French Classics Made Easy (2 page)

BACON

I use slab, or unsliced, bacon in my recipes, preferably the smoked variety. Although smoked slab bacon is sometimes hard to find, most butchers will order it for you. When not available, use thick-sliced smoked bacon to achieve similar flavor results.

BUTTER

Although I use unsalted butter in almost all of my cooking, I realize that many people use only salted butter. If you normally use salted butter, continue to do so. But because my recipes were created with
un
salted butter, you will want to reduce the amount of salt you add to avoid oversalting. I also encourage you to use unsalted butter when making desserts that have a high proportion of butter, like cookies. I strongly believe that we use too much salt in our desserts, and part of that can be corrected by not using salted butter.

CARROTS

While carrots with the tops on are the freshest, and the bagged variety are the most common, I find that the large, loose ones are often the best. In addition to finding them tastier, I also like that I have fewer to peel. However, the carrots called for in the recipes are the average-size plastic bag variety.

CHEESE

The cheese most commonly used in French cooking is Gruyère, but any Swiss-style cheese is fine. Try any of the following: Gruyère, Emmentaler (called Emmental in France), Comté, Beaufort, or other cheeses sold in supermarket delis as “Swiss.”

EGGS

All eggs used in this book, unless specifically mentioned, are USDA Grade A Large, weighing 60 to 65 grams or approximately 2 ounces each.

FLOUR

I use unbleached all-purpose flour because it has a better flavor than the bleached, but if you have bleached flour, use it.

HERBS

Fresh herbs will almost always be more satisfying than dried. However, dried herbs are often more readily available. If a fresh herb is specifically called for in a recipe, it is usually because the herb is added at the end of the preparation, not cooked with it; and dried herbs should not be substituted, for they will not impart the fresh taste and color desired.

Although many cookbooks tell you to substitute 1 teaspoon of a dried herb for 1 tablespoon of fresh, there is no easy formula for this, because the strength of an herb varies from plant to plant, season to season, and variety to variety. As a general rule, start by using whichever you have—fresh or dried—in the amount given in the recipe. If you’re concerned that you may be adding too much dried, start with a smaller amount. You can always add more.

When buying dried herbs, try to get them in as whole a form as possible. For example, use thyme that is in leaf form, not powdered. A
ground herb has a much greater chance of being flavorless when you buy it and will certainly lose its flavor quickly.

MILK

I used whole milk when creating the recipes. However, because of my wife’s preference for skim milk, I have been cooking “light” for more than 15 years. Feel free to use whatever milk is on hand.

Many classic French recipes call for milk to be scalded. This practice dates back to the days before pasteurization and was important for health reasons. Today, if I heat milk in a recipe, it is to shorten the overall cooking time.

MUSHROOMS

For general cooking, the mushrooms I use are small white mushrooms—often called button mushrooms because of their size, that of a suit button. They are always left whole in recipes. Some supermarkets package button mushrooms, but many don’t. When button mushrooms are not available, larger white mushrooms can be cut in half or quartered to approximate their size. There are a number of other mushrooms now easily found in supermarkets: portobellos, cremini (which are small portobellos), and shiitake. These all have more flavor than white mushrooms and though they are not found in traditional French food, don’t let that stop you from trying them.

OIL

I use olive oil or such vegetable oils as soy, sunflower, peanut, and safflower. Many blended oils also work well. Find one that has a good, delicate taste. Generally speaking, and for most recipes, I use a light olive oil as opposed to the heavier, fruitier extra-virgin oils. However, in recipes originating in the south of France (Provence), or in dishes containing olives, a strong, fruity extravirgin oil is desirable.

ONIONS

Our normal yellow cooking onion is similar to the strong yellow variety commonly used in France and is the one I have used for general cooking in this book. For those recipes that call for pearl onions, if you can’t get them, you can substitute small white onions. If they are too large, simply peel off one or two layers.

