Everyday Pouring Pots of Faïence

Blanchette, p. 59.

The following is my paraphrased summary of pouring pots from thesis: Blanchette, Jean-Francois (Ph.D.: Anthropology, 1979, Brown University) Title: The role of artifacts in the study of foodways in New France, 1720-1760 : two case studies based on the analysis of ceramic artifacts.

"The shapes of ceramic objects are generally divided into two categories: hollowware (creux) and flatware (platerie). Brown faïence hollowware comprises pitchers, coffeepots, chocolate pots, teapots, soup tureens, huguenotes, pâtés, deep platters or saladiers, large bowls, porringers and cups.
The pitcher is a pot with a slight pouring lid and a handle. Its neck is long, straight and vertical; its body is globular.

The coffeepot is a pouring pot in which the walls are uniform and slanted toward the bottom and the handle is horizontal and straight “used for heating all type of beverages” (Encyclopédie 1765: Fayancerie, PL I: 4) The author does not make a distinction between the coffeepot,

the marabout (round-bodied hot water jug [Fig. 5])


and the coquemart [Fig. 6] (see text of the encyclopedia). Furetière 1970, however, says that the “coffee pot” is a “small coquemart-shaped vessel in which coffee is prepared.”



The teapot is a pouring pot with a bulbous body, narrow opening and long cylindrical and sometimes curved spout. It has a handle, and the spout is separate from the pot’s opening. The teapot usually stands lower than other pots of normal size. In the Recueil de plances (1765 in Encyclopédie: Fayancerie I:7), it states “A tea pot to be used with a tray (name given to a platter carrying a number of coffee cups), usually made to contain coffee.”
This text is probably another indication that tea was not widely used.

It is only in the text of the Encyclopédie itself that the teapot is described as a pot to be used for tea: “Tea pot (Faïence manufacturer’s terminology), slightly bulbous vessel with handle and spout, in which tea is brewed with boiling water and used as a beverage. Tea pots come in all shapes and sizes, and may hold from one to ten cups; Chinese and Japanese tea pots are perhaps among the most beautiful."

From these texts, it would appear that the function of the pouring pot(s) must have varied according to the needs of the people."

This post links to Feathered Nest Friday

Porringers in Nouvelle France

Blanchette 1979:64

The following is my paraphrased summary of porringers from thesis: Blanchette, Jean-Francois (Ph.D.: Anthropology, 1979, Brown University) Title: The role of artifacts in the study of foodways in New France, 1720-1760 : two case studies based on the analysis of ceramic artifacts.

“Porringers are: hollow bowls with steep walls; a table utensil; small rimless platter normally used for serving bouillon, or preparing soup for a particular person; vessels for individual consumption. The porringers found in Louisbourg have two long shell-shaped handles and a vertical footring.

Because porringers are considered to be a “wet dish” service item, Blanchette emphasizes the porringer, which in certain areas of France such as La Marche, Le Limousin and Le Maconnais, had a distinct personal character. In these regions, a porringer was bestowed upon each newborn infant to be used solely by that individual until death. When the person died, the porringer was buried alongside the body as a funeral offering. This is a material manifestation of the personality. [Today, babies often receive silver porringers with their name engraved.] In the Compagnie franches de la marine stationed at Fort Beauséjour, the brown faïence porringer may have been the symbol of each officer’s individuality, and this aspect would merit examination, along with porringers of other materials. Although Place Royale is the same type of site as Louisbourg, the same shapes of brown faïence are found there with the exceptions of the teapot, the pâté, the small pouring pot and the porringer. The lack of the brown faïence porringer is quite surprising since this was a common shape elsewhere in New France; however, coarse earthenware porringers are found there and may have served the same function. Another point in support in our explanation of the sociotechnic functions of the porringer is the almost total absence of porringers in the public areas such as inns and cabarets in Louisbourg.

It is also noteworthy that military sites revealed only those brown faience shapes relating to liquids and hot wet dishes. This is certainly related to the food customs of military officers at the time, whose main dishes were soup, porridge, stews, bread and beverages. It is believed that these faïence objects were used by the officers. Subalterns to the officers used coarse earthenware, metal, or wooden objects, or ate directly from the cooking pot or a common bowl [trencher].”

