Tag: French

the French white stew – Italian Cuisine

An ancient French recipe, which involves the use of veal with vegetables and an irresistible white sauce: let's discover together how to prepare the veal blanquette

Have you ever heard of veal blanquette (or bianchetto)? It is a typical French preparation in which neither the veal nor the butter are darkened. It is therefore a kind of stew white meat –normally veal, but it can also be prepared with lamb or chicken – cooked in broth with the addition of aromatic herbs and with a white and soft sauce that binds everything. The veal blanquette has an ancient history: it is already mentioned in the text in 1903 The Guide culinaire by Georges Auguste Escoffier in the version "Blanquette de Veau a l'Ancienne"or rather old-fashioned, in which it is served with noodles instead of rice. But how do you prepare it? Here is the recipe.

Veal blanquette ingredients

The recipe for veal blanquette

Ingredients

To prepare the veal blanquette you will need: 900 g of veal, for example shoulder or tip flake, in stew, 3 medium carrots, 1 onion pickled with a clove, 1 leek, 1 liter of meat broth, 3 yolks egg, aromatic herbs tied together (parsley, thyme and bay leaf), 50 g of butter, 25 g of flour, 2 dl of fresh cream, 1/2 lemon in juice, salt and pepper.

Method

Cut the meat into small pieces. Put the butter (half of the total one) in a saucepan and melt it. It must not darken but only melt. Brown the meat, also in this case without making it brown. Pour the broth until it is covered and cook over medium heat.

Peel and wash the carrots and cut them into fairly large slices. Clean the leek, removing the most external and hard leaves. Cut it and add all the vegetables, including the onion with the cloves, to the meat. Also add the bunch of aromatic herbs. Let it cook for another hour and a half. Remove the meat from the bottom, helping yourself with a slotted spoon, and set it aside.

Prepare the sauce at this point. Meanwhile, filter the sauce obtained with the help of a strainer and move it to a bowl. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt the other half of the butter, add the flour and mix well to prevent lumps from forming. Add the filtered sauce, salt, pepper and cook for 15 minutes. The result must be a full-bodied but soft cream: if needed because it is too thick, add meat broth.

Beat the egg yolks with the cream in a bowl and add the juice of the squeezed lemon. Add everything to the sauce and put on the fire for a few minutes without boiling. Put the meat on a plate and pour over the dressing, then serve.

French toast, from America with love – Italian Cuisine

The chips in the United States are called french fries. The point is not that they hurt or that – controdine! – do well. The point is? But are they French? No. Or at least they defend the Belgians. And the French Toast? Well … not even! Then it really was born in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, as – attention, attention! – the ice cream cone? No way! Already the word toast – which also indicates the homonymous, toasted sandwich – gives us a clue: it is not English at all, but comes from the Latin tostum, "Toasted", in fact. If we really have to give a passport to the French Toast, would be no less than that one Italian! Already because probably its first edition in history was the work of the ancient Romans …

His name, in fact, is multiple: ‘German toast’, ‘Spanish toast’, ‘nuns toast’, ‘poor Knights of Windsor’ … In France is called 'lost bread. Oppurand, honor to the merit, "bread alla Romana". But what is this? bread? Basically – not for nothing! – a mozzarella in a carriage, Italic pride, without mozzarella! It is true, however, that the French Toast we're talking about here is a gluttonous star and stripes… In the United States it spread via the United Kingdom, where it was undoubtedly appreciated since the sixteenth century.

They are the French cousins who indicate with us the 'lost bread' the conceptual origins of this timeless recipe: don't waste bread old. Dip it in something that makes it soft again and then season it. But in short, what do we do with this bread? Well, we pass it on eggs beaten with milk and a pinch of salt and fry it in butter! Simple, isn't it?

Number 1, therefore: the bread. Nowadays we use the loaf of bread (which is extra-large in the USA) but the choice of bread will determine the consistency. De gustibus: from the rustic farmer to the brioche, more or less soft, with or without crust, there is no limit to Providence. No.2: the milk. The more creamy it is, the greedier it is … You can try alternatives to the cow one: goat rather than coconut. No. 3: the eggs. Good ones. And then butter: this is not the time to skimp. IS the seasoning, sweet or salty? The advice is: both! First one, then the other and then maybe one more, in a different version!

