What are you cooking now?

[french frank]

... you disapprove of red wine with tartiflette - despite the interesting recommendations in the attachment to my # 1544 of 15:33hh?

In fact, with due consideration I neither approve nor disapprove. I'm more likely to drink what happens to be open at the time, and being no purist I don't bother about what others recommend unless it piques my curiosity. À ma guise... I'm sure I miss a great deal

[vinteuil]

What's with your red wine here?

... you disapprove of red wine with tartiflette - despite the interesting recommendations in the attachment to my # 1544 of 15:33hh?

.

[Pulcinella]

Flapjack. Though I suppose that's baking not cooking.

To go in the oven with (or after) tonight's Cottage pie.

[french frank]

... ooh, I wouldn't see a chaource as a succedaneum for a reblochon : if I needed a reblochon and there were none to be found I wd far rather go for something like a pont l'évêque...

Mutatis mutandis the tartiflette becomes a gratin champenois which calls for ... chaource. When in veggie mode I do without the lardons, when not with.

[vinteuil]

My hand did linger over Taipei's chaource yesterday (as ever was), which is as close as I can physically get to reblochon, but decided not to .:

... ooh, I wouldn't see a chaource as a succedaneum for a reblochon : if I needed a reblochon and there were none to be found I wd far rather go for something like a pont l'évêque...



.

[french frank]

... for french frank -

Now that's what I call a tartiflette -

I wonder how long that would last me .... (I should live so long!)

My hand did linger over Taipei's chaource yesterday (as ever was), which is as close as I can physically get to reblochon, but decided not to ... yet. Maybe next week.

perhaps also relevant here :

https://avis-vin.lefigaro.fr/connaitre-deguster/o26841-tartiflette-que-boire-avec-ce-plat-qui-rechauffe

What's with your red wine here? Again, I'll take what I can get in the way of a dry white e.g. Co-op's (Irresistible) Grenache blanc. Close enough.

[vinteuil]

.
... for french frank -

Now that's what I call a tartiflette -

https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/on-a-pulverise-le-record-une-tartiflette-de-plus-de-deux-tonnes-cuisinee-en-savoie-20251116

- perhaps also relevant here :

https://avis-vin.lefigaro.fr/connaitre-deguster/o26841-tartiflette-que-boire-avec-ce-plat-qui-rechauffe

[french frank]

... on our summer French tour we spent some time in Chambéry - can very much recommend the restaurant le Savoyard. While mme v went for the tartiflette I indulged in its great rival le Berthoud

A sort of Wesh rarebit with bread and cheese served separately? I think I might find le Berthoud a bit rich for me (abondance a new one on me)! I do like the onion and potato of the various 'tartiflette' wannabes.

[vinteuil]

My obsessive interest with all this and similar recipes is, well, the variety of potato that one might use. What potato does FF use, for instance, in her tartiflette? And what did Vints eat with his bigged-up 'Abondance' ...

... the potatoes were small and waxy and beautifully cooked ; the waiter was very sweet and most obliging but I didn't get as far as enquiring what kind of potato they used. Next time I'm there I'll ask!

.

[HighlandDougie]

... on our summer French tour we spent some time in Chambéry - can very much recommend the restaurant le Savoyard. While mme v went for the tartiflette I indulged in its great rival le Berthoud

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthoud_(mets)

.

https://thecheeseatlas.com/recipes/warmest-winter-berthoud-savoyard/

...when you tire of tartiflette you might consider its cousin from the Ardennes - cacasse à cul nu

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacasse_%C3%A0_cul_nu

'Cacasse' looks a bit like stovies but, if I were an Ardennois peasant eking out a miserable existence in a hovel with only the annual fattened pig to provide protein for several months of the year, it might seem like manna. My obsessive interest with all this and similar recipes is, well, the variety of potato that one might use. What potato does FF use, for instance, in her tartiflette? And what did Vints eat with his bigged-up 'Abondance' (of which I happen to have une tranche in the fridge)? Surely not neat? Pantoprazole to hand ...

[vinteuil]

tartiflette.

... on our summer French tour we spent some time in Chambéry - can very much recommend the restaurant le Savoyard. While mme v went for the tartiflette I indulged in its great rival le Berthoud

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthoud_(mets)

.

https://thecheeseatlas.com/recipes/warmest-winter-berthoud-savoyard/

...when you tire of tartiflette you might consider its cousin from the Ardennes - cacasse à cul nu

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacasse_%C3%A0_cul_nu

[french frank]

Me again. Today I had tartiflette at two removes:

First remove: chaource instread of reblochon (= gratin champenois)

Second remove - today: fuet instead of lardons (= ?? cassola de fuet gratinat??)

With fresh mint as that was what I had and Coteaux d'Aix en Provence rosé as Aix is closer to Catalunya than Macon-Villages or Côtes do Rhône.

[french frank]

(cont'd from elsewhere)

I'd never thought about it but, of course, rhubarb is a vegetable not a fruit. My salted rhubarb sticks might have been blanched or parboiled, but I actually had them raw, sprinkled with salt, chopped red chilli and oil. Then I added two chopped spring onions. I could have added herbs but didn't.This was the side salad. The asparagus was quickly charred under the grill with Cornish butter and the salad potatoes were cut in small pieces and briefly boiled separately.

I then cast about for some 'meat' to go with it: Wookey 'Ole chedder was the only possibility as a) there was no meat and b) the cheese needed eating up. The big surprise was the Co-op Côtes de Provence which I would NEVER have partnered with the cheddar, under any circumstances. But in extremis, the lightness of the salad lifted the cheese into a different realm. 4/5 (with the proviso that the rhubarb, if not forced, could do with a touch more prior preparation).

[french frank]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorba

... many etymological tentacles here : Hobson-Jobson [not always reliable... ] under sherbet offers among others -

Ital: sorbetto, Fr: sorbet, Sp: and Port: xarabe, axarabe, Arab: ash-sharab, Ital: sciroppo, Old Fr: ysserop, Mod. Fr: sirop, Eng: syrup, and from Spanish shrub, sherbet
(quotations supplied from c 1334 to 1863)

I think the spelling ciorba is possibly specifically Romanian where pronunciation/spelling has features in common with Italian (cf Celibidache). But the etymology seems to come from sor- = salty rather than any of the sweet desserts. Ciorba is said to have a typically 'sour' or 'bitter' taste from adding vinegar, lemon or a briny liquid,. I had a jar of pickled cabbage so added some of the cabbage and brine. I also added some left over spicy red cabbage and the clove taste was probably less authentic and I'd leave it out if starting from scratch. But it was jolly tasty: onion, celery, cavolo nero, red cabbage, pickled cabbage, potato, cauliflower, parsley, thyme, paprika, black pepper.

[Barbirollians]

Jerk cod ( instead of chicken) with rice and peas .