Pamplemousse and Poisson en Papillote: Part 2

Here’s the second recipe for the “Grapefruit and Cod en Papillote” post. After a French chef gifted me with a free bottle of grapefruit gastrique, I created a couple recipes with a grapefruit theme.

Cooking en Papillote typically uses baking or parchment paper to envelop fish or other meats, vegetables and spices for cooking. The fish cooks evenly in a moist environment and the paper package seals in juices and aromatic scents. The steamy environment causes the package to puff up and when you open it up, the warm aromatic scents escape and surround you.

Food History: Supposedly, the papillote cooking method was developed to honor a Brazilian balloonist at a banquet. I also found an early reference to cooking rougets (barbet-rougets or mullet) in papillotes from Brillat-Savarin from the Physiology of Taste (1825). So, clearly this is a classic cooking technique.

Food Geek Moment: Foil can be used as a replacement, but if you include a lot of acidic ingredients and spices in the packet, there is some potential for the development of harmless aluminum salts which may slightly affect flavors and for aluminum oxidation which may form small pinholes in the aluminum.

Grapefruit and Cod in Papillote
Serves 4
Fish: 5 ounce filets of cod, skin removed
Salt and pepper

Vegetables/fruit:
1 Pink grapefruit, cut in wedges plus the juice
1 small zucchini, julienned with skin
20 snow peas, blanched quickly (optional to blanch) and julienned
4 small heirloom tomatoes or 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 medium size white or low starch potatoes like Yukon golds, sliced thin

Seasonings/Spices/Herbs (these are estimates):
1 tablespoon of minced parsley
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger chopped or zested
1 teaspoon each of mild chili powder and sweet curry powder
1 tablespoon of olive oil

1. Lay out enough parchment paper to fully wrap the ingredients and still allow for the paper to puff some.
2. Add a thin layer of the potatoes in the center of the paper, top with fish filet seasoned lightly with salt and ground pepper.
3. Mix the zucchini, peas, tomatoes together in a bowl, add olive oil and mix with the spices and zest, arrange on the filet.
4. Top with grapefruit wedges and parsley and drizzle grapefruit juice and teaspoon of olive oil over ingredients.
5. Cook for 15-20 minutes at 375F or 190C

Two Papillote Wrapping Options: Rectangle and a half-heart. For the rectangle, make sure to overlap the sides, then fold the length ends together to form a triangle like wrapping a box and tie with cooking twine. For the heart cut a large heart shape and place ingredients on only one side of the heart. Fold over and crimp the edges together. If the parchment paper is a very thin variety, double up the paper when preparing your shape.

Nutrition for each cod en papillote:
Calories: 207
Carbohydrates: 27 grams
Protein: 10 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Sodium: 38 milligrams naturally occurring without additional added salt
Cholesterol: 53 grams

Food photos by M. Henriot photographer

Pamplemousse and Poisson en Papillote: Part 1

Dinner was at Chez Michele this weekend and I was craving cod (Cabillaud) and grapefruits. Cod because the market offerings were plump and sea-scented and grapefruits because of a compliment to a chef. Chef Gilles Poyac, Chef de Cuisine for the French Senate and winner of the Best Craftsman of France 2000, prepared a wonderful contemporary meal at Le Cordon Bleu where he used a grapefruit vinegar reduction (a gastrique). After his presentation, I told him in French how much I enjoyed the food and the grapefruit gastrique and he gave me a bottle as a gift (maybe I actually told him I enjoyed him?), after all my French does often go quite wrong. Anyway, I promised him I would use the gastrique during the weekend dinner party.

I created 2 of the 5 course dishes to include grapefruits. The grapefruits at the market were a plump, glowing bunch with a familiar look; yes, the label was Le Floride. So I purchased a couple of these exotic imported fruits and cut away the rind and then sliced some wedges. Half of the wedges were sautéed in a Spanish olive oil (fruity) and the other half were for the fish.

The Salad:
Salad greens or a loose leaf head lettuce (I used a French variety Batavia)
Grapefruit slices caramelized in hot olive oil for 1-2 minutes
Walnuts toasted or spiced (see my recipe below)
Reggiano parmesan sliced thin.

Vinaigrette Recipe:
Grapefruit gastrique, Olive oil (I used Spanish), fine minced shallots, sea salt, ground pepper

Grapefruit Gastrique: gastriques are basically vinegar, fruit or fruit juice and sugar if necessary (depends on the sugar level of the fruit and the acidity of the vinegar). I’ve not made a gastrique with grapefruit but here’s what I did with oranges recently:

Juice of 2 large oranges and equal amount of red-wine vinegar plus 2 Tablespoons of sugar.

Toasted Spicy Walnuts:
I coated my nuts with powdered cinnamon and chili plus some sea salt and a tiny bit of fresh ground pepper, then toasted them in a skillet for a few minutes, added some honey (just a fast drizzle over all the nuts), continued heating for a few minutes, added a hint of water and stirred to make sure nuts were evenly seasoned, baked at 100C or 212F until less sticky and then I let them air dry.

The Cod in Papillote is covered in the next blog posting. Picture compliments of M.Henriot photographer.

Cooking John Dory, St. Pierre and/or Zeus Faber

Here’s a picture of John Dory (St. Pierre) to follow up with the blog on using a spice rub on this fish. Some sources state the name John Dory is an English twist on the French “jaune dore” (golden yellow) tint representative of the fish.

