Saturday, September 17, 2011

F


FABADA The bean  stew of the Asturians, in Northern Spain, made with large flat beans that melt in the mouth, salt pork (or salt beef), perhaps also fresh pork, chorizos, and the wrinkled, smoked morcilla, the  local black pudding (blood sausage). It takes its  name form the fava (broad beam) but these have  long been  replaced by the finest large kidney beans in Spain de la granja; use butter or dried lima  beans outside Spain. One of Spain’s three great beam pots, along with  cocideo and olla podrid.

FAGGOT British specially, a type of sausage or meatball, similar to French crepinette. A  ball of  minced (ground) offal (variety meats) and pork including kidney and  liver, mixed with breadcrumbs, onion and well flavoured with herbs. Traditionally wrapped in caul fat and fried  or baked. Once popular way of serving faggots is with cooked dried peats for  with mushy peas) and onions gravy.

FAIENCE A type of white or patterned pottery widely used for tableware. The earthenware is covered with tin glaze (lead glaze made opaque by the  addition of tin ashes) so that  the colour of the earthenware is completely masked.  The pottery takes its  name from the Italian town of Faenza.
                Very little known about the origins of fatience pottery, but from the very easiest times a brilliant vietreous lead glaze, coloure by means of metallic oxides, was known to potters.  It is to be seen in the hypogeum of Ancient Egypt, on its vases, funeral images and also on the glazed bricks which decorated the walls of Nineveh and Babylon. The  ancient mosques of Asia Minor have preserved for us the  magnificent craftsmanship of the Persians, who passed on their  skill to the Arabs.
                From the 13th century there were important centres for the manufacture of faience in Spain, at  Malaga and in Majorca, which gave its name to the  Italian majolica. Up to the 17th century the most  famous factories were in Valencia. But it was mainly through the discovery of tin glaze by Luca della Robbia towards the middle of the 15th century, that the  ceramic industry was able to develop, first at Faenza and then in other  Italian towns, notably Urbino, Gubbaio, Druta, Durante, Venice, Milan and Turin.
In France in the 16th  century, fareuce pottery called Henri it faience was produced, the most important begin the  very individual pieces made by Bearnard Palissy. During  the same period Italian potters  tried to introduce the faience industry into France.  The Conradi, coming from Sayona, sellted at Nevers. Early abortive attempts to produce  faience  in Rouen were made in the 16th century, but it was  not until the 17th century that this city began to  produce the beautiful speciments which remain once of the glories of the French faience industry. These  were copied everywhere, both in France and other  countries. Mousties, from the  end of the 17th  century, made famous faience pieces in the style of Tempesta, or copied from Berain and Benard  Toro.  At Strasbourg, in the 18th century, the  Hannong Family created a style which  was quickly adopted by the factories  of Luneville and Niederwiller. In Pris, saint-cloud, Meudon, Lille and Marselle,  there were also a large number of less important factories.
                Outside France  some of the finest work was produced at Delft in Holland, which was, for a long time; the most active centre of the  faience industry in Europe.
                Fine  pottery, called day pottery, made its appearance towards the middle of the 18th century, and  this industry was most fully developed in England, at Leeds and at Burslem in Staffordshire, where josiah wedgood operated the first of his factories.  In  France; the is type of pottery was made especially at Poontaux-Choux, Paris, Luneville and Orleans.
                With the advent of porcelain, Faience becomes less sought-after and less highly prized, but modern manufacturers have given it a new lease of life.
               
FAIRY-RING MUSHROOM A small mushroom with a pleasant smell that is fairly common in meadows.  Its Latin name is Marasmins oreades and in  France it is known as marasme d’orcade or  faux  mousseron.  The  stalk is tough and should be discarded, but the cap can he dried. The dried caps can be crushed and used as a condiment, or rehydrated by soaking  in water and  then added to meat dishes, sauces, omellettes and soups.

FAISSELLE A type basket with  perforated sides  used for draining cheese. The materials from which it is made varies, depending on the type of cheese and  the region where it is manufactured.  Faisselles may be square, cylindrical or heart-shaped and can be  made of wood, earthenware, pottery, wicker or plastic. In france the word faisselle is also used for a table on which the apple residue is drained after the brewing of cider.

FALAFEL  Spicy snack made from a puree of chick  peas, rolled into small balls or shaped into patties and  then fried in oil. Popular throughout the Middle East, especially in Israel, where they are traditionally eaten in pitna bread. They are sometimes made from other  pulses, for example dried broad (fava) beans are used  in Egypt where the patties are also known as ta’amia.

FALERMO An Italian wine harvested on the sunny slopes of the  Messica mountains, in Campania, to  the  north of Naples. Three styles are prodduced:  Bianco, a dry white made from Falanghina grapes, Rosso, from mainly Aglianico and Piedirosso variates, and Primitivo.
                The Falermo of today is nothing like the highly prized Falermian wine of the ancient Romans, which  rivalled the prestigious Greek wines.  The poet  Horace praised it in verse but deplored its high price  --too expense for him to drink it in the quantities   that he would have liked ! Pliny the Elder described three types red  a light dry white, a fairly sweet yellow, and a dark red -  all very highly regarded. He also  divulged that Falernian was the only  wine was also reputed  to keep indefinitely, the Greek physician Galen was of the opinion  that it was nor good until it had matured for ten years and  that it was at its best between 15 and 20 years old.  Although it is  not   known which grape the ancient  Felernian was made  from, it supposed to have resembled the present day Lacrina Christi.

FALETTE A specially of the  Auvergne,  particularly, Espalion.  It is made with breast of mutton browned  with carrots and onions, and cooked slowly in the oven for a long time, then sliced  and served with  harricot) navy) beans.

RECIPE

Falattes
Bone and season 2 breasts of mutton.  Make  a stuffing with 300 g (11 oz. 4 cups) chopped Swiss chard  leaves, 200 g (7 oz. 2 ½ cups) spinach, 50 g 92 oz., 1 cup) fresh parsley, 2 garlic cloves and 1 large onion.  Mix the ingredients with 100 g ( 4 oz. 4 slices) crustless bread soaked in milk and 100 g (4 oz,  2 cup) sausagemeat.  Season with salt and pepper.
                Flatten out the  boned breasts on of some  bacon rashers ( slices).  Spread the stuffing along the  length of each breast and roll up, including the bacon, then tie.  Brown  the falettes in a flameproof casserole with 200 g (7 oz. 1 ½ cups) sliced onions and 100 g (4 oz.  1 cup) sliced carrots.  Degalze the  casserole with some white  wine and add a generous  quantity  of mutton stock. Add  ½   garlic clove and bouquet garni, and cook, covered, in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F, gas 4) for 2 ½ hours.
                Meanwhile, soak 500 g (1 lb 2 oz. 2 ½ hours. Cot (navy) beans in cold water for 2 hours.  Drain and boil in fresh water for 10 minutes.  drain and cool quickly by rinsing under the cold tap.
                Sauté  100 g (4 oz. ¾ cup) sliced onion, 100 g  (4 oz. ¾ cup) chopped auvegne ham and 100 g (4 oz. ¾ cup) chopped tomatoes in a large saucepan until  salt.  Add the beans, a bouquet garni and  enough mutton stock to cover the beans generously.    Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cover the pan. then simmer gently for about 1 ½ hours.
                Remove  the falettes from the  casserole and leave to cool briefly, then untie  them, remove the bacon and cut them into  slices.  Strain and reduce the cooking liquid  and pour it over the sliced falettes. Serve the beans separately.

FALLOWER DEER A small deer of temperate  regions,  The strong-tasting flesh of adult stags should be marinated in a tannin-rich wine; methods of preparation are as for roebuck. Females and fawns yield meat  with  a less pronounced flavour and may be roasted.

FANCHONNETTE Also known as fanchette. A  little tart made with puff pastry filled with confectioner’s custard (pastry filled with confectioner’s custard (pastry cream), coated with meringue and decorated with tiny meringue balls. The larger version known as gateau fanchette.
                Fanchonnette and fanchette are also the names of certain petits fours. One type consists of a boatshaped piece of nougat filled with hazenut flavoured confectioner’s custard       and covered with coffee-flavoured fondant  icing (frosting). Another  consists of a macaroons base with  strawberry-flavoured butter cream and covered with pink fondant icing.

FAR BRETON  A flan  (tart) with prunes that may be eaten warm or cold. The French word far was  originally used for a porridge made with durum wheat, ordinary wheat or buckwheat flour, with added salt or sugar and dried fruit.  It was a popular dish throughout. Britany. Traditionally, it was  cooked in a linen bag, pocket or sleeve, hence its various dialect names, far such far pouch and far much. Slices of the flan may be  served as a  dessert or as an accompaniment to meat or vegetables.




RECIPE

Far breton
Soak 125 g (4 ½ oz. 1 cup) currants and 400 g  (14 oz. 2 ¼ cups) stoned (pitted) overnight in warm weak tea, then drain them.  Make  a well in the centre of 250 g (9 oz. 2 ¼ cups) plain (all purpose) flour and mix in a large pinch of salte,  2  tablespoons sugar and 4 well-beaten eggs to make  1 batter. Thin the batter with 400 ml (14 fl. oz. 1 ¾ cups) milk and mix in the currants and prunes.  Pour  into a buttered  tin (pan) and bake  in a  preheated oven at 20 °C (400 °F, gas 6 ) for about 1 hour, until the top is brown.  Sprinkle with icing (confectioner’s ) sugar.

FARCI A specialty of Pengord consisting  of forcemeat wrapped in cabbage leaves. It is traditionally cooked  inside a boiling  fowl in meat or vegetables  stock.  However,  it is now more usually made by   wrapping the stuffed cabbage leaves in muslin (cheesecloth) or securing with string and cooking directly in stock.

RECIPES

Farci
Crumble 350 g 912 oz.  12 slices) stale crustless  bread and soak in fatty stock or in milk.  Mix  together 350 g 912 oz. 2 cups) fresh chopped ham or bacon, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 2 chopped shallots (or 1 chopped onion) and a bunches of chopped parsley, tarragon or other herbs. If liked, add some chopped chicken liver:  Squeeze out the bread and mix it with the chopped ingredients.  Seasoned with  salt, pepper and a generous pinch of mixed spice and bind with 2 or 3 eggs yolks, mix well until smooth, and keep in a cool place.
                Blanch some large cabbage leaves in boiling water for 5 minutes.  cool quickly under cold running water, pat them dry, and arrange  them like flower petals  on a flat surface.  Shape  the forcement into a ball, place it on the cabbage leaves and fold them over to wrap it up.  Secure with string  to keep the  shape, or wrap the leaves in muslin (cheesecloth). And  cook in vegetable or meat stock for about 1 ¾ hours. Remove  the Muslin or string. Cut the farei into slices and serve very hot with the stock or with a chicken, depending on the recipe.  (Farce can also be served cold).

Small stuffed provencal vegetables
Trim the tops off 6 onions, 6 small aubergines (eggplants), 6 round courgettes (zucchini), 6 sweet (bell) peppers and 6 medium-sized tomatoes to reduce them to three-quarters of their original height, and cut the aubergines and peppers in half. Uses a teaspoon to hollow out the vegetables and  mix the pulp with the trimmings. Fry the pulp lightly in a little olive oil, then leave to cook.  Cut  5 slices of bread into small dice and soak in 100 ml (4 fl. oz. 7 tablespoons) milk.  Milk with vegetables  pulp and add 400 g (14 oz) sausagemeats.  5 garlic  cloves, chopped, 75 g (3 oz. 1¼ cups) finely chopped parsley, 3 tablespoons chopped basil, 3 whole eggs (beaten), 100 (4 oz. 1 cup) grated.  Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Stir the mixture until smooth with a wooden spatula.
                Bring a saucepan  of water to the boil and cook the onions lightly, followed by the courgettes, peppers and aubergines, cooked separately.  Drain each batch on a cloth or paper towels.
                Stuff all the vegetables with sausagemeat mixture and arrange them in a roasting pan (tin), greased  with  olive oil.
                Carefully  remove the flowers of 6 courgettes finely and fry gently in 2 tablespoons olive oil for 5-8 minutes, stirring often.  Remove  from the heat and add 2 chopped basil leaves, 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley and 1 finely chopped garlic clove. Leave  to cool, then incorporate 1 tablespoon  fresh breadcrumbs and half a beaten eggs.
                Fill the flowers with  the sausagement mixture, fold over the petals and place the flowers side by  side in a second roasting pan (pin).  Pour over mixture of  120 ml (4 ½ fl oz, ½ cup) boiling water, 1  chicken stock (bouillon) cube and 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Cover with foil.
                Cook both batches of vegetables in a preheated oven at  200°C (400°F,  gas 6) for 15-20 minutes.  The stuffed   vegetables and corrugate flowers may be eaten hot or cold.

FARCIDURE  A speciality of Limousin of poached balls of forecemeat or chopped ingredients. In Gueret, where  farcidure (or farce  alure – literally ‘hard stuffing’) is particularly famous,  the balls are made with buckwheat flour and a  mixture of chopped green vegetables, such as sorrel, Swiss chard and cabbage. When  made with  wheat flour, they are known as poule sans as (‘boneless chicken’), contain chopped bacon and  sorrel,  and are deep-fried. If garnished with salt pork, they  are boiled in cabbage soup. Farcidure with  potatoes is made with a mixture  of pureed potatoes, herbs, garlic, onions and rashes (slices) of bacon, to which beaten  eggs are sometimes added.  The balls are poached and then fried in lard or goose fat.

FAREE A specially of Charentes, consisting of cabbage stuffed with bacon  or sorrel and served with bacon and crustless breatless bread.  It is cooked in the stock from a port-au-feu or a soup.

FARINACEOUS  Containing flour, or a high, content of starch. The  terms,   lentils and broad (fava0 beams.

FARINADE A corsican gruel made from  chestnut flour mixed with olive  oil.  When cooked, it is  poured on to a floured cloth so that  it forms a ball.  It  is then sliced and either  served on its own, while  still hot, or with fresh Broccio or goat’s milk. The slices may also be fried in oil.

FARINAGE The French term for any dish or dessert  based on flour.  Generally, it is used to describe pasta dishes served as a main course; as well as quenelles,  knodel, knepfleis, floutes (quenelles made with mastered potatoes) and gnoochi, which are popular dishes in Italian, Austrian, German and Alsatian cookery.  Farinages, also  include  dishes made with  conmmeal (maize), such as polenta., gaudes and miques, and  potato flour, such as gruels and panadas and also semolina.  Puddings. Pasries and crepes are not  included.

FARINETTE  A sweet savoury pancake made with beaten eggs and flour.  There are several variations to be found in different parts of the Auvergene, where  they are also known  as omelette enfarinee (‘floured  omelette’),  pachade (in Aveyron) and farinade.

FAST  To avoid eating food or abstain from certain foods.  Fasting is associated with religion -  Christians  abstain from eating certain foods during lent;  Muslims fast during  Ramadan. Complete fasting or  avoiding certain foods is practices on certain days in religious calenders.
                In the Roman Catholic Church fasting meant  abstaining from eating meat and  fat during Lent  and  on fast days. Originally  only vegetables were  allowed to be eaten  on fast days with  meats and  all  animal products (butter, fats, milk, and eggs) prescribed. Over the  years the rules were relaxed, and  gradually eggs, then fish and shellfish, were allowed to be eaten on fast days.  However, the eating of butter necessitated the payment of extra offerings .  when fish was permitted, wild duck and other waterfowl were also included.  Brillat-Savarin  tells the  amusing story of a fasting cleric who enjoyed an  omelette with tuna tongues and car’s roe. The last  restrictions were removed for Catholics in 1966 with  the lifting of Friday fasting, but the tradition of serving  fish on that  day remains.
                In cookery, dishes prepared an maigre (sauces, stuffings, salpicons), as opposed to those prepared  au gras, do not include lard (shortening), bacon sausagemeat or any other  meat-based ingredients, especially pork. Butter, however, can be used.

FAT  Lipid substances containing glycerol and fatty acids.  Fats are solid at love temperatures; oils however, are liquid at room temperature, due to their  higher contents of unsaturated fatty acids, and will  solidify in the refrigerator. Fats and oils do not  dissolve in or mix with water, but they may be emulsified with water.
                There are two types of fats. Saturated fats (or saturates) and unsaturated fats 9these include  monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats).  Saturated fats are found in dairy products (butter, milk, cheese) and animal meats and fats (lard, pork, fat,  suet). They are also in some  vegetable fats,  such as coconut oil and palm oil. Unsaturated fats are found in vegetable oils: monounsaturated in olive and peanut oils; polyunsaturaes in corn, sunflower, grapsed, rapeseed (canola) and soya oils. They  are also found in oily fish, such as herring and  machend.
§  Fat in cooking Fats are used as a cooking medium for frying and roasting. They  are also used to based food during grilling.  Their  role is far broader than, this  including moistening ingredients and mixtures; forming the base for creamed cakes, giving pastries their inimitable textures ; and  acting as dressings  or sauces. Fats make starches and dry ingredients taste  more appealing. They  also improve or enhance the  flavour of many foods, either raw (for example when butter is eaten with bread) or cooked by giving  a crisp finish, for example when frying.
Traditionally, of the animal fats,  lard (shortening), obtained from pork fat, is most widely used for cooking in Europe. However, beef suet is also used  sometimes, particularly in England Shep suet or sheep-tail fat  is used especially in Oriental cookery.  In France, goose fat which is highly esteemed by  gastronomes, is specific to Gascony, Bearn and  languedoc, being used especially for confits. Calf  fat is used in certain forcemeats. The use of some  fats is limited to particular  culinary traditions, smen in North Africa and ghee in India, for  example.
In French cooking, recipes or dishes are described as au gras 9literally, ‘fat’) when  they contain meat products, and au maigre when they do not contain meat, being  based on fish or vegetables.  The introduction of vegetables oils has led to a significant reduction in the role of animal fats in cooking.  
Vegetables fats are traditionally used for cooking in many African and Eastern Countries, usually taking the form of white waxy rectangular blocks. Their  melting point is lover than that of animal fats but,  like oils, they have high boiling points, which enables them to be used for frying  food.
With greater awareness of the roles of different  nutrients in the died, and in particular  concern about  increased consumption of fat in the Western died,  vegetables oils are often sued in place of animals fats in some  traditional dishes. This applies particularly  to everyday eating and to fats used for cooking, where  olive oil and other  vegetables oils have grown  in popularity among those who traditionally relied  on lard or butter. A broader range of  fats are used  by cooks who once used only butter and meat dripping for cooking, with one or two vegetables oils reserved solely of salad dresings.

FAUBONNE A thick soup made with a puree of white haricot (navy)  beans, split peas or peas, mixed  with a white stock or a consomme containing finely shredded vegetables (carrots, turnips, leeks, celery) and seasoned with parsley and chervil.  Fomerly, Foubonne soup was garnished with thins strips of roast or braised pheasant.

FAUCHON, AUGSTE FELIX A famous French grocer (born 1856 died Paris).  He arrived in Paris from Normandy in 1886 and opened a food  store in the place de la Madeleine that dealt  exclusively in the best French products, including groceries, poultry, charcuterie, cheese, biscuits (cookies), confectionery, wines and liqueurs.  Auguste Fauchon  did not stock exotic  products, and sent customers requiring such items to his friend Hediard.   Between the two wars, he opened a slar de the patisserie and also  started a catering service. After  the death  of its founder, the store  began to stock specialties from all over the world, at the same time  maintaining a selection of luxury French products.

FAUGERES.  A spicy, roboust red AOC wine produced  in a languedoc region  mainly from  Carignan, Syrah, Mourvedere and Greenache. Whites  from Marsanne, Viognier, Roussane, Grenache blanc and Rolle aare sold as Coteaux du Languedoc.

FAUX-FILET (TENDERLOIN)  Also  known as conref-filet.  Part of the beef sirloin located on either  side of the backbone above the loins. It is fattier and  les tender than the filet but has more flavour; when  boned and trimmed, it can be roasted or braised.  Unlike fillet, it is not essential to bard the meat, unless it is to be braised. Slices of faux-faux-filed can be  grilled (broiled) or fried.

RECIPES

Faux-fillet braised a la bourgeoise
Marinate some lardons of bacon in brandy for about  30 minutes.  season with salt, pepper and ground all-spice.  Insert  the lardons into the faux-filet (tenderloin). Seasoned  and marinate  the meat for 12 hours in  red or white wine flavoured with thyme, bay leaf, chopped parsley and 1 crushed garlic clove. Drain the  meat and brown it in either  butter or oil.  Fry  2 large   sliced  onions and 2 large diced carrots in butter, and brown a few crushed  veal bones in the oven.  Place  the vegetables in the bottom of a braising pan and lay the faux-filter on top.   Add the browned bones.  1 or 2  blanched boned calves’ feet, the marinade, 2-3 tablespoons tomato puree (paste) and enough stork to  just cover the meat.  then add a bouquet garni and season with salt and pepper. Cover, bring to the boil on the hob (stove top)  and then transfer to a preheated oven at 150°C (300°F, gas 2 ) for about  2 ½ hours.  Add some wedges  of carrot and continue cooking for another hour. Prepare  some small glazed onions.  When  the meat is cooked, drain it, and keep it , warm I a deep  dish.  Skim the fat off the cooking liquid, boil to reduce and add a knob of softened butter.  Dice the meat from the calves’ feet and arrange it  around the meat together with the carrots and small onions.  Coat with the  cooking .

Roast faux-filet
Bone and trim the meat. bard it on top and underneath, shape into a square and  tie.  Cook in a preheated oven at 240°C (475°F, gas 9) so that the  outside is sealed but the inside remains pink or  rare, allowing 10 minutes per 450 g (1 lb). the meat can be untied and debarted to brown the  outside thoroughly 5 minutes before  the end of the cooking time.   Season with salt and pepper.

FAVART  A Sumptious garnish  for poultry or calves’ sweetbreads, dedicated  to Cahrles Simon Favart, an 18th century playwright and director of the Opera-Comique. It is made of poultry quenelies with tarragon, and small  tarts’ filler with a salpicon of cep mushrooms and cream. The accompanying sauce is  a chicken veloute falvoured with  craysfish butter.
                The name is also given to a preparation of sot  boiled (soft-cooked ) or poached eggs, served in little  tarts garnished with a salpicon of lamb sweetbreads, truffles and mushrooms in a veloutee sauce.

FAVORITE, A LA  Describing various preparations created during the last century in honour of a popular Donizette opera, La Fauvorita (1840). Soup  a la  faourite is a cram soup of asparagus and lettuce garnished with asparagus tips asparagus tips also feature in a garnish for small  sautéed  joints, of meat (together  with slices of foie grass topped with slivers of truffle, coated with the meat  juices deglazed  with.  Madiera and demi-glaxed) and in a mixed salad.  There is another  garnish of the same name for large  roasting  joints,  consisting   of sautéed  quartered antichoke hears, celery hearts and chatteau potatoes.




RECIPE

Salad a la favorite
Arrange in a salad dish , in separate heaps, asparagus  tips, shelled crayfish and sliced white truffles. Season with oil, lemon juice, salt and  pepper. Sprinkle with  chopped celery and herbs.

FAVRE, JOSEPH  Swiss-born chef(born Vex, 1849); died Paris, 1903).  After his apprenticeship in Switzerland, Favre finished  his studied in Paris, with Chevet, then worked in Germany, England and again in Paris, with  Bignon. He  is best known as a theoretician his  Dictionnaire  universed de  cauisine e d’bygiene alimentaire (1st edition 1889-1891, 2nd edition 1902) contains not only a large number of recipes but also a very  interesting history of cookery, in 1877 he founded the journal La Science culinaire in Geneva, and in 1893 he found the first Academy of Cookery.

FEDORA A garnish for large coasting  joints consisting a barquettes filled  with asparagus tips pieces  of glazed carrot and turnip, quarters of orange and  braised shelled chestnuts.

FEET AND TROTTERS  The feet and trotters of  slaughtered animals are classified as white offal (variety meat).  shee’’s or lamb’s trotters, which can  be obtained from the butcher already blanched, must be boned, singed and the little tufits and hair  between the cleavage in the hoof removed.  They are  first cooked in a court-bouillon, and can then be  braised grilled (broiled), fried prepared a la  puolette or used for a  fricassee or a salad. They are  also included in the Provencal speciality pieds et  paquets, particularly popular around marseiell.
                Pig’s trotters are also sold blanched and cleaned. A particularly savoury way of cooking them is a la  Sainte-Menebould: thy are  parboiled, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, then grilled (broiled and served with mustard or Sainte-Menehould sauce.  They  may also be boned and mixted with forcemeat, often with  truffles. Pig’s trotters may also be coooked in a flavoured stock, grilled, cooked en daule or braised.
                Calves feet are used primarily as a source of gelatine in a stock, but they may also be prepared separately after being boned,  cleaned, blanched and then  cooked in white stock. They can then be fried, curried, prepared a la poulette, or dipped  in egg and breadcrumbs, grilled and served with devilled or  tartare sauce. All the recipes for calf’s  head can be  used for calves’ feet.

RECIPES

Calves’ feet
Cookign calves’ feet
Calves’ feet can be bought already blanched and partially boned (the long foot bones only). They are usually cooked in a white court-bouillon for about 2 hours. Like a calf’s head.  They  can be served with a curry sauce and rice, for example.
                Alternately, they can be left to cool under a press, brushed  with melted butter and 1 coated in breadcrumbs, grilled (broiled) and served with a tartare sauce.

Calves’ feet a la Custine
Soak 2 pigs cauls (pieces of caul fat) in cold water and bring to the boil.  Boil for  5 minutes, remove the calves’ feet, drain and leave to cool.  Ad 4 tablespoons four, 4 tablespoons oil, the juice of 2 lemons, 4 litres 97 pints, 4 quarts)  cold water, some salt and the calves’ feet.  Bring to  the boil and simmer gently about 2 hours (the feet must be very tender).
                Mix 4 chopped shallots with 800 g ( 1 ¾ lb) chopped button mushrooms in geneva, and in 1893 he founded the first Academy  of  cookery.

