I do like.......

[SaligoBay]

Okay, we've dispensed with tripey things, gristly sossidges, and little round bits of wood-shaving bread.

Here's a starter of things I do like in France, that we never used to eat in the UK:

- canard, magret, confit, you name it.  Quack quack (or coin coin if you're a French duck).

- those tinned olives stuffed with anchovies.   Yummmmm!!!!

- tartiflette (as long as the lardons aren't too big and fatty)

- brandade de morue with mashed potatoes

- salade chèvre truc (salad with warm goat's cheese on toast thing)

- fromage blanc with chestnut purée

- 3-euro roast chicken with my home-made mayonnaise, heaven!

That'll do for just now, I'm starting to slaver here, just as well you can't see me.

Bon appétit! 

 

[Teamedup]

That chilli hot oil they give you to put on pizzas. They probably do it in the UK now, but they never used to.

 

Good fromage blanc moule a la louche with sugar and cream.

 

Tarte tatin.

 

Proper Gratin Dauphinois

Vinaigrette

Proper Quiche lorraine

 

Fondue Savoyarde

 

Raclette Savoyarde

 

And that is just for starters

 

 

 

[Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie]

[quote]That chilli hot oil they give you to put on pizzas. They probably do it in the UK now, but they never used to. Good fromage blanc moule a la louche with sugar and cream. Tarte tatin. Prope...[/quote]

"And that is just for starters"

If that's what you eat for starters what's for main course and dessert

My favourites are:

Duck, duck, duck and more duck;

Oysters (straight out of the shell with a little lemon juice (must be with Champagne of course) - both very cheap;

Foie Gras (though still waiting to try fresh foie gras, pan fried with peaches at our local resto);

Pineau (Rose or white but must be chilled);

Pain au Raisin from my local Boulanger (the best - I have to sniff it lots before eating it because it smells so heavenly);

Frites from our local riverside guinguette on a summers afternoon - with a pression of course (a very hippy hangout, sooo cool man!)

Salade Perigourdine (at the above venue);

 

 

 

[Mistral]

Most of my favourites have already been mentioned; duck, foie gras, tartiflette, raclette....

Then there's alouettes sans têtes, castel (a local cake) fondant au chocolat, the pizza from the local pizza van (just the idea of pizza vans)

 

[Teamedup]

Ah yes foie gras too.

 

Lavaret, the only fresh water fish I love eating.

 

 

 

[Iceni]

A 10 € resto we go to which does fresh home made confit of duck (there is no choice but we have yet to have a bad meal). It simply is no comparison to the stuff you get in tins. While we are on confit - pork confit we had in Cahors and rabbit confit I had on one of the Walnut Grove cookery courses - so easy to do and I drool thinking of it.

Being able to buy good wine at silly prices.

A food or wine festival almost every weekend somewhere - Rocamadour cheese one last weekend.

I will duck when I say Merguez sausages - but only from one Leclerc where they make them on the premises.

Seasonal food

Yes pizza vans - the readymade ones in the supermarkets and the mixes bear no resemblance to pizza as we know them.

And just to be confrontational, duck - all of it  except the ruddy gesiers -

[Dick Smith]

Duck, even in tins - a treat we bring home to England, with foie gras, wine and especially cider (unobtainable in our part of the UK), saucisses à l'oignon, veal, excellent ham (even in packets it is 100% better), chevre, cheap unpretentious restaurants, cheap pretentious restaurants, little packets of ready-made sauces - I could go on and on.

Never had rabbit confit - is it made similarly to duck? (Will I have to bring my Culinary Brick out of retirement?)

[Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com]

Blimey.... where to begin?

The quality of the simplest things. Wonderful fruit and vegetables, Brive Market, chatting to vignerons before buying wonderful wine at affordable prices, buying pork and ham from producers in the hills behind Argentat, where the pigs are treated humanely. St Nectaire and Cantal from the makers, anything ducky -including gizzards (confit of course). Woodcock - to die for -. Being able to find a decent 4/5 course meal at under E15; wild mushrooms:- Oronges, Girolles, Cepes, Trompettes, Pieds de mouton, Coulemelles, and all the rest; really good hutch bred rabbits, and farm chickens, pain d'épices, local honey, quinces, reine claudes and glorious prunes from Mme Bergues.

Just about everything  else (except bits of the alimentary canal, swedes, rotten milk and goats everything).

The French - being able to watch the antics of brit politicians from 600 miles away and feeling gloriously detached.  Wild flowers. France in fact.

[Missy]

Restaurants that give you a jug of water free of charge as you arrive at the table.

Those that give you a glass of cold water when you order an ice-cream or a sharp dark expresso coffee.

