Vanilla sugar

(Found inTexts)
Almost essential in patisserie, you can find it in expensive little sachets of about 10g. It's necessary to distinguish between the vanilla sugar which really contains vanilla, and vanillin sugar, purely chemical which has never seen a vanilla pod. Here is how to quickly make a whole jar full of...
August 12^th 2018413 K 15 30 min.

How to succeed in making sabayon (syllabub)

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A sabayon is a delicious and delicate preparation based on egg yolks and sugar, with a liquid added (wine, alcohol, fruit juice, etc), which is then whipped in a bain-marie until it is both light and smooth. Usually sabayon is sweet (syllabub), but you can make it savoury, in which case there is...
November 12^th 2017929 K 54 20 min.

French dressing (vinaigrette)

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Here is a very simple recipe, but it could completely transform, maybe even transcend, your salad.
July 7^th 20111.04 M4.5 7 min.

Blackcurrant liqueur

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The fruit liqueurs (or "creams" in French) are a mix of neutral alcohol in which fruits are macerated, and sugar syrup. They are the basis of the very famous "Kir", mixture of dry white wine and blackcurrant liqueur. This recipe is for blackcurrant, but it can be made with other soft fruits like...
August 3^rd 2013845 K 44.7 55 min.

Traditional nutty choc-chip cookies

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A traditional American recipe for homely biscuits, which can be made in different flavours or with additions (seeds, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate, etc.).
January 5^th 2020371 K4 1 hour 50 min.

Natural leaven

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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...
April 3^rd 20201.69 M 304.0 7 days 15 min.

Nicholas's fish

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This is a very easy recipe, everything hinges on the brief cooking of the leeks, then the fish.
February 21^th 2011244 K4.8 60 min.

Stock-pot fish

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A julienne of vegetables (small sticks) mixed with choice morsels of fish, slowly cooked in vegetable stock.
December 31^th 2013309 K4.3 2 hours 40 min.

Warm lentil salad

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Lentils boiled until just tender, then mixed with fried smoked bacon, onion, chives and dressed with a good vinaigrette.
September 5^th 2010179 K4.6 55 min.

Black Forest gateau

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Black Forest gateau is a sophisticated dessert which comes from Germany. It is essentially a combination of four flavours: chocolate, cherries, cream and kirsch. Here is my own version.
November 27^th 2011152 K4.6 2 hours 35 min.

Milk rolls

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This sweet milk bread, made as baps or rolls, with its sugar topping is delicious for breakfast or with afternoon tea.
September 11^th 2018187 K 13.8 5 hours 35 min.

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.
January 14^th 2016115 K3.8 1 hour 50 min.

Pistachio shortbread biscuits

(Found inTexts)
These melt-in-the-mouth biscuits are "double pistachio", as they contain both pistachio paste and toasted chopped pistachios.
April 19^th 2012148 K 54.6 2 hours 60 min.

Coleslaw

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Coleslaw is a cabbage salad that is popular in North America. This version includes carrots as well.
January 3^rd 2014104 K 14.9 40 min.

Peach Melba

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Peach Melba is a famous dessert created in 1893 by an equally famous chef, Auguste Escoffier, and inspired by the singer Nellie Melba. There have been many versions of this well-known dish but, in principal, it consists of vanilla ice cream, poached peaches, raspberry coulis and sweetened whipped...
September 9^th 2012121 K3.9 2 hours 20 min.

Franche-Comté sticks

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Thin baguettes made with Morteau sausage and cancoillotte cheese. The cancoillotte is added in the form of crumbled metton curds (normally melted in milk to make the creamy cancoillotte). Sliced thinly, these sticks make an ideal aperitif snack for sharing with friends.
October 24^th 2017106 K4 5 hours 30 min.

Duck Parmentier

(Found inTexts)
This recipe is very simple to make as everything can be prepared in advance. A layer of duck meat is sandwiched between two layers of potato purée. This is topped with grated cheese before being put in the oven.
January 27^th 2013105 K3.9 55 min.

Dauphinoise potatoes with Serano ham

(Found inTexts)
These tasty, bite-sized rosettes can be served as an aperitif snack or to accompany a meal.
January 23^th 2013103 K4.6 40 min.

Poire Belle Hélène

(Found inTexts)
Poire Belle Hélène is a fairly simple cold dessert. The pears are poached in a vanilla-flavoured syrup, then served on top of vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce poured over.
November 22^th 202375 K4.7 20 min.

