French Provincial Cooking (13 page)

Bouilloire
A kettle, in the present English sense of the word, for boiling water.

 

Braisière, Daubière
Braising-pan. A deep, heavy pan, usually oval, with a tight-fitting lid and side-handles, in which meat and poultry are braised, i.e. cooked very slowly with vegetables, herbs, fat pork or bacon and a small amount of liquid. At one time these pans were made with an inset lid, upon which glowing embers were placed so that the food cooked with heat from on top as well as underneath. In household cooking, the
braisière
or
daubière
is now more generally replaced with an enamelled steel or cast-iron pan with the self-explanatory name of
fait-tout
. Such utensils are invaluable in any kitchen, and are now being imported from France, Belgium, and Scandinavia.

The heavy French cast-iron pot in the drawing is the prototype of the ancient oval
faitout
or
cocotte
.

French vitreous-enamelled cast-iron pots, made by the famous firms of Le Creuset and André of Cousances, are now imported in quantity and in a large range of sizes and shapes. They are widely distributed. So are the Belgian-manufactured equivalents, which go by the brand name of F. E.

 

Brise-flamme
This is an asbestos or other mat which protects earthenware pots from a direct flame, enabling you to cook stews and so on very slowly on the top of the stove. A serviceable wire mat is made by the Dutch firm of Tomado. A far more satisfactory and correspondingly more expensive product is a French. device called a
Cui-Doux.
This is a round iron stand with a handle, upon which the cooking pot is raised above the source of heat. In effect, it is like the trivet used over an open fire.

 

Casserole
Although this word has come to mean, in English, an earthenware or other oven dish in which foods are ‘casseroled,’ in France a casserole is simply what we call a saucepan, with high straight sides and a handle. Technically, this kind of saucepan is called a ‘casserole russe’; a shallow saucepan with straight sides is a
sautoir,
a
sauteuse,
a
casserole à sauter,
a
casserole-sauteuse
, or a
plat à sauter
; we have not even one word to describe this kind of pan, except possibly the term skillet which is beginning to come back here from the United States, where it migrated some hundreds of years ago. But in those days a skillet was an iron pan with three legs. An earthenware saucepan is a
casserole en terre
, but each variety has its own designation; e.g. a
marmite
en
terre,
a
cocotte en terre
, a
terrine,
a
poëlon,
a
plat à gratin
, a
casserolette
, a
ramequin
and so on. Many regional dishes also depend upon the local type of earthenware pot for their traditional manner of cooking and presentation. Among these are the
cassole
for the
cassoulet
of the Languedoc, the
tian
from Provence which has also given its name to the mixture of vegetables which is cooked in it, the
toupin
of the Béarn in which the garbure is cooked, the
caquelon
for a cheese fondue, the unglazed porous pot called a
diable
(left) for the cooking of potatoes and chestnuts without any liquid, and the
huguenote,
an earthenware baking-pan specially designed to accommodate a large goose or other long joint, although this term is also used to describe a round stew-pot or soup-pot.

Most French—and also Spanish, Italian and Greek—earthenware cooking pots are glazed inside but not outside and can be used on the hot plates of a solid fuel or a gas stove as well as in the oven, provided that they are treated with care. They were, after all, originally designed for cooking over charcoal or wood fuels which give out just as much heat as gas or bottled gas. For safety, however, most people prefer to stand earthenware casseroles on a mat or on a raised grid between the flame and the pot, although those who are careful always to let them heat very slowly but directly over a low flame will find this method just as satisfactory. One essential precaution is to heat any liquid—wine, water, stock,—to be added to vegetables or meat already fried or frying in an earthenware pot. Cold liquid poured into a hot, all but dry, earthenware vessel will almost certainly crack it, although the occasional faulty casserole is going to crack anyway whatever precautions are taken.

English earthenware or brownware cooking pots such as the beautiful, traditional and cheap pots made by Pearsons of Chesterfield are intended only for oven cooking, although this factory has recently evolved a limited range of cooking ware unglazed on the outside and designed for use over direct heat. For this purpose I have found them perfectly successful. For electric cooking it is advisable, unless you are a very experienced cook, to use pots and pans especially designed for the purpose.

Cercle à flan
Flan ring.

Chasse-noyau
A little gadget for stoning olives and/or cherries. Cheap and immensely useful.

Chinois
A conical sieve with a fine mesh, mostly used for the straining of sauces. One of the most useful of utensils. For a small household the stainless steel conical sieves now imported from Sweden are much to be recommended. They have no join or seam, are consequently very easy to keep clean and should last for ever. They have a hook for fixing on the side of the recipient into which the sauce is being sieved. A 6-inch diameter conical sieve is a good all-purpose size.

Cocotte (a)
A deep round or oval cooking pot of varying dimensions, but always with a tight-fitting lid and handles or ears at each side; it may be made of earthenware, copper or cast iron, fireproof porcelain or glass.

(b)
The small china, earthenware, or metal ramekins in which eggs (
œufs en cocotte
) are baked or steamed, and in which they are served.

Couperet
Cleaver, meat chopper.

1. Norman
tripière,
for
tripes à la mode
. 2. Provençal
tian,
for vegetable and gratin dishes. 3. English brownware stew jar. Pearsons of Chesterfield. 4.
Cassole
, for the
cassoulet.
Size for one helping. (See also drawing on page 385.) 5 and 6. Earthenware
poëlons
or round casseroles much used in Provence, for vegetable dishes, stews, etc. 7. Deep
poëlon
. casserole or
caquelon
. Much used for cheese fondue. 8. Béarnais
toupin
. For bean dishes, soups, stews, etc. 9. Glazed stoneware jar for preserved goose or pork. From the Dordogne. 10. Glazed stoneware jar for
rillettes
. From the Loire.

Couteau de cuisine
Cook’s 6 to 8-inch knife for slicing and trimming meat and for many other jobs. Indispensable. Serious cooks still find that carbon-steel knives are the most satisfactory and lasting for general kitchen use; their design and balance are important as well as the sharpness and flexibility of the blade. French cook’s knives are recognised as the best buys. It is, of course, useful to have saw-edged stainless steel
(acier inoxydable
) knives for cutting fruit, such as oranges for salad, for slicing lemons, tomatoes, and cold cooked meat, for cutting bread and other general tasks. At the moment the French appear to be ahead of us in producing efficient and lasting stainless steel blades.

Couteau à découper
. Carving knife. Carbon steel blades are still the best for carving roasts.

Couteau à désosser
Boning knife. See drawing on page 334.

 

Couteau économe
Potato parer.

 

Couteau à filets de sole
Filleting knife.

 

Couteau d’office
Vegetable or paring knife. Office really means the pantry where in large households certain types of kitchen work are, or were, carried out.

 

Couteau tranche-lard.
A slicing knife with a 10” to 11” blade.