Bondbug

Thanks Chattius. Time you went to Brussels to sort them out and stop them interfering with purely local matters. What you say about small butchers is interesting. All the small butchers I know, who had their own small, spotlessly clean slaughterhouse on the premises have had to close them. Brussels makes regulations for the large operators and forgets to adapt them for the small family business. Our daughter, the vet, was angry about this too when she was in Scotland. The practice used a small local facility for dealing with large animals that had had to be put down - not sick, but like horses with broken legs - and Brussels regs closed them down. Family butchers cannot afford the cash or the space to provide separate rooms for all the different functions. Our local man occasionally slaughtered a sheep or cow, and we had access to bits like tripe, and other "abats". Can't even get the bits to make haggis anymore! As for venison - not available in butchers or supermarkets. Disappointed with Gogo - thought he might bite on the "pâté chinois" - one of his favourite dishes!

Never mind the soccer (I remember people blowing their top when that term was used) - did you see the South Africa v England match Steve? Don't have the right tv here and British tv and radio licensing won't let them show here on my PC. All I get is text - never known anything so frustrating. Right cliff hanger - probably as well for the old ticker that I wasn't watching. Would have liked to see the Scottish matches - 2 wins in extra time - extraordinary.

Yummy venison Chattius - poor Gogo must have a weak stomach - too much chicken and pasta? I seem to remember part of the problem in cooking venison was making sure it did not get dry, but wife is the expert - I think she wrapped it in something like bacon. But we can't get venison here. Gone are the days, many years ago, when one butcher in Dundee (Scotland for the geographic dunces)sold nothing but venison at the same price (3shillings!) for any cut. We live here near an estate with a high class hunt and forests stocked with deer - heaven only knows what happens to the venison - can't find it in shops or privately. However I expect Gogo prefers pâté chinois.

Many thanks Chattius. Good idea pre-heating. I understand about porous material and fish smells! We normally keep separate pans for fish. I will come back to this if I may when we return from 2 weeks away. My wife loves trying new methods, and we were sad we got it wrong last time we tried this. Fortunately no rush, as we have not yet replaced our broken pot and may have to wait till we go to England later in the year. We may find something here in central France but I doubt it. We have a couple of German friends in the choir, so will ask them about it. Alsace might be a possible place for finding clayware like this - but it is as far as England! One of these days we might come and ask your mother in law to give us some lessons.

Here is our little oven - not quite as imposing as Chattius' Bakehouse oven! Is it possible to use your claypot with such a small oven? I do not know what the range of sizes may be for these pots. I am a bit suspicious of web info here where they talk of 15mins soaking as compared to Chattius' overnight soaking.

A somewhat patchy discussion I am afraid as I do not get here as often as I should. Apologies Chattius. I think you will find that bakehouses, or at least facilities for communal baking/cooking, were available to the public in most countries, though perhaps not in the form described by Chattius. Quite lot of facilities were made available for working class and rural families. Ovens were one, wash houses were another. In France there are still washhouses, little used now except by a few older folk, usually near a stream or spring for a good supply of water. I remember in Scotland in Dundee in the 50s there were still large washhouses locally known as "steamies" which were centres of social interaction as are some laundrimats nowadays. Used to see women pushing their laundry to the steamy - in prams usually. However I am most interested in the clayware for baking. I will come back with a pic of our small oven and you may be able to tell me if the clay pot could be used in it.

Yes, we have the same sort of baking order as the oven cools from around 250/270° ... bread pizza cakes then stews cassoulet egg custard etc. I see you put your clay pot in while the temperature is still above 100°, which is interesting as that is not the impression we got from the literature, where we get the impression of putting the pot in the cold oven. Good. Our oven is small domestic only 90cm diameter so there are no cooler areas ... which could be more difficult. I would need to know a lot more of the "lot of factors"! Are you suggesting too that commercial pots are of limited value - that is all that would be available here, though I could make enquiries about local potteries. I wonder if they are aware of this form of cooking in this area. I note that you also talk of "public owned baking house". That is interesting. I must find out if there are such things still in France. Depends to some extent on what you mean by "public owned" - to me that indicates local authority/local government/commune ownership rather than "private" ownership. I wonder if other people have any experience/knowledge of this ... or is Hesse the last bastion of civilization!

