What are you cooking now?

[french frank]

Larousse he say: " ail, aulx (peu usuel) ou ails

nom masculin
(latin allium)

• Plante (liliacée) dont les bulbes (têtes d'ail) sont formés de caïeux (gousses d'ail) qui ont une odeur forte et un goût piquant, ce qui les fait rechercher pour l'assaisonnement. (Doué d'un pouvoir antibiotique dû à la garlicine et à l'alisine, l'ail a également une action hypotensive.)

It seems if you want to ask 'how many?' it is courant to specify gousses d'ail or têtes d'ail. So one or the other of us would have had to clarify which we meant.

[vinteuil]

Larousse he say : " ail, aulx (peu usuel) ou ails

... as the song has it - "Ails aulx, ails aulx, it's off to work we go"

Littré only allows aulx - but that was 1877.
Robert has "des aulx [o] (VIEILLI), MOD. des ails."

I was taught that aulx refers to heads of garlic (as opposed to cloves) : so in a market you might say - "je prends trois aulx"

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[french frank]

so in a market you might say - "je prends trois aulx"

And in the butcher if you want to make a meat stock "Trois os"? And in some other context which I can't quite imagine "Trois eaux"? Context is all, I suppose. You wouldn't ask in a market for three cloves of garlic. But three heads of garlic instead of three cloves might make a difference to a recipe.

[vinteuil]

And in the butcher if you want to make a meat stock "Trois os"? And in some other context which I can't quite imagine "Trois eaux"?

... talking of [o] - I remember spending a weekend in Ault while my brother happened to be in the nearby town of Eu. (sadly the moderns pronounce Ault as /olt/, but never mind - next summer we will be in Oô --
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%C3%B4 )

I understand the Mayor of Eu doesn't like to be called so, for obvious reasons - (preferring to be known as the 'maire de la ville d'Eu') -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyx_lxQIKX0

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[vinteuil]

And in some other context which I can't quite imagine "Trois eaux"? .

... in the bar " pour mes copains - trois fines, et trois eaux!"

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[vinteuil]

You wouldn't ask in a market for three cloves of garlic. But three heads of garlic instead of three cloves might make a difference to a recipe.

... I think trois aulx will give you three heads of garlic. If (in a recipe) you want three cloves of garlic that would be trois gousses or trois caïeux (lovely word : new to me) d'ail

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[french frank]

I understand the Mayor of Eu doesn't like to be called so, for obvious reasons - (preferring to be known as the 'maire de la ville d'Eu')
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Thank you for your comments on 'aulx' but I shall continue, if needed, to use 'ails'. I don't like to be stared at

As students in France we sang a song which, joyously, contained the line: "Je suis le maire d'Issy (maire d'Issy, maire d'Issy, maire d'Issy, tsoin tsoin)."

[vinteuil]

... on 17 October on the radio 4 programme A Good Read the chef Jeremy Lee chose Elizabeth David's An Omelette and a Glass of Wine. When asked by Harriett Gilbert whether he used any of the recipes, whether he served any of them in his restaurant, he replied 'Oh, yes!', and specified Grillade des Mariniers du Rhône [p 252 in the penguin edn.] As St Elizabeth points out, this is not a grill at all : she compares it not unfavourably to the bœuf miroton beloved of the Parisian concierge*. It's a simple three-hour casserole of beef and thinly sliced onions, two-thirds of the way through you add a vinaigrette with garlic, anchovies, and parsley. As Mme v was away with in-laws on the Isle of Purbeck I decided to try it. Not half bad. (And the unused half will be even better réchauffé tomorrow.) Accompanied with baby potatoes, followed by a green salad and some nice cheeses (manchego, langres, comté). To go with : a 2009 chasse-spleen. Spleen well chasse' d....

* https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miroton_de_b%C5%93uf

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[vinteuil]

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... something seasonal -

https://www.theguardian.com/books/picture/2023/oct/28/tom-gauld-on-the-weird-sisters-halloween-recipe-cartoon?CMP=share_btn_link

[french frank]

Toscni has become one of my favourites at the caff (it's the Hungarian variant of potato pancake, boxty, latke &c) which can be a main dish (with additions), or an addition to a main dish. You can either use grated raw potato or mashed potato, which I used, mixed with some flour and butter (I used olive oil spread instead) and seasonings/flavourings. Then they're fried quickly in hot fat to get them brown and crispy.

