What are you cooking now?

[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]

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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[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]

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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[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]

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]

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.

[Nick Armstrong]

How many aulx did it require? (Always wanted to use that plural)

[french frank]

useful tip : in such recipes you don't need to peel the garlic...

How many aulx did it require? (Always wanted to use that plural)

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I can't remember how many ails . I just kept going till there was no room for any more. In fact, my Spanish deli includes unpeeled cloves, along with red peppers, in their dressing for olives. It wasn't quite as finicking to remove the peel because it was softened in the oil, but I did wonder if the peel could be eaten. It was a bit chewy, but waste not, want not.

[vinteuil]

I had a recipe for roast chicken which consisted of stuffing the entire bird with cloves of garlic. It was tedious peeling the garlic too, so I only cooked it once. It tasted good though, with other herbs mixed in with the garlic..

useful tip : in such recipes you don't need to peel the garlic...

How many aulx did it require? (Always wanted to use that plural)

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[french frank]

Peeling the shallots, at least 30 of them, is tedious. But then its worth putting on CDs or BBC Sounds……..

I had a recipe for roast chicken which consisted of stuffing the entire bird with cloves of garlic. It was tedious peeling the garlic too, so I only cooked it once. It tasted good though, with other herbs mixed in with the garlic.

I'm currently waiting for the dough to rise for a wholemeal loaf - I always feel it's faintly virtuous to bake wholemeal loaves. The feeling of self-satisfaction makes up for the fact that the bread isn't particularly good. I gather the texture improves if you leave it to cool for a couple of hours instead of attacking it with the bread knife as soon as it comes out of the oven.

[Joseph K]

Peeling the shallots, at least 30 of them, is tedious. But then its worth putting on CDs or BBC Sounds……..

Yikes! Can sympathise - in my miso mushroom tofu stew (see previous page) I like to use at least about a dozen shallots, so preparing that meal (which I will be doing again this week since we have a thyme plant that needs using) does take a few hours. It's worth it though - the meal is delicious and ought to be tried regardless of your opinion of tofu, which is not integral to it...

[Cockney Sparrow]

I’m not the cook in the family, and of the meals I do prepare, not many would be worthy of mention here. Today I cooked one of the few which generate a compliment – Lindsey Bareham’s recipe – After work Coq au Vin (“Supper Won’t take long” -Penguin). In the spirit of the times, I halve the chicken; its one of our relatively infrequent meals with meat.

I’ve never seen small onions to buy – but shallots seem fine. If I’m going to the trouble, I like to treble the recipe and freeze the remainder. Peeling the shallots, at least 30 of them, is tedious. But then its worth putting on CDs or BBC Sounds……..

[JasonPalmer]

Just put banana bread in the oven

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/brilliant-banana-loaf

[french frank]

I think you can call yours a Chèvriflette

That seems to exist, with courgettes being a common ingredient. Not sure about some of the etymologies, but tartifle seems to be the Francoprovençal word for a potato, so that makes sense. Opinions seem to be divided over how traditional the dish is: either very old or not very old.

The chèvre was quite similar to the chaource, but morbier isn't as sticky. As aforementioned, I've never found any reblochon. But in any case I'm not a purist.