Sweetcrust pastry (pâte sablée)

(Found inTexts)
Sweetcrust pastry is one of the basic pastry of French patisserie, used in many tart and cakes recipes, but it can also be rolled out and cut into biscuits, delicious with tea or coffee. This recipe is given for those who have a mixer (Kenwood, KitchenAid or other), but it can also be done with your...
466K 24.4 33 min. July 1^st 2019

Natural leaven

(Found inTexts)
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...
1.7M 304.0 7 days 15 min. April 3^rd 2020

Leavened bread

(Found inTextsStages)
It might be harder to achieve good results than with traditional yeast bread, but what a flavour! It also keeps better. This recipe is designed for baking bread in a wood-fired oven but, of course, you can use the conventional oven in your kitchen.
1.2M 23.8 6 hours 26 min. May 23^th 2017

Marinated tuna with herbs

(Found inTexts)
Here is a very simple recipe, preferably for a barbecue or plancha, but could be made in the kitchen. As for any summer-barbecue-backyard recipe, all proportons can be varied according to taste.
258K4.3 1 hour 22 min. February 21^th 2011

How to heat plates

(Found inTexts)
In restaurants serving "à l'assiette", wich means that your dish is presented already served on a plate, it's very important for the plates to be hot, otherwise dishes arrive cold and it's the customer that (rightly) becomes heated. At home it's worth doing the same thing: you are sure to serve hot...
209K 43.7 22 min. February 21^th 2011

Tomato ladybirds

(Found inTexts)
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

Sushi

(Found inTexts)
Sushi is probably the best known element of Japanese cooking outside Japan. For the Japanese it's a culinary art learned over time from masters, but we can make simplified and easier sushi which are still pretty and delicious. The most common types of sushi are nigiri: a little oval-shaped mouthfuls...
323K4.5 1 hour 38 min. October 13^th 2010

Surprise eggs

(Found inTexts)
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

Peach Melba

(Found inTexts)
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...
115K3.9 2 hours 20 min. September 9^th 2012

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...
113K4.5 15 min. December 30^th 2019

How to peel tomatoes using a flame

(Found inTexts)
The classic and most usual way to peel tomatoes is by plunging them first into boiling water, then into cold. But there is another method, "flame peeling", which is quicker than boiling water as it bursts the tomato skins open very rapidly. Here is how to do it.
62K 11 min. July 17^th 2019

Asparagus "en petit pois"

(Found inTexts)
As the name suggests, this historic recipe (see below for more details) treats asparagus like peas, Napoleonic French style: first cooked the usual way, then cut small (to look like peas), cooked again in stock, and finished with a cream and egg yolk sauce.
28K 42 min. May 2^nd 2021

Small cheese and bacon rolls

(Found inStages)
These small aperitif snacks can be prepared in advance and heated at the last minute, or served cold.
347K5 1 hour 23 min. September 7^th 2018

Benoîton

(Found inStages)
This curious name (explained below) applies to a small bread fingers made with a blend of wheat and rye flour, enriched with raisins and almonds.
40K 4 hours 32 min. February 4^th 2018

Cretan Bread

(Found inStages)
This Cretan (or Cretan-style) bread has a soft dough, enriched with olive oil, preserved tomatoes, green olives and cooked onions.
75K4.3 4 hours 26 min. October 24^th 2017

Jura bread

(Found inStages)
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,...
54K4.4 6 hours 9 min. October 24^th 2017

Seeded loaf

(Found inStages)
This seeded bread is based on a French baguette dough, with a mix of dry-roasted seeds added (poppy, millet, linseed, sesame...). Delicious on its own, this bread makes excellent toast to go with foie gras, adding an amazing complementary crunch.
143K3.8 4 hours 27 min. October 24^th 2017

Tomato foccacia

(Found inStages)
Foccacia is an open-textured Italian bread. The French sometimes refer to it as the Italian fougasse. This version is made with preserved tomatoes, green olives and parmesan.
74K4.3 4 hours 53 min. October 24^th 2017

