Recipes: 510 results
Nanou's chocolate cake
(Found inTexts)A moist melting cake, very very chocolaty...
June 22th 2013277 K4.6 1 hour 45 min.
Crème brulée
(Found inTextsStages)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...
December 31th 20111.65 M 74.3 4 hours 40 min.
Passion fruit jellies
(Found inTextsStages)Usually to make fruit jellies or (fruit "paste"), it's like jam but you need to cook fruit pulp and sugar much longer. Unfortunately, this long cooking is bad for both vitamins and flavour. In this recipe we use a special jam gelling agent, to reduce cooking time as much as possible .
July 4th 2018328 K4 2 hours 30 min.
4 pears salad with vanilla
(Found inTextsStages)It's a very easy recipe, everything depends on the choice of differents kinds of pears all fully ripe, to give a delicious contrast in the mouth.
February 21th 2011223 K4.2 40 min.
Frozen nougat
(Found inTextsStages)Dazzle your guests with this delicious dessert, a creamy blend of meringue, whipped cream and dried fruit that can be prepared several days in advance.
November 17th 2024274 K4.5 1 hour 25 min.
Finger biscuits
(Found inTexts)These small biscuits, that look a bit like savoy biscuits, are delicious alone or with Champagne, but are also the base for charlottes or Tiramisu.
July 30th 2021337 K5 50 min.
Financiers
(Found inTexts)This delicious little cake gets its name from its shape, in the form of a gold ingot.
April 14th 2020329 K 24.6 20 min.
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,...
October 3rd 20191.58 M 714.6 2 hours 40 min.
Herb olive oil
(Found inTexts)This flavoured olive oil, easy to prepare, goes very well with Mediterranean cuisine: pizzas, pastas, pan bagnat, etc...
February 21th 2011304 K3.8 25 min.
Clarified butter
(Found inTexts)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 21th 2017456 K4.2 2 hours 15 min.
Chocolate sauce
(Found inTextsStages)This rich smooth chocolate sauce, with its full flavour, is one of the indispensable ingredients of profiteroles, but it can be used with many others desserts.
February 21th 2011301 K 24 35 min.
French dressing (vinaigrette)
(Found inTexts)Here is a very simple recipe, but it could completely transform, maybe even transcend, your salad.
July 7th 20111.04 M4.5 7 min.
Montbenoit's canapés
(Found inTexts)A recipe from Franche-comté (lovely region of eastern France): large slices of bread coated with melted shallot, grilled bacon dice, a big slice of Morbier (cheese from the same region) and a brief spell in the oven. It really is a winter dish.
October 13th 2010272 K4.6 1 hour 45 min.
Four quarters
(Found inTexts)It's "the simpliest cake in the world", called four quarters, because it's made with 1/4 eggs, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 flour and 1/4 butter.
February 21th 2011314 K3.7 1 hour 15 min.
Foie gras cured in salt
(Found inTextsStages)This a quite different preparation from the terrine of foie gras, this time it does not go in the oven, the liver is salted for 48 hours and it "cooks" (or cures) in this way.
December 23th 2017558 K5 2 days 16 hours 30 min.
French croissants
(Found inTextsStagesComments)In this famous and highly technical recipe from a piece of yeast-based flaky dough we are going to cut and shape ("roll") croissants.
June 26th 2019616 K 24.4 2 hours 35 min.
Natural leaven
(Found inTextsComments)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 3rd 20201.69 M 304.0 7 days 15 min.
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.
May 23th 20171.19 M 23.8 6 hours 30 min.