He’s quite a dramatic fellow with 10 long dorsal fin spines that can spear and rip skin of careless fingers. He also has 4 spines on the anal fin and microscopic, sharp scales that run around the body. For tips on filleting Zeus Faber (geek speak), here’s a useful video. http://www.filleting-fish.com/john-dory.

Cooking: The flesh is a creamy-white firm-textured flesh that holds up well in cooking and complements Mediterranean flavors and spicy sauces. There is wide range of opinions on best substitutes for John Dory, but most common recommendations are dover sole, seabass, turbot and halibut and perhaps cod.

Cost and Yield:
Because of its large head (about half of its weight), this is a low yield fish of about 30. Maximum weight is around 3 kilograms (about 6.5 pounds). The price at one Paris market was 40€ per kilogram or $53 U.S for 2 pounds. A British fish distribution site had it similarly priced at 37£/kg.

Fishing: Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan

History (Biblical): This fish has a dark spot on its side. Several sources report the name St. Pierre as a biblical attribute. St. Peter’s thumb imprint “stuck” on the fish when he removed a coin from the fish’s which was then used to pay the temple tax collectors (Matthew xvii, 24-27). No explanation is referenced as to why the fish would have money in its mouth.

History (Biological): The dark spot evolved to look like a large eye that is flashed to intimidate prey.

Nutrition for John Dory/St. Pierre: Here’s nutrition info I could locate on John Dory, 2 substitutes and chicken breast to compare to a non-fish protein for a 5 ounce or 142g serving (a common portion size).

Sources:
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/products/fish/john-dory/-dory/
http://www.fishworks.co.uk/N1esw7EX.php?t=cook_fish&r=john_dory&season=9

http://fpcs.fish.govt.nz/science/documents/plenary/JDO_07.pdf

We spice it up this week and venture beyond LCB kitchen staples of cayenne, nutmeg, quatre-épice, espelette and saffron. We forego the typical French recipe and spice up a John Dory (St. Pierre) filet with Satay and Tandoori spices.

During our chef demonstration, our chef generously dredges one side of his filets in the spice mix. At least that’s what he did, but what did he actually say to do with the filets? I don’t know since I’m still at the speaking stage of “Sorry for mangling your beautiful French language” (“Désolé je parle français comme un enfant de 5 ans). And my listening skills require that I can say 5 different versions of “What, again?” involving the words “Désolé, répétez, encore, de quoi and huh?”. For example, I keep hearing the chef say a word that sounds like “terrorists” (tearwarweest to my ears) and as I try to figure out what he’s referring to I become more distracted as he “assassinates” (it’s what I hear anyhow) the fish. So did the chef use any of the following verbs to describe how to spice the filets?

• Assaisonner--not to assassinate but to season, dress with herbs, salt or pepper
• Saupoudre—Spinkle with such as sprinkle with grated cheese or bread crumbs
• Napper—to coat or cover something with a substance, typically liquid

The English description of the chef’s technique would have been dredged or coated for a thick layer of spice. In the kitchen, I mimic the demonstration chef and dredge one side of my fish. I also use this technique because the aromatics in the spice blend are stimulating me or at least my limbic system where the brain processes scents. Unfortunately, I am denied my spice high as our kitchen chef of the day tells me to just lightly sprinkle the spice mix on the filets. He explains that the delicate flavor of John Dory would be overwhelmed by too much of this spice.

He is correct in his comment regarding John Dory. Careful spicing applies to other mild flavored fish such as cod, flounder, haddock, pollock, skate, sole and hake, but really, sometimes you need to kick it up a notch. In my healthy cooking classes, I demonstrate several spice rubs for meats and fish because they add simple, fast flavors, limit salt and produce a lovely browned crusty layer. Generally I use fish such as cod, tilapia, trout and salmon because of availability and low cost. Here’s some spice rub suggestions and info on the satay and tandoori spices used.

Satay Spice: Typically Satay recipes focus on the satay style of preparing dishes instead of a specific recipe for the spice mix. According to our chef, the LCB blend included chilies, garlic, dried shrimp and peanuts. Other sources I’ve used indicate satay spice can also includes these ingredients plus sesame seeds and 5-spice (star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns, fennel and ground cloves).

Tandoori: Includes a wide variety of spices but typically ginger, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric, salt, cayenne. I’ve seen recipes indicating 1 teaspoon of each for a balanced mix.

My favorite quick fish Spice (for non-delicately flavored fish): for four filets, 1 Tablespoon each of cumin, chili powder (not New Mexican), paprika (Californian or Hungarian because Spanish smoked is a bit strong).

Here's the finished dish:

Wild rice with tropical fruit over garlic-scented spinach with mango, papaya and lime scented sauce. Or Effeuilleé de Saint-Pierre aux épices rouges, riz sauvage aux fruits exotiques.

Foreign Baguette Invades Paris

Bread was on my mind and in my luggage as I headed to Paris for my last semester at Le Cordon Bleu. I must be the only person ever to bring a baguette into Paris.

As my plane landed I wondered if airport officials would confiscate my baguette to protect the purity of French bread. After all, San Francisco sourdough yeast is showing up in French breads just like the invading English words peppering French TV and radio. But then I remembered that once again Parisians were on a grève (strike), so I just needed to worry if the airport was functioning.