FEDORA A garnish  for large roasting joints,  consisting of barquettes filled with asparagus tips pieces of glazed carrots and turnip, quarters of orange and  braised shelled chestnuts.

FEET AND TROTTERS  The feet and trotters of slaughtered animals are classified as white offal (variety meat). sheep’s or lamb’s  trotters, which  can  be obtained from the butcher already) blanched,  must be boned, singed and the little tuffs of hair  between the cleavage in the hoof removed. They are  first cooked in a court-bouillon, and can then be  braised, grilled (broiled), fried . prepared  a la  poulette or used for a fricassee or a salad. They are  also included in the provencal speciality pieds et  paquets, particularly popular around Marseille.
                Pig’s trotters are also blanched and  cleaned. A particular savoury way of cooking them is a la  ainte-Menebould: they are parboiled, dipped in eggs and breadcrumbs, then grilled (broiled’ and served with mustard or Sainte-Menehould sauce. They may also be  boned and mixed with  forcemeat, often with  truffles. Pig’s trotters may also be cooked in a flavoured  stock, grilled, cooked en daube or braised.
                Calves feet are used may also be prepared gelatine in stock, but they may also be prepared separately  after begin boned, cleaned, blanched and then cooked  in white stock. They can then be fried curried, prepared  a la poulette, a dipped in egg and breadcrumbs grilled and served with devilled or  tartare sauce. All  the recipes for calf’s head  can be  used for calve’s feet.

RECIPES

Calves’s Feet
Cooking calve’s feet
Calves feet can be bought already blanched and partially boned (the long foot bones only). They are  usually cooked in a white  court-bouillon for about 2 hours like a calf’s head. They can be served with  a curry sauce and rice, for example.
                Alternatively, they can be left to cool under a  press, brushed with melted butter and  coated in  breadcrumbs, grilled (broiled) served with a  tartare sauce.

Calve’s feet a la custine
Soak 2 pigs’ caluls (pieces of caul fat) in cold water: Place the calv’es feet in a large pan, cover them with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for  5 minutes, remove  the calve’s feet, drain and  leave to cool.  Add 4 tablespoons flour, 4 tablespoons  oil,  the juice of 2 lemons, 4 litres (7 pints, 4 quarts) cold water, some salt and calves’ feet. Bring  to  the boil and simmer gently for about 2 hours 2( hours (the  feet must be very tender).
                Mix 4 chopped shallots with 800 g (1 ¾ lb.) chopped button mushrooms; season with salt and pepper and sprinkled with the juice of half a lemon.  Cook the resulting duxelles over a brisk heat until the mixtures is dry. Add a small glass of Madira.
                Drain the calves’ feet, remove the bones and dice the flesh finely. Mix it the duxelles.  Divide  the forcemeat into 6 equal portions.  Wipe  the  cauls, spread the out flat on the work surface and  cut into  6  equal pieces. Shape the portion of forcemeat into rectangles and wrap each one in a  piece of caul. Brown them lightly  in hot butter. To  serve, sprinkle with the butter in which  they have been cooked.

Pigs’ Trotters
Cooking pigs’ trotters
Buy blanched trimmed pig’s trotters (feet). Tie them in pairs and place them in a pan of cold water. Bring to the boil, skim and add carrots, turnips, leeks, celery, an onion studded with cloves and a bouquet garni.   Simmer gently for 4 hours.  Drain  and leave to cool. If they are  to be grilled (broiled), place then between 2 thin boards tied with string, while still hot, to press them as they cool.

Daube of pig’s trotters
Cut 3 pigs’ trotters (feet) in half and  place the 6 halves in a stewpan, together  with a slightly salted knuckle of veal  and 2 slightly salted pig’s tails. Cover with cold water and leave to soak for 3 hours. Drain and rinse the meat, then place an  flameproof casserole. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, skim and cook gently for 10 minutes with the lid off. Drain the meat.
                Rinse and wipe the pan. add 3 tablespoons groundnut (peanut) oil and return to the heat. When the oil is hot, add 4 diced carrots, 3 diced onions, and 2 chopped celery sticks.  Cook for  about 6 minutes until the onions are transparent, 3 or 4  crushed garlic  cloves, a few chopped sage leaves.  1  tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon tomato puree (pase) and  4 peeled diced tomatoes. Cook for 2 minutes.  add 3  tablespons dry white wine 2 pinches of caster (superfien) sugar and 3 pinches of curnin seeds tied in a muslin (cheesecloth) bag. Add the  meat, remove  from the  heat, cover the casserole  with a lid and cook in preheated oven at 140°C  (275°F, gas 1 ) for at least 3 hours.
                Arrange the meat on a heated serving dish, cover  it with the sauce and vegetables and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
               
Pigs’ trotter sausages
Soak a large pig’s caul (caulf fat) in cold water.  Cook the trotters (feet) in stock until really tender and bone then completely. Dice the flesh and mix it  with an equal quantity of the fine pork forcemeat  (diced truffle may be added if wished).  Add salt pepper, a pinch of mixed spice and a dash of  cognac. Divide the mixture into 4 portions of about g (4 oz). Shape into little flat sausages (crepinettes) and top with a slice  of truffle if wished.  Wipe  the caul, spread it out on the work  surface and cut it into pieces. Wrap  each crebinette in a  piece of caul, coat with melted  butter, roll in fresh breadcrumbs and cook gently under the grill (broiler).

Sheeps’ Trotters
Fricassee of sheeps trottees with pieds-de-mouton mushrooms.
Boil 10  trimmed  blanched shepps’ trotters (feet) gently for 4  hours in a mixture of water, white wine and lemon juice, with an onion studded with cloves, a bouquet garni, 2 garlic cloves, salt, pepper  and  curry powder. Place 800 g 91 ¾  lbs. Sliced musrooms (use the variety known as pleas-de-Mauton, if  available) in a strainer and plunge  then for 3 minutes in boiling  vinegar and water.
                Pour 300 ml (1/2 cup) boililng water into a saucepan containing 6  tablespoons chopped parsley and 1 tablespoon chopped fennel.  Cover  the  pan and boil for 45 minutes to reduce by three quarters. Strain  through  muslin (cheesecloth) and twist the muslin to squeeze out the maximum quantity of liquid. Lightly  brown 50 g (2 oz. 1/3 cup) chopped onions and 2 tablespoons chopped shallots in butter. Add sheep’s trotters, sauté  them for 5 minutes, then add 2 tablespoons skimmed stock and a dash of lemon juice.  Add 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, I tablespoon chives, 1 ½  tablespoons chopped fennel, salt and curry powder. Mix  and cook for 1 ¼  hours, uncovered, over a gentle  heat. Drain the cooked sheep’s trotters, bone them  completely and slice the flesh. Keep hot.
                Make the sauce as follows; prepare a roux with  25 g (1 oz. 2 tablespoons) butter, 25 g (1 oz., ¼ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour, and 300 ml (1/2  pint, 1 ¼  cups) boiling  salted water. Whisk and incorporate the cooking liquid together with 1 tablespoon double  (heavy) cream. Mix the trotters with the mushrooms, arrange them in a vegetable dish and coat  them with the sauce.

Sheep’s trotters a la rouernnaise
Blanch the trotters (feet) whole and braise them in  a good strong stock until really tender.  Drain, them  remove al bones.
                Fill the boned  trotters with sausagemeat mixed  with I lightly browned chopped onion, chopped  parsley and the stock left over from the braising reduced and strained.  Dip the trotters in egg and fresh breadcrumbs and deep fry in sizzling fat. Alternatively, bake until crisp and golden, turning once. Serve immediately, garnished with fried curly parsley.

FEIJOA A fruit native to South America, but now grown mainly in New Zealand.  Sometimes called  pineapple guava, the  fruits, which is 2-8 cm. (3/4-3 ¼ in)  long, has thin green skin (turning yellow as the fruit ripens)  and curse  white flesh containing  edible  seeds. The fejona is a aromatic and similar in  falvour to strawberries with  a hint of pineapple. It   can be eaten  raw when ripe or it can be poached. It  can also be used to make sorbets, jams and jellies.

FEIJOADA A Brazillian speciality whose  basic  ingredient is the black bean (frifol negro). It is a  compete dish served on special occasions, not dissimilar to cassoulet. A large pot is used to cook  slightly salted and  previously  soaked pork meat, such as shoulder, trotter (feet), rib  and tail , and  black beans, flavourings  include chopped  onions celery, garlic, (bell) pepper and bay leaf; other meat  may be added, such as smoked streaky (slab)  bacon, dried beef and cooked sasuage.
                Fejoada is served as follows; a mixture of meat and beans is poured into the centre of the plate and surrounded by rice au gras, green cabbage (thinly sliced and fried) and a few slices of orange (peel and  pith removed).  A mixture of grilled (broiled) manioc  flour, onion and other  ingredients, together  called  farofa, is sprinkled over the whole plate. The dish is served with a very spicy sauce, molbo carioca, made with cayenne pepper, vinegar, the cooking liquid from the beans, chopped tomatoes and onions.

RECIPE

Feijoada
Soak  1 kg (2 ¼ lb)  black beans in cold water for 12 hours and in another  container,  1 semi-salted pig’s tail and 500 g (1 lb. 2 oz) lean, smoked bacon, changing the water in both containers several times. Peel  5 garlic cloves.  Drain the beans and put them in a  large braising pan. cover with plenty of water and season with salt.  Add  4 garlic cloves and 3 bay leaves. Bring  to the boil and simmer gently for 1  hour. Drain the meats and boil for 10 minutes, then  set aside.  Seed 2 sweet (bell) peppers and cut into  strips. Scaled 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) tomatoes, peel, seed and crush.  Finely chop 1 small bunch parsley and 1  small bunch chieves.  Heat 3 tablespoons oil in  a frying pan.  add 1 chopped onions and fry  until golden.  Add the peppers, tomatoes, the  remaining garlic clove and  the parsley.  Cook for 20 minutes over a  medium heat, stirring all the time.  Season to taste. When  the beans can be crushed between the fingers, remove  a ladleful of them and a ladleful of cooking  liquid. Puree the  beans and return to the  frying pan. sprinkle  with chives and set aside.  Slice  6 small 1 fresh sausages.  6 small  smoked sausages and 1 chorizo.  Place  the various meats in the braising  pan, hour, adding the tomato and onion puree halfway through the cooking process.  Stir well.
                Prepare the farofa, soak 100  g (4 oz. 2/3 cup) raisins  in lukewarm water for 10 minutes.  melt 40 g (1 ½  oz. 3 tablespoons) butter in a frying pan and fry 1 large chopped onion.  Add salt and 100 g (4 oz. 1 cup) manoloc flour, then 40 g (1 ½ oz. 3 tablespoons) butter to obtain a kind of light, sand-coloured mixture.  Add 1 sliced banana, the drained raisins and 50 g 92 oz. ½ cup) grilled (broiled) cashew nuts. Serve with rice  mixed with slices of orange and onion, allowing each person to sprinkle over more farofa.

PENDANT  A Swiss white wine, produced mainly in the Valais in the upper Rhone valley. It is made from the Fendant, a local name for the Classelas  grape, and is a dry, elegant and refreshing  wine.  Fendant is sometimes  slightly sparkling (petillant), which  accentuates its freshness. It is generally sold under the name of the commune in which it is harvested, or, more rarely, under the name of a vineyard.

FENNEL  An aromatic umbelliferous plant of Mediterranean origin, which is now widely cultivated.  It is  a hardly  perennial which grows to ½-1.5 m (4-5 ft) high. The fethery leaves and seeds have a slight aniseed flavour and both are  used as a herb and spice in a variety of recipes. The  herb goes particularly well with fish and chicken the spice is good with lamb and vegetables particularly in marinades for wild mushrooms. The leaves are also used as a garnish.
                Florence fennel resembles ordinary fennel as a plant but it produces a swollen leaf base which is eaten as a vegetables.  Known as bulb or head of fennel, the overlapping stem bases are closely  packed around a small tough, central core, Fennel is similar in texture to celery.  The feathery leaves, which grow to about 60 cm (2 ft), are used as a herb or as garnish. The  fennel bulb be used raw in salads or cooked in salads or cooked in a wide variety of dishes.

RECIPES

Braised fennel
Trim, halve and core fennel bulbs.  Put them in an ovenproof dish. Sauté  2 diced bacon rashers (slices), 1 chopped onion and 1 diced carrot in a  little olive oil until slightly softened, then sprinkle  over the  fennel.  Moisten with a few tablespoons of  children stock or dry white wine (or a mixture of both).  Season to taste.  Cover  and cook in a  preheated oven at 180°C (350°F, gas 4) for about 1 hour or until tender. Turn the fennel halfway through cooking and add a little extra stock or  wine, if necessary, to keep the vegetables moist.

Fennel salad
Hard-boil (hard-cook) 2 eggs and shell them.  Boil 100 g (4 oz.  ¾ cup)  long-grain rice. Leave to cool.  Peel 12 small pickling (baby) onions.  Clean 1 large bulb of fennel and slice it finely.  Cut 4 small tomatoes into quarters.  Add a little well-seasoned vina-grette to the rice and put into a salad bowl.  Place  all the other ingredients on top of the rice,  together with some black olives.  Sprinkle with  chopped herbs and serve with anchovy sauce.

FENUGREEK  An aromatic leguminous Mediterranean plant originating in the Middle East.  Belonging to the pea family, it produces long slender curved pods containing oblong flattened brownish seeds. The  seeds, which have a slightly bitter taste,  are roasted and ground, then used as flouring in curries. Their flavour is distinct and easily recognized as one of the ingredients of curry pasts and  powders.  They are very hard – resembling tiny stones -  and can only be ground using a heavy pestle and mortar or a special grinder.
                In north Africa, the seeds were traditionally used  to fatten women, who  regularly consumed a mixture of fenugreek flour, olive  oil and caster (superfine) sugar. The leaves have a very strong smell and in turkey, various Arab countries and India, they are  used either fresh or dried, as a vegetable or herb.

FERCHUSE  A culinary speciality of Burgundy, made from pig’s offal (variety meat), traditionally prepared on the day the pig was killed.  (Ferchuse is  a corruption of the French word fressure, offal.) The  heart, lungs and liver are cut into pieces, browned in land with shallots and garlic, then floured and moistened  with 2 parts red wine and 1 part stock. The  dish is simmered for 1 hour.  A bouquet  garni, some  sliced onions and slices of sautéed  potato are added  and the dish is cooled for a further 45 minutes.

FERLOUCHE  also known as  forlouche.  Tart  filling from Quebec; It is made by boiling 300 g (11 oz. 1 cup) molasses, 200 g (7 oz., 1 cup)  brown sugar  and 750 ml (1 ¼ pints, 3 ¼ cups)  water with a pinch a nutmeg and some orange zest. Off  the heat, add  3 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)  mixed with a  little cold water, then cook over a low heat until  thick, stirring continuously. The hot  mixture is poured into a pre-cooked flan case (pie shell) and  decorated with chopped hazelnuts or raisins.

FERMENTATION The biochemical change brought about the  action of certain yeast or bacteria on certain food substances, particularly carbohydrates.  These micro-organisms are  either naturally present in the food or are added because of the requirements of a particular process.  The type of fermentation varies depending on the type of food, the nature of  the fermenting agent and the length of time the  process. For example, alcohol is produced by the  fermetnation of natural sweet juices such as grapes and sugar cane. Vinegar is a dilute solution of acetic acid produced by the fermentation  of various dilute  alcoholic liquids, such as wine or beer.  Lactic acid is  produced in the souring of milk by bacteria.
                The main foods that are fermented include  dough, milk products (curds, yogurt and cheese), meat (raw sausage) and alcoholic drinks, such as beer, wine and cider, certain cereal preparations are also fermented, especially in India and Africa.  Fermented vegetables includes  sauerkrau, cucumber and beetroot (in eastern Europe) and mixed, thinly  sliced  vegetables (in China)
                The greatest variety of fermented foods can be found in the Far East. They  are based on soya, rice, leguminous plants  and even fish (nuoc-moran).  In the Middle East, cereals and milk are fermented and in eastern and northern Europe, vegetables, alcohol,  bread and cheese. Fermentation is an excellent  method of preservation.

FERMIERE, A LA a special method of preparing braised or pot-roasted meat, poultry or fish, using a  garnish of vegetables that have been cooked slowly in butter until tender and are some times added to  the main ingredients while it is being cooked. Vegetables prepared in this way can also be used to  garnish omelettes and soups.

RECIPES

Brill a  la fermiere
Thinly slice 2 carrots, 2 onions, the white part of 2  leeks and 3 or 4 celery sticks.  Cook them slowly in 25 g 91 oz. 2 tablespoons) butter.  Place half the vegetables in a greased ovenproof dish.  Clean and season a medium-sized brill and place it on top of the  vegetables.  Cover with the remaining vegetables and  add a few tablespoons of dry white wine or better still, a concentrated fish stock mace with white wine. Top with small knobs of butter and cook in a preheated  oven at 220°c (425°F, gas 7), basting frequently.  When the brill is cooked, place it on a serving dish and keep warm.  Add 2-3 tablespoons cream to the cooking  liquid from the fish and reduce by half.  Pour the sauce over the brill and allow it to  caramelize for a few moments in the oven.

Omelette a la fermiere
Slice 2 medium carrots, 1 large onion, the white  part of 1 large leek and 2 or 3 celery sticks and  cook gently in 25 g (1 oz 2 tablespoons) butter.  Season with salt and pepper; Lightly beat 8 egg, add the vegetables and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, beat again and adjust the seasoning.  Brown  2 tablespoons diced ham in 20 g (3/4 oz. 1 ½ tablespoons)  butter in a frying pan.  pour the egg and  vegetables mixture into the pan and cook the  omelette.  Serve very hot with crusty bread.

Sautéed  chicken a la fermire
Sauté  a chicken in some butter until brown.  Prepare  200 ml, (7 fl. oz. ¾ cup) of the vegetable mixture used for brill a la fermiere, ensuring that  the vegetables remain fairly firm.  Add the  vegetables 15 minutes before  the chicken  is cooked.  Place  all the ingredients in an ovenproof casserole and add 2 tablespoons diced ham. Cover and cook in a preheated oven at 220°C (425°F, gas 7) for  about 10 minutes.  the cooking liquid can be  deglazed at the last moment with 100 ml (4 fl. oz. 7 tablespoons) thick gravy or thick veal stock.

Soup a la fermiere
Finely shred 2 or 3 small carrots, 1 small turnip, 1 leek (white part only), 1 onion and 75 g 93 oz. 1 ¼ cups) cabbage heart. Season and cook gently in 50 g (2 oz. ¼ cups) water in which white beans have been cooked, and 600 ml (1 pint,  2 ½ cups) white consomme.  Cook gently for 1 ¼ hors.  Add 100 ml (4 fl. oz. 7 tablespoons) single (light) cream, 4 tablespoons cooked white beans and some chervil leaves.

FERN The young  shoots or fronts (also called  violin scrolls’)  are harvested in Quebec and new Brunswick in early spring.  They are shaken to remove the fine reddish dust covering them, then  blanched for a few minutes. The shoots are either  eaten cold or reheated in butter and sprinkled with  lemon. They are a good accomplishment for meat and fish.

FERVAL  A garnish  for main courses consisting of braised artichoke  hearts and potato croqquettes filled with finely diced ham.

FESTONNER A French culinary term meaning to arrange  decorative items in festoons around the  edge of a serving dish. This  is a garnish to add on the dish, rather  than on the food.  Croutons, slices of  aspic and half slices of fluted lemon can be used for this purpose.

FETA The best-known Greek cheese, made  from ewe’s milk, cow’s milk or goat’s milk and containing 45% fat. It is made by traditional methods, even though it is  now manufactured on an industrial scale.  The curdled milk is separated and allowed to  drain in a special mould or a cloth bag. It is cut into large slices than are salted and then packed in barrels filled with whey or brine.  Feta is often crumbled over the top of mixed salads and may be cut into cubes and served as a snack with olives and farmhouse bread.

FEULLE D’AUTOMNE Round cake consisting of meringue and chocolate mousses,  presented in a  container made of fine pleated dark chocolate leaves.  Made popular by the patissier Gaston Leontre, feutille d’automne is made of two layers of vanlla-falvoured French merinque and one layer of almond-flavoured meringue, sandwich with a  butter-based chocolate moussee.

FEUILLETTE A piece of puff pastry cut into the  shape of a finger or triangle and filled or garnished with cheese, ham or seafood. Feuilletes are served hot as an entrée.
            The name is also given to small sticks of flaky pastry brushed with a little egg yolk and sprinkled with cumin seeds, cheese or paprica. They are  served hot or cold as cocktail snacks.

RECIPES

Feuilletes of chicken or duck liver
Make the fauilletes with puff pastry and warm them  in the oven.  Clean  the chicken  or duck livers. Separate the lobes and cut into very thin escalopes  (scallops). Season with salt and pepper and sauté  them briskly in butter, then use of draining spoon to  remove them and set aside.  Sauté  a small quantity  of finely chopped  shallots, fines herbs, and a few tiny bottom mushrooms or wild mushrooms, thinly sliced if large. In the butter remaining in the pan. use the draining  spoon to remove  the mushrooms,  then boil the cooking juices until virtually dry.  replace the mushrooms and livers, then add sufficient.  Madeira sauce to coat all the ingredients.  Cook until the livers are heated through. Cut the middle out  of the  feuilletes, reserving  the cop as a  lid.  Fill the feuilletes with this  mixture and replace the pastry lids; serve piping hot.

Feuilletes with calves’ sweetbreads.
Prepare  some feuilletes as in the previous  recipe.  Braise some calves sweetbreads in well-seasoned  white stock and use to fill the feulletes. Serve very hot with cream  sauce.

Roquefort feuilletes
Prepare some puff pastry. Mix together 200 g (7 oz) roquefort cheese, 200 g (7 oz) soft cream cheese, 200  ml (7 fl. oz. ¾ cup)  double (heavy)  cream, some  chopped herbs and some pepper. Then acd 4 eggs,  one by one, beating the mixture continuously.  Adjust the seasoning. Roll out the dough into  2 rounds  about 3 mm (1/8 in) thick. Line  a tart plate  with one of the rounds and prick with a fork.   Spread it with the cheese filling and cove with the  second round.  Seal the edges carefully.  Bake in a  preheated oven at 230°C 9450°F, gas 8)  for about  35 minute, protecting  top with a sheet of foil about halfway through cooking if it is  browning too quickly.  Cut into  triangles before serving.



Scallop feuilletes
Open, trim and clean 16 scallop. Sauté  them over  a brisk heat in a sauté  pan with 200 g (7 oz. 1 cup) butter and some  freshly ground pepper for 3 minutes, turning them once.  Put 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots into a frying pan with 250 ml (9 fl oz., 1 cup) vermouth and boil to reduce  to a syrupy consistency.  Add 75o ml (1 ¼ pints.  3 ¼ lb), cut 10 thin slices from a noix or sous-noix (loin) of veal and  falten them into rectangles with a mallet. Season with salt, pepper and  a pinch of mixed spice.  Prepare a fine pork forcemeat and add one-third of its  weight of a gratin forcemeat  an equal amount of dry duxelles. Bind  the forcemeat  with egg. Cut  a thin slice of pork fat slightly larger than the slices  of  veal and spread it with a layer of forecemeat.  Top with a piece of veal and spread it with some forcemeat. Continue to build up the feuilleton in this ways, ending with a layer of foremeat. Coat the slices of the feuilleton with the remaining forcemeat and over with a  second strip of pork fat that  is also larger than the  slices of veal.  Fold the edges of the bottom slice of pork fat upwards and the edges of the top piece of  pork fat downwards to that the feuilletone is covered.
                Tie the feuilleton into a neat shape. Put it in a  buttered casserole lined  with bacon rinds, sliced  onions and carrots.  Add a bouquet garni. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. moisten with  250 ml  (8 fl. oz. 1 cup) white wine and boil to reduce by  half.  Add 250 ml (9 fl. oz. 1 cup) veal stock and boil  to reduce to a concentrated glazed.   Moisten with 500 ml (17 fl. oz, 2 cups) good stock. Cover and  cook in preheated oven at 190°C (375°F, gas 5 ) for 1 ¾ hours, bastign fequently. Drain the feuilletron, untie and  arrange it on an ovenproof serving  dish.  Pour over a few tablespoons of braising stock and glazed in the oven, basting frequently.

Feuilleton of veal l’Echelle
Season a bone fillet of veal and  brown it quickly in  very hot butter to seal.  Leave  it to cool.  Cut it into slices lengthways, but do not cut completely through  the joint. Prepare  a forcemeat with a mixture of dry mushroom duxelles, chopped lean harm, diced truffles, and a vegetable more poix, bound with a beaten egg.  Spread each of the slices with the forcemeat and reshape the filet.
                Cover the feuilleton with mirepoix and wrap it in a pig’s caul (caul fat).  Braise the feuilleton for 2-3 hours in butter, very slowly, than place it in an  ovenproof dish. Garnish it with lettuce pototoes  that have  been braised in butter.  Four over a little of  the pan juices and return it to the oven to glaze.  Make a sauce with the remainder of the juices in the pan by adding some Madeira and  some  veal stock.
                This feuilleton may be served cold in aspit in this case, a boned calf’s foot is cooked in the stock.

FIADONE  Several recipes exists for this  Corsican cake, one of which consists of blending stiffly whisked egg whites with a mixture  of the egg yolks, sugar, mashed fresh Broccio cheese and lemon zest. The cake is sometimes  flavoured with a little brandy.

FIASQUE The French word for a type of Chianti bottle. It is derived from the Italian Fiasco, meaning flash or straw-covered bottle. The  bottle has along narrow neck and is usually parity wrapped in woven straw.

FICIELLE A long thin loaf of French bread (the  word literally means ‘string’).

FICELLES PICARDES Savoury pancakes  field with a slice of ham and chopped creamed mushrooms with cheese.  They are rolled up, arranged in  an ovenproof dish, covered with cream and grated.  Gruyere cheese, and then browned in the oven, a speciality of northern France, they are served as a hot entrée.