The French Toast is thebreakfast icon American, especially those of the holidays, when you don't have to splash at work and you can take the time to enjoy this simple delight and experience it in every conceivable version. Yes, because if the classic of classics is it Maple syrup, a fanciful one honey rather than a platoon of jams – maybe homemade, see … – they will do good for us! And then dried fruit and Dried fruit butters . From peanut butter to toasted hazelnut cream … (&chocolate? Shame, just thinking! Well, be aware that US citizens sometimes accompany them with whipped Cream. And by default a sprinkling of icing sugar!

And then the savory versions: very large space to cheeses (in Italy we have goats that would be wonderful to us!). And the cold cuts? Oh yes, starting from bacon. Well, know that there is a stuffed version of the French Toast. That is. They take two French Toast, in the middle we put a filling and then put it in the oven for finishing. A great classic is the 'Montecristo', a sort of mozzarella in a Californian carriage in which in addition to cheese (not mozzarella, of course) there is a slice of pork or turkey ham, all sautéed in the egg and … fried!

With the French Toast us coddle and there fun: invent the strangest and most daring versions! For example, in the beat dyou can already add the eggs spices and flavors to your taste: from oregano to cinnamon, from pepper black to vanilla (or both together!). We can roll it up and use it as a cannolo or cannelloni – with maybe just ricotta inside, and candied fruit – or spinach! We can do one tower of French Toast. We can combine it with festive treats like the smoked salmon rather than a pistachio cream. Or taste it in all his luxurious simplicity, very warm, soft, crunchy and delicious!

Carola Traverso Saibante
December 2019

DISCOVER THE COOKING COURSES OF SALT & PEPE

is French cuisine the best in the world? – Italian Cuisine

The 50 Best Talks arrive in Paris and the chefs question (among the controversies) about the present and the future of French cuisine. Which today is no longer what it once was – thanks to the others – and teaches a lot also to the Italian one

When the list of The Word’s 50 Best first appeared in 2002, France had only six restaurants mentioned. The nation that invented restaurants, champagne and great wines, gastronomy, chefs and brigades (practically everything) was overtaken by Spain and by nations like the USA and England. Today, 2019, there are only five restaurants on the list, including the first, the Mirazur by chef Mauro Colagreco.

Kitchen without borders: the best in the world

At his investiture in June, in Singapore, he took the stage with a large flag with four nations represented and sewn together. Chef Mauro Colagreco is an Italian-Argentine and his restaurant overlooks the border of Menton, 250 meters from the checkpoint of the Ventimiglia border. With tears in his eyes from the stage he had begun: "Wow! Today we celebrate France and its values: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. This flag represents France's new approach to cooking ". And then he thanked all the countries that had hosted him, trained, made a cook and a man. «The kitchen is able to go beyond all types of borders. The borders? Never seen one with my eyes, they exist only in people's minds . Fresh from three stars conquered in January, he brought home the most sought-after title by the chefs of the world, in the same year in which, for the first time after 110, the Michelin guide rewarded a non-French chef in the land of France. Epocale. "It's important to tell people to come and see how France is changing, how it's changing its cuisine. It is a great moment for French gastronomy . He had said in a press conference with a markedly Spanish accent. Evidently the sovereigns had their ears booed.

