I had a leftover magret de canard in the fridge from our most recent trip to the south west, it is a fillet of duck with the skin attached. Usually you put in on a grill or in a pan and the fat of the skin will drip down. In a skillet you can use that fat to fry the duck. However, I wanted a […]
There is a traditional regional dish called “poulet aux quarante gousses d’ail” – chicken with forty cloves of garlic – which often gets prepared with a sprinkling of dried herbs such as thyme, laurel leaves and a stick of celery. Sometimes the blood of the chicken and/or red wine are added. I prefer it pure with garlic and just a hint of dried herbs. You put […]
After the end-of-year festivities, the supermarkets offer discounts on certain products like duck. Due to the heavy use of duck liver for Christmas dinners, the remaining parts of the duck are left over. It was a tradition in the south west, where many ducks and geese are kept, to store the meat in a confit. As there was no refrigeration yet, the meat was cured […]
The winter season is a good period for hearty bean dishes and European culture counts a number of such traditional recipes. I often go to the south-west of France and have come to know quite a bit about the local ‘cassoulet’ with several towns still fighting over the “real” recipe. Cassoulet, like sauerkraut, was a poor peasant’s dish that has been elevated to nobility. After […]