Valay-Brest

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A Valay-Brest is a mini eclair, filled with apple-flavoured confectioner's custard and topped with a rectangle of walnut nougatine.
May 14^th 201470 K4.1 1 hour 30 min.

Making your own bread

You'll find a whole range of bread and pastry recipes on this site, but before you get started, perhaps you'd like to know more about the subject, get some tips and tricks, and find out what the main mistakes beginners make? If so, this page is for you.
August 22^th 2024565 K 63.9

The steam machine

Fogging is an essential element in a bread oven. It's not easy to see, but it's the presence of fog that makes breads golden brown. To get steam on a regular basis, you can put a ramekin full of water in the bottom of the oven, or spray the inside with a sprayer, but this solution requires you to...
August 24^th 202458 K4

chives

Chives grow in clumps, and the leaves used as a herb have an extraodinary taste. It's an essential for adding to salads, and everything else that can be eaten cold, because it doesn't like long cooking during which it loses most of its flavour.
August 29^th 202376 K3.8

Start off well to cook well

What do I need to get started in the kitchen? First of all, a good website! That's it, you're there ;-), then a minimum of equipment, and the few products you should always have in your cupboards or fridge. Here are a few things to help you make your choices.
August 29^th 2023308 K 13.6

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...
May 30^th 201821 K5

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.
April 1^st 201141 K4.4

Markers in cooking

When it comes to cooking, there is only one real rule, and that is that there are no rules! By that I mean that everything is possible, everything can be combined, everything or almost everything can go with everything, but you have to like it, you have to find it good. I have friends who...
July 3^rd 20218,0785

Fruits which can ruin your jelly

There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...
March 6^th 201371 K4.0

Herbs and temperature

I have already talked to you about herbs in cooking, and about their great power of "seduction". The example of a salad is a great classic: on its own, it's a salad, which is normal, but the same salad in which you have added finely chopped fresh herbs, just before serving, you have much more than a...
April 25^th 20207,3884.8

How to avoid lumps

You've probably come across this unpleasant phenomenon where, when you try to incorporate an ingredient (usually a solid or powder) into a preparation (usually a liquid), the mixture doesn't mix properly and you end up with little "balls" or little lumps of the solid part that refuse to mix with the...
October 9^th 202016 K4.8

Pastry and bakery dough families

There are many kinds, or families, of pastry and bakery doughs, depending on whether you want to make a tart, a cake, a pie, a brioche, croissants and so on. I'll try to give you a quick overview of all these doughs, how they're classified, and what they're used for.
November 16^th 20209,5794.9

The perfect boiled egg

Making boiled eggs is always a delight and it pleases the young and old alike. This little transgenerational side puts them on the list of "things to do on Sunday evening when you don't know what to do" in many families (including mine)... That said, it's not that simple, you have to pay...
January 30^th 202113 K4.7

Burgers and cheeses

A quick look at burgers(article from 2 weeks ago), and in particular the cheese in burgers, many of you have asked me about this, and how to get cheese to melt in your burgers.
April 24^th 20215,9674.8

Remove bones from fish

Let's talk about fish: It's not a scoop, it's much more pleasant to eat fish from which all the bones have been carefully removed, even if it's a rather painful and time-consuming job, the result is worthy of your efforts. Here are some important points to keep in mind.
October 16^th 20219,4095

Sorrel and its cooking

Do you like sorrel? This delicious plant with its beautiful bright green leaves, whose subtle acidity goes very well with many other things, including in particular cream, to form with salmon the emblematic dish of the 70's, "Salmon with sorrel" on which was built the beginning of the fame of the...
March 19^th 20227,8065

Divide and weigh dough into regular pieces

When you prepare dough for cupcakes in a pastry shop or bakery, at some point you're going to have to divide it, i.e. cut it into small pieces, which should all have the same weight. Sounds simple enough, but is it really that simple?
May 30^th 20236,2305

In Praise of the Vegetable Mill

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 20236,2455

Half milk, half cream

In a multitude of recipes, savoury or sweet, milk is used as the main ingredient, or at least as the main liquid ingredient. Milk is used instead of water, for example, because milk contains a proportion of fat, which adds roundness and softness to the recipe. This mellowness is very pleasant on...
February 27^th 20245,7305