Biscuits à la cuillère or “Biscuits de Savoie” are light, soft and sweet sponge cakes roughly shaped like a large finger. Eugène Grosbot, who was the Carlton Chef at the beginning of the 20th century, created this delicious biscuit. In order to have a soft texture, he mixed the dough with a wooden spoon (“cuillère” in [...]
Banyuls is a French appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) for a fortified apéritif or dessert wine made from old vines cultivated in terraces on the slopes of the Catalan Pyrenees in the Roussillon county of France, bordering, to the south, the Empordà wine region in Catalonia in Spain. The AOC production area is limited to four communes of the Côte Vermeille : Banyuls (from which the AOC takes [...]
Roquefort is a sheep milk blue cheese from the south of France, and together with Bleu d’Auvergne, Stilton and Gorgonzola is one of the world’s best-known blue cheeses. Though similar cheeses are produced elsewhere, European law dictates that only those cheeses aged in the natural Combalou caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon may bear the name Roquefort, as it [...]
Petit-Suisse is a fromage frais ; an unripened, unsalted, smooth and creamy cheese. It is made from cow’s milk enriched with cream so that it has approximately 40% fat content. The cheese is then smoothed and drained in a centrifuge. A typical cheese weighs 30 grams, and is packaged in a cylinder approximately 4 cm [...]
Crottin de Chavignol is the most famous goat cheese of the many varieties produced in the Loire Valley. This cheese is the claim to fame for the village of Chavignol, France, which has only two hundred inhabitants. The small cylindrical goat cheese from the area around Chavignol has been produced since the 16th century, but [...]
Herbes de Provence (Provençal herbs) is a mixture of dried herbs from Provence invented in the 1970s. The standard mixture typically contains savory, fennel, basil, and thyme flowers and other herbs. The proportions vary by manufacturer. Thyme usually dominates the taste produced by the herb mixture. Herbes de Provence are used to flavour grilled foods [...]
Curaçao is a liqueur flavoured with the dried peel of the laraha citrus fruit, grown on the island of Curaçao. A non-native plant similar to an orange, the laraha developed from the sweet Valencia orange transplanted by Spanish explorers. Lahara citrus fruit The nutrient-poor soil and arid climate of Curaçao proved unsuitable to Valencia cultivation, [...]
These mushrooms can contain high amounts of Vitamin D. The earliest description of the commercial cultivation of Agaricus bisporus was made by French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1707.[12] French agriculturist Olivier de Serres noted that transplanting mushroom mycelium would lead to more mushrooms. Originally, cultivation was unreliable as mushroom growers would watch for [...]
Kirschwasser is a clear, colourless fruit brandy traditionally made from double-distillation of morello cherries, a dark-coloured cultivar of the sour cherry. However, the beverage is now also made from other kinds of cherries. The cherries are fermented complete (that is, including their stones). Kirschwasser is often simply called Kirsch in both German- and English-speaking countries.
Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. Different grades of cream are distinguished by their fat content, whether they have been heat-treated, whipped, etc. For cooking purposes, both single and double cream can be used in cooking, although the former can separate [...]
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