Have you ever tried to wrap a beef fillet in a salt crust and bake it in the oven? If not, I highly recommend doing it. First of all, it’s a nerve-wrecking adventure, second, if you get it right, you’ll be able to serve a world-class meal: meat so tender and regularly cooked that you… [Read more…]
October 7, 2010
…is easy-to-do and goes with all kinds of cold cuts and morsels. Serve it with a (home-made) foie gras, with some ham, some chicken breast or a thinly sliced pork roast; it makes a great companion for hard mountain cheeses like the beautiful Ossau-Iraty from the French Basque region or for soft blue cheeses like… [Read more…]
October 3, 2010
…is called Normandy, rich beyond belief: In front of you – the salty sea full of fish and mussels, crab and oysters. In your back – le bocage, fat meadows populated by outstanding cattle, lined with apple and plum trees and farm houses dating back to ancient times that stand along rivers where cream and… [Read more…]
September 30, 2010
Ragout, Daube, call it what you want – but take beef cheeks, if you can. I adore this kind of meat which is not highly regarded in a world where everybody goes for the so-called “noble” parts like steaks or fillets, and quick pan-frying or wok-ing is all we’ve still got time for. Yet the… [Read more…]
September 28, 2010
I don’t know about your experiences but I’ve found out in life that most cooks, professionals or amateurs, have a clear preference when it comes to the above question. In many restaurants you can witness the consequences: Quite often, a talented pâtissier decides to open his own shop, just to learn that he can’t really… [Read more…]
September 25, 2010
A slice of fresh bread spread with a rich, creamy, comforting liver paté can make a beautiful supper as long as you avoid the pre-packed “French” supermarket fare. Just do it yourself! It’s easy, it’s ten times better and it makes you feel good and skilled. Here’s a perfect home-made Parfait de foies de volaille: What do… [Read more…]
September 16, 2010
I know this might be a bit confusing but my work life as a world affairs reporter for SPIEGEL magazine makes me drive on the fast lane from time to time. Yes, I’ve been to Oslo two days ago, and after that in Brussels, yet since this morning I’m back to Kabul, flying in via… [Read more…]
September 5, 2010
…is a cheap and delicious feast rounding up your weekend on a Sunday night. I had got six nice fish, cut the fillets out (I’ve even skinned them – there’s a condom-like skin on the skin, so have your sharpest knife ready!) and I marinated them the Japanese way. You salt them first for two… [Read more…]
July 13, 2010
…steamed and topped with a well-seasoned butter mix, you don’t need more to be decently fed. It’s a perfect dish for the 14th of July celebration, France’s holiest holiday. The masses will gather on the Champs-Elysées to commemorate the revolutionary days of 1789…well, ok, I’m kidding. Nowadays, it’s not about commemoration, instead you will find… [Read more…]
July 11, 2010
…made by dedicated people I don’t know but admire for their passion. It’s a lot of fun to search Google for “flag cake pictures”. 80 percent of them come with stars & stripes, as you can imagine, but tonight the USA won’t play a role for a change. Oranje and “la Roja” will enter the… [Read more…]
July 2, 2010
…when the summer heat is on in your city. In Paris, we have days of canicule right now – that’s a European kind of heat wave that Australians, Indonesians or Africans would find quite laughable, I guess. But we don’t have that settler-style toughness, so we start suffering when the temperatures hit 30° Celsius (86°… [Read more…]
June 21, 2010
…to help me forget what’s happening down on Knysna’s “Field of Dreams” in South Africa where the French national football team is going to pieces. Whether you’re familiar or not with names like Domenech or Anelka – you might have heard of what’s happening: the French players were on strike, imagine, their coach is humiliated, the… [Read more…]
October 14, 2010
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