Bread for Sop or Soup

The baker’s shop, engraving, from Paul Jacques Malouin, Description des arts et métiers (Paris, 1967).

“‘Soup, in fact, derives from ‘sop’ or ‘sup,’ meaning the slice of bread on which broth was poured. Until bread was invented, the only kind of thick soup was a concoction of grains, or of plants or meat cooked in a pot. Gruel or porridge was thus a basic food, a staple form of nourishment, and long held that place in Western countries, for in practice bread was a luxury eaten only in towns.’” p. 177

“‘. . . soup which was to become a staple item of the European diet from the Dark Ages onwards: a slice of bread at the bottom of a bowl, with broth or soup made in a pot poured on to it. The word suppa, from Frankish, was used in Low Latin and has kept its original sense in Dutch sopen, to soak, cognate with English ‘sop.’ Soup poured over pieces of bread is popular in France: garbure, made of cabbage, bacon and preserved goose is one such example, so is French onion soup.’” p. 229. Quotations from History of Food, Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne, translated by Anthea Bell. . Blackwell Publishers, 1992.

Detail from "the bread shop." The girl at the right is chipping the crusts from rolls; the chippings were sold "to the poor and country people" to put in their soup.

Detail from "the bread shop." The baker's wife behind the counter is working on her accounts; at her left is a bread-slicer similar to those still used in neighborhood restaurants in Paris.

Archaeology of Brown Faïence Ceramics in Nouvelle France

The Pâté, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, 1738

The following is my paraphrased summary through chapter one of thesis: Blanchette, Jean-Francois (Ph.D.: Anthropology, 1979, Brown University) Title: The role of artifacts in the study of foodways in New France, 1720-1760 : two case studies based on the analysis of ceramic artifacts.

The study of brown faïence is a well-defined ethnic type, being manufactured only in France. Its presence or absence on any site occupied by the French during the French regime should reveal preferences for culinary equipment and, undoubtedly, particular alimentary orientations related to status. In fact, the beginning of the 18thC was a period when the ceramic arts, particularly faïence, flourished. At this time Louis XIV ordered the silver and gold table services to be sent to the mint to pay for the excessive expenses incurred by foreign wars. These table services were replaced by faïence.

Although brown faïence was invented during a period of liberalism in the industry, the limited supply of wood fuel for kilns caused stipulations that production must be for either white or brown faïence. The exclusive production of brown faïence, or brown with white interior, made it possible for numerous Rouen factories to exist until well after 1786, even though cheaper, prettier English pottery which had the appeal of a foreign product was preferred, brown faïence continued to persist as both kitchen- and tableware.

For many centuries, meals had been composed of either potages or stews, made thick by the addition of bread. Meals, in which meats, spices, and other rare products could be found, were for well-to-do people—the common people were eating plain and frugal fare, which seldom included meats, except for special social or religious activities. Meals of the lower class tended to remain the same, but meals of the upper class went through a revolutionary change as evidenced by their cookbooks (Bonnefons 1651; L.S.R. 1674; La Varenne 1699; Liger 1700, 1755; La Chapelle 1735; Lemery 1745; Marin 1775). The change in haute cuisine was that of cooking food slowly, in its own juices: meats were cooked individually, spices selected and vegetables prepared separately, to say nothing of the diversity of pastries and desserts. Ceramic vessels became the preference for slow cooking, metallic ones when a fiercer fire was needed. The variety of brown faïence vessels corresponds to the needs of the new cuisine. Marin summarizes numerous details about the ways of preparing meals, the quantities for necessary ingredients, cooking time, necessary vessels for preparation—glazed earthenware pots, terrines, huguenotes (tripod cooking pot), earthenware or copper pans and kettles, water kettles, silver and faïence platters. In fact, the first book addressing itself to the bourgeoisie in addition to the nobility and the clergy was Menon’s La cuisinière bourgeoise published in 1746.

