Flambéd bananas

(Found inTexts)
The trick of this recipe is to end up with bananas caramelised on the outside, still firm on the inside, coated with a tasty syrup which is not 95% butter.
313K 14 40 min. February 21^th 2011

Crème brulée

(Found inTexts)
Crème brûlée (burned cream) is quite easy to prepare: it's a simple egg-cream dessert. The only difficulty is in making the delicious crunchy caramel layer on top. The perfect crème brulée (for me) is a cold and soft cream, with on top a nice hot caramel crust. This is a completely new version...
1.6M 74.3 4 hours 38 min. December 31^th 2011

Rice pudding (riz au lait)

(Found inTexts)
My personal version of this classic family recipe.
384K5 38 min. December 18^th 2018

Tiramisu

(Found inTexts)
Classic italian recipe (the name means "pull me up" or more poetically, "take me up to the sky"). It's similar to a charlotte in its structure: layers of flavoured biscuits between layers of smooth cream.
482K5 49 min. July 27^th 2013

European glass

(Found inTexts)
A little dessert that's rather long to make, but which will always impress your guests. Layered in a glass: a jellied red fruit coulis, a layer of pineapple charlotte cream, a layer of kiwi coulis, topped with a peeled clementine segment. It's "european" because it resembles the italian flag, and in...
222K5 2 hours 29 min. August 15^th 2010

Fresh mint ice-cream

(Found inTexts)
This well-flavoured ice-cream is excellent on its own, or in profiteroles with a chocolate sauce for example.
514K4.6 1 hour 34 min. February 21^th 2011

Macarons (the original French macaroons)

(Found inTextsStagesComments)
This recipe really is "of the moment": the success of these small, highly-coloured cakes, in an infinite variety of flavours, is impressive. It's a recipe which needs some care, in order to produce a result worthy of a professional pastrychef. No problem, I will guide you through the recipe,...
1.6M 714.6 2 hours 38 min. October 3^rd 2019

Bouquet garni

(Found inTexts)
Used very frequently in French cuisine, a secret of French chefs, it adds flavour to a lot of recipes, and it's easy to prepare. The basic principle is to make a small bundle of herbs, bind them in green leek leaves and to tie it up, so that the whole thing can be removed and discarded easily after...
404K3.5 12 min. March 21^th 2017

Almond cream or frangipane

(Found inTexts)
Light and delicious, it is used in a lot of desserts like tarts, cakes and pies (epiphany galette).
440K 25 44 min. January 23^th 2022

Chocolate mousse

(Found inTexts)
Here is a simple quick recipe for chocolate mousse. It is just necessary to be careful at the final stage, when mixing the melted chocolate and the beaten egg-whites.
465K3.7 40 min. February 21^th 2011

French dressing (vinaigrette)

(Found inTexts)
Here is a very simple recipe, but it could completely transform, maybe even transcend, your salad.
1.0M4.5 7 min. July 7^th 2011

Fruit coulis (fruit purée)

(Found inTexts)
Contrary to what people usually think, coulis is not just a simple fruit purée with sugar. Of course, this is the general principle, but it's possible to make something much better and more refined. This recipe is for a strawberry coulis (see below for other fruits): how to make it, but also how...
760K 44 24 min. October 20^th 2012

Couscous

(Found inTexts)
In couscous, the meat and vegetable mixture is rather long to cook, but not difficult. And the couscous itself (a kind of coarse semolina) is simple and quick to prepare.
503K4.3 2 hours 36 min. November 16^th 2017

Potato gratin

(Found inTexts)
This classic French recipe is made with sliced potatoes baked in milk and browned on top.
1.1M 14.6 1 hour 47 min. February 21^th 2011

Tartiflette

(Found inTexts)
A personal version of a classic recipe from Savoy.
584K 14.6 1 hour 27 min. September 16^th 2019

Home-made terrine of foie gras

(Found inTextsStagesComments)
Preparing your own home-made foie gras from raw is immensively satisfying: good quality liver and a simply amazing flavour – much better than anything you can buy. This recipe is a bit tricky, but quite within everyone's grasp, as long as you follow the 3 most delicate stages carefully. These are,...
5.2M 64.2 4 days 15 hours 50 min. December 17^th 2023

Guacamole

(Found inTextsStages)
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.
286K4.1 1 hour 21 min. November 26^th 2011