SALT

Although salt was, and in some cases still is, used as a preservative, it is mainly used as a taste enhancer. I tend to use it sparingly, and you may wish to increase the quantities I specify. You will note that in most recipes, especially where a sauce is used, you will be instructed to taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. A French chef will usually taste a dish just before serving it, and if he does not detect any salt, he will add a little. The constant use of salt numbs our taste buds, and over a period of years you may find yourself increasing the amount of salt used. I have often eaten in restaurants where I found the food too salty. More often than not, the chef had been cooking for many years.

I became aware of the effect that salt has on taste buds while teaching. When I started teaching, a good 30 percent of the people attending my classes found the food I prepared too salty, while about 10 percent thought it needed more salt. Over a three-year period, I found this remained constant no matter where I taught. Shortly after the birth of our first daughter, however, I was shocked to find that 90 percent of my classes suggested that I should use more salt. On reflection, I quickly realized what had happened during the six months I’d stopped teaching. For
the last three months of my wife’s pregnancy and the first three months of my child’s life, the doctor had placed my wife on a low-salt diet, and since I was doing most of the cooking, I, too, was on the same diet. This was enough time to rejuvenate my taste buds, and so when I started teaching again, the food I cooked, which tasted fine to me, was undersalted for my students.

Because of the prevalence of heavily salted packaged and prepared foods in this country, I find that many young people today use too much salt when they cook—in both savory and sweet preparations. So if you grew up eating packaged chocolate chip cookies that have salt in the dough, salt in the butter, and salt in the chocolate chips, you will probably find my recipes light on salt. Feel free to adjust the seasoning, but keep in mind the numbing effect that salt has on your taste buds and please stay away from salting fruit desserts, caramels, and ice cream.

SUGAR

Sugar, like salt, can be a very personal taste. What is too sweet for one is not sweet enough for another. I find many classic French desserts too sweet, and have adapted them over the years, removing sugar to suit my taste. In most cases sugar can be added or subtracted, but in some recipes the addition or removal of too much will alter the final product. Sugar, for example, is what gives a cookie its crunch. If the amount is cut down too much, the cookie’s texture will be too cakelike.

Once you have made a recipe, feel free to adjust the sugar, a teaspoon or two at a time, until it is perfect for you.

THICKENING AGENTS

In my recipes I usually give a choice of thickeners: arrowroot, potato starch, or cornstarch. I realize that cornstarch is the one most available in the American home, and in fact the one used in certain pastry preparations in France. But for cooking, and especially sauce making, I, along with most French chefs, prefer the use of arrowroot or potato starch. Both produce sauces that are brighter and of better consistency than those made with cornstarch. Arrowroot is found in the spice section of the supermarket, and potato starch is normally found in the kosher or foreign specialty section.

TRUFFLES

French black truffles are most definitely not a supermarket item, and I have therefore made their use optional. Truffles are fungi that grow underground and are prized for their unique flavor. They can range in size from ½ inch in diameter to as large as 2 to 3 inches, and in their fresh form are usually found only in a few high-end specialty stores and expensive restaurants. I call for medium-size truffles, which measure about ¾ inch in diameter, packed in cans or jars.

VINEGAR

When vinegar is called for in a French kitchen, plain white distilled vinegar is used. For salad dressings, wine vinegars are used. The quality of commercial wine vinegars varies widely, and I find in general that white wine vinegars are milder than red ones. I also use balsamic a lot (even though it is Italian) and, from time to time, sherry vinegar and a number of fruit vinegars. One of my favorite vinegars is a homemade tarragon vinegar (using tarragon from my herb garden). I stuff a clean plastic quart container with the leaves and branches cut from the plants and then fill the container with white distilled vinegar. Within a couple of days the vinegar takes on the color and flavor of the tarragon. It
always makes a welcome gift when I am invited to a friend’s home for dinner.