The traveling bread was a French sourdough baguette hand-made by my husband who wanted to ensure I had good bread for my first few days in Paris. Finding a good baguette in Paris is random luck or local “know-how” for those with discerning palates.

I understand there was a time when consistent high-quality bread was more common in Paris. But with the proliferation of commercial and industrial bread making and distribution, bread offerings and standards have changed. I’ve experienced a regretful meltdown of my stereotype of gorgeous savory breads pouring from every shop in Paris.

Each time I’ve lived in Paris, I’ve worked hard to find consistent good bread; I’m not a bread snob, but I know bread making is an art and a science requiring quality ingredients. I’ve studied the science behind bread making and watched my husband labor for nearly two years to perfect different breads. And yes, hubby’s sourdough baguette is the best I’ve eaten, but I will keep eating more Paris bread to make sure and keep him on his baker’s toes.

Next post: how to spot a good baguette and boulangerie in Paris

Picture of husband Kerry's Sourdough baguettes and Pain de Compagne

This post is inspired by a request from Laura M for some pastries with delicious details.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a few pics of treats I've enjoyed.

Chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream

Parisian-style frozen nougat

Gascon flaky apple tart

Tulip cookie with lemon emulsion which sounds better as Tulipe et son emulsion au citron de menton.

Chef took issue with our suggestion that this emulsion was a typical English lemon curd. He added that British cooking really had very little to offer and this was not English, but we still left the kitchen feeling it was a great lemon curd recipe.

Almond croissant and Pan au chocolate from des Gateaux de pain

des Gateaux du Pain is a owned by a female baker. Female bakers are not to common and there isn't really a feminine word in French for female baker.

David Lebovitz has pondered about this and suggested starting some such as...boulangesse?...boulangeuse?

Well, honestly this doesn't begin to cover the sweets I've eaten, but it's all for research right? Getting to know a culture through its foods is a job I take seriously--just don't ever ask me to make these. I'm a cook not a boulangeuse.

Here's a short review in French and reference in English to the boulangerie.
http://www.paperblog.fr/1225659/des-gateaux-et-du-pain-patisserie-et-boulangerie-paris-75/
http://www.monocle.com/webprogrammes/Quality-of-Life-Index/Des-Gateaux-et-du-Pain-Paris/

Food and French Mistresses

Today I made a dish either honoring a French King’s mistress or honoring French food lore--you decide. Many French meals have charming stories linked directly to famous events or persons.

I usually listen in awe when a chef reveals a historical food reference dating back 200 years. Perhaps my attraction to ancient food stories stems from the fact that most American dishes and desserts are descendents from other food cultures.


Last year a French chef’s food story transported me to June 14, 1800 onto the French battlefield with Napoleon Bonaparte’s chef who immediately after the bloody Battle of Marengo creates “Chicken Marengo”. Napoleon’s army has just defeated the enemies yet the horrors are not yet over; there is no butter, my god what does the French chef do? He creates a dish using olive oil, after all, they are in Italy.

This week it’s the story of Cotes D’agneau Champvallon revealing a sexy side of French culinary history. The chef relates that the mistress Champvallon of King Louis the XIV inspired this dish. Acclaimed Chef Daniel Boulud, of four-star restaurant DANIEL in New York, has a recipe for this dish and relates via several web sites that this dish was made by the mistress Champvallon to gain the king’s favor.

Unfortunately, when I researched this food-lover of kings, my fantasies were dashed as I failed to locate evidence of her. Apparently King Louis the XIV was a busy guy mistress-wise chalking up at least 14 officially recognized mistresses, none of them named Champvallon.

With the Chicken Marengo dish, food research related to this dish are included in many sources including Larousse Gastronomique , Oxford Companion to Food and The Illustrated History of French Cuisine. Several resources relate various dramatic details of the Marengo chicken event or deny that it happened. However, I prefer to recall the chef’s stories when I make these dishes as thinking about heroic and juicy food stories while cooking adds a little something special to the dish.

Here's Chef Boulud's version of Lamb Chops Champvallon (Serves 4)

You can prepare this regal version up to 3 hours in advance then reheat it slowly 15 to 20 minutes before serving.


Ingredients:12 lamb chops, 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick, trimmed of all fat. Salt, freshly ground black pepper, 15 ml olive oil, for cooking (1 tbsp), 60 ml sweet butter (4 tbsp), half of it melted, 2 large onions, peeled and sliced 1/8-inch (2 mm) thick, 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped, 2 sprigs fresh thyme, 2 bay leaves, 1.35 kg baking potatoes (3 lbs), sliced 2 mm (1/8 inch) thick, 750 ml chicken stock (3 cups), 2 sprigs parsley, leaves only, minced. Preheat oven to 160 C (350 F).


Use a thick copper pot about 4 inches deep and 14 inches in diameter, or a large roasting pan that fits all the chops. Salt and pepper the chops, heat the oil in the pan over high heat and brown on both sides for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the chops and set aside. Add 30 ml (2 tbsp) of the butter, the onions, garlic, thyme and bay leaves to the same roasting pan and sweat for 8 to 10 minutes (making sure the onions do not colour).