FIG Pear-shaped or globular fruit that is eaten fresh or dried Probability  originating in Asia Minor and now widespread throughout the Mediterranean region, figs are mentioned in the Old Testament, and  were highly prized by the Ancients.
§  Fresh figs  These re three types of fig: the white one (including green figs), the purple and the red. These  types are subdivided into a large number of varieties.  The best-known varieties of French  figs ar buissone, belone, bourjasotte, celestine, col de dame and dauphine  violette. These figs are grown in the Midi, mistily in Var, and separated flesh between June and November. Figs  are also grown throughout the Mediterranean basin.  Algena is the principal supplier of dried figs.
                Fresh o canned figs are usually eaten in their  natural state. they can be served as an hors  d'’euvre with raw ham (parma ham)  in the same way as melon. Figs can also be cooked in various ways.  All recipes for apricots are suitable for figs.
                A fermented drinks is made from figs, and also a Europe roast figs  are used to flavour coffee, as  chicory is in France.
§  Dried figs. Very ripe autumn fruits is used.  The figs, spread out on trestles, are exposed to the sun. they have to  be turned several times during drying and  before they are completely dry, they are slightly flattened.  Treated in this way figs will keep for a very long time.  The best dried figs are sold tied up with a  piece of raffia and selected for their size and repines.  They may be eaten play or stuffed with almonds or  walnuts. Dried figs are also sold in block. Figs, like  prunes, are improved by soaking for 24 hours before  use. They are eaten in compotes, cooked in wine, accompanied by milky rice pudding and vanlla cream. They are also sued in savoury cooking;  for  example with pork or rabbit, like prunes, and are particularly delicious with braised pheasant and guinea fowl  (soaked in port until swollen, then added to the  pan at the end  of cooking).  A drink is also made from then.



RECIPES

Savoury recipes
Corsican anchoiade with figs
Soak 5 anchovy fillets in cold water to remove the salt, them dry.  Pound them with 450 g  (1 lb) fresh figs and 1 small garlic  cove. Spread this paste on slices of bread moistened with olive oil.  Sprinkle with chopped onions and serve.

Figs with Cabecou en coffret
Coarsely chop a small bunch of chives.  Cook 400 g (14 oz. ) very fine green beans in salted water, keeping  them all dente. Soak 65 g (2 ½ oz. 1/3 cup) sultans (golden raisins) in 60 ml (2 fl. oz. ¼ cup) vinaigrette until very soft.
                Cut 2 cabecou goats cheeses into quarters.  Cut 8 figs 1.5 cm (3/4 in from the top, reserving the  tops, and remove one-third of the flesh.  Fill each fig  with one quarter of Cabecou. Using  a pastry (cookie) cutter with a fluted edge, cut out 6 cm (2 ½ in) rounds of very thinly rolled puff pastry and  coat with beaten egg. Place  a fig on piece of puff pastry and bake in a preheated over at 200°C (400°F, gas 6) for 20 minutes.  after 15 minutes, replace the tops of the figs.
                Toss the green beans with the sultana winaigrette and add the chives. Arrange 2 figs in puff  pastry on each plate and add some of the bean salad. Sprinkle  with toasted flaked almonds and serve at once.

Fresh figs with Parma ham.
Choose some very fresh or purple figs that are ripe but still slightly  firm. Split then into  four without completely separating the quarters (these should be held together by the salt).  Gently loosen the skin near the stalk. Roll some very tin slices of Parma or Bayonne ham into  cornets, arrange  the figs and ham in a dish and serve cold.

Lamb cutlets with figs and honey
Wash and wipe 1 kg (2 ¼  lb). fresh figs, but do not  peel.  Place them, stalks upwards. In a generously buttered ovenproof dish. Cover with a glass of water, add some pepper and a little ground cinnamon and grated nutmeg, and cook in preheated oven at 200°F (400 °F, gas 6 ) for 30-35 minutes.  about  10 minutes before the end of the cooking  time, melt 40 g (1 ½ oz. 3 tablespoons) butter in a frying pan and fry4-8 lamb cutlets (depending on  their size) for 3-4 minutes per side. Season with-salt and pepper and arrange  the cutlets in a warmed serving dish. Keep hot.  Melt 2 tablespoons  honey in a little  hot water and add the pan juices from the cutlets to make a sauce. Adjust the  seasoning. Arrange  the figs around the meat. coat the cutlets and the figs with honey sauce. Serve immediately.

Sweet Recipes
Fig jam
Peel and quarter some large white figs that are just  ripe but firm. Prepare  a syrup, using 200 g (7 oz. 1 cup sugar and 4 tablespoons water per 1 kg (2 ¼ lb.) fruit.  Add the figs to the boiling syrup and  cook until the gelling stage is reached. Pot and   cover in the usual way.

Fig tart
Prepare  350 g (12 oz)  shortcrust pastry (basic pie dough, see short pastry) and use into line a 23 cm flan ring. Princk and bake blind.  Allow it to  cook. Peel and havle some fresh  fig and leave for  30 minutes.  Mix a little  run with some  apricot jam, sieve the mixture and spread it over the base of the  flan. Arrange the drained fig halves on top, coat them with apricot jam and decorate with Chantilly cream.

Figs with raspberry mousse
Peel some fresh ripe figs  and cut them into quarters.  Make  a rasberry mouse with 200 ml (7 fl oz. ¾ cup) chantly cream for each 250 g (9 oz. 1 ½ cups) sieved sweetened raspberries. Arrange  the fig quarters in a sallow bowl, cover with the  mousse and chill  for 30 minutes. before serving.

Roast figs with a coulis of red fruits
Melt 50 g (2 oz. ¼ cup) butter in a frying pan. add 16 fresh ripe figs and 3 tablespoons icing (confectioner’s ) sugar. F ry until lightly golden, them cook in  a preheated oven at 200°C 9400°F, gas 60 for 8-10 minutes. remove from the oven and, using scissors, cut the figs open to look like flowers. Fill the figs with 200 g (7 oz. ) fresh raspberries. Pour  300 ml 91/2 pint, 1 ¼ cups) strawberry or rasberry coulis  on 4 plates  and decorate with the figs.  Place 1 scoop of vanilla ice creams in the centre of each  plate.  Serve immediately.

FICATELLI A Corsican characturie product in the  form of long thin  sausage, smoke and very spicy, made  with liver (fegato), lean and fat pork, and are eaten raw or grilled (broiled).

FIGUETTE A drink made from dried figs and juniper berries soaked in water for a week, using 5 juniper berries per 450 g (1 lb) figs in 5 litres (8 ½ pints, 5 ½ quarts water. The  liquid is then strained, bottled  and left for 4-5 days before drinking.

FILBERT Fruit of the hazel, a small tree of the Corylacease family, known is the French grocery trade as noisette franche. It has a hard shell covered by a foliated envelope. There are several species, the  best known coming from Piedmon and sicily. Filberts 9also known as hazelnut or colonuts)  are eaten fresh or dried. They provide hazelnut oil (not much sued) and are used to make the sugared almonds known as avelines.

FILET MIGNON Piece of a small section of beef, positioned within the thoracic  cage, along the  first dorsal vertebrae.  When  trimmed, the filled mignon makes one or two steaks.
                In relation  to pork, it corresponds to filled of beef; it can be roasted or friend, cut into medallions, or cut into small pieces for kebabs.

FILLET – The undercut of the sirloin of beef, also used for  the same  cut in pork, veal and lamb. In Britain the word can also refer to the fleshy part of  the buttocks of other animals.  Either cut is prime meat,  tender and with a delicate flavour.
If it  is to be served whole, fillet of beef must be  trimmed, larded or barded, and secured with string. It may be roasted in the oven or on a spit, fried or  braised, according to the recipe. The fillet may alternatively be cut into steaks and grilled (boiled) --  chateaubrinds  are cut from the middle of the tillet  and tournedos from the end.  The end of the fillet also provides pieces of meat suitable for kebabs.
In France, fillet of veal is used for genadins and  for fillet chops (cotes-filet), which are broader than  ordinary chops, and fillet of lamb provides filet cutlets (without  knuckle) and mutton chops. Pork fillet (tenderloin).  Provides particularly tender cuts of  meat, especially from the middle or end of the fillet.  The boned end of pork fillet  provides a slightly  dry roast joint, which it is advisable to band with rashers (slices) of bacon.  Flet de Saxe (Saxony filled) is a fillete of smoked salted pork wrapped in a cual.  It  resembles bacon but is smoother.
§  BEEF AND VEAL. The  filet mignon is a small 1, choice  cut of meat  from the end of the fillet.  Pork filet mignon is cut from the boned fillet and is particularly tender. It may be ilghtly braised in a single  piece, sliced into two lengthways and stuffed, or cut into pieces for kebarbs.
§  POULTRY AND GAME  BIRDS. The fillet is the underside of the breast, or the entire  breast, cut of before cooking and  prepared in various  ways. However, the  breasts of poultry and game are more often  known as supremes. (The fillet of a duck reared  for its foie. Gras is called.  A magret.)
§  FISH. The fillets are cut lengthways off the backbones.  (there are four in a flatfish, and two in a round fish.) They may be removed before cooking and poached, fried, marinated or rolled into paupietes. When a fish is cooked whole, fillets are removed  at the time of serving.



RECIPES

Cold fillet of beef a la nicoise
Garnish the cold roasted fillet with small tomatoes that  have been marinated  in olive of and stuffed with salpicon of truffles, small artichoke hearts  filled with a salad of green  asparagus tips, large olives, anchovies  and pieces of aspic jelly.

Cold fillet of beef a la russe
Surround the cold fillet with halves of shelled hard-boiled (hard-cooked) eggs stuffed a la russe and covered with aspic jelly, artichoke hearts stuffed with vegetables in mayonnaise and chopped aspic.

Cold fillet of beef in aspic.
Cold roasted filler either whole, or cut into thin slices, may be covered with aspic jelly.  If the  piece is big enough to be served whole, place it on a rack and coat with several layers of aspic jelly, which may be flavoured with Madeira, port or sherry. (it must be placed in the  refrigerator between each coating.
                The arrange it on a serving dish and garnish with chopped aspic for with croutons and watercress. Slices of fillet are either coated separately or placed in a row on the serving dish and coated with aspic. They are garnished in the same way.
                Serve with a cold sauce. Such as mayonnaise  or  tartare sauce, and cold vegetable barquettes or a  salad.
               
Fillet of beef  a la perigourdine
Trim the fillet of beef, stud it with truffles.  Cover it with  bacon rashers (slices), tie it with string and  braise in Madiera-flavoured stock.  Drain, remove  bacon, glaze in the oven and arrange it on the serving dish. Surround it with small slices of fole gras that have been studded with truffles and sautéed  in clarified butter. Reduce the braising stock by half, strain it and  pour it over the fillet.

Fillet of beef en brioche
Prepare some brioche dough without sugar, using 500 g (1 lb 2 oz. 4 ½ cups)  plain (all-purpose ) flour, 20 g(3/4 oz ) fresh yeast 91 ½ cakes  compressed yeast), 100 ml (4 fl. oz. 7 tablespoons) water, 2 teaspoons salt.  6 medium-sized eggs, and 250 g (9 oz 1 cup) butter.  Melt 25 g 91 oz. 2 tablespoons) butter and 3 tablespoons oil in a pan and lightly brown a piece of fillet of beef weighing about  1.5 kg 93 ¼ lb), tied with string  to maintain is shape. Then place the pan, uncovered. In a preheated oven at 240°C (475°F, gas 9) and cook for 10 minutes, basting  the meat 2 or 3 times. Drain  it, season with salt and pepper and leave to cool completely.
                Lower the temperature of the oven to about 220°C (425°F, gas 7).  Roll out the brioche dough into a fairly  large rectangle.  Remove  the string  from the  beef and place it is in the centre of the dough  lengthways.  Brush the meat with beaten egg and  fold one of the sides of the dough over it.  Brush  the other side of the rectangle with beaten egg and  wrap the fillet completely in the  dough, tucking in  the edges.   Trim and cut both ends of the dough just  beyond the meat and seal the edges with beaten egg. Brush the top with beaten egg. Garnish  the top with the  remaining pieces of dough. Brush with  beaten egg. Place  on a floured baking sheet and bake  in a preheated oven at 220°C (425°F, gas 7) of about 30 minutes. fillet of beef en brioche is  traditionally served with a Perigueux sauce.

Fried fillet steaks.
Cut the fillet into thick 125-150 g (4-5 oz) steaks. Slightly  flatten the steaks,  then seal in very hot butter. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the steaks  and keep them hot. Make a sauce with the pan juices mixed with a little Madeira; reduce and coat  the steaks.

Grilled beef fillet steaks
Cut the trimmed fillet into thick steaks, ach  weighing  125-150g (4-5 oz).  Slightly flatten each steak, sprinkle with pepper,  brush  with oil, season with herbes de Provnce (or mixed dried herbs) and cook under a hot grill (broiler) or over glowing  embes, so that the outside is sealed while the  inside remain pink or rare. Top each steak with a  pat of maitre d’hotel butter.

Grilled filets mignons
Slightly flatten some fillets mignons of beef, each weighing about  125-150 g (4-5 oz.).  season with  salt and pepper, dip in melted butter and coat with  fresh breadcrumbs. Moisten them with clarified butter and  cook under a low grill (broiler). Serve with  mitre d’hotel butter. Charon sauce, lemon  butter or tarragon-flavored, tomato sauce mixed  with white wine.

Roast fillet of beef.
Trim the fillet, bard it top and bottom (or brush with melted butter) and tie with string. Cook it in a  preheated oven at 240°C (475°F, gas 9) ,  allowing 10-12 minutes per 450 g (1 lb) and basting it several times  with the meat juices, to which a very small amount of water has been added. Drain the  meat, remove the barding strips and keep it hot on  a serving dish. Make a sauce with  the pan juices  mixed with stock or reduced veal gravy. Reduce and serve with the fillets.

Sautéed  filets mignons
Slightly flatten some filet mignons at beef, season  with salt and pepper and sauté them quickly in very hot clarified butter.  Garnish as for tournedos.

Spit-roasted fillet of beef
Trim the fillet, put it on the spit, season with salt and pepper and coat with melted butter. Roast allowing about 10-12 minutes per 450 g (1 lb.)  remove  form the spit and leave the meat to rest  for a few minutes. cut it into  even slices and serves  with  the reserved meat juices.

FILLETING FISH The process of removing the fillets from a whole fish that has been cleaned by cutting, the  flesh off the main backbone.  Small bones and some stray larger bones may remain in the fillet, but this essentially a boneless cut. Stray bones  should be removed before cooking. A filleting knife, known in France as a couteau a filts de sole.  Has a long,  narrow and flexible  blade.

FILO PASTRY Also known as phyllo, this is a paper-thin pastry made form flour and water. The pastry is either  rolled very thinly or stretched with the hands until paper thin.  Similar  in style  to strudel pastry, it is used  several layers thicks. The layers are  brushed with melted butter or oil to that they adhere  but form crisp and flaky layers when baked. Filo pastries can also be fried.
                This type  of pastry is used throughout the  Mediterranean for making a variety of savoury and sweet dishes. In Greece it is used   to make fets  cheese and spinach pies, kown as spinakopita, or it  is layered with nuts to make baklava, the famous  sweet drenched in honey syrup.  Baklava is also popular in Turkey, where  yufka is the same type of pastry, used for savoury pastries called boreks. In north Africa, a similar type of thin pastry, known as  maisouqaa or ourka (meaning paper), is used to  make brik, a fried alrge semi-circular  pasty filled  with spicy vegetables with an egg nestling in the filling.
§  Buying and handling  Filo is available fresh or  frozen and ready to use. Hawne exposed to air, the  sheets   rapidly dry out, becoming  crumblyand unusable, so its important to unwrap only the required number of sheets and to keep the remainder covered with cling film (plastic wrap) or in a polytene  bag until they are to be used.
Dampening the pastry it to  sticky paste, so the work surface must be clean and dry. Brushing the pastry with melted butter or oil (or a mixture of both will stick  the layers of pastry together, sealing  the fold  to keep the filing  in place and preventing  the pastry from becoming flaky and dry around the  edges. When cooked, the fat make the pastry  layers crisp and separate. Although  many traditional  recipes use generous quantities of melted butter, a light  brushing  is sufficient to give good results, especially through  the middle layers, with more brushed over the outside  or to seal folds.
Contemporary cooker, filo is brushed very lightly with oil (olive is good with savoury fillings) and used as an alternative to fat-rich  short and puff pastries. It makes an excellent casting for fillets  of fish, chicken, mat or vegetables. It is also popular for savoury finger snacks as little filled  parcels and bundies.

FILTER A utensil or a material that is porous or performed, enabling the separation of solid matter from a liquid by retraining the former and  allowing  the latter to pass through. In cookery, liquids can be  filtered through a clean cloth strainer or a piece of muslin (cheeseloth), a colander or  a sieve.
        A coffee filter holds ground coffee and near boiling water is poured over it. It can be made of perforated metal, earthenware, porcelain or cloth (la chaussette), or a cone of filter paper that is placed in a special cone-shaped holder. Café-filtre (or  filre) is coffee made this way filtered directly into the cup.

FINANCIER  A cake made from a sponge mixture  using ground almonds and whisked egg whites. Small financiers are oval or rectangular  in shape; they may be sued as a base for iced petits fours.
        Large cakes  made  with the same mixture are decorated with shredded almonds and crystallized (candied) fruits. These large financiers  may be cooked in cake tins (pans) of decreasing size and then built up in layers to form a large gateaus.

RECIPE

Almond financiers
Butter 16 tins (pans), each 10 x 5 cm (4 x 2 in). Put 100 g (4 oz. 1 cup)  plain (al-purpose) flour into a  mixing bowl.  Add 100 g 94 oz.  1 cup) ground almonds, 300 g (11 oz, 1 1/3 cups) caster (superfine) sugar, 2-3 tablespoons vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix everything thoroughly.  Add a pinch of salt to 8 egg whites and whisk them into very stiff  peaks. Fold them carefully into the cake mixture. Quickly fold in 150 oz. 2/3 cup) melted unsalted butter.  Divide the mixture between the inc and bake in  a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F, gas 6 ) for 15-20 minuets until the financiers are golden brown, then turn them out and cool on a wire rack.  They may be coated with kirsch- or chocolate-flavoured fondant icing (frosting).

FINANCIERE, A LA A very rich class c garnish for joints of meat, calves’ sweetbread or braised  poultry.  It may also be used as a filling for croutes, timbales, bouchees or vol-au-vent. It consists of a  ragout of cockscombs, chicken quenelles, finely sliced mushrooms and shredded truffles flavoured with Madeira, all  bound with a sauce containing Madeira and truffle essence. The same ingredients are used to make atteraux a la financiere, the  quenelles being optional. There is also a financiere sauce  flavoured with Madeira and truffles.

RECIPES

Calve’s sweetbreads a la financiere
Soak  the sweetbreads in cold water until they  become white. Poach in salted water, drain and  trim, removing skin and membranes.  Place between 2 cloths in a meat press.  Cut some truffles and  some cooked tongue coated with aspic into  matchstick shapes and use them to stud the sweetbreads.  Braise  the sweetbreads in a brown stock. Arrange  them in courstades of puff pastry and cover with  financiere garnish.

Financiere garnish
Prepare some poached children querelles and some cockscombs. Slowly cook some finely sliced mushrooms and shredded truffles in butter.   Add 1 little  Madeira. Bind all these ingredients with financiere sauce.

Financiere sauce (1)
(from Careme’s recipe). Put  some shredded lean  ham, a pinch of mignonette (coarsely) ground white  pepper), a little thyme and bay leaf, some shredded mushrooms and 2 glasses of dry Madeira into a saucepan.  Simmer and reduce over a  gentle  heat. Add 2 tablespoons chicken consmme and 2 tablespoons well-beaten espagnole sauce.  Reduce  by half, press through a fine sieve, strain, then heat again, stirring in 3 tablespoons Madeira.  Reduce to the desired consistency and serve in a sauceboat (gravy goat.

        When this sauce is intended for a game entrée, the chicken consommed is replaced by game fumet. Add  a little butter just before serving.

Financiere sauce(2)
(modern recipe)   Make 200 ml (7 fl. oz. ¾ cup)  Madeira  sauce, adding 100 ml (4 fl. oz. 7 tablespoons) truffle essence while it is  reducing.  This  sauce is usually used to bind the financiere garnish.

Stuffed quails a la financiere
Prepare  some stuffed quails  in cases coat them with a sauce made with  their cooking juices mixed  with  Madeira, and glaze them in the oven. Arrange  on fried croutons or coursades of puff pastry.  Garnish with finely sliced truffles and surround with a   financiere garnish.

Supreme of chicken a la financiere.  A  La a very  rich class c garnish for joints of meat, calves’ sweetbreads or braised poultry. It may also be used as filling for courtes, timbales , boutchees or vol-au-vent. It is consists of a ragout of cockscombs, chicken queneles.  Finely sliced mushrooms and shredded cruffles flavoured with Madeira, all bound with a sauce containing Madeira and truffle essence. The same ingredients are  used to make attereauce a la financiere, the   quenelles being optional.  There  is also  a financiere  sauce flavoured with Madeira and truffles.

RECIPES

Calves’ sweetbreads a la financiere
Soak the sweetbreads in cold water until they become white. Poach in salted water, drain and  trim, removing skin and membranes.  Place between 2 cloths in a meat press. Cut some truffles and  some cooked tongue coated with aspic into matchstick shapes and use them to stud the sweetbreads.   Braise the sweetbreads in a brown stick.  Arrange  them in croustade of puff pastry and cover with  financiere garnish.

Financiere garnish
Prepare  some poached chicken quenelles and some  cockscombs. Slowly cook some finely sliced mushrooms and shredded  truffles in butter. Add a little Madiera.  Bind all these ingredients with financiere sauce.

Financiere sauce (1)
(frome Careme’s recipe). Put  some shredded lean ham, a pinch of migronette (coarsely ground white pepper), a little thyme and by leaf forme shredded mushrooms and truffles, and 2 glasses of dry.  Madeira into a saucepan,  simmer and reduce over a gentle heat.  Add 2 tablespoons chicken  consomme and 2 tablespoons well-beaten espagnole  sauce. Reduce  by half, press through  a fine sieve, strain, then heat again, stirring in 3 tablespoons Madeira. Reduce to the desired consistency and serve in a  sauceboat (gravy boat).

        When this sauce is intended for a game entrée, the chicken consomme is replaced by game fumet. Add a little butter just before  serving.

Financiere sauce (2)
(modern recipe) Make 200 ml (7 fl. oz. ¾ cup) Madeira sauce, adding 100 ml (4 lf. oz. 7 tablespoons) truffle essence while it is reducing. The  sauce is usually used to bind the  financiere garnish.

Stuffed quails a la financiere
Prepare  some stuffed quals  in cases, coat them with a sauce made with  their cooking juices mixed with  Madeira, and glaze them in the oven. Arrange  on fried couton or courstades of puff pastry.  Garnish with finely sliced truffes and surrowed with  a financiere garnish.

Supremes of chicken a la financiere
Sauté  some supremes o fchicken in clarified buter.
Arrange them on fried coutons or puff pastry  courstades. Coat with financiere sauce and surround with a financiere garnish.

FINE  The French word for a brandy distilled from wine  (as opposed to another alcoholic liquid). It  should be distinguished from marc, which is distilled from the grape debris left after preserving.

FINE CHAMPAGNE  A category of cognac coming from the delimited regions of Grande and Petite  champagne  and containing not less than 50% Grande Champagne cognac in the blend (it has noting to do with the delimited area producing  champagne).

FINES HERBES A mixture of chopped aromatic berbs, such as parsley,  chervil, tarragon and chives,  in various proportions. The mixture is use to  flavour sauces, cream cheeses, meat, sautéed  vegetables and omelettes. In the past chopped mushrooms were added, and today celery sticks, fennel, basil, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf my be added.

RECIPES

Omelette garnished with fines herbs 
Add enough coarsely chopped parsley, cherivil, tarragon and  chives to the heaven eggs to colour the  omelette green  -  allow 3 tablespoons chopped fines herbs for 8 eggs.

Sauce with fines herbe
Make 250 ml (8 fl. oz. 1 cup) demi-glace sauce or brown stock and add 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, chervil and tarragon Reduce, press through a  very fine sieve, add a few drops of lemon juice and adjust the seasoning. This sauce is served with poached poultry.

Veal chops with fines herbs
Sauté  some veal chops in butter in a frying pan (skillet). Drain them and arrange  on a hot serving dish. Add some chopped shallots and white wine to the butter and cook for a few minutes to reduce. Then add some chopped parsley, chervil and tarragon, adjust the seasoning, stir and pour the sauce  over the chops. Formerly, demi-glace sauce was  added to the white wine to make a richer, smoother and  creamer sauce.

FINGER BOWL A small individual metal, glass or china bowl filled with warm water, usually perfumed with lemon, and used for rinsing the fingers at the  table. It is an essential component of the table setting when serving shrimps or prawns, which need to be shelled with the fingers, or asparagus or  artichoke, which are eaten with the fingers. The finger bowl is placed to the left of the dinner plate towards the end of the course and is removed as soon as the course is finished and the guest has  rinsed his or her fingertips, an operation which  should be carried out rapidly and with the minimum of fuss.

FINISH to complete the preparation of a dish for example by adjusting the seasoning or the consistency and adding decorations or garnishes. Certain soups are finished by adding herb leaves,  fresh butter or cream. A civet( rich game stew) is generally finished by thickening it with the blood of the animal used in the recipe. A dish coated with Mornay sauce is finished by browning.  A sweet dish is finished by adding a decoration.

