Gherkins & Tomatoes will be back after New Year’s. I wish all of you a happy holiday season, no matter what or how you celebrate!
Categories: Christmas, New Year's Day, Photography • Tags: Christmas, New Year's, Photography
I dedicate this post to the children and the parents, everywhere, especially Newtown, Connecticut. Every year, in December, a marvelous thing happens. At least I think it’s wonderful. And not for the reasons you might think. Christmas comes around, bringing with it a sense of magic in the air, some thing that I felt as a child. And lest you think me not sensitive to the cultural experiences of those who do not celebrate Christmas, I say that no matter […]
Categories: Christmas, Editorials, Festivals, Photography • Tags: Children, Christmas, Gingerbread, Magic
I love Christmas. Yes, I really do. For I see Christmas as a time that allows us – in these rather sterile, rigid United States, anyway – to cut loose and string up gaudy gee-gaws all over the house. To transcend the daily. To feel the seasonal and mythic cycles of past times. To celebrate the sheer miracle of being alive. That, to me, is what festivals mean, be they football games or saints’ days or other special days. All […]
Categories: American Cooking, Christmas, Cookbooks, Cooking, Food writing, Holidays, Photography, Reference • Tags: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Cookbooks, Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas, Great Scandinavian Baking Book, Rose Levy Beranbaum
Meat eating presents modern society with a bit of a dilemma. How to raise and slaughter large numbers of animals under humane conditions, while keeping the price down and within wallet reach of most consumers? That’s the major issue, tinged with other, often moralistic, questions. First, right up front, I am not a vegetarian, and never will be, despite having fumbled with the idea a few times. My first experience with vegetarianism came about chiefly out of curiosity. The central […]
Categories: Africa, Agriculture, Beef, Cattle, Cooking, Festivals, Hunger, Lent, Local foods, Photography • Tags: Beef, Bruce Aidells, Farming, Meat, Michael Symon, Photography, Vegetarianism
…visions of sugarplums danced in their heads. ~~Clement C. Moore~~ ” ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” Happy Holidays to all readers and visitors to Gherkins & Tomatoes / Cornichons et Tomates! I will “see” you again on January 2. ‘Tis soon the season to be jolly. And to bake cookies, the sugarplums of today. I’m about to head out to the kitchen to do just that right now. For many Americans, especially those of Northern European descent, Christmas without special […]
Categories: Bibliographies, Christmas, Cookies • Tags: Bibliographies, Christmas, Cookies, Cooking, Culinary History, Food, Food History, Gingerbread man, Recipes
Photo credit: Robyn Lee A while ago, I promised you a short list of facsimile/translated French cookbooks. The following list represents a number of old French-language cookbooks translated into English that you’ll find freely available on the Internet, something quite helpful when you’ve dropped your last holiday dollar on the fixings for Beef Wellington and a gilty box of exquisite marrons glacés. But I don’t need that box of candied sweetmeats; the words of people long dead taste better than […]
Categories: Christmas, Cookbooks, France, French Cooking, Paintings, Photography, Reference • Tags: Chestnuts, Culinary History, Facsimile Cookbooks, Food History, Le Ménagier de Paris, Medieval cookbooks
I have to tell you that the cookbook lists that come out every year around Christmas time drive me crazy. Like you’re really going to savor, say, 101 Recipes Using ___________? (Fill in the blank.) Or you’re going to run out and buy another Italian cookbook when you already own somewhere in the neighborhood of 225? (I do. Really.) And since I am an unabashed Francophile, I cringe over the lack of French cookbooks on these lists. So I decided […]
Categories: Book Reviews, Christmas, Cookbooks, Cooking, France, French Cooking • Tags: Coco Jobard, Cuisine grand-mère, Culinary History, Food History, French cuisine, Georges Blanc, Giada de Laurentiis, Julia Child, Laura Calder, Lydie Marshall, Marie-Pierre Moine, Mario Batali, Stéphane Reynaud, Wini Maranville
Alas, we’ve just missed La fête de l’huître, a popular festival that takes place at Riec-sur-Belon, Brittany at the end of July. Maybe next time … For more about oysters, see “Oysters Tales and Pearls of Wisdom.”