WINES FOR COOKING

The popularity of wines in the United States has grown dramatically, and you can now find good, reasonably priced wines from countries all around the world. When a white wine is called for, I use light, dry inexpensive white wines from France, California, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, or Australia. Look for a light, delicate, and dry wine that is not too acidic and similar in quality to a Mâcon Blanc. A few dishes are made with red wine. In these cases, I use a full-bodied red, such as Mâcon Rouge or Côtes-du-Rhône.

INGREDIENT PREPARATION

Iassume that all vegetables and fruits are washed and trimmed. I emphasize washing only when the vegetable requires extra attention, as for leeks (see “Washing Leeks,”
page 186
) or when my method is perhaps unexpected (see “Washing Mushrooms,”
page 189
).

I assume that all vegetables that are ordinarily peeled you will peel, and I only indicate it when it’s important (see “Peeling and Seeding Tomatoes,”
page 194
).

In cutting up ingredients, I use the following terms:

FINELY CHOPPED

I use this term when I want something to be minced, but not so finely minced that it verges on a purée, as can sometimes happen if you use a food processor.

CHOPPED

Cut into pieces about ⅛ to ¼ inch.

DICED

Small square pieces, usually between ¼ and ½ inch. When food is diced finer than ¼ inch it is called a
brunoise.

JULIENNE

Julienned ingredients are cut into thin strips about 2 inches long. They can be as fine as a hair or as thick as matchsticks and are often used as garnish.

SLICED ON THE DIAGONAL

Mostly used with carrots for greater surface area, better browning, and appearance.

ADJUSTING SEASONING

A good chef will always taste soups and sauces after making them to determine if additional seasoning is necessary. For this reason, I will remind you to taste and adjust seasoning. Many students have asked, “How do I know what to adjust?” Although the knowledge usually comes with experience, here are a few hints for the beginner.

Adjusting the seasoning usually refers to salt and pepper. If you like the way the sauce tastes as it is, then nothing needs to be added. If you think it is missing something, look at the ingredients in the recipe and see if you might need to add a small amount of one of them. For example, the sauce may have called for a small amount of vinegar, lemon juice, port, Madeira, or Cognac. Perhaps a drop or two more is all that is needed to make the sauce perfect. Sometimes a specific herb is used to accent a sauce; if its flavor is not discernible on tasting, an additional pinch is probably necessary.

Everyone has a different sense of taste, so what seems like a perfect blend of flavors to one
person may be bland to someone else. All these recipes have been tested for seasoning and I hope you will like them as they are, but please feel free to adjust any seasoning according to your own taste.

MEASUREMENTS

Instead of giving precise cup measurements for many cooking ingredients—such as ½ cup chopped onion or 1 cup diced carrots—I list them as “1 onion, chopped” and “2 carrots, diced.” There are two reasons for doing this. One is so that you can more easily visualize the recipe while shopping. Carrots and onions are found whole in the markets, not diced and measured in cups. The second, and perhaps more important, reason is that there should be flexibility in cooking, and no need for many ingredients to be measured precisely. It makes little difference to the end results if one reader uses a medium-small onion while another uses a medium-large one.

The pastry recipes, on the other hand, are more precise than most American recipes, and a quick reading of “The Metric System in Cooking and Pastry Making” (see
page 360
) will give you an understanding of some of the inaccuracies possible in measuring solids and the importance for accurate measurement in pastry recipes.

Although I encourage the use of a gram/ounce scale for pastry making, following my precise cup measurements should give you the same results time after time. When I measure dry ingredients such as flour and sugar, I use the dip-and-level method: If, for example, a recipe calls for ⅔ cup flour, I dip the cup marked “⅓” (since the average measuring cup set comes only with ¼-, ⅓-, ½-, and 1-cup measures) into the flour and scoop up more than the cup can hold. With the back of a knife I level it off, and then repeat the process to make ⅔ cup. If you usually spoon the flour into your cup before leveling, you will be using less flour than I do.