FISH Aquatic vertebrates with fins (for swimming) and gills (for breathing), which represent an important  source of food.  At present, more than 30,000 species are known  (as many as all other vertebrates put together). Most  fish live in the seas and oceans, at varying depths. Freshwater  fish-are much less numerous. Some fish, such as eels and salmon, are migratory, spending part of their  life in the sea and part in fresh water.
Fish are classified into two broad groups, according to their skeletons cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays, dogfish, skate) and  bony fish (the vase majority).  Several  basic body shapes can be distinguished.
§  tapering adapted to swimming to the open water (herring, cod salmon, mackerel, carp, pike) – these are the most numerous;
§  flatfish compressed vertically, with  the eye on the  ventral (lower) surface is white;
§  flatfish compressed laterally, with  both eyes either  on the right side of the head (plaice, flounder, dab, sole) or on the left (turbot, brill), the blend side usually  being without pigment.
§  Elongated and spakelike (eels).
Fish can also differntiated by colcut, the number and shape of the fins, the width of the mouth, the presence or absence of teeth, the thickness of the skin and any spines, spurs and barbel
§  Buying fish There are three main factors to consider when buying fish: its freshness, its availability (depending on the season) and the percentage of waste. The season is less important now then it used  to be, because fish caught off the Afric in or northern coasts are sold almost all  the year round. However, it is always preferable to eat fish in sense it tastes better and is cheaper.
Freshness  is extremely important.  Fish is subjects to speedy decay by bacterial action and often causes  food poisoning if it is not absolutely fresh.  It is at its  best when first caught, but the speed of modern transport and the excellent methods of preservation mean that fish can be enjoyed far from the fishing  grounds without loss of flavour. Fish is refrigerated  for transport and sold in melting ice, care being taken that the  melting water drains off properly. This  practice is sometimes considered to detract from the flavour, but  it still  remains the only method of transporting  fresh fish for long distances from the  fishing grounds.
        Most methods of preserving fish date back to  ancient times, freezing (practiced by the Romans), drying (especially for herring and cod), smoking (salmon, haddock eel) and salting in casks or barrels.  Preservation by canning has considerably increased the consumption of tuna, sardines pilchards and  salmon in particular and freezing has enabled many more types of fish to be made available all the year round. The  process of freezing ; freshly caught fish in factory ships has greatly improved the quality of frozen fish. High-quality frozen fish is often superior  to ‘fresh’ fish from some shops where poor handling impairs the quantity. When selecting  frozen fish, the price and quality are  good indicators of the standard to expect.  Packing  is also important  as poor wrapping leads to freeze burn and deterioration in texture,  moisture content  and flavour.
        For culinary purposes, fish can be divided into  white fish, including all the cod family (haddock, whiting), the  white  flatfish (place, sole), and the  perch family (including bass, red mullet and skate); and oily fish including sardines, mackerel, herring, and trout, tuna, salmon, moray and lamprey.
§  Preparing fish this  depends on the type of fish the dish and the  cooking method.  Large fish are usually sold prepared reads for cooking in the form of  cleaned whole fish. Fillets, steaks or cutelts. Some smaller fish may be displayed whole and have to be  gutted, but the fishmonger will usually do this. Some  very small fish are cooked and eaten whole, such as  whitebait, and small sardines may be grilled (broiled) whole, then the fish is  picked off the carcassas if it eaten
Scaly fish, such as salmon are described or scaled before cook by scraping the skin with  a knife to  remove all the  scales.  This is messy task, which is easier when carried out under cold running water. Whole flat fish or fillets may be skinned before cooking the skin  may be cut off cutlets or steaks.
        Round fish, such as mackerel or truot, may be   boned with or without their heads in place,  alternatively, the fillets can be off the  bones of small  or  large fish. Smaller fat fish, such as place or sole, are  often sold whole the bones may be removed to  leave a pocket  in the fish or the fillets can be cut off the bones may be removed from the  middle of cutlets or steaks.
§  Cooking fish. This  requires care, to avoid overcooking, when the flesh becomes very flaky and dry.  Fish may be grilled (broiled) or  baked,  poached  in water or stock.  Cooked in fat, steamed  or  wrapped in buttered  paper  or foil, before cooking in the oven. Raw fish, either  lightly cured, marinated or  with carefully selected condiments, is considered to be a delicacy by some, but it needs  to be absolutely fresh and carefully prepared. Such dishes include ceviche from Mexico and Ecuador, gravad lax from  scandinavia and sashimi from Japan
Hot or cold fish dishes can be accompanied by a  wide variety of sauces, flavoured butters, vegetables  and even fruit.  Fish can also be cooked in soups (chaudree, bouillabaisse, cotrivade), in pies (koulibiaca), in mousses quenelles  sapics, salads, in scallop shels or gratin dishes  on skewers curreid, as a matelote, and in many other ways.
§  History  in the middle,  Ages, river fish were much more common than they are today, but even then coasted fish from the English Channel, especially mackerel  and herring, were being sold in Paris.  However the eels of Maine, France the barbels of  Saint-Florentin, the  pike of Chalon, the lampreys of  Nantes and Bordeaux, the louch of Bur-sur-Seine, the dace of Aisne and the carp of the lakes of Bondy continued to be highly regarded. During the Renaissance period, haddock, archovies, turbot, skate and  whiting were eaten more  frequently, but the river continued so supply mot of the fish markets, the following is an extract from Blasons domestiques (by G.  Corrozet, 1539); ‘there  you can see the eel and  the lamprey… the fresh salmon, the sub-nosed carp, the large pike, the frisky sole, the  fat propoise, the savoury shad. Then the sturgeon and the  amorous trout, some  boiled the others roasted to  sharpen human appetities.
In  the 15th century, salt cod was considered to be worthy  of the  best table, while the so-called ‘royal fish’ (basically dolphin, sturgeon and salmon) were  reserved for the king’s table.
In France certain fish, especially river species, are now becoming rare (pike, char, shad.  And dace), while other are less frequently cooked (eel and  sturgeon). On the other had, some are in greater demand than in the past red mullet, sea bass and sea bream). Concerns about fish stocks and overfishing the wide variety of ‘exotic’ species, for example from Africa and New Zealand, offered as alternatives to traditionally popular seafood; and fish farming are contemporary issues that influence the  availability and promotion of fish.

FISH AND CHIPS  Fried battered fish and chips (French fries), widely considered to be Britain’s national dish.  As such, there is great regional variation – and debate – over the way fish and chips should be prepared.  The most popular fish are cod, hadddock and place, in that order.  Haddock is predominantly caught on the east coast of Britain and  cod on the west, which reflects local preferences.  The cooking fat varies, with the North favouring land or beef dripping the Midlands and the south opting for vegetables oil. Certain potato varieties are said to  give superior results, with the floury Desiree and  Maris Piper being the most popular.

FISH KETTLE  A long, deep cooking receptacle with two handles, a grid and a lid. The fish kettle is used to cook, whole fish, such as bake, salmon, pike, in a court-bouillon. The  removable grid enables the  fish to be taken out without breaking it. The  wide turbot kettle is specially designed for cooking large  flat fish.


FISH SLICE  A table  utensils, in the form of a silverplated or stainless steel spatula, for serving fish. It is  usually perforated.   Since fish cooked in a courtbouillon, even if it has been drained, is often still rather watery.  The blade is rounded,  pointed or has its corners cut off. The French word truelle may also be applied to a cake slice.

FITOU A real AOC wine from Languedo, produced around Corbieres, south of narbonne.  The  appellation divides into  two areas-Fitou Maritime producing supple, lighter wines less tannin, best drunk young, and Fitou Montagneus where the wines   have firmer structure and longer ageing potential. Both  styles must be kept for a minimum  of nine months before bottling. The main grapes are Caringnan, Grenache and Syrah.

FIVE SPICES. A mixture of five Chinese spices star anise,  clove, fennel, cinnamon and Schuan pepper. It is widely used in Chinese cookery. The  flavour is strong, particularly a anise, and the spice  is used with care, in small amounts.

FIXIN A fine red burgundy (AOC), from the most  northerly of the Cote-de-Nuits vineyards. The finest climats or terrior are considered to be les Arvelets, Les Hervelets, Le Chaptre, La Perriere and Clos Napoleon. Other wines may be sold as Cote de  Nuits Villages. Fixin wines are particularly fragrant, capable of long lives and appreciated for their  finesse and pedigree.

FLAMANDE,  A LA A The name given to various preparation derived from the regional cookery of northern France.  The Flamande garish consists of  stuffed braised balls of green gabbage, shaped  pieces of glazed carrot and turnip, potaotes a  l’anglaise and, sometimes, diced belly of pork (salt pork) and slices of sausage that are cooked with the  cabbage. It is also the name of garnish and a hot pot which is used especially for large cuts of  meat (such as rump of beef) or for braised goose. The  entire dish is coated with demi-glace, veal stock or a  sauce made with the pan juices from the meat.
        Among other perparations described as a la flamane are Brussels sprouts (pureed, mixed with an  equal of potatotes or used to garnish a consomme) and chicory (endive), either raw in a mixed salad, or coooked in a chiffonnade for garnishing an  omelette served with cream sauce.  A la flammande is also a method of preparing asparagus with sieved hard-boiled (hard-cooked) egg yolks.

RECIPES

Asparagus a la flammande
Cook some asparagus in salted boiling water. Serve hot with melted butter to which sieved yolks of  hard-boiled (hard-booked ) eggs and chopped parsley have been  added.

Flemish salad
Cook some peeled potatoes in salted water and blanch some large peeled onions.  Cut the potatoes  into slices and chop the onions coarsely. Clean some  chicoy (endive) and cut the leaves lengthways and  across. Place al the ingredients in salad bowl and  mix with a fairly well-seasoned   vinaigreate. Arrange in a dome and garnish with fillets of salt herring cut into strips.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley and chervil.

FLAMBER A French culinary term meaning to pour spirits over food; then ignite it, both to enhance the flavour and for culinary showmanship.
        When flaming a savoury dish,  the spirit  must be  warned and then ignited, preferably with a along taper. As it catches fire, it is poured over the dish.    Brandy, rum or whisky are the spirits most commonly used, and the procedure is usually  carried out when making a sauce from the pam juices.
        In some restaurants, sweet dishes, such as crepes or sweet omelettes-, are flamed  with a rum or a lqueur at the serving table on special hotplates.



FLAMBE TROLLEY A small table on castor,  fitted with one or two burnes (spirit or butane) and used in restaurants for flaming dishes  at table.  The flambe trolley often has a bottle rack and cabinet for cutlery.

FLAMICHE  also  known as flamique. A type of sweet of savoury tart made in northen France and Flanders (flamiche is the Flemish word for cake ).  Formerly, it was a cake made of bread dough and eaten freshly baked, spread with butter. Nowadays, a  flamiche contains vegetables or cheese. The vegetables  are cooked slowly in butter, then mixed with egg yolks and seasoned. The best-known flamiche is made with  leeks, in Picardy, where  it s known as flamique a  perions, it is  also prepared with pumpkin or onions.
        Cheese flamiches are usually made with a Maroilles or similar full-flavoured cheese. Flamiche a  l’ancienne is made with  a three-turn puff pastry mixed with semi-matured Maroilles cheese and butter. It is  cooked in a very hot oven and is eaten as a hot entrée with beer. Another  way of making a  flamiche is to line  a pie plate with bread dough and  fill it with slices of Maroilles cheese, alternating  with cream seasoned with black pepper and butter. Yet another variation is prepared in Hainaut, where  cheese flamiche is made as a pie (with a pastry lid). In Dinan the tart tin is lined with shortcrust pastry (basic pie dough) but the covering is a mixture of strong cheese, butter and eggs.

RECIPE

Leek flamche
Make 500 g (1 lb 2 oz)  shortcrusts pastry (basic pie  dough, see short pastry).  Roll cut two-birds of dough to line a 28 cm (11 in) pie plate. Cut and  thinly slice 1 kg (2 ¼ lb) leeks (the  white parts only) and slowly cook them in butter.  Add 3 egg yolks and adjust the seasoning.  Spread the mixture over the pastry on the pie plate. Roll out the remaining  dough large enough to cover the top of the dish.  Dampen and pinch the edges together to seal and  mark a criss-cross  pattern on the top with the tip of a knife. Glaze with beaten egg. Make a slit in the  centre and bake  in a preheated oven at 200°C  (400°F, gas 6) until the pastry is golden brown.

FLAMMENKUCH An Alsatian specialty, whose name means literally flame cake. Traditionally   prepared by the baker, it consists of a large rectangle of  very thin bread dough with a raised edge; it is filled with finely sliced lightly  fried onions mixed with fresh cream and topped with small strips of fried  smoked bacon. Flammenkicbe may also be filled  with a mixture of cream cheese, cream and egg yolks and topped with onions and strips of bacon.  It must be cooked very quickly in a very hot oven.

FLAMRI also known as flamery.  A baked semolina pudding prepared with white wine instead of milk  and served cold.  It is coated with a puree of sweetened red fruit.

RECIPE

Flamari
Place 500 ml (17 fl. oz. 2 cups) sweet white wine and 500 ml (17 fl. oz. 2 cups) water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Gradually stir in 250 g (9 oz. 1 ¼ cups) fine semolina and simmer gently for 25 minutes. remove from the heat and add 250 g  (9 oz. 1 cup)  caster (superfine) sugar, 2 beaten eggs and a generous  pinch of salt. Then stir in 6 stiffy  and generous pinch of salt. Then stir  in 6 stiffly whisked egg whites.  Pour the mixture into a buttered charlotte mould in a bain marie. Cook in a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F, gas 6) for 30 minutes. allow to cool, then turn out on to a serving dish and coat with a sauce made from a puree of  uncooked red fruit that has been sweetened with  sugar.

FLAMUSSE An apple pudding made in the same  way as clafuotis. It is a speciality of burgundy and Nivernais.

RECIPE

Apple flamusse
Put 65 g (2 ½ oz. 2/3 cup)  plain (all-purpose) flour in a mixing bowl.  Make a well in the centre and add 75 g (3 oz. 6 tablespoons) caster (superfine) sugar, a generous pinch of salt and 3 beaten eggs.  Mix  with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Gradualy ad 500 ml (17 fl. oz. 2 cups) milk and mix well. Feel 3 or 4 dessert (eating)  apples and cut them into thins slices. Arrange them on a buttered pie plate so  that they overlap.  Pour the butter mixture  over the top and cook in a preheated oven at 150°C (300°F, gas 2 ) for 45 minutes.  when cooked,, turn that lamusse over to serve, and sprinkle  the apples generously with caster sugar.

FLAN an open tartfilled with fruit, a cream or a savoury mixture.  A flan may be served as a hot  entrees or as a dessert.  The word comes from the old French flaon, from the Latin  flado (a flat cake).
       
        Flans have been in existence for centuries. They are mentioned in the words of the Latin poet.  Fortunatus (AD 530-609), and  featured in medieval cookery – Taillevent gave numerous recipes for flans.
        The word flan is also sued in France and Spain for  an egg custard, often caramel-flavoured, that is made in  a mould, turned out and serve cold.

RECIPES

Flan case baked blind
Prepare 350g (12oz) pastry dough (short on shortcrust, sweet fine lining or puff) and roll out to  a thickness of 3mm (1/8 in). grease and flour a 28 cm (11 in) pie plate or flan ring and line it with the  pastry, pressing firmly around the edges to ensure  that it  stays in place and taking care not to stretch the pastry. Leave a thicker edge of pastry at the top so that  it does not shrink  while it is being baked.    Trim off the excess pastry by rolling the  rolling pin around the rim of the  plate or by trimming with a sharp knife. Prick the bottom with a fork and completely cover the pastry with lightly buttered greased proof (was) paper or foil, greased side down.  to keep  the base of the flan flat, sprinkle the surface of the paper with baking beans or dried peas. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F, gas 6)  for about 10 minutes. remove the paper or foil and baking beans, glaze the crust with beaten egg, and return to the oven for 3-4 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked and dried  out.  The flan case (pie shell) may then be filled.

Savoury Falns
Cheese flan
Bake a flan case (pie shell) blind. Heat  500 ml (17 fl. oz. 2 cups) double heavy) cream with 50 g (2 oz. ¼ cup) butter.  Season with salt,  pepper and grated nutmeg and add 100 g (4 oz. 1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour.  Whisk over a gentle heat to obtain a fairly smooth cream. Remove  from the heat and add 4 egg yolks  and 150 g (5 oz. 1 ¼ cups)  grated cheese. Whisk  4 egg white into very stiff peaks and fold them into  the cream mixture.  Fill the flan case and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F, gas 6) for about  30 minutes, or until set and browned.

Chicken liver flan chavette.
Baked a flan case (pie shall blind. Thickly slice 500 g  (18 oz) trimmed chicken livers. Season and sauté  quickly in hot butter.  Drain and keep warm.  Sauté  200 g (7 oz. 2 ½  cups) sliced mushrooms in the  same butter. Season, drain and keep warm with the  chicken livers.
        Make  a sauce by adding 200 ml (7 fl oz. ¾ cup) Madeira to the juices in the pan in which the chicken livers and mushrooms were cooked.  Reduce a little.  Add 350 ml (12 fl. oz. 1 11/2 cups) thin bechamel sauce and 200 ml (7 fl. oz ¾ cup) single  (light) cream and reduce the sauce until it has a  creamy consistency. Strain it, then add the chicken livers and mushrooms. Simmer gently without allowing the sauce to boil.
        Prepare some very soft scrambled eggs (using  8-10 eggs) and then add 2 tablespoons grated. Parmean cheese and 2 tablespoons butter.
        Arrange the chicken lives and mushrooms in the bottom of the prepared flan case. Top  with the scrambled egg mixture and  sprinkle with grated cheese. Pour some melted butter oven the top and  brown very quickly in a preheated oven at 240°C (475°F, gas 9) so that the scrambled eggs are not  overcooked.

Seafood flan
Bake  a flan case (pie shell) blind.   Prepare a ragout of shellfish (such as oysters, mussels and cockles). Blend the shellfish with a fairly thick normande sauce and fill the flan case with the mixture. Sprinkle with toasted breadcrumbs and a little melted butter and brown in a preheated oven at 240°C(475°F, gas 9).

Sweet Flan
Cherry flan
Line a flan ring with sweetened pastry (pate sucree) and  bake  blind.  Remove the stalks and stones  (stems and pits) from 400 g (14 oz. 2 cups) black  cherries (Bing cherries).  Boil 300 ml (1/2 pint.1 ¼  cups)  milk with a vanilla pod (bean) split in two  and then stir in 3 tablespoons double (heavy) cream. Beat 3 eggs with 100 g (4 oz. ½ cu) caster (superfine) sugar in a bowl, add the vanilla-flavoured milk and whisk until the mixture ahs cooled completely. Place the cherries in the flan case (pie shell and carefully pour the mixture oven.  Cook in  a preheated oven a 190°C. (375°F, gas 5) for 35-40  minutes.  serve either lukewarm or cold sprinkled with sugar if wished.

FLANDERS  The  cuisine of this northern  province  has much in common with that of the neighboring provinces  of Artois and Picarcy. The North Sea provides maritime Flanders with an abundance  of fish, particularly mackerel and  herrings.  Crops and  vegetables of the interior include wheat, potatoes, endive (chicory) , hops and sugar  beet High-quality livestock is also important and includes pigs and sheep, and also dairy and beef cattle, whose meat is  highly regarded. With all these resources, the  cuisine of Flanders is a rich one -  dishes are usually cooked  slowly in a covered part.
        The most typical Flemish soups are soupe verte (green soup) and beetroot (red beet) soup.  fish  specialities include Dunkerque bloaters, wam (dried fish), macakerel stuffed  with shallots, spring onions (scallions), parsley and butter, cod a la flamande (sautéed  with shallots and cooked in white wine), red herring salad (with potatoes and beetroot) and  eels in beer.
        Typical meat dishes include smoked tongues of  Valenciennes baby chitterlings (ancluillettes) of Cambrai and Armentieres, the traditional Flemish hotch-potch, carbonades, potfevfleisch, rabbit a la flamande (with prunes and raisins), cod a la biere  (in beer) and poule au blanc (cihicken cool in white stock).
        Vegetables are used to make flamiches and also to make such specialities  as red cabbage a la lilloise  (cabbage, applies and onions, simmered for 3 hours, reduced to a puree and cooked briefly in the oven in a souffle mould.)
        The best-known cheeses, which all have  strong flavuor, are Bergues, Mnt-des-cats, coeur d’Arras.  Boulette d’ Avesnes, Dauphin. Vieux-Lille  and Maroilles. Omelettes and flamiches are made  with Maroilles cheese, as is the goyere (Maroilles  cheese tart) of  Valenciennes.
        The production of sugar from sugar beet has given rise to a variety of regional pastries and confectionery. The best known are the apple pies of  Avesnes, plum tarts, craquelins of Roubaix, carres of  Lannoy, galopins (little oblongs of bread dipped in milk mixed with eggs, and fried ),  couques, and the  bettises (mint humbugs) of Cambrai.
        The local drink is beer, and good-quality spirits are distilled from beetroot or cereals, often flavoured with unique berries.

FLANK The abdominal muscles of beef, which form a second-category joint.  Thick  flank steaks cut on the perpendicular from the internal muscles are lean, tasty, coarse-grained and slightly tough (they must therefore be hung); they are eaten grilled (broiled) or sautéed . Thin flank is similar  but slightly  tougher. Cuts taken from the two external muscles give fibrous, external tougher.  Cuts taken from the two external muscles  give fibrous, rather tough meat, suitable for broths and stews.

RECIPES

Flank with shallots
Chop some shallots, allowing 1 level tablespoons chopped shallots for each steakk. Fry the steaks quickly in butter, add the chopped shallot to the  frying pan (skillet) and brown. Season with salt and  pepper. Remove  the steaks and deglaze the meat  juices with vinegar (2 tablespoon per steak) and a  little stock, then reduce.  Pour the shallots and juice over the steaks.

Grilled flank
Brush some steaks with oil, sprinkle  with chopped  herbs (fresh thyme and parsley) and grill (broil) quickly for 7-8 minutes. season with salt and pepper at the end of cooking.

FLAN RING  A ring of tin-plate of varying diameter (6-33 cm.  2 ½ -13 ½ in). Many  pastry cooks prefer it to a mould for preparing tarts and flans. When  placed directly on the baking sheet, it  ensures better diffusion of heat through the pastry and enables the cooked tart or flan to be easily removed.  A loose-bottomed metal flan tin is often used instead particularly by home cooks.

FLAUGNARDE Also known as flagnarde.   Flognarde or flougnarde.  A flan made in the Auvergne.   Lomousin and Perigord regions of France.  The name  is derived from the Old French fleugne, meaning soft  or downy. The flan resembles clafoutis and is made  with apples, pears or prunes,   falvoured with  cinnamon, vanilla, rum brandy, orange-flower water or  lemon. It resembles a large pancake and is served lukewarm or cold (curnonsky recommended) the latter), generously sprinkled with icing (confectioner’s) sugar and sometimes spread with jam.

RECIPE

Flaugnarde
Beat 4 eggs with 100 g (4 oz. ½ cup) caster (superfine) sugar in a bowl until the  mixture is light and frogthy gradually add 100 g (4 oz. 1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour and  a pinch of salt. Slowly beat in 1.5 litres (2 ¾ pints, 6 ½ cups)  milk.  Mix well, then flavour with 100 ml (4 fl. oz.7 tablespoons) rum or 4 tablespoons orange-flower water..  peel and core 3 pears, cut them into thin slices and add them to  the mixture. Butter an overproof dish, pour in the  mixture and dot the surface with small pieces of  butter. Bake  in a preheated oven at 220°C (425°F,  gas 7) for 30 minutes. serve hot or cold.

FLAVOUR  The sensation produced when food  comes into contact with the taste buds on the tongue. There are  four basic tastes – sweet, salty, sour and bitter – which are detected  by taste buds on different parts of the tongue.  The particular  flavour of a dish comes from the combination of  several of these tastes; when one  predominates, the  dish is described is sweet, salty, sour or bitter.
        Extreme temperatures (very hot or very cold) temporarily numb the sense of taste.  When flavours are  mixed they can mask each other or bring each other  out. Salt masks the sweetening  power of sugar, but a  pinch of salt in a sweet dish (especially in pastries  and dough) makes it seems sweeter.  A little sugar  added to some savoury foods (peas, tomatoes,  sauces) enhances their flavour.  A contrasting taste will modify the flavour  of foodssuffs, for example fruit tastes sour after a sweet dish and sweet after cheese or a spiced dish.  The  skillful cook combiens  contrasting or similar flavours to produce a barmonious whole, the flavours being  enhanced by  texture,  consistency, colour and temperature.


FLAVOURING  A substance added to a preparation to improve  its flavour. Before  the 13th century it was customary to use exotic flavourings which are now  usually reserved for perfumery, such as essence  of rose and other flowers, benzoin, amber and musk.  Today, the herbs  and spices commonly used for flavouring include thyem,  by, savory, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, aniseed,  pepper and ginger  Orange-flower water, almond essence (extract), vanilla and the zest of citrus fruits are used for flavouring cakes, pastries and confiectionery.
        Wines, fortified wines (Madiera, Frontgaan, port  and sherry), spirits and brandles are used extensively for flavouring sauces and gravies and for enhancing  the taste of game stews, salmis shellfish a la bordelaise or a l’americaine, and flamedmeat and poultry dishes. A variety of extracts, esssence and fumets are  also used. Other methods of flavouring include  steam-cooking with aromatic plants, smoking with specially scented wood, and macerating  with spices.

FLEURIE  One of the ten Beaujolais region distinguished by an AOC Charming and fruity, the wines  are sometimes associated with the  ‘flowerness’  of  the place name. They are usually at their  best when drunk young.

FLEURISTE, A LA  Describing a  preparation of small cuts of sautéed  meat garnished with chateau potatoes. The latter are hollowed out, slowly baked and filled with a jardiniere of vegetables mixed with butter.

FLEURON  A small puff-pastry shape used to garnish pie crusts or served with dishes of fish cooked in sauce. Fleurons are cut into crescents or other  shapes from the leftover pastry trimmings, rolled out very thinly.  They are then brushed with beaten egg and baked or fried.