It was toward a refinement and a tasting of individual food that the kitchen of the French nobility was aiming. A significant element of Bonnefons’ Les délices de la campagne concerned the cooking and preparation of root vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, white salsify, beets, rapes, turnips and Jerusalem artichokes. Usually considered food in times of famine and bad harvests, Bonnefons brought these foods to the table of the leisure class. Sugar now played an important role and was used for many things, including decoration. Sauce was thickened with flour and heat rather than with soddened bread. Three elements of this cuisine are: wet dishes—stews, potages and sauces; dry dishes—cooking in undercrusts, the use of waxed paper for cooking, the practice of multiple cooking using two different techniques; and liquids—coffee, tea and chocolate.

Wet dishes include creams, eggs, and other side dishes which were partially or totally prepared in hollow platters or on dishes over a gentle fire. Cooking was slow and meat was often left to cook on a gentle fire to extract its juice. Braising was another technique.

Pâtés were dry dishes, meats cooked in undercrusts which were either puffed pastries made of wheat flour for fine dishes, or a combination (bise) of wheat and rye flour for large cuts of meat. These undercrusts were sometimes decorated with fleurs-de-lis made of paste (Liger 1755). No vessel was needed to cook the pâté because the solid crust replaced it. The pâtés could also be cooked directly on the sole, (oven floor) or on a piece of waxed paper in the oven, as was the case for meat preparations that held their shape. This method of cooking was expensive because the paste hardens during cooking and was later discarded. Numerous meats, fishes and other dishes were often cooked twice. They were first cooked on a spit or cooked slowly in a pan or platter. The second time they were arranged on a serving platter of silver or faïence and covered with grated cheese, cream or other decorations and set in the oven or on weak embers, thus producing a glaze. This method of cooking was a new refinement not found in recipe books from the preceding century. Brown faïence dishes, called pâtés after the food, made it possible to cook these dishes without undercrusts which were expensive for those who did not have large quantities of grains for flour in storage. The food was put in pottery pâtés and placed in a bain-marie so that the water in the bain-marie would replace the humidity otherwise supplied by the undercrust containing the pâté.   Blanchette suggests using brown faïence pâtés to eliminate the need for undercrusts was very economical and the pâtés were decorated with fleurs-de-lis, like the undercrusts. The tops of the faïence pâtés were often decorated with rabbits and feathered game to suggest the type of meat used.

Liquids, like wine, were often suggested to prepare meats and fishes. Wine was also used for the preparation of hot and cold drinks. Tea, coffee and chocolate were not mentioned in recipe books before the 18thC. Liger (1755) specifies that coffee grains are roasted in glazed earthenware vessels so that they won’t burn and all their taste is preserved. He also says that water for tea boils in a cafétière (coffeepot). In fact, authors of cookbooks never use the term théière (teapot) in any of the books analyzed, although the teapot shape is found archaeologically in 18thC sites and mentioned in documents at mid-century. The pitcher, coffeepot, chocolate pot, teapot, small pouring pot, globular cup and straight-sided cups are all brown faïence shapes related to beverages and relative consumption seems to correspond to relative occurrence in New France archaeological sites.

Development of the new cuisine in France coincided with the development of brown faïence, and the shapes of this ceramic type correspond well to the preparation-service-consumption of the foods previously noted. Thus it would seem that brown faïence was manufactured for the preparation and service of dishes found in the new recipe books, since the diverse specialized shapes correspond so well to the foods. In effect, the development of foodways follows the general progress of French society as seen in standards of living, demography, the bourgeoisie and colonial commercial activity. This general frame of reference should be kept in mind in understanding the role and position of brown faïence in culinary innovations of the 18thC.

Serving and Eating Foie Gras

My foie gras cooking trials are over and it's time to enjoy the results.

My first recipe is from Emeril, Foie Gras Terrine, in which I used my own Vin Noix or green walnut wine instead of port. I served this terrine with cornichons, toast and onion marmalade and a glass of vin noix. Results--earthy, unctious and rich.

Another terrine involved the use of spices, and I turned again to my favorite blend, menues espices, which today is known as quatre-épices. Because of the richness of the spices, I served this terrine with a sweet white wine and plain toast--the flavor on the top of the tongue reminds me of the best smells in a deli.

