Hey everyone! We are going to take a break from the gloom and doom and talk about some typical French dishes. I will try and find links to recipes for each dish and give a brief description of the dish and its origin and history.
We will begin with bûche de Noël. The traditional Christmas dessert is made from a genoise, an Italian sponge cake, that is baked in a shallow Swiss roll pan. The cake is then iced typically with chocolate buttercream icing, and then rolled. The outside is then iced again. One of the cake’s ends is sliced off and then placed on top off the cake to resemble a chopped of branch and a fork is dragged through the icing to give a bark like texture. Some will add powdered sugar for snow, real tree branches, berries or mushrooms made of meringue and marzipan. Bûche de Noël was the term used for the actual yule log until the practice fell out of use, but the dessert still carries the legacy forward. You will find the dish in many francophone countries and regions, including France, Belgium, Lebanon, Quebec. The following is a link to a recipe if you would like to try and make it: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17345/buche-de-noel/
L’Escargot, Greek Street London. February 2014
Next, we move to one of the most commonly known French dishes: l’escargot or snails. These cooked land snails are often served as starters in Portugal, Spain, and France. Because of the dish’s popularity, some species of land snail used in the dish are called escargot even while living. Snail shells have been found in archaeological sites in the Mediterranean, indicating that snails may have been a common food since prehistoric times. The French will remove the snail from its shell, kill it, and then cook it in garlic butter, chicken soup or wine. The snail is then placed back into its shell to be served. Special tongs and a small fork are normally provided for picking up the shell and removing the meat respectively and there are special trays with six to twelve indents for the placement of the shells. Here is a recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/escargots-a-la-bourguignonne-233523
We will end our food tour with foie gras. According to French law, foie gras is duck or goose liver specially fattened by force-feeding the bird corn with a feeding a tube. The process is also know as gavage. The ducks are force fed about twice a day for 12.5 days and geese three times a day for seventeen days. They are slaughtered at 100 days and 112 days respectively. Foie gras is considered a delicacy in French culture and is sold whole, or as mousse, parfait or pâté. The process of gavaging is incredibly controversial due to the threat to the birds’ well-being. It is illegal in some countries and regions and some retailers in legal regions will not stock the product.
Looking ahead: Our last post together will be about the current political climate in France as their elections approach in early 2017, as well as the impact of our elections here in the United States on the French and Europe.