Put the potatoes in a bowl. Add the salt, pepper, onions, garlic, and herbs. Mix well. Brush the inside of the pan with 15 ml (1 tbsp) of the melted butter. Spread 1/2 of the potato/onion mixture evenly on the bottom of it, about 1/4-inch thick and include 1 bay leaf and 1 thyme sprig. Fit all the chops side by side over the potato layer. Cover with the rest of the potato/onion mixture. The top layer will also be 1/4-inch thick and include 1 bay leaf and a thyme sprig. Press down on the top layer with a spatula. Pour in the chicken stock until it reaches the top layer of the potatoes. Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the inside of the pan to use as a lid. Brush it with the 15 ml (1 tbsp) melted butter and place it butter side down, covering the entire surface of the potatoes. Bake for about 75 to 90 minutes. The top layer should be light brown and the inside moist, with 1/3 of the chicken stock left. Discard the parchment, bay leaves, and thyme. PresentationSprinkle the dish with parsley, and serve from the pan.
(see http://www.frenchedonist.com/uk/archives-recettes/c.agneau.htm for more info)


Here’s some sites I use in addition to food history books:
http://www.foodtimeline.org/
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmeats.html#chickenmarengo (shows contrasting stories)
http://www.foodhistorynews.com/debunk.html#typology

Piperades and Chicken Tendons

We explored the French Basque Country with the dish Poulet Sauté Basquaise (Basque-style chicken) with saffron rice--see my plating with crispy Bayonne ham slices.

This dish is characterized by a Piperade which is boringly referred to as a "vegetable garnish" in our French recipe as is just about every vegetable mixture in our recipes.

A piperade is a Basque dish typically prepared with tomatoes and green peppers, onions (all colors of the Basque flag), olive oil and Espelette pepper which is cultivated in the Basque region. (see the link for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espelette_pepper

This spicy pepper and tomato sauce can be a side dish, stewing ingredient or garnish and is often added to scrambled eggs and omelets (see a basic recipe below).

Before making our “vegetable garnish”, we begin with the chicken tendons. For home cooks, this is a non-existent step in prepping a chicken. However, to torture yourself or serve more restaurant-style chicken legs, check this out:

• Carefully slice the skin at the back of lower leg join
• Tug on the large tendons that run the length of the leg down to the foot and claws.
• Hook the tendons with some tool, twist and pull (I used a ladle hook and pulled until I was red in the face)

The chef had commented or perhaps joked (I may have missed the French intonation) in class that the women should find a strong man to help them with this step; therefore, there was no way ever I was going to ask for help.

The first few attempts of pulling on the tendons caused the claws to retract painfully into the palm of my hand—a cool horror movie effect. I then moved onto removing each tendon separately rather than risk being offered help by the chef.

Basic piperade recipe:

Sweat 1 thin sliced onion in hot olive oil. Add 2 thin-sliced peppers (1 red and 1 green is nice). If you’re in France peel the pepper or roast it and pull off the nutritionally-dense skin and toss—French cooking is very sensitive to potential and perceived digestive food elements.

Add peppers to onion mix and 3-4 crushed garlic cloves. Let cook until softened.

Blanch 4 tomatoes--for technique see http://www.instructables.com/id/EOMPU43YZBERIE2LQH/ Slice thin and add to onion mix along with dried thyme, a bay leaf and espelette pepper (or some mild chili powder). If tomatoes are not particularly fresh or flavorful, add a pinch of sugar.

Cover and let cook for about 20 minutes and season with salt and pepper as needed (if in France, add gobs of salt if serving a French chef—see my previous blog about salt consumption in France at http://chezmichelerd.blogspot.com/2007/11/french-pinch-of-salt.html

Blowing Boudin Blanc...casings that is

Boudin Blanc aux Pommes

The chef placed the pig intestine sausage casings to his lips and blew. The sausage casing filled like a balloon for a clown’s animal sculpture. The chef then grimaced and wiped his lips clear of the juicy casing liquids and explained “here’s a trick for checking for holes in your casing”--yum; I’m thinking I can’t wait to try that trick.



Boudin blanc is a traditional sausage made from pork, pork and veal or chicken and pork fat (of course, since it’s sausage and it’s French sausage). Traditionally a Christmas food, it is now found year round.

I prefer boudin blanc to making boudin noir sausage which is 50% animal blood, but soon I’ll have to use blood in making coq en barbouille.


After checking out my casing, I decided to try the balloon trick without actually touching the guts part—kind of like giving mouth to mouth without any lip action; I was pretty effective—see my results.

I asked in class if there were any non-animal casing options and was told there were edible plastics. Some research revealed casings available from cellulose (cotton or wood fibers), inedible collagen and plastic but none of which can be consumed. There is an edible collagen from skins and hides, but I found no sources of edible plastic. So if you’ve heard of this unnatural animal, I’d appreciate any input.

Chef also said that serving apples with the sausage was traditional because the apples aided in digestion. Apples do contain tartaric and malic acids that can aid with digestion as well as pectin which is promotes probiotic bacteria in the intestinal tract.


I’ve listed the nutritional content for typical boudin blanc from a French website, but am suspicious of the low amount of saturated fat listed, but fully believe the generous sodium listed.

100 g (3 1/3oz)
Calories: 242
Protein: 10 gram
Fat: 20g (6.8 saturated)
Carbs: 5.5 grams
Sodium: 703 grams





http://www.i-dietetique.com/

Back at the Blue

I’m returning to Le Cordon Bleu having learned a few tricks for packing my knife kit. Here’s my top 10 for list of stuff to take or not take to school.

