The food thread

Hi K-man. I definitely have a soup spoon.
I have looked at the smaller sauce ladles and bent spoons at my local stores but they don't really cut it for me.

Okay, I just have a couple of those gravy ladles that came with full sets of cutlery, same shape and size as your soup spoon but there's only one in each suitcase of cutlery so... Not difficult to find different types and styles like that here.
 

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I can’t remember who mentioned the reverse sear method for steak but would like to thank you……took two tries to get it right but now I can have rare London broil without the wife complaining it’s not cooked at all in the middle!
 

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Nobody can argue with freshly baked bread!

This time of year, at least around here, three things are all ripe and plentiful: tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant. That means ratatouille, or a Provencal version of it called tian, which is what we had tonight with some French bread.

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Lately I have been experimenting with Afghan naan. Recent news completely coincidental. I guess ideally these would be cooked in a sort of tandoor, but I don't have one of those. I cooked these over charcoal, and have been trying different recipes and temperatures. I think you want a bit of char on them, but not so much as to make them smell burnt toast. These got a little too hot. They have sesame seeds and nigella seeds on them. Taste pretty good.

PS: I think "Afghan Nan" would be a great name for a band.

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Bob, that steak looks really good, albeit a little over cooked. 😉

Just back from the inlaws in France. A "Roast" is basically 1-1/2" cooked crust then warm blu (raw) inside. Personally I prefer rare inner then medium-rare and seared outside.

We've switched to 1" thick steaks. It makes it easy to limit the red meat per week given it's just the two of us and the supermarket pre-packaged roast joints only cater for either families of 4+ or they're small and seem to be low quality.

The mrs (French) isn't so keen on venison, it's too strong (great in burgers with hot sauce!) and finds lamb too strong tasting too.. so we normally stick to chicken, pork and beef. Quite often in France we have horse too (more northern France).


However I prefer a good seasonal Moule-Frites with some fresh French bread. Also the supermarket onions here in the UK are dire and ruins the sauce (same with onion soup) - when cooked they turn into chutney. Either they're bred specifically to increase the sugar content or they've been sugar boosted chemically. The English mess with their veggies too much and then the supermarkets only sell that variety.. French supermarkets/markets veggies seem much more natural.

Ratatouille, bass (European sea bass) with couscous is a regular dish 🙂
 
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NickUK,

Not all the French like their meat blue and I can't understand why, probably cultural inertia. Our old neighbour Etienne had an argument at our then local restaurant - the Flamadou (gets a good write up in Tripadvisor) with the chef/owner Laurent. So much taste isn't there with blue meat.

Venison is very popular as is sanglier. Don't have any time for French hunters mainly old unfit men that couldn't run to save their life. Had a good confrontation with one dressed hilariously like a special forces man - threatened to take his gun and shove it somewhere the sun doesn't shine. I was too close and I would have been too fast had he tried to use it and he knew it - god to see his face of fear. I like what one member of this forum has as a mantra - I'll call deer hunting a sport when the deer have guns as well.

Got news for you - most veg sold in French supermarkets is chemical laden crap from Plasticland in Murcia and Andaluz. Grow my own garlic - Rose Tarn,beautifully spicy and with a great perfume. French Nectarines - have to be our favourite fruit. My neighbour and fruiend Jean-Luc is a magus at finding ceps and girolles - €30-40 p.k in the supermarkets. Used to enjoy magic mushrooms but not for the taste.