Classic French white bread

(Found inStages)
This is the recipe for classic, everyday French bread raised with yeast. French bakers call this "pain courant". It is quicker and easier to make than leavened bread or new leavened bread, so ideal for a beginner.
286K4.1 3 hours 50 min. June 6^th 2017

Two-olive ciabatta

(Found inStages)
Enjoy the real flavour and scent of the Mediterranean in this ciabatta made with two olives (green and black).
109K4.3 4 hours 12 min. October 24^th 2017

Herbs in the kitchen

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...
182K 13.9 August 29^th 2023

Information on weights and measures in the kitchen

Weights, measures and volumes in a recipe.
818K3.7 December 10^th 2023

Films and papers in the kitchen

Various papers and plastic films used in cooking .
568K 93.6 August 29^th 2023

Flours

At the most basic level, wheat grain is put through a mill, which produces a white-ish powder flour... Well, actually it's not quite that simple. First of all we need to distinguish between the different grains that can be made into flour: wheat of course, but also rye, barley, buckwheat, etc. So we...
720K 413.6 August 29^th 2023

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.
75K3.8 August 29^th 2023

rosemary

This is a kind of shrub, of which the small branches are used.
46K4.2 August 29^th 2023

parsley

There are different kinds of parsley, the two main ones are curled parsley and flat-leaf (or Italian) parsley. The most important difference between the two, except the leaf shape, is taste: flat-leaf parsley has much more flavour.
59K4.1 August 29^th 2023

bayleaf

Bay is a kind of laurel, grown as a shrub or small tree, of which the leaves are used, fresh or dry (other laurels are toxic). Bayleaves are used frequently in mediterraneen cooking.
87K4.2 August 29^th 2023

fresh coriander (cilantro)

This is a plant of which the leaves are used fresh. It has a very subtle flavour which is remarkable in salads. It is an indispensible ingredient in Asian and Mediterranean cuisine. The seeds are also available (like white pepper grains but paler), which have a different taste.
40K4.2 August 29^th 2023

sage

This is a plant of which the leaves are used. It's goes perfectly (in my opinion) with white meats like pork, veal or poultry.
40K4.2 August 29^th 2023

sorrel

This is a plant of which only the leaves are used. There is a wild species, very tasty, with small red and green leaves, and a cultivated variety with large green leaves.
41K4.3 August 29^th 2023

tarragon

Tarragon is a herb with strongly aromatic leaves. These are used for their characteristic flavour that goes very well with meat and fish.
49K4.1 August 29^th 2023

mint

There are several kinds of mint with different flavours, some stronger than others. The important thing, if you have the choice, is to use the strongest flavour possible (crush a leaf with your fingers, and smell to compare).
36K4.2 August 29^th 2023

thyme

Thyme is an aromatic plant of which the leaves are used. There are several kinds of thyme, and its flavour is very typical of Mediterranean cooking.
49K4.6 August 29^th 2023

Chervil

Chervil is very similar in appearance to parsley, but its leaves are smaller, and its taste (delicate) is very different, sometimes with a slight hint of licorice.
29K4.4 August 29^th 2023

Basil

This is a plant of which the very smelly leaves are used.
25K4.6 August 29^th 2023

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.
201K 44.2 August 29^th 2023

A 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...
1.1M3.5 August 29^th 2023

Some hints for a pizza-party

Some hints for a successful pizza party.
185K3.7 August 29^th 2023

My best addresses...

My good addresses, favourite suppliers, ingredients, products and equipment.
295K4.0 August 29^th 2023

The power of sayings and beliefs in the kitchen

One day, in the comments on the recipe for beaten egg whites, a young woman asked if you could beat egg whites stiff while having a period, as a friend had told her it wasn't possible. Sometime later another person commented that for mayonnaise it had been (get this!) scientifically proven that a...
47K4.4 February 6^th 2011

Kitchen ovens

You certainly have one in your kitchen, an oven, the essential tool for all kinds of cooking, whether in the kitchen of course, but also in pastry, bakery, pizza, and many others. Here is some information on its structure and operation.
22K4.4 May 16^th 2020

Fried potatoes or fried mash?