1. Waterproof bandaids with special fingertip styles (you know, to give to the other students)

2. Burn cream (again, of course, for other students)

3. Upgrade the knife kit with a real peeler and add a fish deboner and scaler, zester, heat proof spatula, mini-tart rings (for garnishes/sides) & diamond edge knife sharpener (removes less metal)
4. Nail polish or waterproof markers to brand your kitchen gear as yours (you’ll still loose stuff)

5. Plastic sleeves to protect class notes from the daily blood spray of chopping bloody animals or fish carcasses of some sort

6. Tupperware of some sort for leftovers that you don’t chuck and plastic baggies for leftovers when you’re too tired to clean your Tupperware

7. Change for coffee at the essential coffee vending machine

8. A camera for food photography such as macro setting, white balancing, high fstop and fast shutter speed

9. Keep at home: stain remover for that blood and guts rubbed in look. Try Ace Delicat brand wash soap and K2r spray for the most stubborn stains.

10. Keep at home: rings (even wedding rings sadly), earrings, any jewelry and face goo/makeup

Amsterdam Quickie

I wanted rijsttafel. I wanted it from the country of origin. So, off we went to the lively city of Amsterdam. Two days of eating our way through Amsterdam endeared us to several fried and baked delights, broodjes (Dutch Sandwiches), Dutch gin and our destination meal of rijsttafel.

This quickie visit included satisfying food pleasures, yet left a lingering guilt; food ruled over meaningful insight into Amsterdam culture. But a private tour did give us a nibble of history and a memorable slice of Amsterdam food culture.

We started with a “culinary” food tour. Our private tour guide, Carlota, explained the tour was “tongue-and-cheek” since Amsterdam isn't viewed as a European culinary destination. After eating Oliebollen, I may have to disagree. Who could pass by these rich “little pillows of heaven” (husband Kerry’s description), without scarfing one down and leaving a dusty coat of powdered sugar evidence on your clothes.

Oliebollen is a Dutch Krispy crème style donut without the super sugary coatings. This yeasty pillow has the appeal of a light fluffy interior with an al dente exterior and no greasy taste nor feel. Oliebollen is an appealing contrast to the typical cake style American donuts with the added benefit of some spices and dried fruits. For a recipe see the link. a recipe see the link. http://bakingfreakrecipes.blogspot.com/2005/08/oliebollen.htmlot.com/2005/08/oliebollen.html


Along the fried food themes, we also experienced croquettes at a Febo diner. Sort of a Dutch McD’s. Febo was launched in 1941 as an automatic “food-in-the-wall” delivery system. The company website lists over 50 shops in the Netherlands and is named after the founder FErdinand BOlstraat.

Our croquette had a crunchy exterior with a hot gravy meat-like filling. Perfectly acceptable for a student budget or fried food aficionados. As a dietitian and slow food support, I eat such foods as a pop-cultural food adventure, so I ate my croquette share on a dare, but passed on the burgers and fries.

Other fried temptations included street frites served typically with mayonnaise—I opted for curry ketchup. These were rapidly eaten while watching canal activity from a wooden bench—a “super bon” frites experience.

Carlota suggested we try some Herring sandwiches from one of the street stands. Herring isn’t in high season in November, but is still available. We found Henk’s Herring stand on a canal bridge and were given a soft smooth bun enveloping buttery-soft fish topped with sweet onions and slivers of pickle, just a complete wonder for 2.50 Euro.

Our guide also introduced us to poffertjes. These pancake style treats are baked over a hot cooktop in iron molds. We tried these several times and failed to get a picture because we couldn't delay the pleasure of eating hot, buttery dough puffs topped with powdered sugar. So, here's a picture from Noskos who permitted my use of it--see his recipe posted below.

The next morning we did broodjes for breakfast. Our wonderful B&B host, Paul, from rooms@bedandbreakfastamsterdam.net recommended several restaurants to fulfill our desires to eat good local food. At Lunchroom Diwi, our waitress and probably proprietress, spoke only Dutch to us, but we successfully managed to order egg broodjes with mounds of crispy yet substantive bacon topped with a perfectly fried egg hiding a soft bun. I ate the entire sandwich but hey it was really cold that day and my bodily thermogenesis to cope with the cold required more calories (I call this caloric rationalization).

We started our rijsttafel research before leaving the states by quizzing our friend Christiaan who is from Holland. Rijsttafel is a Dutch invention derived from Dutch colonization of Indonesia from 1602 to 1945. Rijsttafel (rice table) is like Indonesian tapas—small plates of mostly Indonesian influenced foods with rice.

Typically one is served 12-25 dishes including meats, vegetables, fish, satays and nuts and seasonings of coconut, peanuts, chilies, curry, lemon grass and fruits. Our first experience with rijsttafel was an event of contrasting flavors, textures and seasoning sensory overload.