I saw this the other day when I looked in and wanted to thank Chattius for the info. We bought one of these some years ago because we thought it would be superb for the wood oven. Then we read the directions (which were not too helpful) which told us it could not be put into a hot oven, and it never got used - and eventually got broken. Which was a great shame. I think your info will give us the opportunity to try again, once we have had looked up all the references. So thanks again - very interesting post. P.S."Clay pots should always be placed in a cold oven and then heated to the required temperature." I still don't see how this works with a wood fired bread oven which would normally be preheated to it's top required temperature then used variously for different dishes as it cools slowly

We use fresh milk from farm always, with added cream from when we skim for general use. I will need to get my wife to look at this. Thanks Chattius.

You restore my faith in the survival of the good things in life. This last post of yours needs more study than I can give it just now. Magic.

Man Chattius - your stuff is superb. Can we have more information please, if you have this, about the making of the cheese you mention, and as much detail as you can give about giant puffballs (not unfortunately very common here). My wife makes a cheese which is good, much firmer than the cream cheeses but instructions for something firmer would be welcome. The apple dumplings recipe is on the list for soon.

Double posting again - go straight to jail, do not collect credit for extra posting. A few minor points! 1. If poss Gogo find something other than *** facebook for posting your pics. I had unfortunate experiences with facebook and would not touch it with an especially long bargepole. It is firmly banned chez nous. Pity - I am sure your Xmas pics were great! Does anyone else have problems with facebook:) 2. Meadowsweet - mentioned by Chattius. Very interesting that use of the flowers if we can be sure of getting the right plant. But our books say: a) the sickly sweet scent of the flowers is attractive to flies b) a gentle digestive remedy for acidity and some types of diarrhoea c) astringent, diaphoretic (!), diuretic ... contains salicylic acid useful for influenza, problems of respiratory tract, gout, rheumatism, arthritis, and fever ... bladder and kidney ailments, dropsy and other problems of water retention ... diarrhoea ... and as a wash for wounds or sore eyes. Phew - and all that with your ice cream! It is interesting though to hear of these traditional uses that are in danger of disappearing. How many people like to be seen these days hunting fields and hedgerows for these excellent plants. 3. Interested in the use of honey mentioned, but obviously not for "brulée". What had you in mind there for honey Chattius - I sense another great desert recipe in the offing.

Come on Steve - you can do better than that. I think Gogo's aunt's recipe, and Delta's, and the one I tagged on to my original in my second post are all much the same, and much richer than my wife's simplified slightly dietary version. Get yourself moving next time the oven is on. All ingredients readily available at even a local grocer's - nevermind supermarket. Thanks for the creme caramel link, laddie, and the nice clear instructions from Delta. Will see that we get the crème caramel right next time!

Kisch? If egg was permitted!

Yes, crème caramel is great, but unfortunately my wife can't make it without the caramel setting like rock (the skill in this case is to eat the creme then chip the caramel out without breaking the plate - but that is subject for a different topic perhaps ... recipe for creme caramel anyone?

Thought I had posted a brief reply - certainly wrote one! With apologies for delay - I don't get here as often as I would like to. Anyway - recipe in main kitchen threads, with a PS for your Aunt. My wife uses egg and milk (! cholesterol) and sugar, but it is good nonetheless!

Hi Steve - good to see you. Happy New Year young man. However ... P.S.with profound respects to Gogo's Aunt I found another recipe for which the ingredients are: 1pt Double cream 1 vanilla pod 4 egg yolks 2oz caster sugar 8tbsp gran sugar. Methods as above but oven temp 150C/300F (could this be because of more double cream?)