Pages: 36 results
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 15th 20241.16 M3.6
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 29th 2023171 K4.4
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.August 29th 2023210 K 44.2
Website technical evolution
This page lists all the improvements/modifications that have been made to the site, in chronological order. .August 29th 2023206 K3.8
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 12th 2024433 K4.0
A little molecular gastronomy
Long-cooked meat becomes meltingly soft. What happens to achieve this result?August 29th 202339 K4.4
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 22th 2024565 K 63.9
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 3rd 2024258 K 43.7
Recipes
A recipe is really quite a simple thing (or should be): a list of ingredients, a method, and that's all there is to it. Unfortunately its not always the case. Sometimes you might get the impression that a recipe, found in a magazine or on a web site, has been concocted especially to make you fail:...June 3rd 2024170 K3.6
Information on weights and measures in the kitchen
The way ingredients are described in a recipe varies from country to country. This difference, which is quite profound, relates not only to units of measurement, but also to the way in which they are measured: weight or volume. Let's take a look.August 22th 2024822 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 29th 2023300 K3.9
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 3rd 2024188 K 13.9
Finishing touches
Is an oven really ever finished? Well there are always ideas for improvements. Here are af few...August 30th 202472 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 24th 2024177 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 24th 202490 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 24th 202452 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 20th 2024509 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 29th 2023282 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 24th 2024201 K 13.6
Small history of elements classification
The road to Mendeleev's table of tables has taken centuries. Here's a brief chronology.August 24th 202441 K3.9
Blog articles: 124 results
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 12th 202124 K4.5
Cooking time for pasta
What is as good and simple as pasta? Not much, I think, and it's so easy to prepare: boiling water, salted (or not, depending on your taste), a few minutes of boiling and it's ready. The only "difficulty", so to speak, is the respect of the cooking time and the risk of, unfortunately, overcooking...July 18th 201919 K4.6
Baking a cake at the right time
When you make a cake, which most likely contains butter, a cake for example, chances are that as soon as the batter is finished, you put it in the pan and bake it immediately. Classic, everyone does it like that, and then if, on top of that, you have a few kids around you who are getting...April 18th 202016 K4.5
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 6th 201148 K4.4
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.February 6th 201121 K4.5
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...February 6th 201114 K 14.6
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 28th 201533 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 9th 201137 K4.2
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.October 15th 201214 K4.4
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.October 15th 201213 K4.4
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 19th 201126 K4.4
A memo of utensil weights
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 9th 201124 K4.6
Should I believe my oven?
Can you really trust your oven? This is an important question as we are always tempted to take the temperature indicated as gospel truth and, unfortunately, this is rarely very precise. .July 4th 201128 K4.6
Too much sweet and savoury
There is a food trend which is creeping in everywhere in France right now: mixing sweet with savoury. In some restaurants, it is becoming difficult to order a classic dish, like “roast veal” for instance, without being served fruits in the garnish or honey/conserves/syrup in the sauce or cooked...November 3rd 201123 K4.5
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...May 8th 201246 K4.6
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 3rd 20218,0775
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 6th 2012106 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 26th 201216 K4.4
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...February 27th 201339 K4.3
20 measures to protect your privacy
As we use more and more new technology, we leave ourselves increasingly vulnerable to companies who make money out of collecting our personal data. For instance, when we use the internet, we need to be wary of what is collected about what we do, our habits, etc. Here is a list of simple...April 16th 201318 K3.9
Lexicon: 8 results
Finish sauce (with butter)
(Found inTexts)Adding cold butter to a hot liquid a little at a time, while beating with a whip to make a smooth sauce.
823 K
Checking seasoning
(Found inTexts)Tasting to see if the preparation has enough salt and pepper.
823 K 2
Dry roasting
(Found inTexts)Dry roasting (torréfication in French), usually seeds (sesame, linseed,...) or nuts (almonds, walnuts, ...), means to heat without water or fat, in the oven or a heavy pan, to drive off all water they contain.It make seeds crunchier, very pleasant in the mouth, with an improved flavour.
823 K 1
À l'anglaise (English style)
(Found inTexts)French cooking term, said of a cooking, rather of vegetables, which is done in a large volume of boiling salted water.
823 K
Rising
(Found inTexts)"Pousse" (rising) is the french term used in bakery to describe the resting time during which the dough rises, i.e. swells thanks to the action of the yeast or leaven. During rising, the yeast ferments the sugars present in the dough, producing carbon dioxide which forms bubbles and increases the...
823 K
Utensil: 9 results
Weighing scales
(Found inTexts)With it you can weigh everything, even in small quantities (10-20 g, sometimes less).
823 K
Electronic thermometer
(Found inTexts)When cooking it is frequently necessary to know the temperature of a preparation. Sometimes it's indispensable, like for recipes using cooked sugar or foie gras.
823 K
Cream whipper
(Found inTexts)The Gourmet Whip was initially intended for making whipped cream (like chantilly) by injecting a neutral gas. But now it is used for many other foams, in different flavours, savoury or sweet, cold or hot. It was the Catalan chef Ferran Adria who started to use a Gourmet Whip to make his famous...