Categories: Cooking, Festivals, France, French Cooking, Oysters • Tags: Brittany, Food festivals, France, Oysters, Riec-sur-Belon
Beach towels stuffed into tiny car trunks, piqnique tables folded, and wine properly cooled down, the French depart like lemmings for the seaside in August, the traditional vacation month in France. And so — in keeping with the French-inspired theme of Gherkins & Tomatoes / Cornichons & Tomates — postings this month will be a bit more relaxed, mirroring the impact of summer heat and the musings that crop up when leisure allows reflection and reading. Fittingly, on August 3 ,1108, […]
Categories: France, French Cooking, Holidays, Photography • Tags: France, Refelction, Vacation
Gherkins & Tomatoes / Cornichons & Tomates celebrates an anniversary in a couple of days, and I would like to thank all readers — old and new — for their ongoing and strong support. A special thanks goes to friends and family, who keep me going by saying nice things and bringing me champagne. This post brings the total number of posts to 751 since July 28, 2008. Imagine that, three years! So join me for a glass or two […]
Categories: Cooking, Food writing, France, French Cooking, Holidays, Wine • Tags: Anniversaries, Champagne, Food Blogs, France, French Cooking, French cuisine
Lemons, their pitted, nay, prehistoric, skins secreting golden oil, Shielding sourness, evoking memories of a grandmother’s kitchen, A grandfather’s garden. Born in the East, fruitful India, A kiss of cold, albeit fleeting, spawns the yellow Immortalized in stone, paint, and clay. A fruit reverenced, Blossoming from mountain and lake, Urging cooks to slice, pierce, and squeeze, Inspiring miracles among the pots and pans. Lemon curd … Lemon pie … Lemon chicken … Preserved lemons … Limoncello … Such richness! Pasta […]
Categories: Cooking, Italian Cooking, Italy, Lemons, Lent, Lit & Food, Photography, Poetry, Uncategorized • Tags: Food Photography, Italian Cooking, Lemons, Meditations, Mint, Pasta, Poetry
In March 2011, Japan suffered an 8.9 earthquake, a magnitude not often experienced. While the massive earthquake last year in Haiti was less on the Richter scale, it nonetheless did terrible damage that is still not wholly cleaned up. The gruesome scenes from Japan turned my mind back to Haiti. In Haiti, the tragic earthquake of January 12, 2010 destroyed the Haitian Kanaval as well as countless lives and buildings. Kanaval was canceled last year. Carnivale, Carnival, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Karneval, Masopust, […]
Categories: Carnevale, France, French Cooking, Haiti • Tags: Carnevale, Carnival, Earthquakes, Edwidge Danticat, France, French Cooking, Haiti, Jacmel, Mardi Gras, Masks, Shrove Tuesday
In 2011, the event takes place on March 3, thanks to a personal message from the Office of Tourism in Bazas. The day before Lent descends. With a litany of names. Mardi Gras. Fat Tuesday. Boeuf Gras. Shrove Tuesday.* Boeuf Gras? Symbol of the fattened ox, the last meat devoured before Lenten stringency took hold. With roots in the Minotaur and Labyrinth myth. What really drove the Lenten fast? And how did Boeuf Gras begin? During the Middle Ages, and […]
Categories: Festivals, French Cooking • Tags: Boeuf Gras, Bugnes, Carnival, Cooking, Fat Tuesday, Food, Lent, Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday
MAY YOU FEAST WELL AND HAPPILY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON…
Categories: Christmas, Photography • Tags: Christmas, Food Photography, Joyeux Noël, Photos d'aliments
Yes, I know, you’re overwhelmed with preparations for Christmas. If you’re like me, you’re still trying to come up with THE menu that will knock Uncle Scrooge out of his foul grinchy mood. So how come I’m looking at New Year’s foods already? There’s a good reason — there’s only one thing to eat that day. Black-eyed peas, a gift from a part of Africa ruled by the French for a long time. [They were there as early as 1659 at […]
Categories: Africa, African Cooking, Cooking, France, New Year's Day, Southern Food • Tags: Africa, African Cooking, Black-Eyed Peas, Cabbage, Chou, Dawadawa, New Year's Day, Niebe, Pois yeux noirs, Science Magazine, Senegal, Southern cooking, Striga, Virginia, Witchweed
David Lebovitz — a whiz of a pastry chef, cookbook author, and food blogger — got me thinking this morning about the meaning of all the glitz and glitter out there, if only I could just get out of my icy driveway. David is giving away a set of Le Creuset cookware, a gift to him from the French cookware company Le Creuset. To sign up for the random drawing, all you have to do is comment on his post […]
Categories: Cakes, Chocolate, Christmas, France, French Cooking • Tags: Bûche de Noël, Charity, Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, David Lebovitz, France, French Cooking, Gateaux, Joyeux Noël, Le Creuset, Partners in Health
With each gust of drafty air from the front door, the candles shimmer, and the flickering light scintillates off blood-red wine glasses and the golden gilt rimming them. Your mouth rounds in an “O” as you see the table for the first time. The sight never fails to cast its spell as, for a brief moment, the magic sweeps through you. All these small moments add up to the persistent memories looming over every Christmas Future. Yes, you might have […]