"Crème Brulée", called er ... crème brulée! Is baked custard or "egg custard", with sugar sprinkled on top when cold and "burned" An old recipe, which sounds interesting uses a dozen eggs, a pint of sack, 3 pints of cream and half a pound of fine sugar. The old drink "Sack", would be now replaced by medium-sweet sherry. Baked custard is best made with cream but a mixture of milk and cream can be used: - One pint single cream (or of single and double cream mixed) - 1 vanilla pod - 4 eggs - 2oz granulated sugar - (optional) 1 level tsp grated or chopped nutmeg Gently heat cream with vanilla pod till just on boiling point. Beat eggs lightly with the sugar Remove vanilla pod (which can be washed and wiped for re-use) Pour cream onto eggs and whisk thoroughly (some strain it at this point - we don't) Pour into a lightly buttered oven dish, or into individual bowls Stand dish(es) in a tin with sufficient water to come well up the side of the dish(es) - a "bain marie". Bake in oven for 1 hour in preheated oven 170C / 325F Leave to get cold. For Burnt Cream - (Brulée) Method one - one big bowl - sprinkle reasonably thickly with sugar - white or light brown; and put under hot grill till the sugar caremelises and bubbles - but be careful to make sure it does npot burn. Method two - use iron for burning in individual bowls (made to the correct size and here at least sold with the iron as part of the kit). For this see the post in the Inglenook thread My link Is it good:) Silly question.

OMG - didn't realise Walmart had arrived. Bad as MacDonalds. With apologies to our North American friends, I for one do not want an American takeover of our shopping habits. Anyway - back from Vancouver and happy in my little boring village - armed with a camera at last. So a trial posting! I was not sure where to postthis. It may relate to Chattius thread about old kitchen utensils, but it is in fact still used here, and probably elsewhere to. It is the iron for burning the top of "creme brulée" - sorry I can't remember the English name. Basically for burning the sugar on top of a bowl of "egg custard", but any firm crème could be improved this way - blancmange, ordinary custard well set. This is (I hope) the preliminary set-up: crème in bowls, iron on gas. The iron is called "fer à bruler" here, I.e. iron for burning. This shows red hot (or nearly) iron applied to top of the sugar that is generously sprinkled on top of the crème. This shows the finished aspect of the first crème Yum. Yep - I think that camera will do nicely -er - not to eat of course, nor brulée

Sorry to be a pain and old fashioned, but I have never known of them except as musical instrument - which these do not seem to be.

You should try buying ingredients for British cuisine in France laddie. The basic tatties and meats are there but in different formats (how can a tattie be in a different format? Good question). Some things are scarce, some things free. Turnips (maybe swedes to you!) are not easy, the French had nothing else to eat during the war and still refuse on the whole to eat them. Tea is easy, but it is tea for French taste, for drinking without milk, and expensive by my standards. We buy a year's supply of leaf tea on our annual visits to GB. Curry spices are difficult and expensive. We have problems with oatmeal (ground). Custard is beginning to appear. Bovril and the like not available but we make our own stock and gravy anyway. But these are minor problems and can be got round. Suet however, which the French turn their noses up at, is great - free if you ask nicely, otherwise thrown away or wrapped round meat to stop it drying out in cooking. But I have been disturbed by the way in which supermarkets have been trying to iron out regional differences in traditions and terminoloy. I still, for instance, recall that when we first went to live in Scotland Xmas was not recognised, no break, but 3 days for New Year. Now they fall in line with Xmas (commercial boom time). I wonder for instance (have not been north for a while) what has become of "turnips" and "swedes" in north versus south terminology, and all the different regional variations in names for spring onions.

I thought Germany unified nearly 150 years ago. I take it that the main states have retained strong regional differences in cooking, depending on resources, as they have in GB and France which 'unified' over 500 years ago. Despite a certain multi-national trying to persuade everyone to eat the same thing, when people cook for themselves they fall back on the old traditional regional variations.

All good wishes reciprocated ... heartily ... without conditions. Hope you are all as fit after Xmas and New Year as before same, and thoroughly enjoyed the time in between.

Previous post seems to have posted itself twice. Deduct 100 posts. Go to jail direct. Do not pass GO. No poutine for 3 months

Looks as if you are enjoying your Xmas. Good luck for the wedding. Will have to try your potatoe cooking method. We used to do this on Bonfire Night, Nov5th. But I did not have the right technique. At present e use wood fire, but I expect it would need more wood than we use with our small number of potatoes wrapped in foil and cooked in the fire for 30-40 mins. We usually do this when we are using the hot ashes for barbecuing. We don't get the taste of the wood ash into the potatoes.