823 K
Skimmer
(Found inTexts)Used for removing the froth that forms on top of some liquids during cooking like soups, stock, jams, etc. Sometimes it's used for removing something from liquid, like vegetables in water for example, but this is not the ideal tool, it's better to use an araignée (spider).
823 K
Pommes parisiennes spoon
(Found inTexts)This is a metal scoop, half spherical in shape, used to cut small even balls of fruit or vegetables. Sometimes sold as a melon ball spoon.
823 K
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...
823 K
Bread dough at the right temperature
(Found inTexts)For the dough to rise properly, it needs to be at a temperature of around 25°C, sheltered from draughts. To achieve this, bakers have what they call a "rising chamber", a small closed room at the right temperature. At home, it's hard to afford this luxury, but you can cobble together something...
823 K
Silcon baking mat
(Found inTexts)Sometimes using a nonstick baking sheet is not enough when cooking items that stick well, such as macarons or coconut tuiles for example. In this case it's possible to line the sheet with cooking parchment,but one can also use a silicone baking mat which is a flexible sheet with a silicone coating,...
823 K
Vegetable mill
(Found inTexts)Vegetable mills have been around for a long time, and are fairly simple: a revolving plate forces the vegetables (or fruits) through a grill plate (the size of holes varies). Of course it takes a bit of effort and elbow grease, but unlike a blender - which pulverises everything - a vegetable mill...
823 K 2
Ingredient, product: 18 results
cream
(Found inTexts)If you leave milk to stand (real milk that is, full-fat, coming straight from the cow), after a while small droplets of fat float to the top, they come together and create the fat part of the milk: cream.This cream, naturally liquid but which thickens over time, is drawn off the milk and sold as...
823 K
salt
(Found inTexts)Salt is more than just a condiment, it plays an important role in bringing out flavours in recipes.There are two main types of salt:Sea salt: made by evaporation of sea waterRock salt: extracted from minesThese two kinds are then factory refined to produce the very fine white powder that we know as...
823 K
pepper
(Found inTexts)Pepper is a spice obtained from the berries of two kinds of tree. The berries (peppercorns once dried), yield three kinds of pepper, depending of harvest period and processing:Green pepper (immature berries)Black pepper (mature)White pepper (black pepper without skin)White and black pepper are the...
823 K
"Quatre-épices" spice blend
(Found inTexts)Quatre-épices (4 spices) is a mix of: black pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.Sometimes a fifth spice is added, ginger or chilli. [Translator's note: this mix is rather hotter and less sweet than British "mixed spice", and in France is often used in savoury dishes. If using British style mixed...
823 K
chestnut flour
(Found inTexts)Made from dried chestnuts, this is a light brown flour without gluten. Not suitable for making bread (unless mixed with a proportion of wheat flour), but it's excellent for cakes, biscuits, pancakes,...
823 K
potimarron (Japanese chestnut pumpkin)
(Found inTexts)The potimarron is a kind of pumpkin which originated in Asia. It's shaped like a very large pear, with a hard reddish-orange skin.It is different from the classic pumpkin, especially in 2 respects: the skin is edible, and its flavour - which is rather like chestnut - is stronger.
823 K
spices for couscous
(Found inTexts)For several oriental recipes like couscous or chorba, one use a special mix of spices that can be find in supermarket or ethnic groceries. If you can't find a ready-made mix of couscous spices, you can make your own from: cumin, coriander (ground), cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom and turmeric....
823 K
butter
(Found inTexts)Butter is a fat obtained from dairy cream by the mechanical process known as "churning" (traditionally done from ancient times in a receptacle called a churn, in which the cream is agitated until it turns into butter). Simply put, the cream goes in and comes out as butter. .
823 K 1
water
(Found inTexts)What could be simpler than water? It is true that for most recipes that require it, ordinary tap water is fine. The exception is for sorbets, which can sometimes be affected by the slight chlorine taste of tap water. For sorbets, it is better to use bottled water, or - a more economical solution -...
823 K
garlic clove
(Found inTexts)Garlic is a plant that is harvested in "heads", which are then separated into cloves. Its taste makes it a powerful condiment often used in cooking.
823 K
ground almonds
(Found inTexts)Grounded almonds, or sometimes flour almonds, are almonds very finely milled.
823 K 3