Mine didn't turn out very well, but they were quite tasty which is the main thing. I cooked them with a leek top - the dark green bit which everyone throws away. If it's sliced very thinly it's perfectly edible and nutricious. Add soured cream and grated cheese. In the caff they serve them with asparagus which is very good. Worth trying to perfect ...

[Cockney Sparrow]

Toscni has become one of my favourites at the caff (it's the Hungarian variant of potato pancake, boxty, latke &c) which can be a main dish (with additions), or an addition to a main dish. You can either use grated raw potato or mashed potato, which I used, mixed with some flour and butter (I used olive oil spread instead) and seasonings/flavourings. Then they're fried quickly in hot fat to get them brown and crispy.

Mine didn't turn out very well, but they were quite tasty which is the main thing. I cooked them with a leek top - the dark green bit which everyone throws away. If it's sliced very thinly it's perfectly edible and nutricious. Add soured cream and grated cheese. In the caff they serve them with asparagus which is very good. Worth trying to perfect ...

Thanks for the suggestion, I must give these a try. I have warm memories of potato (+flour, obvs.) scones freshly cooked on arrival at a B&B in the Scottish Borders - by the wife of a retired Shepherd turned to B&B propieter. It might have something to do with the dreadful weather during the day.....

However, I am intrigued by your use of the green parts of the Leek. After the very thin slicing, are they cooked from raw in the pancake, or how do you cook them?

In fact, I'm intrigued by occasional references I've heard to the use of parts of vegetables I routinely put in the compost bun - such as the green part of spring onions, and the heavy stalks of Broccoli. With the latter, I heard a chef (probably on The Kitchen Cabinet on R4 when I was doing some job around the house) refer to them as the best part of the Broccoli - I think cut up into strips - but then what?

Apart from making vegetable stock, does anyone have experience of the use of usually discarded parts to share?

[french frank]

However, I am intrigued by your use of the green parts of the Leek. After the very thin slicing, are they cooked from raw in the pancake, or how do you cook them?

The very top, greenest bits would be a bit tough if eaten raw, I suppose, but I chop them very thinly (1mm or less thick) and sauté them in ... something (I don't use butter so if butter is called for I use olive oil spread, otherwise just olive oil). Yesterday, I cooked them separately from the 'tocsni' (probably didn't deserve the name) and served them as a side vegetable. I have a feeling - I keep meaning to check - that the darker the vegetable, the more nutritious, so for instance cavolo nero and kale would be more nutritious than lettuce or white cabbage. Don't quote me on that . The leek top minus the lower bit is an entire vegetable portion, so why throw it away?

In fact, I'm intrigued by occasional references I've heard to the use of parts of vegetables I routinely put in the compost bun - such as the green part of spring onions, and the heavy stalks of Broccoli. With the latter, I heard a chef (probably on The Kitchen Cabinet on R4 when I was doing some job around the house) refer to them as the best part of the Broccoli - I think cut up into strips - but then what?

I always chop up the green part of spring onions and add the whole onion to a stir fry (a dish I often cook when I have odd bits of vegetable). Yes, I chop all the waste stems/stalks of broccoli, kale and caufiflower 'Chinese style' into small pieces and chuck them into stir fry. If I include potato that has to be diced and fried a bit first to make sure it's cooked. Most other vegetables which could (theoretically) be eaten raw don't need to be cooked through until they're soft. They are better if al dente/crunchy (in my opinion). I often add a teaspoonful of hot paprika paste to add a bit of a kick.

[Joseph K]

Also, chopped up broccoli stalks can go in a soup.

[french frank]

Also, chopped up broccoli stalks can go in a soup.

Stir fries and soups alternate with me. Not quite variations on a vegetable theme but not that distant. Depends whether I add liquid/stock or not and whether I cook in a wok or a saucepan.

[french frank]

And on french frank's cookery blog

Today, finally: la véritable tartiflette savoyarde with le véritable reblochon (cadeau d'un ami en France). I should have cooked a few more potatoes so that there were some left over rather than two slightly skimpyish layers. But the reblochon was magnifique and, as advised, two days out of the freezer and (in case Anyone is interested ) it emerged in perfect condition. Pity to cook it really but yesterday I had it for lunch. I had no cream but put an additional layer of reblochon on top of the bottom layer of potato. That worked well. I served it on a bed of rocket. Don't ask about the wine.