FLICOTEAUX A  Parisian  restaurant, situated in the place de la sorbone, that was frequented in the 19th century by generations of students, journalists  and impoverished writers because of its fixed-price menus.  Balzac gave a vivid description of the two long low rooms, each with a narrow table. The tablecloths were changed on Sundays in ‘Flicoteaux  1 and twice a week in ‘Flicoteaux II’  in order to  compete with other restaurants.  He made this comment about the cooking;  ‘The female ox prevails and  potatoes are inevitable. When the whiting and mackerel shoals teem on the Atlantic coasts, they rebound into the restaurant of Flicoteaux.’

FLIP Former,  a flip was a hot alcoholic drink  made with beer, rum and beaten eggs. Today it is  usually a cocktail made with wine  or spirits mixed with beaten eggs, sugar, nutmeg and various flavourings. The  best known is the port flip.

FLATING ISLANDS A cold desert consisting of a light egg custard topped with egg whites that have been stiffly whisked with sugar, shaped with a tablespoon and poached either in boiling water or in the milk used to make the custard. In the latter case the dish is more difficulty to make  successfully and the whites are not as meltingly soft.  Floating islands are served drizzled with caramel or crushed  praline.
        Lle flottante, in French, was formerly made with  slices of stale Savoy sponge-cake or brioche that were moistened with liqueur and sandwiched together with apricot jam containing chopped almonds and raisins.  It was served cold with custard cream or a puree of strawberries, rasberries or redcurrants.

RECIPES

Floating islands
Boil 750 ml (1 ¼ pints. 3 ¼ cups) milk with a vanilla pod (bean) or 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar. Whisk 8 egg whites to  stiff peaks with a pinch of salt, then fold in 3 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar.  Using a  tablespoon, gently drop portion of the whisked egg whites into the boiling milk.  Turn the whites so  that they are cooked all over.  Remove  after 2 minutes and drain on a cloth. Make an egg custard with the same milk, the 8 egg yolks, and 250 g (9 oz 1 cup) sugar. When completely cold, pour the custard into a deep, place the cooked egg whites  on top, and chill until ready to serve.   Serve drizzled with caramel.

Floating island  with pink pralines
Make a custard wit 500 ml (17 fl. oz. 2 cups) boiled mil 6 egg yolks, 200 g (7 oz. 1 cup) sugar and half a vanilla pod (bean). Pour  it into a serving dish to cool completely. Butter a deep cake tin (pan) that has a slightly  smaller diameter than the serving dish. Crush 100 g (4 oz) pink  pralines with a  rolling pin and sprinkle three-quarters over the place it in a ovenproof dish.  Arrange  the supreme on top, coat with Nornay sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and melted butter, and brown in a preheated oven at 240°C, (475°F, gas 9)

FLORIAN A garnish for large joins of meat made  with braised lettuce, small glazed onions, shaped  glazed carrots and small potato croquettes.

FLOUNDER A flatfish that is often found in esauaries, although it is actually a sea fish. The European  species,  Placitichtbys flesus, has a greenish or brownish mottled skin covered  with tiny scales and can be  up to 50 cm (20 in) long.
        In France, the flounder is sometimes known as flandre (or flondre)  d riviere or le picard. In formet times, it was incorrectly called fleton, which  means halibut.
        In northern Europe, especially in Norway, flounders are preserved by drying  and smoking.  Recipes for turbot, brill,  dab and plaice and suitable for flounderrs. In American cuisine, the world flounder is used  for a larger variety of flatfish than in Europe.
        Flounder is the only flat fish caught in any quantity in Australia.  There  its quality is on a par with place.


FLOUR  Finely ground cereal, such as wheat, burley, oats, rye, rice and maize (corn). In Britain, the word ‘flour’ usually refers to flour produced from  wheat. The milling of grain dates back to prehistoric  times and over thousands of year this  has developed into an important and highly automated industry.  There  is evidence that wheat or corr was  crushed and used as food at least  6000 years ago.  The  pounding stones used for this purpose have  been discovered in archaeological digs throughout  Europe.
        The Romans were the first to apply rotary motion to milling. This involved grinding the grain between circular stones, one rotating and the other stationary.  The domestic querm mills were turned by hand; the  larger mills, by slaves or donkeys. The milled flour was sifted through a bouling bag of linen or rushes., which separated the white flour from the brain and  wheatgerm.
        The water wheel came to Britain from Rome. The earliest were laid horizontally in the water, later they were set vertically.  Windmills first appeared about 1200 and were widely used until the industrial Revolution. After this, steel roller mills were introduced from Hungary. These  produce finer flours as we  know them today and roller milling is still the system used in all large commercial mills.
        The wheat grain is composed of three parts endosperm, germ or embryo and bran. The object of milling is to separate the  endosperin form the bran and germ, because white flour is derived from the endosperm, which generally comprises 85% of  the grain (compares) with 2% germ and 14% bran). Today  wheat is cleaned before milling foreign matter being removed on the basis of shape, size and  density. After this the  wheat is moistened and  allow to temper’,   a process that toughens the  bran and makes separation more complete.
        Wheat grains are initially ground on break (or fluted) rolls that are designed to shear open the grains and  released the endosperm:  The ground material is then sieved; the bran flakes with endorsperin still attached to them are reground by finer break rolls, and large endosperin  pieces are sent to purifiers which  remove small bran particles using air currents. The purified endosperm pieces (semolina) are then ground on mat-surface rolls (reduction rolls) to  produce flour. A number of reduction passenger are  required to convert the semolina into flour is  removed from the sifters  at various stages throughout the milling process. These various machine flours are blended  to produce a range of flours to  meet bakery specifications. Wheatgerm is removed  during the milling of wheat into white flour and is sold separately.
        Hard milling wheats mill easily to give high yields of granular free-flowing flour, whereas soft milling wheats produce fine flours of poor sieving and packing qualities.
§  Flour grades  Flour is milled to different specifications and consistencies, including soft, hard or strong bread and pasta 00 (Italian grades) and varies form country to country. American flour used to be far finer than its British counterpart, but these days there is little to differentiate then, as roller milling process have been standardized.
The main types of flour available in Britain are plain (all-purpose), used for general baking and containing 755 of the wheat grain; self-raising (sell-rising, which is plain flour with baking powder  added; strong or bread flour, used for  bread  dough brown flour, which contains 85% of the wheat grain;  and wholemeal flour, which is 100% wheat grain.  The last two contain more fibre and are less  processed and can be used in place of whole flour, where appropriate.  Improves in the form of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) are added to the flour supplied  to commercial  bakers. This helps to strengthen  the  gluten, giving better rising properties.
In other parts of the world, flour is made form variety of cereals and starchy ingredients, including spelt, maize (corn), potatoes and rice. In Italy, pasta is made from 00 flour.  Containing  70%  of the wheat grain, this flour is milled from the middle part of  wheat’s endosperm, giving a much whiter result.  Whole wheat pasta flour uses 100%  of the grain.


FLOURING The process of lightly covering an item of food with flour, or sprinkling  a mould, cake  tin (pin) or work surface with flour.  Items of food are often floured before frying of sautéing, the excess flour can be removed by shaking or tapping. Flouring should not be done  too far in advance as the flour be dry. Foods may also be floured before being coated with egg and breadcrumbs. Finally, items of sautéed  meat or poultry may be  floured after being browned as a method of thickening a  ragout or casserole (the  French word for this process is singer).
        A work surface or a pastry board is floured before  the dough is rolled out to prevent  it form sticking. Some baking tins (pans) and sheet need to be  floured lightly before mixtures are poured in or before  being lined with pastry. The in or sheet is  usually greased beforehand. This makes it search to  turn out the item after cooking or to prevent a mixture from spreading out to much on a baking sheet when cooking begins.
        In bakery, bannetons (wicker moulds  lined with cloth) are dusted with a special are flour this process is known as fleurage.

FLOUTES  Speciality, of the Jura consisting  of  mashed potato, flour, eggs and cream, fried in a pan until golden.  Traditionally, floutes accompany meats.

FLOWERS  Throughout history, flowers have been used in cookery. The Romans used them to flavour certain dishes -  the  recipes of apicius include brains with rose petals, sweet marjoram flowers in various  hashes, and a sauce with sufflower petals – and  Roman wines were flavoured with roses or violets.  Today flowers are used mostly in Oriental cookery dried rosebuds are used as a condiment: jam is  made from rose petals, salads incorporate chyrsanthemum, nasturtium or marigold petals ;  jasmine and hibiscus flowers flavor poultry and fish dishes; and yellow lillies provide seasoning for sauces and  stocks.
        In Europe, flowers  are used in aromatic drinks, wines, hyssop syrup and pink ratafia). Some well-known spices and  flavourings are made from flowers and buds, notably cloves capers nasturtium flowers in vinegar and  orange-flower and rose waters.
        Several chefs have invented recipe that include  flowers, either as an ingredient or as decoration.  Jules maincave, a great French chef at the beginning of the 20th century, declared that seasonings were  ‘pitifully limited, whereas the progress of modern chemistry would enable us to use rose, lilac and lily-of-the valley’.  Alexandre Dumas suggested  a recipe for herb  soup a la dauphine  containing marigold flowers.  Usually flowers are added to soups at the  end  of cooking. In salads they obviously play a more decorative role, particularly nasturtium, but also red poppy, borage, violet and honeysuckle. They  can be arrange in a crown or in bunches, and  the colours of the other ingredients.  Vinegar changes the colour of flowers, and if they are to be used in salad with a vinalgrette dressing, they must be added at the last movement and the salad must no be tossed until it is time  to  serve. Certain flowers re especially suitable form fritters mimosa, gourd, elder and jasmine. Pumpkin flowers can be eaten stuffed and are also used to garnish omeletts. Flavoured butters are seasoned with the  petals of jasmine, orange, lemon or garlic flowers.  Flowering mint is suitable for fish, together with lime and jasmine flowers. The  latter may also be used in various forcemeats. Aromatic  infussions are also made from flowers and may be drunk or used in certain streamed dishes. Wild violets  complement veal; sage is used with pork; and mind and thyme with mutton.
        Flowers have always been used in confectionery, for example in rose-water jelies,  rose jam, crystalized (canided) violets, minosa, forget-me-nots and  primulas, and praline-floured orange blossoms. These sweet delicacies  and decorations were  very  popular in France at the tittle of the Second empire.

FLUTE A long thin French roll, weighing  about 100 g (4 oz), midway  between a baguette and a ficelle in size,  flutes are usually split in half and  grilled (broiled)  for coutes, or served with soups and broths.
        In france, a flune is also a tall thin bottle used traditionally for white Alsace wines.

FLUTE GLASS A glass with a  stem and a narrow body, for serving champagne and other sparkling  wines.  The narrow body (as opposed to a wide one) enables the wine to keep its sparkle as the gas bubbles are not released so quickly.

FLUTING The technique of making V-shaped grooves over the surface of a pure, cream or mousse,  using a spatula. Pieces of pastry are  described as fluted when they have been cut out with a serrated pastry (cookie) cutter. A toothed piping nozzle is also described as fluted.

FLYING FISH A small fish , 18-25 cm (7-10 in) long, common in warm and tropical seas. It has a blue back and a silvery belly and its pectoral fins are winglike, enabling, it to glide above the surface of  the water. It is often fished in the Carribean islands its tasty flesh prepared like mackerel.

FOCCACIA An Italian olive-oil flat bread,  of very ancient origin, since it dates to bakestones days. It is  a hearth bread.  Traditionally fluing into the oven just  after the fire has been raked out, when the temperature is still too high to bake a larger loaf without burning the crust. In northern Italy  it plays a similar role to that of pizza in the south – eaten as a snack  (frequently) as street  food) or with cheese or antipasti.
        Originating from Genoa (and  related to fougasse or fouace from the  south of France0 but now made  all over Italy, including the south, foccacia all genouese is made with plenty of olive oil and  salt. It is  usually baked  (traditionally in large round copper baking tins), but occasionally friend. There are many different regional variations, for example with onions, chard, salt cod or mozzarell.
        Schiacciata is the focaccia of Tuscany, often with herbs, and pan sciocco (also pane toscano) is  the unsalted version, traditionally eaten with sally  foods.
       
FOIE GRAS Goose or duck liver that is grossly enlarged by methodically flattening the bird. The force-feeding of geese was done as early as Roman times when figs were used. As soon as the bird was  slaughtered, the liver was plunged into a bath of  milk and honey, which made it swell as well as  flavouring it.  Nowadays the birds are fattened with  maize (corn) each lifer weighs (675-900 g (1 ½-2 lb) for geese – the record  is 2 kg (4 ½ lb.)  - and 300 – 400 g (11-14 oz ) for ducks.
        Foie gras from Toulouse geese savoury-white and  creamy from Strasbourg geese, plaker and fiermer. It  is a highly prized delicacy, yet opinion vary as to is suitably  for  culinary  preparation in comparison with duck foie gras; the latter is also delicate (but slightly darker in colour than goose liver but melts  and breaks down more during cooking and has a slightly  more pronounced flavour.  André Daguin, a  leading chief of Auch, prefers  duck foie gras.  France also imports foie gras from Austria, the (Zech Republic, Hungary, Israel  and Luxembroug, as  demand exceeds French production.
        Charles Gerard, in L’Ancienne Alsace a table, wrote:  ‘The goose is nothing, but man has made of it an instrument for the output of a marvellous product, a kind of living hothouse in which there grows the supreme fruit of gastronomy.  Foie gras is available  in four forms in France.
§  RAW FOIE GRAS (foi gras crue)  Increasingly in  demand, this is sold during the  holiday season at  the end of the year. It must be well-lobed, smooth and round, but not too large (so that no all its fat is rendered down in the cooking process), and putty-coloured (if yellowish, it has a tendency to be grain).  Its preparation and cooking must be  meticulous, and only worthwhile for fine-quality livers.
§  FRESH FOIE GRASS (foie gras froish) this  can be purchased cooked from delicatessens, usually in pots. It  will keep at the most for a week, covered, in the   refrigerator.
§  SEMI-COOKED FASTEURIZED FOIE GRAS (foie grass mi-cuit pasteurise) Sold  in cains, this will keep for  three months in the  refrigerator once opened. It  retain the taste of fresh foie gras quite  well, and its  manufacture is governed by very strict regulations. The best-quality products must have  a perfect consistency, aroma and flavour, and  must  not  exude fat.  The labels ‘foie gras ‘doie entier’  (whole goose foie  gras prepared with truffles), foie gras de canand  entier truffe (whole goose foie gras prepared with truffles), foie gras de canard  entier’ (whole duck foie gras), and ‘foie gras de  canard entier  truffe (whole duck) foie gras prepared  with truffles) apply to pure  whole livers (formerly  labelled ‘foie’ gras au natured’) ,  goose or duck  ‘parfait de foie gras’, with or without truffles, is a  liver reconstituted from smalll pieces (formerly labelled ‘block de foie gras).  Pate de foie d’oie truffe  (goose-liver pate with truffles) is a whole goose liver  coated with forcemeat (formerly) called parfait de  foie d’oie truffe). This labels ‘delice,”   ‘lingot’, ‘suprme’, ‘timbale’, ‘roulade’  and ‘tombeau’  designate products  caoted with forecemeat or barding, or  both  (with a minimum of 20% foie gras).   When the  foie gras is referred to as ‘truffle’, with no other indication, if contains at least 35 truffles.
§  PRESERVED FOLE GRAS (foie gras de conserve) Sold in jars, this is the  most traditional preparation. Sterilized and preserved in its own f at, it will keep for years in a cool dark day place   and  improves like  wine.
In addition to the labels  for semi-cooked foie grass there is also the lable ‘puree de foie d’oie’(goose-liver pure). This contains 50-75% finely pounded goose liver, and the term replace, the former ‘mouse’.
Tradition and innovation Whether from the goose  or the  duck, foie his always  been considered as a rare delicacy, but the way in which is it served has  changed according to a culinary fashion. At one time it was served at the end of the meal.  The traditional truffle and aspic accompaniments are now thought to be superfluous by some, who prefer to serve  it with lightly toasted  fannhouse bread (leavened and  slightly acid), rather  than with  plain slices of toast. Nouvelle cuisine set as much store by foie gras as  classic cuisine, and sometimes  gave it novel accompaniments, such as green leeks, pumpkin or even  scallops. However, the classic recipes, both hot and cold still retain prestige.
        Most  dishes described as a la perigourdine  or Rossini are prepared with foie gras.

RECIPES

Preparation of raw foie gras
Carefully remove  all the  tubes and skin from the  liver, using the point of a thin-bladed knife. First  make in incision in each lobe starting from the  larger end, where main vein is located.  Separate  it. Still using the knife, pull on the vein. It will come  away  by itself, showing the rest  of the network, which can then be easily  removed.  Once the lobes are open, seasoned them with  ½ teaspoon salt and  ¼ teaspoon freshly ground  pepper per 450 g (1 lb).  close up each lobe, wrapping it tightly in muslin  (cheesecloth), and chill overnight.
        The next day, place  the liver  is  a terrine, cover it with goose fat and poach it,  allowing  4 minutes per 100 g (4 oz) fole gras when  the fat starts  to simmer.  When it is  cooked, cool and drain the liver on a  wire rack, then chill for at least 24 hours. Remove  the muslin before serving the foie gras cold, possibly with a hot truffle cooked en popillote.
        The taste of the liver  can be enhanced by marinating it , for 48 hours in port mixed with 10% Armagnac.

Duck Foie Grats
Cold duck or goose foie gras escalopes with graves and truffles
Prepare the raw liver and cook as described in the  basic preparation above. Cut the  liver into equalized slices. On each of these escalopes (scallops)  place 1 large slice of truffle dipped in aspic jelly and leave to set, then glaze the whole escalope with  aspic. Arrange the escalopes in  crown shape in shallow glass bowl. In the middle of the crown heap a dome of fresh peeled seeded grapes which  have been steeped in a little liqueur brandy. Coat  everything lightly with clear port-flavoured aspic.  Cover and then chill well before serving.

Duck foie grass with white pepper and green leeks
Prepare a foie gras weighing 300-400 g 911-14 oz) as above. Boil  some young green leeks in salted  water and puree them with a little cream. Put this  puree in a small  greased cake tin (pan). seasoned the  foie gras with salt  and coarsely ground pepper and arrange  it on the leek puree. Cove the tin with foil  and bake in a preheated oven at 140°C (275°F, gas, 1) for 35 minutes.  leave to cool for 45 minutes  (the last 15 minutes in the refrigerator).

Duck or goose foie gras mousse
Press a cooked foie gras through a fire sieve, and place the puree in a bowl.  Four each litre 91 ¾ pints. 4 ½  cups) puree, add 250 ml 98 fl. oz. 1 cup) melted  aspic jelly and 400 ml (14 fl. oz. 1 ¾ cups) chicken veloute sauce.  Beat the mixture lightly over ice. Season, then add 400 ml (14 fl. oz. 1 ¾ cup) partly whipped double (heavy) cream. Line a round mould with aspic jelly and garnish with slices of truffle  the  thinly sliced whites of hard-boiled (hard-cooked) eggs and  tarragon leaves. Then fill with the  mousse up to 1.5 cm (3/4 in)  form the top of the  mould. Cover the  mousse with a layer of aspic jelly, allow to cool, and then chill.
        Turn out the mousse on to a  serving dish, or a buttered crouton, and surround it with chopped aspic jelly. The  foie gras mousse can also  be served in a  silver dish or a crystal bowl, at the bottom of  which  a layer of aspic jelly has been left to set.  Smooth the top of the mousse, which should be slightly  with any remaining aspic jelly.

Glazed duck foie gras
Season a fine duck foie gras with salt and pepper then marinate it in port at least 24 hours.  Draw  a 2.5 kg (5 ½ lb)  duck through the neck remove the  breastbone and open out the tail   end. Put the  liver  into  the duck and truss it up Brush the duck with oil and cook in a covered casserole in a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F, gas 6) for 1 hour 20 minutes. While  the duck is cooking, prick the skin frequently  with  a fork so that it  does not burst. Remove  from the casserole  and leave to cool.  Add the port marinade and some aspic jelly made with  the ducks’s  giblets to the  pan juices. Glaze the duck with this  clarified aspic and chill.
        Poach some  prunes in water, some  cherries in a  red-wine jelly, and some apple quarters in butter.  Fllavour all these  fruits with ginger and glaze with  the remaining duck aspic. Stuff some stoned (pitted) green olives  with foie gras or harm mousse. Peel  the segments of a large orange. Arrange the duck in the serving dish with all the  fruits, making the orange segments into a rosette.

Steamed duck foie gras with  sauternes
Prepare seme stock with duck bones, 1 bott of  sauternes, 2 carrots, 1 turnips, 2 celery sticks, 2 shallot and the white part of a leek (all sliced). Season with  salt and pepper. Trim the foie gras and remoe the  tubes, season with salt and pepper and chill (with the strained stock) for 24 hours.  Pour the stock into a streamer, place the foie gras in the streamer basket and cook for about 15 minutes. cut  the foie gras into  slices pour over a little of the stock and serve hot or cold.



Goose Foie Gras
Baked foie gras
Prepare a foie gras weighing about 575 g (1 ¼ lb), season it with coarse salt and keep in a cool place  for 24 hours. Wash the liver, wipe it and marinate for 48 hours with ground paprika, spices and Armagnac brandy.  Drain the liver, place it in a ovenproof dish and half-fill the dish with melted goose fat.  Bake  in a  preheated oven at 190°C (375°F, gas5), turnips it over  while cooking, for about 15 minutes per450 g ( 1 lb).  To see it is done, pierece with a skewer, the drop of juice that appears should be only just pink.

Foie gras en broiche (hot)
Soak a pig’s caul (caul fat) in cold water.  Prepare some unsweetened brioche dough. Take a firm foie gras weighing 675-900 g 91 ½ - 2 lb) and stud it with truffles which have been seasoned and moistened with  brandy and leave to marinate for a few hours. Drain  the pig’s caul, wipe it dry wrap the foie gras in it.  Cook in  preheated oven at 190°C (375°F, gas 5 ) for 18-20 minutes, then leave to cool.
        Line the bottom of a plain greased timbale mould with a fairly thick layer of  briorche dough, then add  the liver and cover it with  another, thinner, layer of  dough. Cover  the  mould with a piece  of buttered greaseproof (wax0 paper and  tie with string to prevent the dough from spilling out when cooking. Leave  the dough to rise  for 2 hours in a warm place, then bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F, gas 6 ) for 50-60 minutes. To see if the brioche is done, pierce with a needle, which should come out clean. Turn  out the brioche and serve.

Foie gras puree
Prepare  some thick chicken veloute sauce and  double its volume of foie gras, cooked and pressed  through  a fine sieve. Stir  together over heat, then bind with egg yolk. This  puree can be used as it is for filling bouchees, barquettes, tartles or brioches. It can also be mixed with white breadcrumbs to  stuff artichoke  hearts or mushroom caps, or used  plain to garnish cold hors d’oeuvre and eggs.

Goose foie gras with sultanas
Prepare a foie gras weighing about 575 g (1 ¼  lb) in the usual way. Cook in a saucepan over a gentle heat for 5-6 minutes, drain and remove  the fit.  Fry 1 chopped onion in goose fat, sprinkle with a little flour and add the liver cooking juices,  a little white wine, 1 chopped tomato, a bouquet garni and some stock. Cook for 30 minutes, then strain. Put  the liver in a heavy-based casserole with this sauce, add some sultanas (golden raisins) that have been soaked in warm Madeira until swollen, and leave to  simmer to 20 minutes.  serve with croutors fried in goose fat and drain well.

Potted foie gras with truffles
Remove the tubes from a goose foie grase and divide  it in half. Trim the lobes and reserve the trimmings.  Stud the liver  with pieces of truffle. Season  with spiced   salt. Pour over some brandy and leave to marinate for 5-6 hours. Prepare a forcemeat made  of 375 g (13 oz) lean pork meat, 450 g (1 lb0fatty pork , the foie gras trimmings. 150 g 95 oz. 1 cup)  diced truffles, 3 tablespoons  Madeira and 2 tablespoons spiced salts.
        Line the bottom and sides of an oval terrine or ovenproof dish with thin slices or pork fat, then cover the inside  with a thin layer of the forecemeat.  Place half the ramining foie gras on top of the forcemeat and press down.  Cover with another  layer of forcemeat, then place foie gras on top.  Finsih with  the rest of the forcemeat. Cover with thin slice of pork fat.  Press well to flatten the  ingredients and place half a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme on top. Cover the terrine, seal the lid with a flour-and-water paste and place in a bain marie. Bring to  the boil, then place in a preheated oven at 180°C(350°F, gas 4) and bake for 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours, depending  on the size of the terrine.
        Cook, uncover, then leave under alight weight until the next day.  Turn  out the potted foie gras by standing the dish in hot water for a few seconds.  Remove the pork fat and dry the top of the foie gras with a cloth, pressing down a little to firm it. Pour a thin layer of lard (shortening) mixed with goose fat (rendered during cooking) over the bottom of the  terrine and leave it to sat. replace  the  foie gras in the terrine and pour some more lard  and goose fat mixture (just warm) over the top  chill for a least 12 hours and serve in the terrine.

Truffled foie gras with madeira
Trim a foie gras and remove  the tubes.  Stud with  truffle sticks and season with spiced salt.  Pour brandy over it and leave to marinate for a few  hours. Wrap the foie gras in a pigs’ caul  (Caul fac) or in thin strips of bacon fat and place in a braising pan lined with fresh pork skin, sliced onions and carrots tossed in butter. Cover  and simmer for 7-8  minutes. add 250 ml (8 fl. oz. 1 cup) Madeira, port or  sherry and simmer for several minutes. Add 200 ml (7 fl. oz. ¾ cup)  concentrated brown veal stock (containing some dissolve gelatine if the  foie gras is to be served cold) and  cook in a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F, gas 5) for 45 minutes.
        Drain the foie gras, unwrap it, and place it on serying dish.  Strain the cooking juices  and skim off al the fat. Pour over the foie gras and serve hot.
        To serve cold, place the drained and unwarpped foie gras in a terrine just large enough to hold it.  Pour over the strained cooking juices and leave to cook for 12 hours (of which at least 2 hours should be in the refrigerator). Remove the layer of solidified fat on the surface of the sauce and serve the foie gras from the terrine.

