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Category Archives: Food/drink/recipes
Un café, s’il vous plaît
Coffee fuels the French, who have a penchant for strong black espresso-type coffee. Having to use coffee substitutes during World War II must have been a real hardship in that case. A chance remark to that effect during a recent … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life
Tagged café culture, cafés, coffee, coffee substitutes, French cafés, French coffee, SW France, World War II
15 Comments
French Flavours E and F: Two Aveyronnais Specialities
Time for another instalment of my French flavours series. I realise I have only got to ‘E’ and we’ll never get to the end at this rate, so this week I’ll do ‘F’ as well and you get two for … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes
Tagged Aveyron, Aveyron recipes, Estofinado, Les Farçous, River Lot, rural life, Stockfish, SW France, Villefranche de Rouergue
7 Comments
French Flavours: D is for Diablotins au Roquefort
I have been continuing my researches to bring you another in my series of recipes of Southwest France. Here’s one you’ve probably never heard of – diablotins au Roquefort. I certainly hadn’t. Easy to make, with readily-available ingredients, they are … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes
Tagged amuse-bouche, Aveyron, Diablotins au Roquefort, French flavours, recipes, Roquefort, Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, SW France, walnuts
8 Comments
Cattle Country
Considering we are surrounded by them, I’m surprised I haven’t written more about these mainstays of local agriculture. Perhaps it’s because I have a love-hate relationship with them, especially when marauding herds have trampled down our garden. What am I … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes
Tagged Beef, beef consumption, boeuf, cattle farming, farming, food, rural life, SW France, transhumance
27 Comments
French Flavours #3: C is for Cassoulet
I can’t allow the letter C to pass by without writing about cassoulet, the signature dish of southwest France. It’s been around for a long time and the correct recipe is the subject of controversy. What is it? A stew … Continue reading
French Flavours #2: B is for lou Bajanac
In my A-Z of traditional French recipes, I’m trying to focus on those that originated in southwest France, where we live. So I’ve eschewed boeuf à la Bourgignonne or blanquette de veau, delicious though they are. Surprisingly, I found a … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes
Tagged Aveyron, châtaignes, chestnut soup, chestnuts, French recipes, Laguépie, lou Bajanac, Rouergue, SW France, traditional French recipes
8 Comments
French Flavours #1: A is for Aligot
The temperature was approaching -10C when I went downstairs this morning – outside, I hasten to add. This is the coldest spell we’ve had for five years. In this weather you want rib-sticking food; nouvelle cuisine doesn’t hit the … Continue reading
Posted in Aveyron, Food/drink/recipes
Tagged aligot, Aubrac, Aveyron, burons, food, Laguiole, Laguiole cheese, SW France, tome fraîche
40 Comments
Appetising Return to Belcastel
Last time, I wrote about a ghostly story linked to the château de Belcastel. This week, we had the opportunity to make a return visit to this plus beau village in Aveyron. Not only does it occupy a delightful setting … Continue reading
Posted in Aveyron, Food/drink/recipes, Places
Tagged Aveyron, Belcastel, Château de Belcastel, food, Michelin star, Plus beaux villages, Restaurant du Vieux Pont, SW France
16 Comments
Walnut Time
The walnuts start to fall here in SW France around the end of September. By mid-October, it’s positively raining nuts. This year, we were afraid that our crop would be minimal. Many walnuts fell early and were blackened and mummified, … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, History
Tagged autumn, French country novels, huile de noix, rural life, SW France, walnut oil, walnut oil mill, walnut tart, walnut trees, walnut wine, walnuts
23 Comments
Opération Escargot
France’s cuisine was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2010, when it was included in the list of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. Why “intangible”? Good food might be a consolation for the soul, but it’s also a feast for most … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, Nature
Tagged escargots, food, French cuisine, gastropods, héliciculture, rural life, snail breeding, snails, SW France
22 Comments
Bach, an Ancient Village on the Causse de Limogne
This was a week of excursions. Yesterday, we rehearsed and sang in the biannual scratch choir concert in Puycelsi, a hilltop fortified village in the Tarn. As always, it was an inspiring event. The concerts are held in aid of the … Continue reading
Is the Rural French Café Dying Out?
The village café-bar is a typically French institution, just as the pub is essentially British. Our nostalgic vision of French rural life places the café (often doubling as a restaurant) at the heart of the village, along with the church, … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life
Tagged France, French cafés, French village life, Ifop, living in France, rural depopulation, rural life, SW France
15 Comments
Pastis: A Quercy Speciality
Hands up everyone who thought pastis was an aniseed-flavoured apéritif. It is; but it’s not a local speciality here. The pastis I’m talking about is an apple dessert made with very fine pastry, which is particular to the Lot and … Continue reading
Le Temps des Cerises
The title (‘Cherry Time’) is that of a very famous French song written in 1866 and interpreted much later by Yves Montand. With the addition of some verses, it became one of the anthems of the revolutionary Paris Commune in … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, Places
Tagged A Year in Provence, cerises, cherries, cherry-picking, Clafoutis de cerises, food, Le Temps des Cerises, Provence, recipes, SW France
12 Comments
Seasonal Treats: Asparagus and Strawberries
When we first moved here, it was frustrating not to find strawberries or asparagus in the French shops in the winter. I completely changed my mind a long time ago. There is a lot to be said for enjoying produce … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes
Tagged asparagus, food, Gariguettes, seasonal produce, seasonal treats, spring, strawberries, SW France
14 Comments
French Regional Cuisine: L’Auberge Lou Bourdie at Bach
Bach is a small village on the Causse de Limogne, in the heart of truffle country. In common with many rural French villages, it’s a quiet place nowadays. But it does have a rather good restaurant, l’Auberge Lou Bourdie.
