Herb olive oil

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
This flavoured olive oil, easy to prepare, goes very well with Mediterranean cuisine: pizzas, pastas, pan bagnat, etc...
February 21^th 2011314 K3.8 25 min.

Clarified butter

(Found inTextsStages)
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.
June 21^th 2017469 K4.2 2 hours 15 min.

French dressing (vinaigrette)

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
Here is a very simple recipe, but it could completely transform, maybe even transcend, your salad.
July 7^th 20111.06 M4.5 7 min.

Sausage mushroom and cheese crumble

(Found inTextsIngredientsComments)
A small ramekin filled with sausage sandwiched between two layers of cooked mushrooms, topped with a savoury crumble made with cancoillotte (a cheese typical of eastern France). All the French region of Franche-comté is in this recipe: Morteau sausage, cancoillotte cheese, and Jura white wine.
May 10^th 2023250 K 24.6 2 hours 45 min.

Tartiflette

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
A personal version of a classic recipe from Savoy.
September 16^th 2019613 K 14.6 1 hour 30 min.

Parcels of fish fillet in spinach

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
These parcels are made with small pieces of fish fillet, wrapped in a blanched spinach leaf and lightly fried in butter. They can be served with a salted white wine sabayon (as in the recipe of scallops with crunchy vegetables), a beurre blanc, a dash of olive oil with herbs, or any other sauce of...
March 18^th 2013244 K4.8 2 hours 25 min.

Guacamole

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
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.
November 26^th 2011303 K4.1 1 hour 25 min.

Hummus

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
Hummus (or houmous), is one of the famous and delicious Lebanese "mezzes".
May 30^th 2020341 K4.7 20 min.

Vegetable pie

(Found inTexts)
Three layers of vegetables, baked in puff pastry.
September 10^th 2018244 K3.9 1 hour 25 min.

How to cook hard-boiled eggs properly

(Found inTextsStagesComments)
A hard-boiled egg is properly cooked when: shell is not broken, white and yolk are firm, yolk is only yellow with no traces of green around it. Here are some tips to make this easy.
November 4^th 20131.38 M 65 1 hour 30 min.

Green parsley sauce

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
This sauce, with a great parsley taste, is perfect with steamed vegetables or fish. At the bottom you will find the coulis version of this recipe.
February 21^th 2011531 K 44.3 25 min.

Fougasse with bacon and Comté

(Found inTextsIngredients)
This is a richer version of the traditional Mediterranean recipe (originaly, it was a simple olive oil bread).
October 24^th 2017343 K4.1 3 hours 9 min.

Pizza dough

(Found inTextsIngredients)
Pizza dough is a lind of bread dough with olive oil, which make it softer. This is the same dough that I use for pizzas and flammenkuches, this is no doubt incorrect, but it's very good nevertheless. At home we used to make pizza dough quite thick, and flammenkuche as thin as possible.
September 22^th 2024513 K4.6 1 hour 60 min.

Tomato sauce (for pizzas)

(Found inTextsIngredients)
This is the sauce to put on pizza bases before the toppings.
October 19^th 2010532 K4.3 1 hour 15 min.

Preserved tomatoes

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
Softer than dried tomatoes, they can be used as a kind of chutney in pasta dishes for instance, or simply served to accompany an aperitif.
February 21^th 2011348 K4.8 5 hours 6 min.

Fish petals, vegetables julienne, and beurre blanc

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
This recipe consists of delicate flakes ("petals") of poached fish, cooked with smoked ham, served on a bed of julienne vegetables (fine sticks of carrots, turnips and cabbage), with a "beurre blanc" sauce made with vinegar and shallots. Not difficult, but entails some work.
December 31^th 2013261 K4 1 hour 35 min.

Hamburgers

(Found inTextsStages)
Hamburgers don't have to be the greasy flabby things you find in fast-food outlets, well-made they can be excellent. It's a very convivial recipe as everything goes on the table, and everyone assembles their own burger according to personal taste.
December 6^th 2015425 K4.8 35 min.

African style chicken

(Found inTextsStagesIngredients)
This is a sort of smoked chicken, cooked in a tomato-coconut sauce, and served with kidney beans and plain rice. It's quite a simple recipe, with ready-made ingredients, but which needs a long cooking time on low heat (one hour).
February 21^th 2011416 K5 2 hours 4 min.

How to prepare tomatoes

(Found inTextsStages)
Yes, I know you will say to me: why peel tomatoes? The answer is very simple: it's much better, gives a better texture, softer in the mouth. The skin is tough, adds nothing to the taste (and you will have noticed that commercial tomatoes have practically no taste), and finally it's there (on/under...
June 6^th 2012337 K 24 40 min.

How to heat milk without it catching on the bottom of the pan

(Found inTexts)
Very often when you heat milk in a saucepan, it forms at the bottom of the pan (especially if the milk boiled) a sticky and brown bottom of milk that burned and attached. To avoid this here is a very simple and very effective tip.
February 21^th 2011259 K 24.2 1 min.