Those where, when you eat food which only needs your fingers (Langoustines, moules, asparagus etc...) without being asked, will bring you a little bowl of lemon scented hot water to degrease your fingers.

Those which don't have the 'Chef's special!' Sorry I have worked in the industry too long, long ago and 'Chef's special!' is not an inspired prepared dish in most places!...

Those with proper linen/cotton napkins.

Hotels with 'NO smoking' floors and bedrooms.

Sitting at a terrasse enjoying my sun-downer(s) with friends and laughter.

Good pieces of beef (or other meat) cooked properly on a barbecue.

I like... can't think...the list is endless...more next time!...

[Missy]

[quote]Restaurants that give you a jug of water free of charge as you arrive at the table. Those that give you a glass of cold water when you order an ice-cream or a sharp dark expresso coffee. Those where, ...[/quote]

Which all of that seems contradictory to my diet on the 'Dieting 2005' thread!...

But we can't always be saints! Even saints need a day off from time to time...

And to be a devil is more fun!

Who said 'pleasure is a sin!' when a little sin is so much pleasure!....

[opas]

Those fantastic fresh seafood platters that the supermarkets will make up from their counters at about 10 bob a portion!

It will be our 20 th wedding anniversary tomorrow , a large seafood platter and a chilled bottle or two of blanc de limoux(sp.....fizzy lovely false champagne) should go down a treat. Mrs o

[Trishaa<P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"><EM>Trisha<EM><FONT><P><P><IMG height=198 src="http:www.gifmania.co.ukDisneyWinniejpoohlef.gif" width=133><P><P> <P>]

Wonderful buttery vanilla icecream with lots of vanilla specks - if I could only find a recipe that made it as good as they do! 

Plus flaky buttery croissants - I had a go at making them, it took me all day (put the dough in the fridge, roll it, put it back, wait 20 mins, then do the whole thing again goodness knows how many times).  When I finally cooked them they were terrible so I take my hat off to all the fantastic bakers of france . 

And I haven't even started on the wonderful cheeses, Saint Marcellin, Delice de Bourgogne, sec/demi sec goats cheese - ooh the list goes on and on.  Who can resist a good cheese with a scrummy wine and plenty of fresh french bread - a veritable feast.

[Patf]

When we first came we used to indulge regularly in fancy pastries, especially those with fruit and glazed over. And the various kinds of danish too. We still love them, but the weight tends to pile on. I've tried to make some the same, but with little success. The main problem is the pastry base, just can't make it crisp and crunchy. Pat.

[Teamedup]

Patf, I bake my pastry base blind. Firstly I prod with a fork. Then I cover the lot even the sides really well with grease proof paper and put pois chiche on the covered base.

When this should be cooked, I remove the pois chiche and grease proof and put it back in the oven for a few minutes to go lightly golden. This crisps it up, at least with my recipe it does.

Like you, I love my bases to be a nice and biscuity.

[Coco]

[quote]Those fantastic fresh seafood platters that the supermarkets will make up from their counters at about 10 bob a portion! It will be our 20 th wedding anniversary tomorrow , a large seafood platter a...[/quote]

Oooooohhhhhh YES!!!!! we have them on New Year's Eve and a few weeks ago for my birthday - takes all the effort out of it and you always get so praised by your guests (for doing nothing - my kind of entertaining!)

Tartiflette

gesiers (duck or goose)

foie de volailles (just can't believe I went 45 years without trying them!)

Oozy camembert and livarot

Brie, slices in half and then sandwiched back together with fresh walnuts

Feuilles de chene (about a million times more interesting than boring lettuce)

Eating the above cheeses with the feuilles de chene and a really nice lemon and walnut oil dressing instead of bread or biscuits

Grated celeriac

Rosette de Lyon

BULOTS!!! Really fresh, small bulots with mayonnaise, crusty bread and a glass of ice cold muscadet - ooh dear, I've got to cook for guests tonight and now I'm all geared up to hop in the car and drive to the coast!!!!

[letrangere]

Those that give you a glass of cold water when you order an ice-cream or a sharp dark expresso coffee.

When I was a child I always thought it was very silly to be given a glass of water with an ice cream on mainland Europe.  But now as grown up I can't help noticing that this very sensible habit is slowly dying out, which is a great shame because you do feel thirsty after an ice cream or a strong coffee. 

You know what I love and you can only get it in France?  A bog standard any old brasserie beautifully dressed green salad and a plate of frites.  It doesn't even matter if it isn't fancy salad, invariably it isn't.  It's that sharp, mustardy dressing that accompanies it and good chips.

M