We ate at a modern style rijsttafel place called Blauw (blue in Dutch). Opting to split one rijsttafel order was an exercise in gluttonous restraint and left us just enough room for desert. http://amsterdam.restaurantblauw.nl/content

We also fit in some gin tasting at a bar filled only with locals who loved our ignorance about gin and made happy, slightly tipsy comments about Obama's presidency. We had 3 glasses of gin at 1:00 in the afternoon on an empty stomach; we left the bar quite cheery and warm. Our guide ended our tour at a local bar for Belgium beer and a cheese plate with heavy dark breads. We spent 2 hours discussing culture, food and politics--the best kind of travel experience.

http://noskos.blogspot.com/2008/03/poffertjes.html
Poffertjes Recipe (abbreviated by Michele)

Sift 125 grams flour + 125 grams buckwheat flour. Proof 10 grams yeast in 100ml of lukewarm milk, make a well in flour and mix. Add 200 ml warm milk & a pinch of salt. Combine well and add 1 lightly beaten egg. Cover with plastic wrap & rest batter for 45 minutes in warm area. Heat the poffertjespan, brush some melted butter in mold and fill each halfway up with batter. When the poffertjes are dry at the edge and the bottom has a nice color turn them over until done. Noskos adds that he turns them over when part of the top is still liquid. Top with confectioners sugar.

Turning Vegetables, Turning Tables

The French have charming and specific verbs to describe cooking techniques. Chemiser, from the word chemine (shirt), means to coat or give a “shirt” of butter and flour to the inside of a soufflé dish to reduce sticking and promote rising. Citronner (citrons are lemons) is to rub certain foods with lemon to prevent discoloring. Truffer, easily translates to the action of adding truffles to a meal. So if you and your friends decide to get wild and “truffons” one night, in ONE word you’re actually saying “Hey, let’s add truffles to our meal”. What’s the word for that in English again? Oh, yea, it’s “Hey let’s all add truffles to our meal”.

Most French culinary terms charm my linguistic sentiments--except for the verb tourner. Tourner exactly describes the act of turning vegetables. But despite this verb cognate sounding exactly like what it is, it is completely the wrong lexicon for me. This is because the word, tourner sounds so simple, yet in the French culinary application, it fails to convey its twisted complicated nature. At first, the act of turning vegetables causes students to coo “Oh la la” as they lean forward to watch their French chef quickly turn a vegetable into a perfectly 7-sided "barrel” or “olive” with a razor sharp paring knife. But as soon as the students are on the other end of the knife, their coo’s become “merde”, “ouch”, “damn” or “f _ _ _” in the student’s primary cursing tongue. If I was in charge of the culinary glossary at Le Cordon Bleu, I’d change tourner, as it relates to turning vegetables, to "torturer".

How to turn vegetables:

In French cuisine, the size of turned vegetables is codified (thanks to Escoffier, no doubt) by size and as described in Le Cordon Bleu reference bibliography:

· "l'anglaise": turned to be 5 cm (2 inches) long and 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick (usually for potatoes)
· "cocotte": turned to be slightly shorter and more olive shaped than l’anglaise
· "château": turned to about 1.5 cm (0.5 inch) longer and thicker than pommes de terre à l'anglaise.

Why turn them?

It’s a tradition in French cooking schools. But actually these even-sided symmetrical vegetables and potatoes do roll around nicely in a sauté pan and tend to cook at the same rate. Unfortunately, in most kitchens with fast table turnover and high staff costs, there’s little time for veggie symmetry and the potential amount of food product waist is high. As one of our chefs lamented, “You never see turned vegetables in restaurants any more, but I’m hoping they make a come-back”. This melancholy sentiment is completely lost on the students.

Picture of my Hake w/ Hollandaise and turned veggies

LCB Reference found at http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/restaurant/chef/turning.html

The Other Red Meat

I probably offended rabbit pet owners with my earlier blog on rabbit "food" by discussing “how to remove the head”, and now I tip-toe into other pet and food taboos by discussing the “other red meat—Horse meat”.

During our chef’s tour of a French outdoor market, we bought horse meat at a chevaline stand. Horse meat is found in specialty butchers and stands but also in grocery stores. The organization La Viande Chevaline in France promotes the horse meat market by listing recipes, nutrition benefits and pictures that include a sexy woman fork-feeding a sexy man tasty morsels of horsemeat. This organization contrasts with pet and sporting organizations in the US that lobby to ban the processing and sale of horsemeat in the US.

Despite opposition to horse meat consumption, US imports in 2004 of this meat product rank highest among French imports with:
· USA at 24%,
· Argentina at 18%, and
· Canada at 15%.
These imports are necessary because French production of horse meat only meets 38% of the demand. This implies that horse meat is popular in France; however, demand has not increased despite marketing efforts. I’ve reviewed several articles on why this may be the case, but I mostly wonder if price is an issue since horse meat has a history of acceptance in French culture. The average price in 2004 was 13 euro/kg or in current 2007 dollars about $9 per pound, similar to the price of veal.

While I could dwell on the philosophical, religious, cultural and socio-economic considerations for why to eat or not eat horse meat, I will bail out and say “hey, I’m a nutritionist, so is this good eats or not?” One of our chefs’s mentioned that horsemeat had only 2% fat which seemed incredible to me. So I did some research and found several web sites that indeed indicated 2-3% fat. But when I looked at the data, these sites had calculated percent fat based on weight, not percent of calories. A gram of fat is equal to 9 calories, so fat content is meaningful based on a percent of total calories, not percent of weight.

At 30% saturated fat, low cholesterol, high iron and low calories per gram by weight, horse meat compared to beef looks nutritionally advantageous. Particularly since the beef cuts are shown as trimmed to 0% fat (see http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/) for more details and my nutrition table below.

But does it taste good? Check out the picture—only a few pieces remained soon after the chef prepared it for our picnic. To me it tasted like a good cut of beef, but I’m not really a red-meat eater, instead I pounced on the cheese platter (talk about fat content...).