Truffled pate de foie gras
Prepare 1 kg (2 ¼ lb). pate pastry dough, made with butter or lard (shortening), and  leave to rest for  12 hours. Prepare  2 frim foies gras in the usual way. Stud  the lobes with peeled  truffles cut into sticks, seasoned  with spiced salt at  moistened with brandy. Season the livers well.  Soak them in brandy and Madeira for 2 hours.  Prepare 1 kg ( (2 ¼ lb) pork  and foie gras forcemeat.
        Line  a hinged pate mould (round or oval) with some  of the  bottom and side  of the moulds.  Put the foie gras into the moule, pressing it well.  Cover with a domed layer of forecmeat. On top of this lay a slice of pork  fat, half a bay leaf and a small sprig of  thyme.  Cover the pate with a layer of dough and  seal the edges.  Garnish the top with decorative  pastry motifs shaped with pastry (cookie) cutters (lozerges, leaves, crescents) or strips of plaited dough.  In the middle put 3 or 4 round pieces of  dough shaped with a fluted pastry cutter. Make hole in the middle of these so the steam can escape during baking. Brush  with egg. Bake in a preheated oven at 190-200°C (375-4000°F, gas 5-6) until the  dough is cooked thoroughly and golden brown.
        Cool. When it is  lukeward, pour into it either  half-melted lard, if it is  to be kept  for some time, or  Madeira-flavoured aspic if is it to be used at once.
        Pate de foie gras must be made at least 12 hours before using.  The  mould can be lined with a forcemeat made  entirely of foie gras instead of with  pork  and foie gras forcement.

FONDANT  Sugar syrup contianing glucos, cooked to the ‘soft ball’ stage, then worked with a spatula until it becomes a thick opaque  paste. This  is then kneaded by hand until smooth, soft and white. In this state, fondant keeps well in an airtight  container.  Professional-quality fondant is available from specialist cake decorating supplies.
        Flavoured fondant is used in confectionery, to fill chocolates and sweet (candies). When  heated in a  bain marie with a little syrup or  alcohol, the fondant is used as an icing (frosting) to coat mazipan, fresh or died fruits and branded cherries.  Diluted in this way and flavoured with chocolate, coffee or lemon, it can also be used to ice (frost) cakes  and pastries.

REIPES 
Fondant icing
Put the following  ingredients in a  heavy-based saucepan:  2 kg (4 ½ lb)  lump sugar, 75 g (3 oz. 6 tablespoon) glucose  and 120 ml (4 ½  fl. oz. ½ cup) water.  Cook over a high heat, skimming regularly. Take  the pan  off the heat when the sugar reaches the ‘soft ball’ stage, at about 118°C (245°F), see sugar. Oil a marble  slab, pour the sugar  mixture  over it and allow to cool until just  warm. Working  with  a metal spatula. Alternatively spreads out and  scrape  up the fondant until the  mixture  is uniformly smooth and white.  Place  in a bowl, cover and keep cook.  When  it is needed, heat the fondant gently in  a small saucepan and add a little syrup cooked to the ‘short thread  stage -  101.5°c 9215°F) and the  selected flavouring (coffee liqueur, essence or  extract, or melted chocolate).  Alternatively, add a few drops of edible food coluring.

FOND DE PATISSERIE A French term meaning a sweet base or shell used for a gateau or dessert. It  may be made of shortcrust  pastry (basic pie  dough,  flan pastry, puff pastry, Genoese sponge, meringue or  various biscuit (cookie) mixture. In the cattering  trade, the fonde are prepared in advance and  filled, decorated, mounted into set pieces or iced (frosted) when required.

RECIPES

Pearl fond
Whisk 350 g (12 oz) egg whites (10-12 whites, depending  on the size) into very stiff peaks with a  pinch of salt. Mix together  250 g (9 oz 2 cups) ground almonds and 250 g 99 oz. 1 cup)  caster (superfine) sugar and carefully fold in the whisked egg whites. Place  a hot flan ring on a greased and  floured baking sheet and fill with the mixture. Spread evenly with a spoon and dust with icing (confectioner’s) sugar. Remove  the flaming  and bake  the base I a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F,  gas 4)until  just dried out, crisp and light golden.

Walmnut or hazelnut fond
Crush  250 g (9 oz. 2 cups) walnuts or unblanched  hazelinuts, add 250 g (9 oz. 1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar and mix together. Work  into this  mixture 450 g (1 lb) egg yolks (12-13 yolks, depending on the size) and 100 g (4 oz. ½ cup) butter softened with a wooden spatula. Mix in 125 g (4 ½ oz. 1 cup) potato starch or cornflour (cornstarch) and  then carefully fold in 350 g (12 oz ) egg whites  (10-12 whites) which have been whisked into  stiff peaks with  a pinch of salt. Spread the mixture on lightly greased and floured baking sheets (it can be  used for large geteaux or small individual cakes) and bake in preheated oven at 180°C, gas 4 ) until light golden brown.

FONDRE A French culinary term meaning to cook  certain vegetables in a covered pan in a little  fat but  no other  apart from their  natural moisture. The  contents of the pan should  be stirred regularity to prevent them from  sticking. This  method is also  used to prepare fondant potatoes.

FONDU CREUSOIS A Limousin speciality made from cow’s-milk cheese melted over a low heat  in a saucepan with water and milk. Butter and egg yolks are added with seasoning.  This  smooth fondu  French for melted0 is served with chips (French fries), which  an dipped one by one into the pan.  alternatively, it can be poured over potato puree and browned under  a hot grill (broiler).

FONDUE A Swiss speciality consisting of one or more  cheeses melted in a  special pottery fondue  dish with white wine and flavouring.  When  the mixture becomes creamy, the  dish is placed over a sprit  lamp on the table to keep it hot.  The diners spear pieces of  bread on  a long two-pronged fork, dip them in the fondue and eat them piping hot.
        The fondue recipe which Brillat-Savarin gives in his Physiologue du gout is in fact a dish of scramble eggs with cheese. Howeever, three are several Savory and  Swiss recipes that may be considered authentic .  antirouet, in La Cuisin an frommage, mention several, fondue comtoise is made with mature full-flavoured Comte cheese, semi-measured Combte cheese, dry white wine, kirsch and garlic.  Fondue des Moses from Vaud is made with Gruyere, Appenzell and  Bagnes or Talsitt, dried  poletus mushrooms, dry white  wine, garlic and plum brandy.  Swiss  jura fondue is  made with  full-flavoured salty jura Gruyere, dry white wine, kirsch, garlic and nutmet, Fondue savoyarde  uses  mature salty. Beaufort and ‘full-flavoured Beaufort, dry white wine and kirsch.  A classic variant is  fondue mormande, made from  camembert, Pont  l’Eveque and Livarot (with  the rind removed), cream,  milk, Calvados and shallots.  Fondue piemontaise is  made with Fontana from the  Aosta.  Valley, butter, milk and egg yolks, to which chopped white truffles are added. This fondue is not served in a fondue dish, but  poured into dishes garnished with croutons. Swiss radette  (melted cheese served with boiled potatoes and pickled) is a rustic variant of fondue.
        There are several other  dishes derived from, or  inspired by, cheese frondue, Fondue bouruignomne, like cheese fromdue, is prepared  on the table in a metal fondue dish placed over a heating device and filled with hot oil.  A long-handled fork is used to skewer cubes of beef (fillet steak, sirloin or rump steak) and dip them in the very hot oil until  they are  cooked. They are then dipped in one of an assortment of flavoured sauces  (bearmise, barbecue, aioli. Mayonnaise,  horseradish, tomato)  and eaten .  condiments such as gherkins (sweet dill pickles),  pickles  chutneys or pickled onions can also be served at the same time, as well as potato crisps (chips.
        Chinese  fondue is prepared using te same principle as fondue bourguignonne. Strips  of beef and  pork, thin slices of chicken breast or little pieces of  fish are cooked in a chicken stock kept simmering in a  fondue pot over a special charcoal burner incorporated into it.  This traditional Chinese dish was introduced to the Far East by the Mongols in the 14th  century and was originally  made with mutton. It is accompanied by sliced fresh vegetables arranged in bowls (Chinese cabbage, spinach and onion), a puree of haricot (navy) beans and nice vermicelli. This frondue is also served with soy-,ginger-and sesame oil-based sauces.  In Vietnam, where  this fondue is served on festive occassions, it I smade with beef, prawns and  fish, cooked in coconut milk and served with a prawn sauce and sweet and sour condiments.  Scallops and strips of prepared squid are sometimes  also  included.
        Chocolate fondue consists of chocolate melted in  a bain marie and kept liquid over a spirit lamp on  the table. It I used for  dipping pieces of cake biscuits (cookies) pastries and fruits.
§  Vegetable fondue The name fondue is also given to preparation of finely cut vegetables cooked slowly in butter over a very low heat until they  are reduce to  a pulp.  Vegetable fondue made with  chicory (endive), fennel onion, sorrel, carrots, leeks, celery, or celeraic can be used as an ingredient in another dish (as a  braising sauce for  rougouts or baked fish) or is an  accompaniement.  Tomato fondue is most often used in  egg dishes, sauces and Mediterranean garnishes ( a la madrilene, a  provencake and a la portugaise).  It can also be added to certain forcemeats, and when cold can be used to give piquancy to hors. D’oeuvre or fish  (as can onion fondue). When seasoned with coriander,  it is used for preparations a la grecque.

RECIPES

Fondue a la piemontaise
Cut 575 g (1 ¼ lb) Fontina cheese into cubes. Place in a fairly shallow container and cover with cold milk. Leave for at least 2 hours. Put the  cheese and milk in a saucepan and  add 6 egg yolks and 125 g  (4 ½ oz. ½ cup) butter. Cook  in  a bain marie over  a  medium heat, stirring continuously, until  the mixture melts and acquires a creamy consistency. The  ideal cooking point corresponds with the first bubbles of the water in the bain marie. Serve in a soup tureen and garnish the bowls with  small triangles  of  toasted bread or bread fried in butter.

Fondue du valais
Rub the botrom of an earthenware fondue dish with garlic. Cut 150-200 g 95-7 oz. Good-cuality  Gruyere cheese per person into very thin slices. (Alternatively , use a mixture of Beaufort, Emmental and Comete).  Put the cheese into the fondue dish and just cover it with  dry white wine (in Switzerland Fendant  is normally used).  Stir  over the heat until the cheese has melted then add a little  freshly ground pepper and 1 liqueur glass of kirsch.  In Switzerland this fondue is served with Grisons (air-cured) meat, or raw ham cut into  very thin slices.

Brillat-Savarin’s chese fondue
(from-brillat-Savarin’s  recipe) Weigh the number of eggs you wish to use, according to the  number of  diners. Grate a piece of good Gruyere cheese weighing  one-third of this  and take a piece of butter weighing one-sixth. Break the eggs into a heavy-bases saucepan and beat  them well, then add the  butter and cheese. Put the pan over a moderate heat and  stir with a spatula until the mixture is  thickened and smooth.  Seasoned with a little salt and  a generous amount of pepper, which is one of the distinguishing characteristics of this ancient dish.  Serve in a warmed dish.

Tomato fondue
Peel and chop 100 (4 oz. ¾ cup) onions. Peel seed and finely chop 800 g (1 ¾ lb)  tomatoes. Peel  and crushed 1 garlic  clove. Prepare a bouquet garni rich in thyme. Soften  the onions in a heavy-based saucepan with 25 g (1 oz. 2 tablespoons) butter, or 15 g (1/2 oz. 1 tablespoon) butter and  2 tablespoons olive oil, or 3 tablespoons olive oil.  Then add the  tomatoes, salt and pepper, the garlic and bouquet garni.  Cover  the pan and cook very gently until the  tomatoes are reduced to a pulp. Remove the lid. Stir with a wooden spatula and continue cooking, uncovered, until the fondue forms a light paste. Adjust the seasoning strain through a sieve and add 1 tablespoon chopped parsley or herbs.
FONTAINE BLEAU  A soft  fresh cow’s-milk cheese containing 60-75 5 fat, originating  in Ile-de-France.  It is not matured or salted, but wrapped in muslin (cheesecloth) and sold in a small waxed cardbourd container. It is prepared  from a foamy mixture of  whipped cream and slowly congulating curds, which  is drained for 30 hours and then smoothed. It is  served with sugar and frequently with strawberries or jam, enthusiasts often add fresh cream.
        Fontanebleau is also  name of classic garnish  consisting of a macedoine of vegetables cut into  very small pieces, cooked with butter, and arranged  in barquettes made of duchess potato mixture browned in the oven.

FONTANGES A soup probably dedicated to Middle Fontanges, who was a favourite of Louis XIV for  a short time. It is made of a puree of fresh peas  topped with beef or chicken consomme, and contains shredded somel cooked slowly in butter. Just  before serving, it is enriched with an egg yolk missed  with double (heavy) cream and sprinkled with  chervil.

FONTENELLE, A LA  Describing a preparation of asparagus served with melted butter and soft-boiled (soft-cooked ) egg. The  asparagus is dipped first in  the melted butter, then in the egg yolk. The name  commemorate the greedliness of Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenele (1657-17-57), a  philosopher and  permanent  secretary of the Fresh  Academy of  Sciences. Once, when he invited his friend, the Abbe Terrasson, to dinner, Fontenelle had arranged to  have half the asparagus served with butter (which he preferred) and half with vinaigrette (favoured by Abbe).  Approaching the table, the Abbe suddenly dropped dead of apoplexy, and it is said that  Fontennelle immediately shouted to his  chief, ‘Serve them all with butter all with butter!”

FONTINA an  Italian cow’s-milk cheese (45% fat content), with  a pressed cooked centre and a brushed, sometimes oiled, crust. Elastic to the touch, and with a few small holes, the cheese tastes cedeicately nutty. It originated in the  Aosta Valley in the Alps, where it has been made since the 12th century, and it comes in rounds 40-45 cm (16-18 in) in  diameter an d7 – 10 cm (3 –4 in).  High. It is made over  almost all northern italy and even in France (under the name of Fontal and made mainly from pasteurized milk).  The name Fontina  is reserved for the  DOP cheese made  with unpasteurized milk from the DOP  cheese made with  unpasteuized milk from the  Aosta Valley. Young Fontina is served at the end of a  meal or on coanape; it is also used in cooking particularly in fondue piemontaise. When matured, it is  grated and used  like Pamesan cheese.

FOOD A substance eaten to sustain life, as part of a well-balanced diet, it promotes growth and  maintains  health. No one food is nutritionally perfect as it  does not supply all the nutrients in the  right proportions to support health, so, to satisfy  nutritional needs and individual tastes, we need to eat, in moderation a variety of different foods. There  are many combinations of foods that supply the right balance of nutrients  an energy. A good diet in Mexico, for  example, is based on very different foods from an  equally nutritious  diet in France, Japan  or Italy, since  the daily diet of a country still reflects its social, religious and family traditions, as a well as its agricultural practices. The diet will vary according to the habits and way of life of the individual.

FOOD ADDITIVE A substance added to food during manufacture or processing to help improve its keeping qualities, taste or colour; additives  do not  necessary improve  the nutritional value of the food.
        Under European and American law, each food item must show clearly each food additive on the label or packet under its own E number.  Water that  has been added to foods (such as ham or bacon) must also be listed clearly on the label. Labelling  regulations state that ingredients must be listed in descending order by weight, as a guide to the quantity of additives included.
        Without additives many foods would quickly become unsafe to eat and have a very short shelf life. Salt, sugar spices, vinegar, and such products at caramel or spinach-green have been used for years. The growth of the food industry, however, has considerably enlarged the number of additives and  changed their nature and conditions of use. Many  food additives are derived from natural sources and  are essential and harmless, but many are synthetic and non-essential.

FOOD PROCESSOR  Electrically  powered item of kitchen  equipment that can do many of the  time-consuming tasks involved in food preparation.  A  typical food processor consists of a motor and a  bowl  in which  the accessories operate under a protective lid. The accessories  usually include a double bladed curved knife for chopping, pureeing and producing crumbs, a plastic or blunt blade for beating and mixing, slicing discs; grating discs; a chip (French fry)  cutter; and a whisk.  The appliance  generally has sufficient power to chop, mix, puree, grate or grind food (cooking chocolate, Pamesan cheese, nuts); it may even be able to crush ice. Special attachments are available for mixing dough.  Some  models also have a juice extractor.
        The food processor was designed to do the work of several other appliances, including the blender  and mixer, and to some  extent the food mixer. In practice, results vary and, although the food processor is the most versatile and useful of appliances,  some procedures are slightly less successful than others. For example, soups and sauces are far  smoother when pureed in a blender and the texture of processed meat is either  finely chopped or  ground to a near paste consistency rather then being  mince.

FOOD SAFE A type of cage wit a wooden frame and wine mesh for storing  foodstuffs away from flies  away from flies  and other insects. The food safe was often equipped with  a handle and hung in the cellar or in a cool place. Sometimes food was stored  in an  outside  larder with shutters or ventilation grilles, installed in  big old houses under the kitchen window, square  with the wall. Nowadays both types have been replaced by the refrigerator, but they are still sometimes used for cheeses, which are spoiled if they are  kept at too low a temperature.
        In France in the Middle Ages and up to  the end of  the 18th century, the world garde-manger was applied to the cool well-aired place where  provisions were stored.

FOOD SUBSTITUTE  A food product used as a  substitute for another, usually because the batter is very rare or expensive  but sometimes  because  of  health reasons (artificial sweeteners instead of sugar for example).    During wars or times  of shortage substitute are often devised, such as Guinea pepper  (seeds from a plant related to the cardarmon) for  real pepper and safflower for sufforn.
        In a book of recipes published in 1941.  Prosper  Montagne suggested  malt extract and concentrated grape juice as acceptable substitutes for sugar tin pastries, cakes and confectionery. Some  substitutes are for  emergency use only, until  the genuine article becomes  available, like  roasted acorns for making coffee, others, such as chicory (for coffee, margarine and  beet sugar, have acquired universal acceptance. Certain  substitutes have remained acceptable in everyday use, though acknowledged as inferior, for example, slices  of gherkins (sweet dill pickles) as substitutes for pistachios in mortadella and lumpfish roe for caviat.
        Some novel substitutes appeared at the end of the  19th  century; at the time of the Paris Exhibition of 1878, machines ere introduced for cutting out mare’s udders into the  shape of tripe for twisting  ox  lights into the shape of petil-gris (edible brown snails0, for graining cheeses with verdgrins using copper needles to sell them as  roquefort, and for  making bread with starch or couch-coach-grass powder.
        The most famous substitute  preparations were  cooked by chuvete, chef of the Breozn. Restaurant, in order to mystify Monselet, a well-known gastronome.  Monselet praised the swllow’s nest soup, brill, chamois cutlets and capercaille, served with  hocks and Tokay wines, which provided to be puree of noodles and small kidney beams, fresh cod cooked on a fine comb (to stimulate the brills’ backbone), lamb umarinated in bitters and a young turkey sprinkled with absinthe; the ‘fokre’  Macon wine mixed  with punch, and the Johnnisberry an ordinary Chablis flavoured with thyme essence.

FOOL A chilled dessert of English origin, mode of  fruit puree strained through a fine a serve, sweetened  and chilled (but not frozen).  Just before serving, the  puree is mixed with twice its volume of whipped cream.

FORCED FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. Horticulatural products that appear on the market before  their  normal season. Often expensive and ladding the  flavour of fruit and vegetables it season, these forced products are the result of cultivation under  glass or shelter of product normally sensitive to  weather conditions, such as peas and asparagus. Improved transport facilities  have made forcing less necessary in regions with a poor climate.

FORCEMEAT OR STUFFING  A seasoned mixture of raw or cooked ingredients, chopped or minced (ground, used to stuff eggs, fish, poultry, game, meat, vegetables or psta, such as ravioli and  cannelloni.  Forcemeats are also the basis for several pates, meat pies, terrines, galanties and ballotines, not to mentioned all the different kinds of sausages. They are also used to make forcemeat balls, quenelles and some  borders, and to  fill barquettes, vol-au-vent and tartlets, a grutin  frocemeats are used  to garnish croutes, croutous and hot canapes.
        There are three major categories of forcemeats those made with  vegetables, those made with meat  game or poultry; and those made with fish. In addition, there is a fourth, more minor category of forcemeat, based on egg yolk.
        The composition of a forcemeat depends in principle on the food that it is intended to stuff or fill. The  basis for a forcemeat is usually minced meat or fish; the additional ingredients, for example, gherkins (sweet dill pickles), herbs, onion, ham, foie gras, crustless bread soaked in milk or egg whites, give it character and consistency.  Seasoning is also extremely important.  A panada may be added to  give it some substance, and most forcemeats made  of meat, poultry or game  are bound with eggs.  The  stuffing for a food that is to be boiled needs to be more  strongly seasoned than one for food to be  roasted. However, in the latter case, the stuffing must contain sufficient fat to prevent the food from drying out, especially in the case of poultry.




RECIPES

Preparation
The ingredients for some forcemeats need to be very finely minced or even ground in a mortar or  food processor and then forced through a sieve. Fine forcemeats need to be minced (ground) twice.  Sometimes only some of the ingredients need to be minced.  Add seasoning to taste and about 6 tablespoons brandy per 1 kg (2 ¼ lb.) forcemeat. Allow 1 large egg to bind 450 g (l lb) forcemeat.

Forcemeats Made with Egg Yolks
Cold egg yolk stuffing
Sieve 10 hard-boiled (hard-cooked) egg yolks and lace them in  a terrine together with 10 g (4 oz. ½ cup) softened butter. Season with salt and white  pepper and mix all the ingredients together. This is  used as a spread for cold canapes and as a filing  for halved hard-boiled egg white and artichoke hearts.

Hot egg yolk stuffing
Add some sieved hard-boiled (hard-cooked) egg yolks to half their weight of hot thick bechamel sauce. Press through a very fine sieve and season with alt and pepper.  A teaspoon of dry duxelles and some chopped parsley are usually added as  well.  This mixture is used to fill halved hard-boiled egg, vol-au-vent or barquettes, or to stuff vegetables prepared au gratin.

Forcemeats made with fish and shellfish
Cram forcemeat
This is  mousseline forcemeat made by replacing the meat with  either boned and skinned whiting or pike.

Forcemeat for fish mousses and musselines
Skin and bone 1 kg (2 ¼ lb0 fish (pike, whiting, salmon, sole or turbot) and season with 4 teaspoons salt, a generous pinch of pepper and grated nutmeg   pound the fish in a mortar, add 4 lightly whisked egg whites (one by one), transfer to a  blender and then press through a fine sieve.  Put the resulting puree in a terrine, smooth out with a  wooden spatula and chill for at least 2  hours. Then  place the terrine in a bowl of crushed ice or ice  cubes and incorporate 1.25 litres (2 ¼ pints, 5 ½ cups) double (heavy) cram, working it in gently with a  spatula. Keep in the refrigerator until needed. This forcemeat can also be used for quenelles and to  garnish large braised fish or fillets of sole or turbot.

Prawn forcemeat
Cook 125 g 94 ½ oz. ¾ cup) prawns or shrimps in some  salted water. Pound them in a mortar with  10 g (4 oz. ½ cup) butter and then press the mixture through a fine sieve.   Add to this mixture half its weight of finely sieved hard-boiled (hard-cooked) egg yolks. Mix together well.

Shellfish forcemeat
This is a mouseline forcemeat made with crayfish, lobsters or crab meat. allow 4 egg whites, 1.5 litres  (2 ¼ pints, 6 ½ cps) duoble (heavy) cream, 1 tablespoon salt and a generous pinch of white pepper for each 1 kg (2 ¼ lb)  shellfish meat.



Smoked herring or sardine forcemeat
Make  a white roux with 1 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons flour.   Add 100 ml (4 fl. oz 7 tablespoons) warm milk and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat when very thick. Add 1 whole egg and  2 egg yolks.  Put either 1 large smoked herring fillet (soaked in a little milk to remove some of  the salt if necessary) or 4 medium sardines in a blende and  reduce to a puree. Incorporated this into the  roux an cook for 3-4 minutes. press through a sieve. This forcemeat is used as  filling for  croustade, dertais and small pastry cases.

Forcemeats Made with Meat, Game and Poultry.
A gratin forcemeat
Fry 150 g 95 oz. 1 cup) finely chopped unsmoked  bacon in a sauté   pan until soft.  Add 300 g (11 oz) chicken livers, 2 thinly sliced shallots, 50 g (2 oz), 2/3 cup)  finely chopped mushroom, a sprig of thyme and half a bay lea. Seasoned with a generous pinch of  salt, some pepper and a little mixed spiced. Sauté   quickly over a high heart.  Allow  to one of completely, then pound in a mortar (or puree in a blender ) and press through a fine sieve. Cover with buttered or oiled greasedproof ( wax) pepper and chill until needed. This forcemeat is spread on crouton of fried bread that are used as a base for small roast game births or served with salmis or civets.

American stuffing
Cut some  smoked belly of pork into very small dice and fry. Add  some finely chopped onion and allow to  sweat without colouring.  Remove  from the heat and add fresh breadcrumbs until the fat is completely absorbed. Season with salt and pepper, a little ground sage and the finest thyme. This  forcemeat is used for stuffing young cockerels, young pigeons, guinea fowls and poussins.

Brain forcemeat
Cook a calif’s brain in a court-bouillon. Drain , pat dry and press  through a sieve. Addan equal volume of bechamel sauce, or one-third of its volume of  either  cram or velcute sauce. This  forcemeat is  used to fill barquette, vol-au-vent, tartlets or hollowed-cut-croutes.

Foie gras forcemeat
Finely pound in a mortar (or puree in a blender) 375 g (13 oz lean pork meat 450 g (1 lb ) unsmoked streaky (slab) bacon and 250 g (9 oz) thinly sliced  foie gras. Add 1 ½  teaspoons spiced salt and 100 ml (4 fl. oz. 7 tablespoons) brandy, and press through a  sieve. This forcemeat is used for making pates and  terrines.