During my discussions on foie gras several of my readers have offered tips for serving this delicious treat.
  • Jean-Luc Odeyer of Grenoble, France, "I prepare the green nut chutney, it is a delight! It is good with the raclette, the foie gras, the grills and the skewers, cheese, the cold meats and the charcuterie, on toasts…"
  • Don wrote "The pan juices and lemon are what truly makes foie gras with ham superb. Very delicious with a squeeze of lemon."
  • David Lebovitz recommends serving très bon Sauternes
  • One offered another recipe with ways to serve the terrine in a casual or more fancy manner.
  • and Pascal has a lovely picture of a simple foie gras presentation

Elsewhere on the net are sites for tasting, preparation and cooking.

Foie gras is a holiday food, a simple food. It lends itself to many styles of serving and eating. Whether you use some of my 18thC recipes or these modern ones, do enjoy your liver--it can be a harbinger of good things to come.

Enjoy Foie Gras, Enjoy Life! Foie gras and other French delicacies from Mirepoix, USA

Herbes 101

Plain food can be enhanced by any number of herbes, which are the leaves and stems of plants [usually roots and fruits and nuts of plants are considered spices]. Fresh herbes should be bruised or twisted before being added to cooking foods, the exception being herbe bundles or bouquet garni which is often tied together and suspended from the handle of the cooking pot to aid in its removal prior to serving.

Some herbes, bay [laurel] leaves in particular, benefit from being bruised and "fried" in a little oil, graisse or butter, which releases the oils of the herbe and intensifies its flavor. There may be times when you do not want to intensify the herbe--adding it at later stages in cooking may give a more elusive flavor.

Dried herbes should be crushed in the hand before adding to the pot. This will release more flavor, as will toasting in a dry pan or frying in the oils and fats at the beginning of the preparation of the dish.

Adding herbes at the very end of the cooking process is necessary when using herbes like basils, which darken with cooking and can spoil the looks of the dish.

National cuisines use different combinations of herbes--begin to experiment with not only local herbes, but be sure and lay in a supply of unusual herbes from your traveling merchants when given the chance. Bon appétit!

Before Prudhomme's Turducken - There Was Goose Pye

Dead Duck with a Pie, Porcelain Bowl and Jar of Olives, Chardin 1764

Chef Paul Prudhomme is credited with creating turducken, a boned chicken stuffed in a boned duck stuffed in a boned turkey, all layers surrounded by forcemeat [farce], usually served at holiday times when some cooks yearn to bring something splendid to the table. But Hannah Glasse beat him to the table, as did other 18thC cooks.

Once you have fattened your holiday goose, removed its foie gras, and it hangs cooling on the meat hook in the office [cold kitchen], it’s time to think of goose pye, a corned [pickled] tongue surrounded by farce stuffed in a marinated, boned chicken, surrounded by farce, stuffed in a boned and marinated well-hung [term used to connote ternderizing] goose baked in a crust—perfect for today’s holiday meals, but a means of preserving in the past.

The spices [today's French four-spice or quatre-epice] used in the farce and in the marinating process serve to preserve the meat once it is cooked and cooled, allowing the pye to be kept in the cool room and sliced for serving as needed—time here also serves to ripen or develop the many flavors in this dish.


Goose Pye, photo from Terrines, Pâtés & Galantines. Time-Life, 1982, p. 52.

Here is Glasse's recipe for goose pye.

I highly recomend both Time-Life's Terrines [which also uses Glasse's recipe and is accompanied by marvelous step-by-step photos] and Glasse's book, also known as First Catch Your Hare. Terrines is edited by the late inimitable Richard Olney. Glasse's book served as the take off for many following books and incorporates about a hundred years of previous cooking knowledge--still a great book after two and half centuries!

Cramming Geese, Gavage for Foie Gras

To Pastures New, James Guthrie, 1883.

In my last post of fattening fowl for foie gras powdered nettles were mixed with flour to make a paste for cramming geese. Why green, you might ask? Because young geese will orient toward paticular greens, especially grasses, which is why they can me used as a management technique for weeding orchards and other crops. Care must taken to corral the geese away from other tender green crops and older geese from other colors, such as strawberries or tomatoes. Once they associate another color other than the green of new grass for food, they can literally mow down crops, even being known to eat the roots right down into the soil. Hence, it is necessary for our little goose girl to herd them away from the desireable crops, toward the water source several times a day and to allow them to rest in the shade. Once they are rested, they will defecate and return to feeding. As such geese are a natural part of sustainable agricultural care for fields.