In cooking there are a lot of dishes that appear to be extremely simple but which can actually prove to be very tricky. Amongst those that I'm aware of having this reputation are omelette and fried potatoes. Take fried potatoes; it's very simple because it's all there in the name of the dish: you...
20K4.5 February 6^th 2011

Properly cooked! (the taste)

Going out to a restaurant is getting harder at the moment. In France, at least, you have to try and find one that has agreed to pass on the new lower rate of VAT at anything other than a symbolic level, and there aren't many. And then, most importantly, you have to find a good one: one where you...
13K 14.6 February 6^th 2011

The ideal restaurant

Like all passionate cooks (I suppose), from time to time I dream of opening my own restaurant. I imagine loads of things: it will be like this or like that, we'll do this, I'll cook that, the room will have this or that – in short, I dream. But now I have a son who's in the trade...
12K4.4 October 15^th 2012

Butter doesn't make you fat, unless you eat too much of it.

Whenever I'm discussing cooking and recipes, there is one idea which comes up frequently, like this: "Oh no! But that's got butter in it" (I should add, for the sake of accuracy, that this is something I hear more frequently from women, who are almost all concerned with keeping their figure). ...
38K4.5 March 26^th 2012

Choosing a chopping board

It's a no-brainer, surely? If you want a chopping board, just find a piece of wood, and Bob's your uncle! You can happily chop away with a knife and not damage the table or worktop. But in reality, it's a bit more complicated than that. You need to be careful what you are buying, in particular the...
45K4.6 May 8^th 2012

Making the most of seeds: Dry roasting

In cooking, and particularly in baking, there are a lot of seeds we can use, such as linseed, sesame, poppy, etc. Usually, recipes simply say to add them just as they are to the mixture or dough. To make a seeded loaf, for example, prepare a plain bread dough as usual, then, towards the end of...
55K4.0 January 30^th 2015

Steam for baking bread

What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in...
136K4.5 June 16^th 2021

Perpetual stock

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),...
23K5 November 22^th 2016

A few tips for effective kneading at home

When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.
266K 23.7 June 23^th 2021

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

Using stretch food film effectively

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...
18K 14.9 May 12^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

The march forward

When professionals get to work in their kitchen, lab or bakery, they are (if they are conscientious) very sensitive to hygiene and cleanliness. It is impossible for a good baker for example to do a day's work without regularly cleaning the table where he or she works, and it is even more...
13K5 June 30^th 2021

The green of leeks

We are all, consciously or not, very sensitive to the colour of our food. That's why a red strawberry will always seem more appetizing than a pale one, even if it's not necessarily true. This is true for red, but it is also true for the green of certain vegetables.
15K4.0 March 30^th 2020

Circles vs. moulds tins

If you like to bake or make quiches, pies etc. you must surely have one or more pie pans at home, in different diameters and perhaps materials. They are indispensable, without them there is no way to make beautiful pies, and they work very well, but you have another option, instead of moulds,...
11K5 October 2^nd 2020

Coarsely chopped herbs

Although we are in the middle of winter as I write these lines, you should not hesitate to make salads at this time, it is actually quite simple, rather fast, and so pleasant. A while ago, I already told you that a salad is a salad, but a salad with herbs is immediately something much better:...
7,9304.9 January 9^th 2021

The return of the vegetable grater

If you are of a certain age (say +50) you may have known, when you were a kid, something that your grandmother had in her kitchen set, the vegetable grater. A kind of mill, to be turned by hand, and which with cutting discs of different sizes, allowed to grate a lot of vegetables, carrots first...
11K4.6 March 20^th 2021