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 2023581 K 93.6

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 2024263 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.
August 30^th 2024189 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 2023305 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 2024194 K 13.9

Elements in the table

It's not always easy to represent an element. Some are obvious because they're used as such (iron, copper, lead...), but for others it's much trickier. In this list, you'll find the objects/materials that have been chosen to fill in the boxes in the table.
August 24^th 202438 K3.9

A mist free mirror

I don't know if you're like me, but I find it very annoying after a shower or bath to have to wipe down the bathroom mirror 36 times with a towel just so I can see myself shaving (or putting on make-up for the girls).How do you solve this tricky problem? First of all, by looking at the cause of the...
August 29^th 2023223 K 13.6

Electronic controlling of a pump

I needed someday a mechanism for controlling an electrical device (pump) on a water level, it was necessary that the pump is switched on when the level was reached, and works for a short time (20 seconds) and then it stops and the cycle, start again. I found nothing in shops that will make it at a...
August 29^th 2023176 K4.4

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 2023313 K 13.6

Basic temperature in bread-making

When making bread, it's very important to keep to the correct temperature, as yeast and sourdough are very sensitive to temperature. The dough must be warm enough for the yeast to develop and make it rise, but not too warm, which would have the opposite effect. To express this ideal dough...
August 22^th 2024230 K3.7

Preservative oil, an asset for taste

When you prepare a dish using an ingredient that has been preserved in fat, for example a springtime mixed salad with tuna in oil or sun-dried tomatoes, you're probably going to make a french dressing (vinaigrette) next. In that case, why not use the preserved oil from the tuna or tomatoes?
June 5^th 20245,0815

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 202115 K4.7

No need to boil gelatin

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 20244,6385

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...
February 6^th 201149 K4.4

Maillard reactions

This subject cropped up recently in a discussion with my three charming nieces; do you know what Maillard reactions are? With a name like that, they could well be some principle in mechanics, but in fact the term applies to something much closer to all of us: it's what gives food more flavour...
January 28^th 201535 K4

In praise of slow cooking

You will no doubt have noticed that in cookery, it's often the actual cooking process that gets neglected. This is understandable; it comes at the end of the recipe and getting the dish in the oven is something of a relief (ah, that's done!), which frees us to cope with what's left: tidying the...
February 9^th 201139 K4.2

Good fridge management

We all have a fridge at home – it's an indispensible part of the kitchen and so much a part of the furniture that we tend not to pay it much attention. But often, out of habit, we don't use it properly. Here are a few tips to help you get more from your fridge. .
April 19^th 201127 K4.4

The time of the jams

We are well into summer as I write this, and this is the time when most of the fruit is giving or about to give in full. And for many of us, it will also be the time for jams and jellies, one of the best ways to preserve fruit for the next winter.
July 12^th 202125 K4.5

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). ...
March 26^th 201241 K4.5

The painter, the restaurant owners and the opera singer

You might well have noticed that there are recipes involving names that have been so overused (often for any old thing) that they have almost become common nouns.
September 25^th 201218 K4.4

Different kinds of pastry and dough

When cooking in general, and particularly in baking, we can make and use many different kinds of pastry and dough. All built on the same "base": flour - a powder to which we add fat, liquid or both to produce the dough which is then cooked. .
November 6^th 2012108 K 14.0

The secret of cooking until "done"

This is a real chef's skill: being able to look at a fish fillet cooking and say, "Stop – that's enough, it's cooked". I always admire this ability to see at a glance if something is done. It is what sets the professionals apart from us mere amateurs. And it's true that how fish is cooked is...
November 26^th 201218 K4.4

Preserving egg yolks

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 20245,2735

The different cooking modes

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 20246,1364.7

The window-pane test in bread-making

The home bread-makers often ask themselves “Have I kneaded my dough long enough?” . A good question, as dough that is insufficiently kneaded will not rise properly or will fall flat when the top is slashed, which is very frustrating. To know when the dough is ready, one can rely on the length...
June 16^th 202191 K 23.9

One should cover a pan while heating?

You've probably heard it before: "Cover your pan, it'll boil faster", but is it true? Let's find out.
February 27^th 201528 K 13.4

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),...
November 22^th 201627 K5

Children and vegetables

This is an attempt to address the question that all parents and grandparents, maybe you included, face so often: how can we get children to like vegetables? And at the same time, we might get away from the familiar, day-in, day-out round of pasta, chips, toast.. Well, I can hear you say, it's...
March 9^th 201713 K5

What can I use for blind baking a pastry case?

When it comes to home-made desserts, tarts are always popular. They can be divided into two basic types: those cooked with their filling, such as an apricot and almond cream tart, and those where the filling is added after baking the pastry case, such as a strawberry tart or chocolate tart. For...
May 2^nd 2017108 K4.5

The right way to use a blender

You may well have a blender in your own kitchen. You know, that useful gadget that allows you to liquidize stuff at high speed into a smooth liquid. Of course, the most obvious use that comes to mind is for soups: if you have boiled some vegetables in water, with just a quick blast of the blender,...
May 31^th 201721 K5