Fresh, tender greens are very high in nutrients--proteins and others--and create a natural source of fat in geese. Prior to domestication, this fat was used for fuel storage for long migrations. In fattening fowl for foie gras, [dried] greens and flower or seed protein will also create natural fat, used today for Jews to render as schmaltz for cooking fat as beef tallow and lard are forbidden foods. The first mention in Europe of foie gras is from a discussion of Jewish law by Rashi in the 11th century. As early as 2500 BCE, Egyptians crammed geese.

Cramming is a natural feeding habit for a goose--geese will eat until they are so full in the craw that they can fall over forward and will still try to eat more. Offering them a green flour paste "finger" pellet of food would be a morsel they couldn't resist--even if they were stuffed already--cramming or gavage is not a cruel treatment but a goose's delight.

When geese are penned for the winter, and fresh greens are not available, the high carbohydrate pellets, green in appearance from the nettles, produce the excess fat and enlarged liver so sought after by gourmands. Butchering normally occured in time to produce the holiday goose before the bird lost weight and its precious fat. Birds selected for foie gras would have been crammed for two or more weeks following confinement. This cramming relies on the greed of the goose to ingest "greens" at a time when little fresh green vegetation is available--literally greed produces foie gras.
* * *
Enjoy Foie Gras, source for whole [entire] and canned [bloc] foie gras and other French treats.* * *

Johnson,Clarence. 1960. Management of Weeder Geese in Commercial Fields. California Agriculture. August. p. 5.

To Fatten Fowl for Foie Gras

To fatten all sorts of Fowl in fifteen days, whether Hens, Geese, Ducks, or others; from All-Hallows till Lent.
Take Nettle leaves and Seed, gathered and dryed in the proper Season, which beat to Powder and sift; when you would use it, make it into a Paste with Wheat-Bran or Flower, making it up with Dish-water; for want of it with warm Water; give it to your Fowl once a day, and you will see the effect.

Another way to fatten Fowl.
First put them into a Coop, and three times a day give them to eat a sort of Paste made of two parts Barley, and one of black Wheat, or Millet, ground together, the Flower sifted and the Bran taken off, of which make bits rather long then round, of a convenient size, and give them seven or eight a day, and in fifteen days or thereabouts, they will be very fat.

Taken from:
Modern Curiosities of Art & Nature. Extracted out of the Cabinets of the most Eminent Personages of the French Court. Together with the choicest Secrets in Mechanicks: communicated by the most approved Artists of France. Composed and Experimented by the Sieur Lemery Apothecary to the French King. Made English from the Original French. London, Printed for Matthew Gilliflower, at the Spread Eagle in Westminster-Hall, and James Partirdge, at the Post-house between Charing-Cross and White-hall. 1685, pp. 241-242.

Foie Gras - Several Ways

Tourtiere pan sits on a trivet in the ashes, cover closes and ashes can be put on top.

Recipes taken from:
Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 279-280.*

Foie gras braised. Sprinkle your livers with a little salt, pepper & sweet herbs [traditionally a blend of four herbs — Parsley, Chervil, Chives and Tarragon]; wrap them in a bacon slice & tie them in a little wet paper sheet; & put them between two embers [bury them in hot ashes—not glowing coals], to cook with small fire. Serve hot with good jus [their own juices].

Foie gras in a caul [lacy fatty membrane encasing the internal organs of an animal used to wrap food in for cooking]. Take your smallest pieces of foie gras; chop them with blanched bacon, a little grease & marrow, truffles, mushrooms, calf sweetbreads, parsley, Welsh onions [chives] & cooked ham, & bind the whole with an egg yolk; cut caul into pieces, according to the size of your liver pieces; put your farce on first the caul, then a layer of foie gras; cover with more farce and so on, until the layers of caul are used up with a layer of caul being last; wrap your livers in paper to put them on the grill, or better, in a tart plate; put them in the oven. Serve with a little hot jus [its own cooking juices], pepper, salt & juice of an orange [use orange juice to deglaze pan or paper and serve over bundle].