Categories: Christmas, Food writing, France, French Cooking • Tags: Christmas, Cooking, France, French cuisine, French Food Blogs, Lucy's Kitchen Notebook, MyFrenchKitchen
During this Christmas season, Gherkins & Tomatoes / Cornichons & Tomates will be in a state of flux, assisting Père Noël and St. Nicolas with the festivities here, as well as hibernating and storing up fat (information) for future posts. Needless to say, posting may become sporadic until January 6 (Epiphany). I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, full of delicious dishes and fine company, no coal in your stockings, and time to enjoy life. Joyeux Noël!!
Fried dough, a universal love. Grease, sugar, what more could you dream of? In the south of France, when you want fried dough, you’ll get oreillettes. As with any traditional holiday dish, each cook has his or her version. The signature taste with these oreillettes is the orange flower water. In New Orleans, oreillettes come with a splash of rum, possibly because it was available and because orange flower water wasn’t. Oreillettes (English version) 3 eggs 2 T. orange flower […]
Categories: Christmas, Cooking, Desserts, France, French Cooking, Photography • Tags: Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Oreillettes, Provence, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts
In France, you’ll find sablés, buttery cookies that originated in Normandy. (You know they had all that butter to get rid of there.) Most sablés are sweet. But in Provence, for the famous Thirteen Desserts of Christmas Eve, cooks prefer savory little disks perfumed with fennel and cumin. Cumin? How did cumin get into mix? Apparently cumin arrived in Marseilles in spice shipments during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Originating in the eastern Mediterranean, cumin didn’t have to travel […]
Categories: Baking, Christmas, Cookies, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Spices • Tags: Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Provence, Sablés, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts
A Provençal gros souper (Christmas Eve dinner) would not be correct without some nougat noir to challenge the skill of your dentist and possibly lay waste to your dental work. In other words, nougat noir can be a bête [bite!] noire*, if you’re not careful. For nougat noir is a hard candy, not the pillowy stuff you might be thinking of. Several types of nougat exist, thanks to the Arabs and the enterprising people of sixteenth- century Montélimar in France. You will […]
Categories: Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Honey • Tags: Black Nougat, Christmas, Cooking, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Nougat Noir, Provence, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts
Gorgeous, huh? Yummy? You bet! And the best part is that, with a quick flick of a switch and your wrist, you too can make these beauties, part of the Thirteen Desserts of a Provençal Christmas. Mendiants au Chocolat Noir ou Blanc Makes about 75 – 100 candies, depending on size of circles 1 pound dark bittersweet chocolate (60 – 70% cacao) or good-quality white chocolate Candied citron Dried figs, cut into small squares Almonds, shelled, blanched if desired, toasted* […]
Categories: Baking, Chocolate, Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking • Tags: Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Les Quatre Mendiants, Provence, Recipes, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts
The truth is, the dishes associated with Provence’s Thirteen Desserts abound with religious symbolism. Take the Four Beggars, or Les Quatre Mendiants, which symbolize something that we in the secular West have basically lost, a sense of awe and fear about the natural world and all that is in it. The Thirteen Desserts likely represented a way to ensure a righteous, blessed life, free from the challenges of living in times of strife and great uncertainty. Although today we might […]
Categories: Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Monasteries, Nuts • Tags: Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Monasteries, Monks, Provence, Quatre Mendiants, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts
Christmas cakes were baking, the famous pompou and fougasse, as they were called, dear to the hearts of the children of old Provence. ~~ Christmas in Legend and Story A Book for Boys and Girls I’ve always loved the “Jacob’s Ladder” look of fougasse. The lacy leaf-like lattice reminds me of the connection between bread and art, with that unspoken tie to pagan sacrifice, manifested in people- and animal-shaped holiday breads and sweets. And, not surprisingly, fougasse is one of the […]
Categories: Bread, Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Olives • Tags: Bread, Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, Fougasse, France, French Cooking, La pompe à l'huîle, Pain, Treize Desserts
[A photograph, and nothing more, for silent contemplation.]
