bottom of the...
14 K4.5

Ladle

(Found inTexts)
A ladle is like a large round spoon with a long handle, used particularly for taking liquids out of containers. .
14 K4.3