Foie gras (Another caul version). Put foie gras in a tart plate with bacon bards below; season with salt, pepper, & cover with rest of bards; bake in the oven or the hearth, fire [coals] above & below [a tourtiere baking pan makes this easy], without letting them dry out. Make a mushroom ragout; (see Champignons;) once they are cooked, simmer them gently in the ragout, & serve hot. One can also bread them & cook in the oven, like above [recipe], & serve with good orange juice.

Foie gras with Spanish sauce. Skewer your livers, alternating with bacon and cook. Serve with Spanish sauce. (See Sauces.)

Foie gras with ham. Cut ham slices finely [julienne]; make a roux and add to it ham, livers, a chopped Welsh onion [chives] & fine parsley; cook with small fire [slow oven] in a tart plate in the oven or on the hearth, fire above & below [again, the tourtiere pan is best for this]; season to taste[with salt and pepper], & serve with a lemon section and pan juices.

Foie gras roasted. Sear livers on stove top; then chop them with bacon, some mushrooms, sweet herbs, salt & pepper; cook with small fire [slow oven] in a tart plate.

Foie gras (Ragout) . Blanche [To Whiten--it is to steep in water, either cold or hot, to make plump or white, or both. You're looking to set the flesh so that it will not disintegrate in the next step.] your livers and drain; add diced mushrooms and a bouquet [garni] to the whole livers; moisten with broth or coulis and cook until heated through. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Foie gras (Tort). Make an undercrust of flaky pastry; line a tart pan; put raked [julienned] bacon, with salt, pepper, fine spices & sweet herbs; there arrange your foie gras with mushrooms, green peaks [tips of asparagus], truffles & will foam [fairy ring mushrooms { mousserons}], bouquet [garni] in the middle; season with a little more salt, pepper, fine spices and sweet herbs, cover with beaten & thin calf sections, & bacon bards, & over all seal with an uppercrust, gild with an egg yolk, & put in the oven; Bake until done. Open crust & remove calf & bacon; degrease & serve with ham essence [gravy].

Enjoy Foie Gras, source for whole [entire] and canned [bloc] foie gras and other French treats. Once your whole foie has been deveined, use the small bits to try some of the great recipes above.

*Foies gras à la braise. Saupoudrez vos foies de sel menu, poivre & fines herbes; enveloppez-les d’une barde de lard & d’une feuille de papier un peu mouillé; sicelez-les & les mettez entre deux braises, cuire à petit feu. Servez chaud avec du bon jus.

Foies gras à la crépine. Prenez les plus maigres de vos foies gras; hachez-les avec du lard blanchi, un peu de graisse & de moëlle, truffes, champignons, ris de veau, persil, ciboules & jambon cuit, & liez le tout d’un jaune d’œuf; coupez de la crépine par morceaux, selon la grosseur de vos foies; mettez de votre farce sur cette crépine, ensuite un foie gras; recouvrez de farce, & que le tout soit bien renfermé dans le crépine; ajustez vos foies dans du papier pour les mettre sur le gril, ou mieux, dans une tourtiere, pur les mettre au four; ensuite dépecez vos crépines. Servez avec peu de jus chaud, povre, sel & jus d’orange.

Foies gras. (Autre crépine de) Mettez des foies gras dans une tourtiere avec des bardes de lard dessous; assaisonnez de sel, povre, & recouvrez de bardes; faites cuire au four ou au foyer, feu dessus & dessous, sans les laisser sécher. Faites un ragout de champignons; (voyez Champignons;) tirez vos foies à sec; faites-les mitonner dans ce ragoût, & servez chaud. On peur aussi les paner & les faire cuire au four, comme dessus, & les servir avec de bon jus d’orange.

Foies gras à l’Espagnole. Embrochez vos foies; bardez de lard cuit. Servez avec une sauce à l’Espagnole. (Voyez Sauces.)