Categories: Bread, Christmas, Cooking, France, French Cooking, Photography • Tags: Bread, Food Photograohy, Fougasse, France, French Cooking, Provence, Thirteen Desserts
The color certainly captures your attention, doesn’t it? Such a glossy — almost neon — orange. When I was a kid, I always wondered if anyone else ever got a wrinkly tangerine bumping around in their Christmas stocking. At some point along the way, I found out that the Victorians were big on citrus fruit at Christmas and since my great-grandmother was obviously from that era, it all began to make some sense, why my mother seemed to be carrying […]
Categories: Christmas, Citrus, France, French Cooking • Tags: Christmas, Citrus, France, French Cooking, Provence, Tangerines, Thirteen Desserts
Ugh. Citron. I’ll bet that’s what you’re thinking. I know, because that’s what I thought when it dawned on me that citron (Citrus medica) really counted as one of the Thirteen Desserts of Provence. You’ve no doubt seen (and eaten) the chewy, rock-like squares of “citron” sold in your local grocery store, there to be entombed in a noisome Christmas fruitcake. “What on earth were they thinking?” That’s all I could say about those people in the past who added […]
Categories: Christmas, Citrus, France, French Cooking • Tags: Candied Citron, Christmas, Citron, France, French Cooking, Thirteen Desserts
As I watch the sun, feeble in the dark morning skies at this time of the year, I think of the sunflower-yellow oranges my parents just brought me from Florida. What can I do to preserve a little of that sunlight as we head toward the shortest day and longest night of the year? Why, obviously, I should make Vin d’Orange, perfect for the Thirteen Desserts I’m writing about for the Christmas season. As you might guess, a bit of […]
Categories: Christmas, France, French Cooking, Wine • Tags: Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Provence, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts, Vin d'Orange
I love culinary traditions … and usually I don’t mind cooking all the foods associated with upholding those traditions. Like Thanksgiving dinner, for example. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole (from scratch, mind you), pumpkin pie with whipped cream (crust handmade just prior to baking), and sweet potato casserole (no marshmallows). Mac and cheese, too, if you’re a true Southerner. Culinary traditions pin you to your past, or at least allow you to tie your apron […]
Categories: Christmas, France, French Cooking, Paintings • Tags: Advent, Christmas, Cuisine Francaise, France, French Cooking, Provence, Réveillon, Thirteen Desserts, Treize Desserts
The other day I saw another sign of autumn: a smashed pumpkin lying along the side of the road, pieces scattered like the crumbs in the forest that Hansel Gretel dropped on the way to the witch’s house. Pumpkins deserve more respect. Think about it. Remember Washington Irving’s Headless Horseman, in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, who bashed poor Ichabod Crane with a carved pumpkin? And year after year, pumpkins get to strut their stuff only in pies. […]
Categories: American Cooking, Pumpkin, Recipes, Thanksgiving • Tags: Cooking, Food, Pumpkin, Recipes, Thanksgiving
Because Russian Orthodox Easter falls on the same day this year (2010) as the Western Easter, it seems appropriate to include recipes for Russia’s most well-known Easter sweets: Kulich, a tall puffy “baba” or sweet-bread cousin to Italian Panettone (maybe with phallic overtones and fertility in mind?) and Paskha, a cheesecake-like dairy-rich concoction eaten with Kulich. Imagine … In the darkness of midnight, you hurry to the church, carrying your baskets filled with Kulich, Paskha, and brightly decorated eggs, seeking […]
Categories: Bread, Russia, Easter • Tags: Easter, Festive Breads, Kulich, Paskha, Russia