French Restaurant Capers
French restaurants are currently on the menu in the news. A hapless blogger posted a bad review and was fined by a judge. And as from last Tuesday, restaurants have to indicate if any or all of their meals are … Continue reading
Sweet Lavender
Which part of France do we normally associate with lavender? Provence, naturally, where it plays a big part in the perfume and essential oils industry. But did you know that 10% of French lavender production at the start of … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, Gardening, History
Tagged essential oils, lavande, lavender, lavender oil, lavender production, Quercy, SW France
8 Comments
A Brief History of Cheese
At the Tuesday market in Caylus, which stall has the longest queue? No contest: the cheese stall. It’s especially long in summer when the holidaymakers and second homers swell the population. But even in winter you can count on a … Continue reading
Posted in Auvergne, Food/drink/recipes, History
Tagged cheese, cheese production, dairy produce, food, France, French cheese, fromage, history of cheese
19 Comments
Facts – and Fantasies – about French Wine
Today was cold, damp, miserable and unpleasant. So let’s forget the weather and le ras-le-bol fiscal (discontent about taxes). Instead, let’s warm ourselves in front of the fire with a glass – or two – of one of France’s best-loved … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life
Tagged French wine industry, SW France, vin, wine, wine consumption, wine production
5 Comments
Garlic and Garlic Recipes
What would French cuisine be without garlic? This pungent bulb has become one of the symbols of France. As often happens, personal experience led me to reflect on the role garlic plays in French culture, society – and especially gastronomy.
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life
Tagged ail, garlic, garlic recipes, l'ail blanc de Lomagne, l'ail rose de Lautrec, recipes, SW France, tourin à l'ail
5 Comments
Frog and Toad
In culinary matters, the French and the British often compete about who first discovered a particular dish. A notable example is burn’t cream – crème brulée in French. Both countries claim to have invented it . Now, there is … Continue reading
Posted in Customs, Food/drink/recipes, History
Tagged Amesbury, bufo bufo, Common European Toad, cuisses de grenouille, food, French cuisine, frogs, frogs' legs
19 Comments
Goose Fat and Garlic
A few weeks ago – only just found time to write about it – I attended the launch of a new edition of Goose Fat and Garlic, a book about the cooking and recipes of SW France. Jeanne Strang, who … Continue reading
Posted in Aveyron, Books/writing, Food/drink/recipes
Tagged Aveyron, books, Ferme Carlès, food, Goose Fat and Garlic, Jeanne Strang, recipes, SW France
14 Comments
French Provincial Cooking
When pondering what to serve dinner guests this coming Saturday I reached for my disintegrating copy of Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking. Not because I expected to copy a user-friendly recipe but because it is chock-full of ideas. First published … Continue reading
Posted in Books/writing, Food/drink/recipes, Personalities
Tagged Elizabeth David, food, France, French cuisine, French Provincial Cooking, Writing
14 Comments
Chestnuts and Chestnut Recipes
This autumn’s chestnuts It’s that time of year again when the sweet chestnuts are falling. Very few chestnut trees grow near us but not far away, around Najac and Laguépie, they clothe the slopes. If you walk along the River … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, History, Personalities
Tagged châtaignes, chestnut cake, food, gâteau à la châtaigne, rural life, SW France, sweet chestnuts
15 Comments
Wine Blight: How the French Wine Industry was almost Wiped Out
France is peppered with wayside crosses. Some are modest and plain, fashioned out of a single lump of stone with perhaps a roughly incised date. Others are more elaborate, featuring carvings and inscriptions, in stone or iron. Some were erected … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, History, Nature
Tagged France, Phylloxera crisis, Phylloxera cross, Phylloxera vastatrix, vines, wine, wine industry
10 Comments
Truffle Market at Limogne
I awarded myself a day off yesterday and did something I have been planning to do for a long time – initiating myself into one of the rituals of southwest France, a truffle market. Every Friday in winter, a small … Continue reading
Posted in Customs, Food/drink/recipes, Places
Tagged Lalbenque, Limogne, SW France, truffle market, truffles, tuber melanosporum
20 Comments
Winter Warmers: Chansons and Cassoulet
The cold spell is forecast to end this week but it’s not going without a fight. Last night it had snowed, not very much but enough for us to abandon any plans of going to the market today. There probably … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, Weather
Tagged Carcassonne, Cassoulet, Castelnaudary, SW France, Toulouse, Weather
8 Comments
Chestnut Fair at Laguépie
It’s the time of year for gathering in the fruits and nuts before the weather turns at the beginning of November. Our kitchen is full of produce: boxes of walnuts – our own; cases of sweet apples – a friend’s … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, History, Places
Tagged châtaignes, Foire à la Châtaigne, Laguépie, living in France, rural life, SW France, sweet chestnuts
12 Comments
Saffron: Quercy’s Red Gold
Most people associate saffron with Middle Eastern cooking. But this exotic and highly-prized spice was successfully produced in the Quercy region of southwest France throughout the Middle Ages. After a hiatus following the French Revolution, production resumed in the Lot Valley … Continue reading
Posted in Customs, Food/drink/recipes, Nature, Places
Tagged Cajarc, Cajarc Saffron Fair, Les Safraniers du Quercy, Lot, Lot Valley, saffron, safran, SW France
14 Comments