Paris questions its culinary supremacy

Four months later, for the first time the global event of The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants arrives in France, not to proclaim a new ranking, but to celebrate its winner, and French gastronomy. On September 16, the 50 Best Talks were held in Paris, a discussion event organized by Miele (indeed, Milè as they say in Paris) between chefs and characters from the gastronomic scene. A rendezvous, very popular, with an audience that seemed to be waiting for nothing but being able to have its say in this debate. On the stage, as guests, the Parisian chefs included in the list: in addition to Colagreco, Alain Passard (restaurant Arpège), Bertrand Grébaud (Septime restaurant), Romain Méder (of the restaurant Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée) and Yannick Alléno (of the Pavillon Ledoyen) . The round table was led by Eric Brunet, political commentator and professional polemic; a species of Cruciani follower of Sarkozy.
"The French have always been convinced that they have the best restaurants in the world. How is it that instead, according to the most influential world list, we are not at all? Thus begins, with a question that seems to be made by the "belly" of the country, a session of self-awareness on French cuisine today, its identity, its superiority (or not) compared to those of neighbors. "Has Spanish cuisine overtaken us? Are you in danger? " With extreme diplomacy and aplomb, the chefs on the stage open up to a spinosissimo autodafé. The debate could sound like egocentric and egoriginated, especially in a day dedicated to "no borders", but in reality captures exactly what, for example, Italians think of our cooking, that is to say that it is the best in the world and that it is little considered by the world rankings as the 50 Best …

Get off the throne

Alain Passard admits that it is useless to feel on the throne thinking that nobody can chase you away, because that's not how the world works. If you put something on the pedestal it becomes a museum and dies. He knows that the gastronomic growth of other countries has forced them to question themselves, but he does not feel in danger: being sixth on the list and internationally recognized, it is easy to understand why. Yannick Alléno admits that the level has risen everywhere in the world, from Peru to Japan, also thanks to the influence of French cuisine. "If foreign chefs still come to France to study, it's because they recognize that there is something to learn. And we learn from them. This means that we are still relevant, but also that we have changed, we are freer, while it is true before we were sclerotic, fossilized , concludes Alléno.

Move the definition of French cuisine

But do you still do French cooking or does it sound conservative? And what does it mean? The moderator continues. Seasonality, products, technique and sauces are in agreement with Passard and Alléno. "We call ourselves a French restaurant, we play with the history of our kitchen, but we interpret it," says Romain Méder. "It is in our DNA, but we are also able to absorb different cultures. We have always done it. We are at the center of Europe and this is why our cuisine is so rich and has had such a great impact on the rest of the world . As long as the world was only old Europe, this certainly worked. Even from Septime, one of the signs that gave birth to the bistronomy phenomenon has no doubts. "I recognize myself as a French chef and I do French cuisine, but this does not mean staying in the tradition: it can be updated", explains Bertrand Grébaud. Colagreco continues: "We cannot say" do not touch it ", it is not enough to say" I do French cuisine ", here, we are only cooks who have gone further and have moved the definition of French cuisine".

# 50BestTalks – Beyond Frontiers: the guests.

It's Italy? Squared

Tradition is basically just successful innovation. But then, the moderator presses provocatively, are we or are we not better than the others? "To love one's land does not mean to be better than others", they silence him in chorus, and start with the questions. From the public, in defense of French cuisine, we try to overcome the clichés. «French cuisine is high, but why do we keep saying that in Italy we eat better in homes? We also eat well here . And here we are, relegated to the role of good trattorias and grandmother's kitchen. Is it possible that they still see us like this, with checkered tablecloths? As always happens, traveling helps above all to understand oneself. In France they try to examine themselves conscientiously on the state of their gastronomy, which is a national heritage, but nowadays it also means tourism, induced, money, and therefore it cannot be underestimated as élater consumption for épater la bourgeoisie. We, in the meantime, appeal to the good initiative of individuals, consortia, mayors or enlightened chefs, and Italy as a nation hides behind the unshakable certainty of having the best cuisine in the world, with the best grandmothers and with the most ancient, healthy and genuine traditions of the entire planet. Fiammetta Fadda gets up from the audience and asks the question: "What do you think of Italian cuisine?", Knowing that not many years have passed since pasta and pizza in the starred kitchens of the Oltralpe were considered like a hamburger. The answer is unanimous and reductive: very good, for diplomacy and for gluttony.
Colagreco softens the tones by shouting "Fuck borders!", And before the morning turns towards gender issues and the usual debate about the lack of women in the kitchen, the 50 Best Talks in Paris mark a desire to return France to the geopolitics of gastronomy. And the knowledge that maybe we could use a 50 Best Talks like this.