A court-bouillon is an aromatic liquid or stock made with everything from simple sea salt to thyme, bay leaf, cloves, peppercorns, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, milk, wine, lemon or vinegar.
When cooked gently in a court-bouillon, delicate foods—notably fish and other shellfish, as well as eggs, veal and chicken—absorb a hint of the liquid’s flavor. Court-bouillon is usually prepared ahead of time and cooled (and strained) before using.
Fish cooked in court-bouillon that will be served hot is removed from the liquid once cooked through; if you intend to serve your fish cold, leave it to cool in the liquid before removing and skinning. Lemon or vinegar added to court-bouillon preserves the color of salmon and turns shellfish bright red.
In some places, you can buy court-bouillon freeze-dried. But it’s pretty simple to make yourself in about 30 minutes. A court-bouillon is not served with the final preparation, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw it out. Strained, used court-bouillon can be kept refrigerated in a sterilized jar and reused or incorporated into soups and white sauces. Reusing the court-bouillon only intensifies the flavor.
Poaching is a gentle cooking method in which meat, poultry, fish, eggs or fruit is simmered in a court-bouillon made of water, stock or wine. Poaching helps ensure that delicate meat, fowl or fish does not dry out. Fruit such as pears can be poached in a lightly sweetened simmering bath of water or wine and spices such as vanilla bean, cinnamon or star anise.
The bain-marie is a variation of the poaching method, in which custards, terrines and other dishes are placed in ramekins that sit in a bath of hot water (normally filled to half-way up their sides) and cooked in a slow oven.
Rillettes is the name of a silky French spread made out of pork, rabbit, goose, duck or poultry that is confit, or cooked in its own fat, or additional lard. It is served cold, smeared on toast or fresh baguette slices, and often accompanied by the little French pickles known as cornichons.
In France, you can find pork, chicken or even salmon rillettes, which are made using added olive oil and butter, in the supermarket as well as specialty shops. Rillettes are rich and usually eaten in small quantities, as an appetizer or packed as part of a picnic.
A quenelle is an elegant French dumpling made with creamed fish or meat such as veal, plus fat and eggs to bind it into a uniform mixture. Moulded between two spoons into an elongated egg shape, quenelles are then poached in boiling water.
Pike quenelles are a Lyonnais specialty, served with a cream sauce and lightly browned under the broiler, as an entrée. Quenelles can also be added to soups or served as a garnish.
Once you get the hang of making quenelles -- try wetting the spoons with hot water before you try scooping the ingredients back and forth to perfect the shape -- you can use the technique to make nice-looking scoops of tarama or ice cream or whatever you would normally just glob onto a plate for a more aesthetic presentation.
Charcuterie is the French term for prepared pork meat (and offal) products as well as the delis that sell them. The goal of charcuterie is to use up scraps that would otherwise go to waste and to extend the life of pork meat, and the artisanal and industrial methods for doing so have been developed since the 15th century. As the French are fond of saying, "Tout est bon dans le cochon."
Charcuterie includes cured meat, fresh or smoked sausage, pâté, andouille sausage, black pudding, rillettes, hams, headcheese and other ready-to-eat pork products that are made using a variety of methods, from poaching to smoking to salt-curing. In addition to France, countries such as Italy and Germany also have strong pork traditions.
White pudding, or boudin blanc, is a European sausage made with white meat from poultry, veal, pork or rabbit, mixed with veal or pork fat, plus cream, milk, eggs, flour, breadcrumbs or even truffles. It is then loaded into an intestine case and poached, fried, or baked. Unlike black pudding, it is bloodless.
The boudin blanc is a French Christmas tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, and recipes vary from the chicken-based boudin à la Richelieu to the meatless year-round boudin blanc from Le Havre, made with pork fat, milk, eggs, bread and rice flour. The Spanish make boudin blanc with pork, tripe and pine nuts; health-oblivious Scottish chip shops batter and fry it; and the Irish add toasted oatmeal, lard and cloves, and eat it for breakfast.
What's the difference between white and brown eggs?
What's the difference between white and brown eggs?
Don't judge an egg by its shell. Whether an eggshell is white or brown is determined by the breed of the hen who laid the eggs. It has absolutely nothing to do with taste or nutritional value.
The only time you may want to consider the color of the eggs you're buying is around Easter and Passover time, since white eggs work better for dyeing and decorating purposes.
A confit is a piece of most commonly duck, goose, pork or turkey that is stewed and subsequently stored its own fat, in order to preserve it.
This ancient food-preservation method is a Southwestern French specialty that is eaten hot (like a duck leg known as confit de canard, also a main component of cassoulet) or cold, as rillettes, in which the fat-drenched meat is shredded, and spread on bread and often eaten with pickles.
Goose, which can be tough, is rendered meltingly tender when transformed into a confit. In France, you can find pork or even chicken confit in supermarkets; salmon rillettes, which are made using added olive oil and butter, are a popular spread eaten as an hors d'oeuvre.
In traditional French cooking, the term compoter means to cook something gently until it breaks down and reduces into a babyfood-like purée. A compote can be made from cooked fresh or dried fruit. The word compote can also refer to game-based dishes that are cooked in a roux over low heat with bacon and onions until the flesh breaks down. In addition to fruit, peppers and onions are often cooked slowly to make a compote that is served alongside meat, omelettes or spread on toast.
To make a fruit compote, whole or chopped fruit can be soaked first in water and/or alcohol like rum or kirsch or tea to infuse it with flavor, then gently poached in sugar and water until tender. More delicate fruits like fresh figs may also be cooked quickly at high heat to make a compote. Poached pears are a form of compote. Stone fruits such as cherries, apricots and plums hold their shape when cooked this way. Making a compote is a good way to rescue not-quite-ripe fruit that doesn't taste sweet enough to eat raw.
A compote can be flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, or other spices. You can serve it plain or with whipped cream, warm or chilled. Fruit compote can also be used to fill tarts or turnovers, especially when using fruit such as apples or rhubarb that tends to break down into more of a purée when cooked. (That's right, applesauce is a compote.)
What's the difference between jam and preserves?
What's the difference between jam and preserves?
Jam and preserves are basically the same thing and the terms are often used interchangeably.
Jam is a mixture made of crushed preserved fruit and sugar -- with or without pectin, depending on the pectin content of the fruit. High-pectin fruit will set well once the fruit and sugar have been boiled and pectin is activated. You may need to add pectin to lower-pectin fruit.
The word preserves means fruit that is cooked the same way; the only difference is that the fruit in preserves is often cut into chunks or in some cases whole, whereas jam may have a less chunky texture.
The common fruit/sugar ratio in jam and preserves is 50/50.
Freezer jam is cooked more quickly than conventional jam and stored in the freezer for a fresher fruit taste.
Many people think that sweetbreads are culinary code for calves' brains.
But the term sweetbreads is actually a benign-sounding pseudonym for the paired thymus glands and pancreas of milk-fed veal or calves. (You can also find inferior pork or lamb sweetbreads if you look hard enough.) The rounder pancreas gland near the heart is more prized than the tubular thymus throat gland. The pancreas gland has a more delicate flavor and smoother texture.
If you're shopping for sweetbreads, be sure that they're still snow white, fleshy and firm to the touch. Rinse them in several changes of acidulated water before using. Once you get them home, don't keep them for more than 24 hours in the refrigerator. Sweetbreads are normally blanched, refreshed in cold water and cooled before being braised, poached, sautéed, fried, broiled or blended into a soufflé, pâté or filling.