Foies gras au jambon. Coupez du jambon sort menu; passez-le au roux avec vois foies, une ciboule & du persil hachés fin; faites cuire à petit feu dans une tourtiere au four ou au foyer, feu dessus & dessous; assaisonnez de bon gout, & mettez une tranche de citron. Servez avec du bon jus.

Foies gras en rôtie. Passez-lez d’abord à la poële; hachez-les ensuite avec du lard, quelques champignons, fines herbes, sel & poivre, faites-en des rôties-que vous ferez cuire à petit feu dans une tourtiere.

Foies gras. (Ragoût de) Faites blanchir vos foies; passez des champignons coupes en dés avec un bouquet; mouillez de bouillon & de coulis; mettez vos foies entiers; faites-les bouillir queques bouillons, & servez avec un jus de citron.

Foies gras. (Tourte de) Faites une abaisse de demi-feuilletage; foncez-en une tourtiere; mettez du lard ratissé, avec sel, poivre, fines épices & fines herbes; arrangez-y vos foies gras avec champignons, crétes, truffes vertes & mousserons, bouquet au milieu; assaisonnez dessus comme dessous, couvrez de tranches de veau battues & minces, & bardes de lard, & par-dessus tout une seconde abaisse, dorez d’un jaune d’œuf, & mettez au four; ôtez ensuite le veau & le lard; degraissez & servez avec une essence de jambon.

The Symbolism of Liver

"According to the Roman poet Horace, the liver is the seat of the passions, particularly sensual love and anger. According to Suetonius, it is the center of the intelligence of the mind. Since the foie gras we eat comes from geese, it need not present us with any metaphysical problems - the stupidity of a 'silly goose', after all is proverbial - but it is true that consuming it provides a sensual, almost voluptuous pleasure.

. . . In the Sou-wen, the basis of all Chinese medicine, eating liver is supposed to engender strength and courage.

. . . Examination of the livers of sacrifices animals was a method used by Roman soothsayers to predict the future."

History of Food, Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne, translated by Anthea Bell. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford UK, p. 433-4.

Anniversary #2

18thC Cuisine has marked its 2nd anniversary with receipt of enough foie gras to try many recipes. Look for upcoming posts on different ways of preparing this delicacy and also on the archaeology of the ceramic dishes used to cook it sans a flour crust.

Many thanks to my loyal fans--here's to another year of exploring the past in French kitchens!

Enjoy Foie Gras, home of some of the best foie gras and other French treats--charcuterie and truffles.

Judging Paper Chef 22, the Slow Edition

Owen is amazing–he manages to elicit the most creative dishes from sometimes humble and oftentimes obscure ingredients–and he always throws in a curve at the last minute! But cooks from around the world always come up with combinations that fit in both home-style and haute cuisines. This month’s edition drew barberries, pumpkin, spinach and slow ingredients and when Own emailed me the writeup, my mouth immediately began to water! Eye-popping haute dishes and earthy, unctious home-style casseroles–now the dilemma–how to decide!

First the home category . . . Noodle Cook prepared a smoky dish of grilled and carmelized vegetables–one a capsicum pepper [too hot for me!]–and deglazed the pan with slow-aged balsamic vinegar served over couscous. My kids would eat this dish up before the cook could get a taste!

The Laughing Gastronome introduced me to Middle Eastern cooking and a new use of yoghurt. Her Chicken Barberryani was a spinoff from a famous traditional Iranian recipe using a rice mixture as the “container” of a finished casserole. Emma served it with a beautiful combination of greens and caramelized pumpkin.

Jonskifarms, even though laboring with a broken arm, turned out a complicated and winning entry in the Home category, complete with an interesting history of the dish–again using a slow-cooked rice and yoghurt crust, Oven-baked Rice with Barberries and Butternut Squash on a bed of spinach, also of Persian influence. This dish would bubble merrily away in the back of my fireplace tucked in among the ashes. Congratulations!

Haute category’s entries begin with Columbus Foodie’s fresh-looking salad of goat cheese, blueberries, and crunchy pumpkin seeds dressed with balsamic vinegar. This was her first entry and her salad would certainly do any restaurant proud–her plating was very appetizing and colorful.