Cabbage soup and gruel are our food. (Shchi da kasha, pishche nashe.) ~~Russian peasant proverb Trying to ferret out tidbits about Russian food history can be tough going. Aside from the language barrier, anyone interested in Russian culinary history suffers from a major weakness: there is a terrible lack of written material contemporaneous with Forme of Cury and other such books found in the Western culinary history lexicon.* Happily, however, there’s Carolyn Johnston Pouncy’s translation of the sixteenth-century Russian household […]
Categories: Cookbooks, Lent, Methods, Reference, Russia • Tags: Carolyn Johnston Pouncy, Domostroi, Ivan the Terrible, Lent, Russia
One of her greatest pleasures in summer was the very Russian sport of hodit’ po gribi (looking for mushrooms). Fried in butter and thickened with sour cream her delicious finds appeared regularly on the dinner table. Not that the gustatory moment mattered much. Her main delight was in the quest. ~~ Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory Nabokov hits on something many of us reading his words cannot really sense, cannot really feel. For those of us who grew up on canned […]
Categories: Beef, Cookbooks, Cooking, Lent, Mushrooms, Russia • Tags: Beef Stroganoff, Classic Russian Cooking: A Gift to Young Housewives, Cookbooks, Cooks, Elena Molokhovets, Joyce Toomre, Lent, Mushrooms, Recipes, Russia, Vladimir Nabokov
You can’t cook porridge with a fool. ~~ Russian Proverb ~~ An example of Russian Lenten food, tolokno or oat flour with liquid, demonstrates the use of the astonishing Russian stove. Streamlined in the 15th century, the Russian stove incarnates the old adage, “The kitchen is the heart of the home.” Much of Russian peasant folk culture and ritual derives from these massive stoves. Taking up anywhere from a fifth to a quarter of the living space in a peasant […]
Categories: Lent, Oats, Russia • Tags: Lent, Oats, Russia, Russian stoves, Tolokno
Many years ago, a high school history teacher of mine asked our class to write down everything we knew about Russia within the space of about 30 minutes. Most people wrote a brief paragraph, describing the red Communist flag with its hammer and sickle. Some delved a little into the cruelty of the tsars and others brought up the dark and heavy literature of Dostoevsky. Still others spouted all the Cold War propaganda about the dangerous spread of Communism. I […]
Categories: Beer, Cooking, England, Lent, Russia • Tags: Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford Redesdale, Great Lent, Kvass, Mitford family, Russia
He’s a desperate big, little Erin go brah; He will pardon our follies and promise us joy, By the mass, by the Pope, by St. Patrick so long As I live, I will give him a beautiful song! No saint is so good, Ireland’s country adorning: Then hail to St. Patrick, today, in the morning! Oh what would St. Patrick’s Day be, without corned beef and cabbage? What indeed, without the tradition so beloved of Irish Americans? Bu there you […]
Categories: Bread, Cooking, Holidays, Ireland, Irish Cooking • Tags: Guinness, Ireland, Irish Soda Bread, St. Patrick's Day
It’s lovely to think that a birthday cake actually manifests an ancient custom, when — just like today — bakers baked things for special days, like weddings, births, and funerals. Most of those celebratory items took the form of breads baked into unique shapes. But not until the nineteenth century could the average Joe (or Jane) enjoy a sumptuous cake. Thanks to the burgeoning industrialized production of flour and sugar, the birthday cake — along with the wedding cake as […]
Categories: Baking, Birthdays, Cakes • Tags: Birthday cakes, Birthdays
[A photograph, and nothing more, for silent contemplation.]
Categories: Cakes, Cooking, England, English Cooking, Lent, Photography • Tags: Food Photography, Mothering Sunday, Simnel Cake