Hummus

(Found inTexts)
Hummus (or houmous), is one of the famous and delicious Lebanese "mezzes".
325K4.7 16 min. May 30^th 2020

Icelandic-style fish and vegetable pie

(Found inTexts)
This recipe is made from vegetables cut small and blanched, mixed with pieces of salt-cod and cream, then baked in small soup dishes with a puff pastry lid.
267K3.9 4 hours 35 min. September 7^th 2018

Vegetable pie

(Found inTexts)
Three layers of vegetables, baked in puff pastry.
231K3.9 1 hour 21 min. September 10^th 2018

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

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

Home made plancha

Make you own plancha and cook the Spanish way on this scorching hot metal plate.
253K 43.7 August 29^th 2023

The recipes

Hints for using the recipes: how to read and recreate them.
164K3.6 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slashing loaves

Cutting the top of the loaf so that it rises better during baking: slashing.
279K 43.6 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

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 taste of raw tomatoes

Let's take a look at tomatoes, which are still in full bloom at the end of summer (as I write these lines), and which make for delicious salads. I had already talked to you about the interest of peeling tomatoes, which gives them an extraordinary sweetness in the mouth, but let's talk about the...
11K4.9 September 8^th 2018

Devising a recipe

A question I'm often asked is: how do you come up with your recipes? How do you perfect them? This is something I've already mentioned on this page, but I'll take this opportunity to go into a bit more detail.
13K4.4 October 15^th 2012

Cream and sauces

Have you ever wondered why making beautiful tasty sauces is so easy when you use cream? First of all, we need to be aware that some flavours only dissolve in water, while others only dissolve in fats. This phenomenon leads to this kind of accident: If you put a chocolate mousse uncovered...
17K4.4 October 15^th 2012

Well-cooked meat

Have you ever noticed that if you like your meat well done, it invites strange looks? For instance, in a restaurant, when asked “How would you like that cooked?” If you reply, “Well done,” it is almost as if you are swearing….
29K 14.4 May 21^th 2011

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.
23K4.5 July 12^th 2021

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...
6,9315 July 3^rd 2021

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...
15K4.4 November 26^th 2012

The art of the charlotte

In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...
38K4.3 February 27^th 2013

Raising (or leavening) agents

When we want to make a dough or batter rise when baking, either in patisserie or bread-making, we need to use a raising agent or leavening agent, one of which is called leaven. In the context of baking, a raising agent is simply what "makes something rise". It is a substance which, when added to...
51K4.8 June 16^th 2021

Foie gras without force-feeding: it can be done

I adore foie gras... I willingly admit it, I adore foie gras: the texture, the taste, the festive aspect – I enjoy all of it. I really love eating it, preparing it and, most of all, sharing what I have made with my family over Christmas and New Year. ...but then I begin to have doubts Of...
44K4.4 December 15^th 2014

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

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...
11K5 March 9^th 2017

Candied fruits: don't get ripped off

Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.
53K 24.2 June 21^th 2017

Lemon in recipes

Let's take a look at the lemon, yellow or green, which is used in a whole host of recipes, both sweet and savoury. It brings both its taste, and the small acidity that makes its charm. Mind you, I'm not talking about lemon used as an anti-oxidant that prevents it from turning black, or to just spice...
12K5 October 23^th 2017

Vegetable soups

As I write this post, we are slowly slipping into winter, and this late autumn is the perfect time for soups, especially vegetable ones. Soups, that somewhat "soft" dish, often associated with our childhood, infallible remedy against a cold evening or an ugly weather, or both.
7,3355 December 5^th 2017

There is vanilla and vanilla

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...
8,4835 December 14^th 2017

Foie gras service

For the upcoming christmas meals you too may be sacrificing to the tradition of foie gras? If so, I suggest you take a look at everything that revolves around serving foie gras: how to serve it, and what to eat and drink with it.
10K4.9 December 23^th 2017

Fats for cooking

If you need to fry or sear anything a frying pan or saucepan, the temperature is likely to be high. In particular, I have cooking red meat in mind. In this case, what should fat should we use? And at what temperature?
16K5 January 23^th 2018

Is it really necessary to cream egg yolks?

Let’s try and answer a question that crops up in cookery and patisserie, even if it verges on the existential: do the egg yolks in a custard recipe really need to be beaten until pale, or not?
37K4.3 February 28^th 2018