Baguette Etiquette and Sourdough Invasion

So this is me with my favorite French starch. And yes, people carry just purchased baguettes around like this on their way home—it’s not a stereotype. This baguette was purchased after I had prepared my dinner, poured my red wine and realized I had no baguette for my meal: horrors. So I raced out in the rain to my favorite late night boulangerie and procured my .85 Euro (1.29$) baguette.

So, if you look close, you’ll notice I ended up eating some on my walk back to the apartment. I’ve been thinking I’m gauche and piggish looking doing this, but our Parisian friend, Michel, informed me this is ok baguette etiquette. David Lebowitz in his blog further explained this tendency. Apparently, munching on the “quignon” (pronounced Keenyon), the crispy end of the baguette, is common. Good, because I can never wait until I get home to start munching.

So, how many calories are consumed by such munching? Of course, I measured this on my digital scale like any good nutrition nerd. I discovered I’d eaten a fourth of the baguette on my way home (remember I did walk to and from school, briskly, carrying a heavy knife set, and cooked 5 hours…). The entire loaf was 260 grams, and my 65 grams was about 160 calories. This is similar to two slices of typical sandwich bread, but oh so much better. By French law, baguettes have to be 250 grams, so my favorite boulangerie is on the up-and-up.

My favorite loaf is Baguette l’ancienne because it is levain or contains sourdough starter. Since I miss my husband’s fabulous fresh sourdough, this has to do; however, French sourdough is no yeast contestant for the tangy American version. I’ve been told this by Parisians who appreciate sourdough. However, our tangier version (think San Francisco or Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis—the lactic acid bacteria responsible for the sourdough flavor) is considered “trop acid” or too acidic for other Parisian palates. But L. Sanfranciscensis may be migrating to France. In a recent article of Food Microbiology, the microbiota of four industrial French sourdoughs were dominated by our American bacteria—oh no, another incursion into French culture.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/08/baguettes.html for more information on baguettes.

Caul fat: intestinal delight

So, you want to stuff your chicken or pork and keep it from bursting during cooking. Just reach into your kitchen fridge for your Caul fat, you know the fatty intestine linings of cows or pork that you pick up at your local grocer. Well, actually if you really want this lacy, translucent fat (anatomically speaking it’s called omentum) to wrap foods for baking or roasting, you’re going to need a good butcher shop. But here in France, it’s not so difficult to obtain. Thank goodness! Otherwise I would not have had a chance to play with this intestinal delight.

Caul fat did work great for keeping my “farci” or stuffing of pork and chicken in my “Jambonette” (a style of Habillage or cutting and dressing my leg/thigh piece to resemble a ham). Other non-innard techniques for stuffing control include sewing the skin together with a trussing needle, or how about the simplest—wrap your meat or poultry in some aluminum foil and remove near the end of cooking to brown your meats. I will say that caul does help keep the meat most and mostly melts away near the end of cooking. Plus, I have this cool picture of the spidery web look of intestine linings.

Brunoise and Bandaids

Le Cordon Bleu “Lexique” or glossary defines Brunoise as “Vegetables cut into very small regular cubes, about 2 x 2mm”. Unfortunately it doesn’t explain why you would want to cut vegetables to .08 square inches. Therefore, most students surmise it is simply a form of chef’s torturing students. I suppose you could say it looks petite and pretty, but at my age, I need reading glasses to decide if this is true.

Frankly, I think it’s another French way of using vegetables as garnish and avoiding actually having to eat them. I make this limited and nutrition-centric observation after 6 weeks of boiling vegetables to al dente texture, straining them through colanders so only the juice essence remains or turning 1 kilo of vegetables into a handful of decorate vegetables.

Here’s evidence of the effect of brunoise, so you decide: 1) a picture of Chef's beef stroganoff with rice and a brunoise of zucchini, haricot verts (beans) and carrots versus: 2) a picture of my fingers after trying to clean my knife of obnoxious brunoise particles that attach to the knife when cutting them (plus one bandage for a blister due to cleaning a hot stove). Here’s a site that summarizes brunoise and several other French cutting / torture techniques. http://www.lacaterer.com/knife-skills.html

Bloody Meats Part 2: I've become too French...

How to tell when red meat is cooked: Ignore your watch. Oh, and please, “No thermometers” says our French chef with a sniff and hand-wave to dismiss this ridiculous idea. Instead use the "fat pad" of your thumb--you know, the old Abductor pollicis.

How do I personally know the fat pad technique works? I actually cooked red meat too bloody for a French chef. In my effort to prove I could cook my red meat the French style rare or “bleu”, I tossed out years of fearing I would poison my guests or cooking students with undercooked meat. And, I ignored my kitchen friend, the thermometer, which I had brought into the kitchen and hidden under a piece of parchment paper for fear of mockery by the chef if discovered. In France I have evolved from a person who doesn’t eat red meat to “hey, this piece of bloody meat looks pretty tasty to me.”

I failed to cook my meat to “bleu” because I tried to use another chef’s recommendation regarding how long to cook red meat for different grades of doneness (see Nov 25th blog). I now know that this chef's grill must be fiery hot and as I’ve always preached “it’s done when it’s done, not when the clock says so”. So here’s the fat pad technique (see links below for credits):


Index Finger = Rare with internal temperature around 125F. Feels soft and squishy, like a sponge

Middle Finger = Medium Rare with internal temperature around 145F (Our French chef says around 135F). Feels firmer but yielding, like a Nerf football

Ring Finger = Medium with an internal temperature around 160F (our French chef says around 145F). Feels slightly yielding, like a racquetball.