Anita’s entry of Parsee Dhansak made me want to lift the lid and dig right in–I could fairly smell the toasted spices and richness of the lentils and pumpkin wafting through my kitchen. She was concerned that the plating did not do the dish justice, but served in an earthen crock with crusty bread this main dish could happily grace any harvest table in the richest restaurant.

Congratulations to our Haute winner, Bron, whose Pumpkin Tortellini stuffed with spinach and cheese served with a berry-wine sauce was a stunner! The colors alone shout Haute cuisine and the tart-sweet taste combination make this a winner in any category. Her plating and photos were superb.

Kudos for a job well done for all of the entrants–your dishes look wonderful and should taste even better. Thanks, too, to Owen for hosting such a fun competition. This edition’s entries would certainly compare to any TV competition–great job.

Deportment 101

Nicolas LANCRET, Paris, L'automne 1738

When it's all said and done, things haven't changed all that much . . .

"It is proper that her [bourgeois housewife] behavior at table be fitting. But before coming to sit, she should be seen moving throughout her household so that everyone is aware that she is attending to all matters: let her come and go busily, then sit down at last. She should even have everyone wait for her a little. And when she is seated she should, if possible, serve everyone; she should be the first to cut the bread and to pass it around her, beginning with her tablemate with whom she will share a bowl. In front of him she should set the thigh or wing of fowl, on in front of him carve beef depending on what is served, whether it is meat or fish. She should not be chary in this serving, if she is able. She should be careful not to moisten her fingers up to the knuckles with the broths, and that her lips not get smeared with sops, garlic or grease; nor should she stuff her mouth too full, nor take too large bites. Only with the tip of her fingers should she pick up the morsel she dips into the Green Sauce [fresh green herbs stamped with salt, pepper and vinegar] or the Cameline [unboiled cinnamon sauce] or Jance [boiled ginger sauce]; and then she should bear it carefully to her mouth so that not a drop of the broth or sauce drips down her front. Likewise, she should drink carefully so that not a drop falls, else she will be looked upon as vulgar and piggish. She should refrain from reaching for her goblet while she has a morsel in her mouth, and she should always wipe any grease from her mouth—at least from her upper lip, because if there is any grease there, drops of it will show up on the wine, which isn’t pretty.

She should take only small sips; even is she is thirsty, she should not guzzle in a single gulp from her goblet or cup, but rather in small sips, and often, so that others will not say she is swilling down greedily. She should not swallow the rim of her goblet as many wet-nurses do who are so simple-minded and gluttonous that they pour their wine into their belly as if they were filling an empty boot. She should avoid becoming drunk, because neither a drunk man nor a drunk woman can keep private counsel; besides, when a woman is drunk she can no longer protect herself; she prattles her thoughts and is open to everyone’s advances. She should keep herself from falling asleep at the table; it is really improper, and too many indecent things happen to those who let that happen. It doesn’t make sense to doze when you should be awake; many who do so end up falling to one side or the other, or backwards, and break their arm or ribs or crack their head."

Jean of Meun, Romance of the Rose,13thC, II. 13,355-444.

Sumac Syrup

Now is the time to begin thinking about gathering sumac to dry for winter. I plan to dry some for use as a spice and as lemonade, as well as to make vinegar syrup now. Vinegar syrup can be made from just about any fruit and makes a delicious drink either hot or cold. Store corked in a cool place.

500 mL [2 cups] fruit or berries
500 mL [2 cups] vinegar I use white wine or distilled
1.1 L [4 1/2 cups] sugar

Steep the fruit and vinegar in a non-reactive pot for 8 days; the level of the vinegar should not submerge the fruit. Strain through a silk strainer [or a stocking]. Set aside 500 mL [2 cups] syrup.

In a bain marie [double boiler], dissolve the sugar and the syrup until there are no crystals left. Remove from the heat and let cool. Bottle. To serve, pour one part syrup for three parts water, cold or hot. Be ready for an amazing taste!

Recipe: A Taste of history: the origins of Quebec's gastronomy, Marc Lafrance & Yvon Deslonges. Canadian Parks Service, 1989, p.68.

See also: Sumac Lemonade