French Holiday Dishes

Capon holds court in many homes, with turkey running a close second. Usually they are stuffed, French style, with chestnuts, and surrounded in the pan by potatoes, more chestnuts, and mushrooms. Sometimes dried prunes or apricots are added to the stuffing. Shellfish Shellfish is a big part of the holidays here, with oysters being number […]
DUCK CONFIT

Confit: Mystery and Alchemy Making confit is fun, which maybe says a lot about my sense of fun. But it’s hands-on, you have to be patient, and then you have to be patient some more. There is an air of mystery, and one of alchemy because you are transforming a meat you know into one […]
The Truths and Mysteries of Duck and Fat

Question: What are the best species of duck for eating? Here in France, the most widely available duck is the Barbary, originally imported from Central America by the Portuguese. It is the duck we most often see in the butcher shop and on the table, it has a rich, elegant flavor and, when cooked properly, […]
Wild Mushrooms and a Beautiful Dessert

What is the best way to cook wild mushrooms? Gently, respectfully, and only after they have been carefully cleaned. This year, wild mushrooms are nice and dry rather than soggy, the way they can be during a rainy year. This makes them easy to clean. Trim the stem ends, get a pastry or paint brush, […]
Menu Planning

Autumn is the most volatile of seasons, and my personal favorite. As I plan my upcoming menus I go to the market as often as I can because things are changing so fast. We just used the last of the nectarines, and now apples and pears are overflowing the market stands. Not to mention grapes. […]
Green Beans and Onsen Tomago Eggs

Today we made something I love, a simple braise of green beans which are so vivid and flavorful right now they should be illegal, topped with an egg that’s prepared in the onsen tomago method. The student who was working on the dish muttered under her breath – in a sweet way – “Why am […]
GINGER COOKIES AND A HAPPY SOLUTION

There have been times when, whether I was making dinner for my family, or preparing for friends to come to a dinner party, I just didn’t “feel” it. I was tired, usually a state I don’t like to admit to, but it happens to everyone. A normal person would just resort to pasta; not me. […]
GET THOSE DELICIOUS CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING

Writing a book, any book including a cookbook, is a work of creativity and passion. The yearning to record our thoughts, flavors, textures, ideas is profound in so many of us, but how to unlock that door and let the creative juices flow? We need them so that we can create, test, write, re-write and […]
TESTING RECIPES AND BASIL

I spend a lot of my year developing and testing recipes for my books, for other people’s books, for various projects, sometimes for companies. It’s my job and my passion, which occasionally means I’m tasting things that aren’t exactly what I want to eat. I love it all because developing and testing recipes is like […]
PARIS FOOD MARKETS

Get up early, get to your favorite Paris market to find the very best of the season. If you don’t have a kitchen, enjoy the tastes while you’re there; if you do, fill your basket for great cooking, great eating, all seasonal.