Forcemeat for poultry
This consist of fine sausagemeat mixed with one  fifth  of its wiehgt each of fresh breadcrumbs and finely chopped onion cooked  in a little butter until  finely chopped onion cooked in a little  butter until soft, together with chopped parsley, chill until required.

Game forcemeat
Prepare with appropriate game meat in the same way as poultry forcemeat. To make it richer, add tin  slices of fresh foie gras or game liver forcemeat. This  forcemeat is used for making pites and terrines.

Liver forcemeat
Brown 250g (9 oz. 12 slices) diced unsmoked streaky (slab) bacon in 25 g (1 oz. 2 tablespoons) butter in a sauté  pan. remove and drain. In the same fat, sauté  300 g (11 oz) pig’s (pork),  calf’s game or children liver cut into cubes.  Mix 40 g  (1 ½  oz. ¼ cup)  finely chopped shallots and 75 g  (3 oz. 1 cup)  finely chopped cultivated mushrooms together.  Replace the bacon in the sauté  pain, add  the mashrooms and shallots and season with salt, ground, white  pepper and allspice; then add a sprig of thyme and half a bay leaf. Mix  together  and  sauté   for 2 minutes.
        Remove the cubes of liver.  Deglaze the pan with  (50 ml (1/4 pint, 2/3 cup)  dry white  wine, pour the  sauce over the cubes of liver and puree all the  ingredients in a blender or food processor, together  with 65 g (2 ½ oz. 5 tablespoons) butter and 3 egg yolks, until  very smooth.  Press the forcemeat  through a sieve and store covered, in the  refrigerator. This forcemeat is used for making pates, terrines or meat loaves.  Minced cleaned truffle peelings can be added to it if wished. If game liver is  used, add an equal amount of rabbit meat and replace the white wine with 100 ml (4 fl. oz 7 tablespoons (Madiera.

Mousseline forcemeat
Pound  1 kg (2 ¼ lb.) boned veal, poultry or game in  amortar (or reduce to a puree in a blender).  Then  press through a fine sieve. Whisk 4 egg whites lightly with a fork and add them to the meat puree a little at a time. Season with 4 teaspoons salt and a generous pinch of ground white pepper. Press through  the sieve a second time, place in a terrine and then chill for 2 hours. Remove the terrine from the refrigerator and lace in a bowl of crushed ice. Them work in 1.5 litres (2 ¾ pints, 6 ½  cups) double (heavy) cream using a wooden spoon (it is essential to keep the cream and the pate as cold as possible to prevent curding). The  forcemeat is used for fine quenelles, mousses and mousselines.

Panada forcemeat with butter
Puree 1 kg (2 ¼ lb) minced  (grount) veal or poultry in a blender wit salt, ground white pepper and  grated nutmeg. Also blend 450 g (1 lb) panada  with an equal quantity of butter. Add  the pureed meat and beat the mixture vigorously. Then  add 8 egg yolk one at time.  Press the forcemeat through a fine sieve, place in a terrine and work with a spatula until smooth. Chill, covered, until required. This forcemeat is used for quenelles borders and meat loaves, and to stuff poultry and joints of meat.

Panada forcemeat with cream.
Pound 1 kg (2 ¼ lb) minced (ground) veal or poultry in a mortar (or reduce to a puree in a  blender).  Season with 2 teaspoons salt, a generous  pinch of white pepper and  some grated nutmeg. Add 4 lightly whisked egg whites one at a time followed by 400 g (14 oz) bread panada. Beat vigorously until the mixture is very smooth. Press through a fine sieve over a terrine and chill for 1 hour, together with 1.5 litress (2 ¾ pints. 6 ½ cups) double (heavy) cream and 2 tablespoons milk. Thenplace the terrine in a basin of crushed ice or ice cubes. Add one-third of the cream to the forcemeat, working it in vigorously with a spatula. Lightly bat the remaining cream with  the milk and then fold it into the forcemeat. Chill until needed. This forcemeat is sued for quenelles.

Poultry forcemeat
Dice 575 g (1 ¼ lb) chicken or other  poultry meat. 200 g (7 oz) lean veal and 900 g (2 lb) bacon work  together in a blender until smooth.  Add 3 eggs.  1 tablespoon salt and 200 ml (7 fl.  oz. ¼ cup) brand.  Mix well, press through a sieve and chill until required. This forcemeat is used for pates and terrines.

Veal forcemeat
Pound 1 kg (2 ¼ lb) lean minced (ground) veal in a mortar (or reduce to a puree in a blender). Season with 1 tablespoon salt, some white pepper and  grated nutmeg. Puree 300 g (11 oz0 four panada  when really soft, add the veal, together with 65 g  (2 ½  oz. 4 ½ tablespoons) butter, and beat the mixture well.  Finally beating continuously, add  5  whole eggs and 8 yolks, one by one.  Then add 1.25 litres (2 ¼ pints.  5 ½ cups)  thick bechamel sauce. Press through  a fine sieve and work with  a spatula to make the  forcemeat is used for borders and  large quenelles.

Forcemeats Made with Vegetables
Forcemeat for  fish
Crumble 250 g (9 oz. 9 slices) crustless bread and  soak it in milk.  Sauté  75 g (3 oz. 2/3 cup chopped onion and 150 g (1 oz.  2 tablespoons) butter.  Add a small handful of chopped parsley and cook  for a few minute. Meanwhile, add 4 tablespoons white wine to 3 chopped shallots in a separate pan and reduce. Add the shallots  to the other  vegetables and mix.  Squeeze out the bread and place in a  terrine.  Add  the vegetable mixture  and work together will. Then bind with 2 egg yolks and  season with salt and pepper and, if liked, a generous pinch of grated nutmeg and half a garlic cloves.  Chopped.

Forcemeat for vegetable terrine
Peel 500 g (1 lb.   2 oz ) celerine (celery root) and  cut into quarters. Steam, drain and puree in a blender. Dry slightly in a warm oven but do not allow the celeriac to colour. In  the bowl of a mixer, combine  the celeraic puree with 2 egg yolks. 150 ml (1/4 pint,  2/3 cup) single (light) cream and 2 stiffily whisked egg  whites. Seasoned to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Other vegetable, in equal quantities, may be added to the stuffing; diced carrots, petits pois, green beans, blanched or cooked in steam. The  vegetable terrine can them be cooked in the oven or in a bain marie.

Mushroom forcemeat
Sauté  2 peeled and finely chopped shallots and 175 g 96 oz. 2 cup) button mushrooms also finely chopped, over a high heat in a frying pan, with 40 g  (1 ½ oz. 3 tablespoons) butter and a generous pinch of grated nutmeg. When  cooked, allow to cool.  Make 100 g (4 oz) bread panada and puree it  in a blender, add in the mushrooms and shallots. Finally, ad 3 eggs yolks and mix thoroughly (it is no necessary to sieve this forcemeat).  It used to  stuff vegetables, poultry game and fish.

FORESTIERE,  A LA  a method of preparing  small cuts of meat or chicken (or even eggs or vegetables), which are garnished with mushrooms (usually chunterelles, mores or ceps) cooked in butter, generally accompanied by potato noisettes or  rissoles and blanched browned bacon pieces. It is  served with gravy, thickened  veal stock or the  deglazed pan juices.

RECIPES
Carrots a la forestiere
Braise some carrots in butter, then add half their  volume of mushrooms, also braised in butter.  Adjust the seasoning and sprinkle with parsley.

Soft-boiled or poached egg a la 
Forestiere
Clean some mushroom and fry them in.  Butter Cut some lean bacon into small dice, then scald and  brown in butter.  Mix the mushrooms and bacon together and spread the mixture over bread croustades. Place a soft-boiled (soft-cooked) or poached  egg on top of each one . add a few droops of lemon juice, pepper, a little cayenne pepper and some  chopped parsley to some melted butter and pour it over the eggs.

FORK  An implement usually made of  metal with  two, three or four prongs on the end of a handle used at the table either for lifting food to the mouth or for serving  food. Forks are also used in the  kitchen for turning food in cooking.
        The fork has very ancient origins and a mentioned in the Old Testament. It was first used as ritual instrument to grip pieces of meat destined for  sacrifices later it was use in the kitchen.   According to the 11th –century Italian scholar Damiani. Forks  were introduced into Venice by  a Byzantine princess  and then spread throughout Italy. But it was Henry III of France who first introduced to the French the  custom of using a two-pronged fork at the  table. Before this time, it had been regarded as a decorative  item fashioned in gold or silver, forks  were mentioned in 1379 in an  inventory  of the French king Carles V. After visiting the cour at  Venice in 1574, Henri Iii  noted that a two –prompted table fork  was being used and he launched this fashion among the  nobility. It seemed a very useful implement for  putting food in the mouth above the high collas and ruffs that were worn at that  time1  In  14th  century England, it is recorded that Piers Gaveston, a Favourine of  Edward II, ate a pear  with  a ford; but it was not until the 18th century that it became  widely used.  Louis XIV ate with  his firgerts and , in the  reign of Louis XVI, it was common to eat  food from the  tip of the knife.
        Forks  then came to have three prongs, and later four, and their  use spread from Italy and Spain into  France and England.  Nowadays, only  a carving fork has two prongs.  These may be straight or slightly  curved.  Table forks the more diversified and are  made in many sizes and many metals. They may even  be made of wood or plastic.  Salad servers consist of a fork and spoon, and carving  sets consists  of knife, a fork and often, a steel for sharpening the knife. There are table forks, fish forks and fruit forks  diminishing  in size down to small pastry forks pastry forks.  Certain  forks are modified for a particular use for example, snail forks, oyster forks, shellfish forks and fondue forks.
        Etiquette varies as to the proper way of holding and using  a fork. E.   Briffault ends his Paris a table (1846) with this assessment:  ‘the two-proned fork  is used it northern Europe. The  English are armed  with  steel tridents with ivory handles – three pronged forks – but in France, we have the four pronged fork, the height of civilization.

FORM D’AMBERT  A  semi-hard blue cheese from the Auvergine, now factory-produced from pasteurized milk but with a firm ivory paste and a good fruity flavour. The cheese (45% fat content) is  shaped into cylinders about 20 cm (8 in) high 12-15 cm (4-5 in) diameter. Form de Montbrison and forme de Forez are similar cheese from neighbouring regions. They have AOP STATUS.

FORTIFIED WINE  Wine to which  a certain quantity of spirit is added in the course  of production. Increasing the alcoholic strength has the effect of interrupting the work of the yeast in the fermentation  of the must, so the gape  sugar cannot be converted into alcohol. The resulting wine may be dry  or  retain a considerable proportion  of its natural sugar. Fortified  wines include port,  sherry and Madiera.


FOUACE A also known as fouasse or  fougasse. One of the oldes of French pastries. It was originally a  pancake  made of fine wheat, unleavened, and cooked  under the cinders in the hearth (in Latin focus, hence  the name  focaccia pasta, which  in turn  became  fouace, fouasse or fougasse).  Rabelais gave the recipe for  it in his (Gargantug: Best-Quality flour mixed with  best egg yolks and butter, best safforn and spices, and water ‘  The fouaces from the region  of Chinon and  Touraine have had a fine reputation for countries.
        Fouaces are still will produced in many areas of  France Nowadays they are usually rustic dough cakes baked in the oven, sometimes salted and  flavoured, and usually made for Christmas or  twelfth  Night . they  used to be very widespread in western and central France (Caen, Vannes. La  Fleche  and (Tours), but are now most common  in the  south.  At Najac, in rouegue, a ‘fouace festival’  is held every year.  In Languedoc, a fouace aux gralous is  eaten  with frontignan wine.  In Auvergine, the fouace is  made with crystallized (candied)  fruits. In  Provence, where  it is called fougasse,  sometimes a little orange-flower water is poured on to the pastries and brushed over the top and sides. This is one of the  desserts traditionally eaten at Christmas. The  fougasette, which is made of brioche dough, is a  speciality of the Nice area. This small fougasse is  shaped like a plaited loaf and flavoured with orange-flower water and saffron.  It sometimes contains candied citron.

RECIPE

Fouace
Dissolve 15 g (1/2 oz) fresh yeast (1 cake compressed yeast) in a few tablespoons of warm milk or water. Add 125 g (4 ½ oz. 1 cup)  strong plain (bread) flour and then enough milk or water to make a slightly soft dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth or greased cling film (plastic wrap) and leave to rise until it has doubled in volume.
        Heap 375 g ( 13 oz. 3 ¼ cups) strong plain flour on a work surface. Make a well  in the centre and  add a large pinch of salt. 100 g (4 cz. ½ cup) softened butter, 1 liqueur.  1  liqueur glass of rum, brandy or  orange-flower water, 4 tablespoons sugar (optional ) and 4 beaten eggs.  Knead this  mixture together  adding a little milk or water to obtain a smooth dough. Then add the risen  dough and (if wished) a  filling of 150-200 g (5-7 oz. 1 ¼ cups) crystallized (candied)  fruits. Work the dough again until  it is elastic.  Knead it into  a ball, cut a cross in the top and leave it to rise, loosely covered (it should double  in volume).
        Place the fouace on a lightly buttered baking sheet, in a ball, loaf or crown shape, glaze with  beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven at 230° (450°F, gas 8)  for about 40 minutes or until golden (the base should sound hollow when topped).

FOUGERU Soft cow’s-milk cheese from Brie (45% fat content) with a reddish crust, Fougeru is a disc about 13 cm (5 in) in diameter and 3-4 cm (1 ¼- 1 ½ in). thick, weighing 500-600 g 918-21 oz).  Packed in ferm fronds. Its taste is similar to coulommiers.

FOUQUET’S A restaurant and café on the  Champs-Elysees in Paris. Originally (in 1901)  it was  a small  public house for cab drivers, which bore the name of its owner, louis Fouquet,  in 1910 Leopold  Mourier, well-known in the Parsian restaurant trade and the tutor of the founder’s  children, purchased it, anglicized as  name to  ‘Fouquet’s’ (like Maxim’s). redecorated it in the Belle Epoque style (which survived until 19(1)  and  set up an English bar and a grill room, where the  Longchamp racegoers wre accustomed to meeting before or after the races, with their  grey top bats over their ears, and their binoculars in deerskir cases their binoculars in deerskir cases over  their  shoulder’  (R. Heron de Villefosse).  A restaurant was also opened on the first floor. Since World War II, most of Fouquet’s regular customers have been actors.

FOUR FRUITS  quatre-fruits The  phrase used in French to designate four red summer fruits -  strawberries, cherries, redcurrants and raspberries – which are cooked together to make jams, syrups or  compotes. The phrase ‘four yellow fruits’ (quatrefruits jaunes) is sometimes used to refer to oranges,  lemons, Sevilla (bitter) oranges and citrons. In  practice, ‘four-fruits’ jams and compotes may be made from a combination of any four fruits, fresh or dried.

RECIPE

Four-fruits compote
Wash and seed 2 bunches of Muscat grapes. Peel  4 bananas and cut them into  thick rounds.  Peel and finely dice 4 apples and 4 pears. Put all the fruit into a saucepan’s with the juice of 1 lemon, a pinch of ground cinnamon, 300 g (11 oz. 1 2/3  cups) caster (supefine) sugar, the juice of 2 oranges and 100 ml  94 fl. oz. 7 tablespoons). Water. Bring to the boil, cook very gently for 30 minutes and then pour into a glass fruit bowl. When the compote is cold, chill until ready to serve. If wished, liquid caramel can be  poured  over it just: before serving.

FOURME Any of various cow’s-milk cheeses from central France that usually contain parsley and are used in the same  way as blue cheese.  The French word fourme is derived from the Latin forma (a  mould); it then become formage and later fromage.
FOURME D’AMBEET  (45%) fat content).  This  has a  special label of origin (an AOC) and comes from the  Loire,  Puy-de-Dome, and the district of Saint-Flour. It  has a firm paste flavoured with parsley and a dry dark-grey crust mottled with yellow and red. It has  a strong flavour and is shaped into tall cylinders, 13 cm (5 in) in diameter and 20 cm (8 in) high. It is  usually served cut horizontally. Fourme de Pierrestir-Haute. Fourne de Montbrison are  similar cheese.
§  FOURME DU MEZENC (30-40% fat content). This is also known as Bleu  du Velay, bleu de Loudes or  Bleu de Costaros. It is  flavoured with parsley and  has a natural crust. Like fourme d’Ambert, it is  cylindrical  and has a promotioned flavour.
The name ‘Fourme’ is also  used, albeit incorrectly, for Cantal, Salers and Laguiole.

FOURRER The French term meaning to insert a raw or cooked filling into a a sweet or savoury item.  For example, omelettes and pancakes may be filed with various  mixtures before being folded. Choux pastries and sponge’ cakes can be filled with butter cream, almonds cream, confectioner’s custard (pastry cream) or a fruit filling. Bread rulls can be filled with  various savoury mixtures.

FOUR SPICES  A mixture of spices, usually consisting  of ground pepper, grated nutmeg, powdered clvoes and ground ginger o cinnamon. T s used in stews, civeis,  charcuterie, terrines and game dishes.  This spice mixture is also used in Arab cookery. It  should not be confused with five spices (cinq-epices) or all spice(toute-epice).

FOUTOU A traditional African dish based on casava 9manioc root) together with plantins (green bananas) or yams. The cassava and plantians or yams are boiled in water,  drained and then pounded into a smooth paste that is shaped into several small rounds or a single large one.  Foutou is always served with very rich and highly spiced sauces, based on meat and vegetables or on fish.  These sauces are actually more like ragouts, and  their composition is very varied.  Foutou is very common in Africa, particularly in Bernin and the  Ivory Coast.

FOVOT A parsiain restaurant which was situated on  the corner of the Rue de Tournon and the Rue de Vaugirard. It was originally a hotel, and the Emperor Joseph II, brother of Marie Antoinette, once stayed there,  in 1976  it was converted into a restaurant, known as the Café Vahette, and in 1848  it was bought by Foyot, the former chef of Louis-Philippe, and renamed.
        The proximity of the palais du Luxembourg meant that the clientele included many senators. The  specialities served by Foyot at that  time included the famous veal chops Foyot, sheep’s trotters (fee) a la  poulete, pigeons Foyot and Ernestine potatoes. No-one is certain that these dishes were actually invented by Foyot himself, but they certainly made the restaurant very famous.  It was while breakfasting  at Foyot in 1894 that the poet laurent Tailhade was  seriously injured by an  anachist’s bomb.
        The restaurant was finally closed in 1938 and the  building was demolished.

Recipes

Foyot sauce
Make 200 ml (7 fl. oz. ¾ cup)  bearmaise sauce and strain it. Add 2 tablespoons meat glaze or stock,  stirring well. If the sauce is not to be served immediately, keep it warm in a bain marie.  ( The meat glaze is made by boiling down a concentrated meat stock until it become thick and syrup).

Veal chop Foyot
Make a thick cheese paste with dried breadcrumbs, 25 g 91 oz., ¼ cup) grated Gruyere cheese, and 20 g  (3/4 oz. 1 ½ tablespoons) butter. Season and flour a  large veal chop, weighing about 250 g (9 oz0 and  roast it in a  preheated oven at 150°C (300°F, gas 2 ) with 20 g (3/4 oz. 1 ½ tablespoons) butter for 20-30 minutes. half-cooked, turn it love  and  cover with the cheese paste. Stuff a small tomato with a mixture of breadcrumbs, parsley and butter and place it in the roasting pan.  finish cooking the chop and  baste regularly with the butter.  Drain the  meat and the tomato and arrange them on a very serving dish.  Add a peeled and chopped shallot to the  cooking juices and deglazed with 4 tablespoon dry white wine and an equal quantity of veal stock. Boil and reduce by half.  Add 10 g (1 ½ teaspoons,  ¼ oz ) butter and pour the sauce  over the    veal.

FRAISIER A gateau   consisting  of two squares of  Genoese sponge moistened with kirsch syrup and  sandwiched together with a layer of kirsch-flavoured butter cream and strawberries. The top of the gateau is covered with a layer of butter cram coloured red with  cochineal and decorated with strawberries.  When the gateau is cut the strawberries  can be  seen, cut in fall.
        There are several variations of this gateau, which is also called fragaria or fraisalia. The sponge may be made with ground almonds and covered with  several layers of kirsch-flavoured strawberry jam. It  is tehn brushed with apricot glaze, covered with pink fondant icing (frosting)  and edged with sugar and chopped blanched almonds.  The top is decorated with a large strawberry made from red maizipan (almond paste) and leaves made from boiled  sugar.  Another  method is to fill the sponge with a  layer of strawberry cream and ice it with a pink frondant icing containing crashed strawberries. Fresh  strawberries are then used for the decoration, finally, it may be filled with strawberry jam,   covered  with a  thin layer  of pink almond paste, dusted with  icing (confectioner’s ) sugar and edged with chopped roasted almonds

FRAMBOISE  A spirit made from raspberries, especially in the Alsace region.

FRANCAISE, A LA Describing a preparation of  joints of meat served with  asparagus tips, braise lettuce, cauliflower flortes coated with hollandaise  sauce and small dachess-potato nests filed with diced mixed vegetables. The sauce served with  dishes a la francaise is a thin demi-glace-or a clear veal gravy.
        Peas a la francaise are prepared with lettuce and onions.

FRANCIACORTA Region in Lombardy producing  good quality white, red and sparkling wines. DOCG Franciacorta is applied to sparkling wines produced by the traditional  method (see metbode  champenoise) from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot blanc and Pinot Gris, whilst DOC Terre di Francia corta refers to the  quality still wines.

FRANCILLON A mixed salad consisting of potatoes marinated in a white wine vinaigrette, mussels cooked a la mariniere, and chopped celery, garnished with sliced truffles. The original recipe was  given by Dumas fish in his play Francillon,  first per formed at the  Comedie-Francaise on 9 January 1887. The paris restaurateurs took advantage of the event by putting the new salad on their menus. The restaurant Brebant-Vachette substuted Japanese artichokes for the potatoes, and Francillon salad was renamed Japanese salad (is it often called Japanese salad even when it s made with potatoes).
        There follows passage from the play, in which annette, a cordon-bleu cook , gives the  recipe to Henri, the leading man, who intends to make the  salad as a special treat.

Annette
Boil some potatoes in stock, cut then into pieces as for an ordinary salad, and while they are still warm, season them with salt pepper, very good-quality fruity olive oil.  And vinegar…

Henri
Tarragon vinegar?

Annette
Orleans vinegar is better, but that’s not important. What is important is to add half  a glass of white wine. Chateau-Yquem if possible, and plenty of herbs, chopped very, very small.  At the same time  cook some very  large mussels in stock with a celery stick, drain then thoroughly, and add them to the seasoned potatoes.  Mix everything together gently.

Therese
Less mussels  than potatoes?

Annette
One-third less. One has to become gradually aware of  the mussels.  They must be neither nor imposed.


Annette
Cover it with rounds of truffle.  That puts a finishing touch to it.

Henri
Cooked in champagne.

Annette
That god without saying. Do all this two hours before dinner so that this salad will be cold  when  served.

Henri
We could surround the salad bowl with ice.

Annette:
No! it mustn’t be rushed. It is very delicate, and all the  flavours have to combine together slowly for this mother, a great gourmand. In the modern recipe. The truffles are  omitted and the  vinaigrette is flavoured with Chablis.

A bombe glaze coated with coffee ice cream and filled with a champagne-flavoures  bombe mixture is known as bombe Francillon.

FRANGIPANE  A pastry cream used in the preparation of various  desserts, sweet, cakes and pancakes. It is made with  milk, sugar, flour, eggs and butter, mixed with  either crushed macaroons (to give a lighter cream) or with  ground almonds). A few  drops of bitter almond essence (extract) may be  added to intensify the flavour.  The name is derived from that of a 16th-century.  Italian nobleman, the  Marquis Muzo Frangipani, living  in Paris. He  invented a perfume for scenting gloves that was  based on bitter almonds. This inspired  the pastrycooks of the timeto make an almond-flavoured  cream which they named frangipane. La Varenne  mentiones tourtes de franchipanne (frangipane tarts) several times in his treatise on patisserie.
        In classic cookery, frangipane is also the name of a kind of savoury panada made with flour, egg yolks, butter and milk and cooked like a choux pastry. It is used in poultry and fish forcemeat.
RECIPES

Frangipane
Combine 75 g 96 oz. 1 ¼ cups) icing (confectioner’s)  sugar, 175 g (6 oz. 1 ½ cups) ground almonds and  2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch). In a mixing bowl, soften 125 g (4 ½ oz. ½  cup)  butter without  making it foam (which would make the  cream rise  during its shape ).  Add the sugar, almonds and cornflour mixture, then 2 eggs one by one, stirring with  a wooden spatula.  Next add 1 tablespoon brown rum and finally 300 g (11 oz. 1 ½  cups) confectione’s custard (pastry cream). Cover with cling film (plastic wrap0 and place in the refrigerator.

Frangipane cream
Boil 750 ml (1 ¼  pints. 3 ¼  cups) milk with a vanilla pod (bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar. Put 100 g  (4 oz. 1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour, 200 g (7 oz. 1 cup)  caster (superfine) sugar, 4 beaten eggs and  pinch of salt in a heavy based saucepan and mix  together thoroughly.  Gradually add the hot milk and cook slowly  for about 3 minutes, stirring all the time, until the cream thickens. Pour the cream into a bowl  and stir in 75 g (3 oz. ¾ cup)  crushed macaroons and  50 g (2 oz. ¼ cup) softened butter. Mix well.

Crepes a la frangipane
Make some crepes and prepare  some frangipane cream, using 500 ml (17 fl. oz. 2 cups) milk for the  cream and an equal quantity for the crepe batter. Coat the crepes with the cream and fold into four.  Arrange in a buttered ovenproof dish, dish with icing  (confectioner’s). sugar and lightly caramelize in a very hot oven or under the grill (broiler). Serve very hot.