Pinky Finger = Well with an internal temperature around170F (our French chef says why would you ruin meat this way, but if you do the temperature is around 150F). Feels springy, like a tennis ball.

So here's my offending piece of meat, with an artichoke and bernaise sauce and twice cooked potatoes (pommes pont neuf style).

Finger doneness pictures from Men's health magazine with link found at http://lifehacker.com/software/grilling/determine-the-doneness-of-a-steak-267250.php

Deglazing Sucs

Even if you’re not into gourmet cooking, when you pan sear or roast meats, deglazing the pan can give you a quick and flavorful sauce or gravy. Of if you are in a French kitchen, particularly at the Cordon Bleu, you can produce a complicated version involving 50-60 liquid reductions and use of 30-40 chinois strainers (perhaps I exaggerate), but the French fondness for intensifying protein flavors and straining the resulting juices and sauces to silky textures contrasts with my KISS cooking approaches (keep it simple…).

Anyway to deglaze (or Déglacer) a pan, you remove (decanter) the meat and add a thin coat of a liquid, generally water, stock or wine to the pan used to cook the meat, fish or poultry. Using a scraper or spoon, you scrape at the carmelized or browned materials and protein bits stuck to the pan bottom. According to our classroom interpreter this is the “yummy bits” or “little brown bits”. Often these are referred to as the “fond”; however this is an incorrect use of fond.

In French, these are called the “sucs” (pronounced sook) from the word sucre (sugar). These bits get mostly dissolved during the scraping and swishing of the deglazing liquid. Fond actually is aromatic bouillon, stock or foundation for your sauces, juices or gravies. Any yummy bits that don’t dissolve can be strained out. So, don’t wash that pan out next time you sear or roast a protein—it’s like throwing out flavor.

P.S. this doesn't really work in a non-stick pan and for a fast summary of why it helps to know French cooking terms, check out:
http://www.nwcav.com/blog/index.php/2007/11/20/it-sucs-to-be-u-niligual/

Bisques are great unless you're the crab

Bisques are a traditional French soup of crushed crustaceans with cognac and wine. Although restaurants now serve bisques without these key ingredients, the traditional French approach involves searing the complete crustacean in oil to extract flavor and simmering in fish stock, cognac, white wine and herbal and vegetable aromatics. These flavors are then strained, thickened, seasoned and strained again for a velvety texture.

This all works great unless your crabs are waving at you before you start the searing technique. My crabs appeared to have expired along the one day trip from the coast to the market, but after pouring water over them to clean and remove any female egg sacs, I woke up some survivors whom I could not look in their little periscope eyes. Hypocrite that I am regarding food—I’ll eat it but don’t make me responsible for its life—I asked a workmate to trade live for dead crabs. Having already commented that she preferred life crabs, this was a fair trade—one done without involving chef. Tomorrow we fry beignets of shrimp…please let them already be in shrimp heaven.

Rabbits as dinner (pet owners please read another blog)

So, I succeeded in the rabbit “preparation”. One year of anatomy training seemed to help me chop apart an animal that I’ve
traditionally considered a pet. I kept focused on the muscles, bones and tendons and removed the head as fast as possible. I haven’t posted any “anatomy” based pictures, but I’ll email shots with requests. Here's a picture of my "Lapin a la moutarde, pommes sautees a cru" oh, and also a garnish of lapin kidneys and livers on a rosemary skewer just for an extra nibble.

Rabbit as Food
Research on rabbits for food yields a passionate response from consumers, farmers and pet owners. In many countries rabbits represent a nutritious and affordable food source, particularly for low income households. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations promotes rabbit husbandry to address undernourishment and low standards of living in many countries. Rabbit consumption is ingrained in many cultures and is a heritage and backyard food particularly in Europe. France and Italy, which has the highest consumption of rabbit meat, have a long cultural legacy of rabbit consumption.

In the U.S. rabbit meat for consumption is increasing and represented about 20% of the total market for rabbit in the USDA’s latest statistics. This is about 2 million rabbits per year compared to 3.3 million sheep/ lamb and 8.7 billion chickens to give a comparison.

Rabbit Taboos
I can’t find the original source but apparently Chef Jacque Pepin has commented that the growing popularity of rabbit in America is due to the sophistication of the American palate, but that if he skinned a rabbit on his PBS cooking show, he would go to jail or "be assassinated by some league or another." I must add that any food that increases in popularity in the US is probably aided by advertising in some fashion—it’s certainly not solely because rabbit is a nutritionally sound meat.

Rabbit pet owners and organizations opposed to how rabbits are raised for commercial consumption have a valid concern. This concern applies to many other commercial livestock practices in the US: animals in small cages with poor living and feeding conditions. For a couple of diverse views on the subject, I’m attaching three sites: Slow food USA on wild rabbits for consumption (non-industrialized approach), Epicurean’s comments rabbits as delectable foods with recipes and a site on issues associated with industrialized rabbit production. http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ark/american_rabbit.html
http://www.epicurean.com/articles/rabbit-almost-too-cute-to-eat.html http://www.rabbitproduction.com/Rabbits_as_Poultry.html



Bottom line...I did like the rabbit, but then again, I'm a cat lover.