FRANGY  Appellation white wine from Savoury, entitled  to the prefix ‘Roussette de Savoie’ and  made from the Roussette grape. Pleasantly  fragrant, it can have a slightly honeyed flavour, although it is essentially a dry wine.

FRANKFURTER A German smoked sausage originating  from the Frankfurt area, made of finely minced (ground) pork. Beef or veal may be used  with the pork and kosher frankfurters are made with beef without  any pork.  Frankfruters are sold blanched or fully cooked,  reading  for reheating, and are available  fresh (loose), vacuum-packed or in cans. In  germany they are typically served accompanied by sauerkraut and hot or cold potato salad.  Elsewhere, they are often placed  in rolls, smeared with mustard or tomato ketchup and served as hot dogs.

FRANKLIN, ALFREDO-LOUIS-AUGUSTE French writers (born Versailles, 1850; died Paris, 1917).  He  spent most of his working life in the Mazarine library in Paris , becoming  successively librarian, chief librarian and, finally, administrator.  He published 2 “  reference life in bygone days): these serious works contain numerous details  about the table menus kitchens and domestic economy of bygone days subjects to offten neglected by historians.

FRASCATI A gaming house-cum-restaurant situation on the corner of the Rue de Richelieu and the Boulevard des Italiens in Paris. It was founded in 1796 by the Neapolitan ice-cream merchant Garchi, who named it after one of the most famous holiday resorts for well-to-do Romans. Its gardens were illuminated at night and during the Directory and the  Empire it had the reputation  of being the most  famous gaming house in Paris. In addition, the clientele could dine, eat ice cream and watch the fireworks displays. It was also frequented by women of  easy virtue. The restaurant was eventually closed after 50 years with the suppressions of gaming houses and was subsequently succeeded by the  patisserie Frascati.
        The name Frascati is used for a garnish for meat dishes and for various dessert.  It is also the name of  a famous Italian dry white wine.


RECIPE

Fillet of beef a la Frascati
Prepare a demi-glace sauce flavoured with port.  Sauté  some very large mushrooms in butter or  bake  them in the oven.  Cook some very  short green asparagus tips in butter and quickly sauté  some small slices of foie gras (preferably duck) in  butter. Keep  all these ingredients hot. Roast a fillet of beef and place it on a serving dish. Fil two-thirds of the mushroom caps with the  asparagus tips and the remainder with  a salpicon of truffles braised in Madeira. Arrange the mushroms and the  slices of  foie gras around the meat. pour the demi-glace over the top.

FRASCATI Famous white wine produced in Lazio, Italy, almost at the gates of Rome.  It has  been known and enjoyed since antiquity.  Mostly made  from the Malvasia di Candia and Trebb anto Toscano grape varieties, the wines  of Frascati may be dry sweet or sparkling. The  best of them add the  description ‘superiore’ to the label, so long as the alcohol content is over 11.5%

FREEZE-DRYING A method of preerving food, known also as cryodesication and lyphilization, in which the product is frozen and then dehydrated. The  food is treated in three stages ; first the product is deep-frozen; next iit is subjected to a vacuum, which  submlimates the ice trapped-in it; and finally the water vapour is removed, leaving  the product dry and stable.  A solid fool that has been processed is this way becomes extremely light because it contains only 1-2% of its original water content; but it retains its volume, cellular structure and shape, allowing rapid and even rehydration.  The nutritional qualities remain more or less the same as those of  fresh food.  As it is a costly process it is only used for quality products. The best results are obtained  with liquids and small pieces of food. Coffee is still the  principal freeze-dried product, but mushrooms, onions and prawns are also preserved successfully in this way.

FREEZER  An electric appliance for freezing food and storing ready frozen  food. Either in chest or  cupboard form, a freezer is used to store food at a temperature of –18% C(0°F) after it has been frozen at a - 24°C (-11°F) minimum. The size and type varies widely, from large chest or upright models to al small compartment in combination with a separate refrigerator (a fridge-freezer).
        Features include fast-freezer settings, thermometers, alarms to warm of a rise in temperature (for example if the door is accidentally left open), frost free operation (no need to defrost the appliance); and fan-assisted cooking t allow optimum operation in a warm environment (for example in the average kitchen.).  Quality of the cabinet and level of insulation (which influences running cost) vary according to the type and cost of the appliance. These are some of the facts to consider; the  space available for  the appliance and its likely use should also be  assessed before purchase.
        The icebox in a refrigerator is not a frezer as such a storage compartment for the  preservation of ready frozen foods; it is  unsuitable for deep-freezing.

FREEZING submitting a perishable foodstuff to extreme cold to preserved it. The  temperature at the  centre of the food must be reduced to between -10° and - 18°C (14°F and 9°1) as quickly as possible.
§  What to  freeze .  Almost all foods can be frozen, although  some require preliminary  preparation; eggs, for example, cannot be frozen in their  shells but can  be stored when lightly beaten. The main rule is that the food is fresh and of good quality.  Prepared ingredients and meals an cooked dishes can be  frozen successfully. The possibilities are broad and depend as much on personal preference and  eating patterns.
§  Preparing for food for freezing always prepare  ingredients as though they are to be cooked – for example, trim and  peel vegetables, if necessary, if necessary ; gut  and clean fish; and trim and cut up fruit
§  VEGETABLES FOR long-term storage, blanching is recommended.  Blanche quickly  in boiling unsalted  water (except for tomatoes and mushrooms), them drain, wipe, plunge into iced water, drain again and  dry thoroughly. However, the majority of vegetables keep well without blanching, especially for up to 2 months.
§  FRUIT Peel and remove the stones (pits), wipe thoroughly without washing.
§  MEAT Remove excess fat and cut into joints or  serving-sized pieces.
§  POULTRY Pluck, draw singe, remove fat, stuff with crumbled foil and truss (or cut into pieces).
§  FISH Gut  (clean) scale, dry, stuff with crumpled foil if whole (or cut into slices), trim and dry.
§  Soft-fat (soft-ripened)  CHEESES Choice  when just  ripe and wrap.
§  COOKED DISHES Reduce cooking time   by 10-20 minutes.
§  PASTRY (DOUGH) Wrap portions of pastry or roll out and shape on to foil trays.
§  Packaging The  package must be impermeable to smells; it should be light and riot bulky. Heavy-smells; it should be light and not bulky, heavy quality polythene bags’ are practical as are rigid  plastic containers. Foil wrapping and containe’s are  also useful. Some oven proof glassware is also freezerproof. Food that is inadequately wrapping foods closely, then sealing bags with wine ties, helps to prevent surface damage.
§  Defrosting frozen food preliminary defrosting is not necessary for small cuts of meat, fish or vegetables. They should be heated immediately to maximum temperature in boiling water or a preheated oven or under a grill (broiler) so that they are  defrosted, sealed and cooked in one. In general, frozen vegetables cook more quickly than the same  fresh vegetables (since the former have been blanched before freezing), while frozen meats require longer cooking than fresh meals,  Precooked  dishes which are placed directly in a sacuepan or in the oven in their container always heat very quickly.  Defrosting is, however, essential for larger items  (whole birds, roasts), shellfish, pastry, pastry dishes and cheeses. This should preferably take place in the refrigerator (2-20 hours according to the type and size of the product).  No defrosted food should ever be refrozen.

FRENCH BEAN Variety of thick, fleshy, stringless green or  yellow been (haricot beurre).  When  picked young, they are known as dwarf French beans. The yellow beans are usually juicer than the  green ones.

FRENCH COOKING Throughout history, bread has always been an important part of the French diet. In ancient  gaul, which was essentially an agricultural, region, the peasants used to prepare flat cake of millet, oats, barkley and wheat. They were good hunters and ate game, poultry and also pork, that fat of which was used in various culinary preparations. Because of the abundance of herds of wild pigs it the forests, the Gaul perfected the art of preserving; meat by salting and smoking and the pork butchers (lardarii)  of the time had such a high reputation that they even exported their pork to Rome. Meals were washed down with cervoise (barley beer), and in the Marseilles region wine was drunk  as well, Centuries earlier, the Greeks had introduced vines  into the region and marseilles also imported wine form Italy.
§  From the Romans to the barbarians  The Romans with their refined habits and their  tradition of great cookery, exerted a profound influence on the Gauls from the 1st century onwards, above all on the wealthy classes the recipes of Apicias were handed down until the Middle Ages. Whereas their ancestors  took their meals seated around the  table, the Gallo-Roman noblemen dinned on reclining counches and  enjoyed, as had the Romans, beans, chick peas, grilled (broiled snails, oysters, dormice stuffed with  walnuts, and jam made from violets and honey. Cooking food in olive oil ‘gained ground, and  orchards were developed. It is even recorded that fig trees used to grow in little Luteria  (ancient Paris). However, the most important and influential factor of all was the widespread establishment of vine  growing areas : Italian vine plants were introduced into the Bordeaux region, the Rhone valley, Burgundy and Moseelle. Soon, the wine merchants of  Gaul invaded the markets of the Empire to the detriment of Roman wines, all the more successfully since the Gauls had discovered that wine could be kept longer if it was stored in casks. Competition became so lively than in Ad 92 the emperor Domitian ordered half the vineyards of Gaul to be destroyed.
After the Germanic invasions, Gaul went through  a  tragic period of food shortage and famines that marked the beginning of the Middle Ages. The Merovingian and, later, the Carolingian nobles imitated the luxurious example set by the  Romanized  Gauls and feasted on a wide variety of highly spiced game (boar, wild  ox, reindeer and even camel), while the masses contented themselves with oatmeal gruels, and the basic dish was a beauty soup made with  root vegetables enriched with bacon.  Meat was eaten only or special occasions. Agriculture techniques regressed, the  economy became autarkic -  self sufficient -   and until the 8th century, there was a massive slump in trade.
§  The influence of the church What remained of the ancient culture had found a refuge in the monasteries. The great religious orders extoolled manual labour and vast areas of land were cleared for cultivation, Kilns, workshops and hostelries for pilgrims were also established near the abbeys. The  monks undercook the essential responsbility of reselecting vine plants, and also supervised the manufacture and maturing of cheeses. Above all, however, the Church altered the diet of the population by forcing people to abstain on certain days in the year from  eating any kind of animal fat or meat which ‘kindle lust and passion’s as a result, this encouraged both fishing and the breeding of pike, eels and carp in  the fish ponds. Whale blubber, a greatly prized food, was permitted during len; furthermore, he increased consumption of fish brought about improved methods of salting and smoking.
Consequently, the attic and cellars of the great Carolingian cities and those of the abbeys were  always well stocked, and the banquets were sumptuous. The emperor Charlemagne personality supervised the good management  of the  imperial estates.  Above all, he enjoyed hunting, and the  word gilbier (game) date  from this time. But abundance was still  preferred to culinary elegance, and serious food  shortage continued. The study of monastic meals reveals impressive rations of leguminous plants rich in proteins: 200 g 97 oz). Dried vegetables, 2 kg  4 ½ lb) bread, 100 g (4 oz) cheese, together  with honey, salt and wine.  such a keen appetite can be  explained by the struggle against the cold, by fear of food shortages and  by the lack of protein and other  fortifying foods with a small volume.  The population which had dropped to perhaps 8 million inhabitants, lived mainly as its ancestors had done, but in a world where insecurity and lack of communication often caused shortages, or even famine. The  absence of methods of food preservation meat that food frequently went bad: for example, flour infected with  ergot caused ergot poisoning.
§  The opening up of the Mediterranean region
The setting up of the  feudal society in the 8th and 9th centuries contributed to the restoration of relative security. The  resumption of trade caused  new  cities  to be built and a new class to develop – the middle class or bourgeois, a group dominating the  poorer citizens, such a journeymen, laborers and  unskilled workers. The cities needed regular provisions, which brought about  the establishment of fairs  and markets.
        The take for fish and poultry predominated, but  products became more varied with the gradual expansion of trade the  Mediterranean  region and  also because of the pilgrimages and the Crusades. Plums from Damascus (damsons), figs from Malta, dates, pomegrates, pistochio  nuts, rice, buckwheat and above all spices (cinammon, ginger, amiseed, cloves and nutmeg) appeared on the tables of the rich together with  various seasoned dishes whose  freshness sometimes left much to be desired soon condiments become indispensable aids to cooking and the citizens  of Dijon added their contribution in the 12th century by discovering mustard, and adaptation from an old Roman recipe. Also, by the 10th century, the sugar trade was established in the  Mediterranean region, centered on Venice.
City dwellers are traditionally eaters of bread and meat and guilds of butchers and bakers were powerful organizations in the cities, where people’s fortunes were assessed by the quantities of bread that they bought.  Pork was the main type of meat, but joints of mutton and beef formed part of the menus of the rich, and at the  same time, rotisseurs  (sellers of roast meat) and pie makers multiplied. Cheese were made in all parts of France and, gradually, wine outsted beer in popularity, except in Flanders  and Picardy, Cider, which had been made for several centuries, gained ground in Brittany from the 14th  century onwards.
§  Prestigious meals Because of his rank, the nobleman was obliged to keep open house in his  chateau: he was  responsible for feeling his maisne, which included not only his family but also his equerries and vassals.   The menservants set up the table with  trestles and planks of oak in the communal rooms. There was no tablecloth and the plates and dishes were very basic, made by baked clay, wood or tin.   The cutlery consisted of spoons and knives, and in the 12th century a type of two-pronged fork came into use.  As the kitchen was separated from the  keep through fear of fires, the servant brought the  dish to the table covered with a cloth to keep it  warm. The meal consisted of either game or roast pork, poultry of some kind, eggs prepared in various ways, either cheese or curdled milk, and cooked fruits.
§  These meals were sometimes veritable feasts. The elaborate arrangement of the dishes on the table, following the recipes of Apicius, demonstrated the  power, generousity, taste and prestige of the nobleman. The famous 14th-century chef Guillaume  Tirel, known as Taillevent was head cook to Charles V.  he was the author of Le Viandier, a collection of  his  recipes and a complete record of the cuisine of that  period. The edible game at that time include almost all species of feathered or furred animals, including the cormorant, swan and whale. The royal means consisted of  five dishes, with roasted peacocks and herons, partridges with sugar, young rabbits in  spiced sauce, stuffed capons and  kids, together with  pies, cress, creams, pears, walnuts, honeyed wines  and nulles (dessert creams).
The discovery of the Americas at the end of the 15th century resulted in the introduction of a new variety of foods, including sweetcorn, games fowls, turkeys, tomatoes and potatoes. At the same time, table manners became more refined, individual plates were used and the tables were beautifully decorated with various items of silver.
§  The splendour of the Renaissance. The Renaissance herald a new way life. The marriage of  Catherine de Medical and the future Henri II marked the beginning of the Italian influence on French cuisine, destined to play an important role. It had only very slightly impinged in the reign of Francois  I, a  great lover of veal and poultry who according  Rabelais, had  revived the days of feasting and drinking. The middle-classes had also acquired an interesting in cooking. Whale meat and even donkey were still popular and garlic was widely used as a flavouring, but new foods had also became part of the  diet: pasta (such as mararoni and vermicelle), Italian sausage, vegetables  which had gradually become more popular than the traditional herbs inherited from the Romans, such as cardamon and cumin.

French cooking in the 17th century .   The reign  Henri IV is symbolized by the famous poule au pot, which the king promised that his subjects would enjoy once a week, as a symbol of modest comfort  and an improvement in the condition of the serfs. In fact, the beginning of the 17th century was marked by the contribution of the agoronomist Olivier de Services, who introduced all garden vegetables into cookery, for example, cauliflowers and asparagus. However the king had a preference for sweet things and so sugared almonds, marzipan (almond paste) and tarts with musk and ambergris became fashionable, together with all kinds ofjam. As early as 1555 the Italian care owners had taught the French how to make sorbets, and ice creams followed a century later. Heavily spiced food declined in popularity and a number of cookery books were written, the best known of  which appeared in 1651. It was the first book to fix rules and principles and thus to establish some order in cooking. It included recipes for cakes and also for the first mille feulles. In 1691, the cuisineier royal et bourgeois by Massaliot was published. Its instructions were precise and it showed that the cuisine was becoming more varied.
  In the reign of Louix XIV, cokking was spectacular rather than fine or delicate, and the festivities of the Prince of Conde at Chantilly, for example, were particularly sumputous. The famous Vatel was maitreticularly suptuous. The famous Vatel was maitre d’hotel of Conde the Great, a very important position.A great number of dishes were served at each meal and there are many descriptions of the meals served at the table of Louis XIV, who ate too heavily for a true gourmet.
French cooking from the Regency to Louis XVI  The Regency and the reign of Louix XV are regarded as the golden age of French cookery.At the same time, the produce of rural France slowly improved both in quality and quantity and there was no further famine.The Age of Enlightenment united the pleasures of the table with those of the mind, and gastronomy, a new word, was the main topic of conversation, the petit soupers (little suppers) of the Regent and the choice meals prepared for rthe king and his great noblemen did more to perfect the culinary art than the showy banquets in the reign of Louis XIV.Great chefs rivalled each other in imaginative cookery. They discovered how to make stocks from meat juices and began to use them to add flavour to sauces. Mahonnaise sauce appeared at the table of the Marshal de Richelieu.,  the conqueror of Port Mahon, pate de foie gras garnished  with truffles might have been the idea of Nicolas Francois Doyen chef of the first president of the Parliament of Bordeaux, La Chapelle the chef of Marie Leszcynska, prepared bouchees a la reine (chicken volauvent) and Marin., the  buttler of the Marshal de Soubise, was the first to glaze meat and deglaze (make  a sauce from) the juices. It was in the mansions of rich financiers that the culinary art expanded.Food shops, pastrycooks and confectioners achieved perfection and people also learnt how to recognize foreign specialities, sucha s caviar.

The 20th century  At the beginning of the 20th century, French cooking gained supremacy throughout the world. Its chiefs reigned supreme in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, the Winter Palace of  St. Petersburg and the great international hotels. Paris become the Mecca of gastronomy. The Edwardian   era was the age when great books were written about cooking by such authors as Urbain Dubois, Augustine Bernard, Escoffer and Bignon.The Academic Goncourt organized its first dinner in 1903, and Prosper Montagne, the most famous chef of the first half of the century opened the most luxurious restaurant of this  frivolous era. There was also a fashion for local bistrots, run by natives of the  Auvergne and Perigord, and also by gastronomic associations.At the end of the 20th century the influence of Curimonsky still prevailed and the great classic dishes of the cuisine of provincial France continued to uphold the reputation of French cookery, with such dishes as pot-au-feu, blanquette, tripe, bouillabaisse, cassoulet, bourguignon and tarts Tatin,France cookery has also been introduced to and  influenced by, other culinary traditions, with the resutl that exotic and foreign restaurants flourish. The great classics of European cuisine have long been incorporated, but the French are now discovered Chinese, Indian and Scandinavian cookery.

FRENCH FAIRS AND MARKET  foires et marches The oldest market n Paris, in the heart of the city, was established at the beginning of the 12th century for the sale of wheat. Not long afterwards Louis le Gros established another market in the place where Les Halles operated right up to 1969, when it moved out to Rungis. The art of selecting the right ingredients and looking for top-quality food is still practised.  All over France, markets take place on fixed days, once or twice a week, in the open air or in market buildings. No matter how small the  purchase, the customer is keen to obtain the best produce that is available. Careful inspection of the foods on offer is still available. Careful inspection of the foods on offer is still part of the shopping process.
   The great annual fairs used to be held in the church square on the parish saint’s day. In Paris, the  ham fair, which began on the last Tuesday of Lent, was held in the church square of Notre Dame before being mvoed to the Boulevard Richard Lenoir and then to Pantin. The Lendit fair, established by King Dagobert, was held on the Paline Saint Denis for a fortnight in June. The products sold at this fair came from all over France and even from abraod, especially Flanders.The Saint German fair, establsihed by Louis XI in 1482 near the church of Saint Germanin des Pres, started on 3 February  and lasted until  Holy Week, it flourished until 1785 and sold all types of goods in small wooden booths. Plays were also performed and  coffee was served for the first  time in France by an Armenian called Pascal.The Saint Laurent fair, the Saint Ovide fair and the  Temple fair were the foreunners of the great annual exhibitions now known as the Salon de I agriculture and the Foire de Paris . Several other towns in France specializing in certain types of products laso h old fairs, including Arpajon (beans) and Excideuil (foies gras)

FRENCH TOAST  pain  perdu A dessert consisting of slcies of bread soaked in milk, dipped in eggs beaten with sugar, then lightly fried in butter.French toast is served hot and crisp. It was formerly called pain crotte, pain  ala romaine or croutes dorees. In the south of France, it was traditionally eaten on feast days, particularly at Easter.Originally intended to use up crusts and left over pieces of bread, French toast today is usually made with milk bread. It may be accompanied by custard cream, jam or compote.

RECIPE
French toast
Boil 500 ml ( 17 ft oz. 2 cups) milk with half a vanilla pod (bean) and 100 g ( 4 oz, ½ cup) caster (superfine) sugar, then leave to cool. Cut 250 g (9 oz) stale brioche into fairly thick slices.Soak them in the cooled milk, without letting them fall apart, then dip them in 2 eggs beaten as for an omelette with a little caster sugar. Heat 100 g ( 4 oz. ½ cup) butter in a frying pan and fry the slices. When golden on one side, turn them over to cook the other side. Arrange them on a round dish, dust them with caster sugar and decorate with strawberries.

FRENEUSE  A soup made with turnips and potatoes in light stock or consomme, thickened with fresh cream. It can be garnished with small turnip balls.

FRIAND  A small puff pastry case filled with sausagemeat, minced (ground) meat, ham or cheese, baked in the oven and served as a hot hors d’oevre.
   A friand is also a small sweet pastry-a barquette often made with an almond paste filling and elaborately decorated.

RECIPE
Sausage rolls


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FRICASEE.
A preparation of chicken in a white sauce (veal and lamb may be prepared in this way).  Formerly in France, the term denoted varius kinds of ragout of chicken meat, fish or vegetables in white or brown stock.  Now a days, the meat is a cut into pieces, an aromatic garnish is added and it is then sautéed over a low heat, withut browning.  The meat is then coated with flour, some white stock is added and the meat is cooked in the thickened liquid.  A fricassee is usually cooked with cream and garnished with small glazed onions and lightly cooked mushrooms.  Fricassess are also made with fried fish which is subsequently cooked in sauce.
                In the l7th century, when La Varenne  referred to fricassees of calves liver, calves feet, chicken, young pigeon, potato and asparagus, this method of cooking was very common and not highly regarded.  Subsequently, the word became distorted  tofricot, which, in populat parlance, designates any sipmple but popular tasty dish.

RECIPES
Eel fricassee
Skin and prepare a large eel weighing about 800g (l ¾ lb) or several small eels totaling the same weight.  Cut the eels into pieces about 6 cm (2 l/2 in) long.  Season with salt and pepper.  Peel l2 small onions-if they are spring  onions (scallions), trim them first-and blanch them for 3-4 minutes.  Place the eel in a buttered frying pan (skillet, together with the onions and a large bouquet garni.  Add a mixture of half dry white wine, half water until the ingredients are just covered.  Cover the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for l0 minutes.  In the meantime, prepare some small croutons fried in oil or butter.  Then add about l2 thinly sliced mushrooms to the frying an and cook for a further 7-10 minutes.  Drain the pieces of eel, the onions and the mushrooms, place in a dish and keep hot.  Strain the cooking juices and reduce by two-thirds.  Blend 2 egg yolks with l00 ml (4 fl. Oz, 7 tablespoons) single (light) cream and chicken carefully.  Pour the sauce over the eel pieces, garnish with thefried crotons and serve immediately.

Fricassee of chicken a la ber richonne
Joint a chicken.  Brown 350 g (l2 oz. 3 cups) new carrots in 50 g (2 oz, l/4 cup) butter in a pan.  Drain them, and then brown the chicken pieces in the same butter.  Add 250 ml (8 fl. Oz. L cup)chicken stock, thecarrots, a bouguet garni and some salt and pepper.  Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover the pan and cook gently for 45 minutes.  Remove thechicken pieces and keep them hot.  Mix 2 egg yolks and a pinch of casser (superfine) sugar with 200 ml (7 fl. ¾ cup) double 9heavy) cream, l tablespoon  white wine vinegar, and a few drops of the chicken stock.  Pour the mixture into the pan and mix thoroughly with the pan juices.  Heat with out boiling so that thesauce chickens a little.  Serve the chicken coated with the sauce and sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Fricassee of chicken cardinal la balue
Cut a chicken into 8 portions, season and brown n 40-50 g (l l/2-2 oz, 3-4 tablespoons) butter in a flameproof casserole.  Put the casserole in a preheated oven at 220 oC (425oF, gas 7) and cook for about 40 minues.  Prepare a stock with l sliced carrot, l sliced onion, a bouquet garni, l40 ml (l/4 pint, ¾ cup) white wine, 740 ml ( l l/4 pints, 3 l/4 cups) water and some salt and pepper. Cook for about 30 minutes.   Clean a dozen crayfish, wash them and cook them for 5 minutes in thestock.  Drain the crayfish and shell the calls.  Pound the shells and press through a fine sieve to make a puree. Mix the puree with 50 g (2 oz. L/4 cup) butter.
                Drain the cooked chicken pieces and place them in another casserole, with the thighs at the bottom.  Add the crayfish tails, cover and put the casserole in the oven, which should be either turned off or at a very low heat, so that the chicken does nto become tough.  Pour 500 ml (l7 fl. Oz. 2 cups) double (heavy) cream into the casserole in which the chicken was cooked, heat up and reduce thecream (but donot boil), then add thecrayfish butter and whisk.  Arrange the chicken pieces on a heated serving dish and coat with sauce.  Serve very hot.

Fricassee of chicken with and joy wine
Cut a large chicken into medium-sized portions and season with salt and pepper.  Peel 24 button onions and 24 button mushrooms.  Brown the chicken portions in butter, then add the onions wine to just cover the chicken, cover the pan and simmer gently for 30-35 minutes.
                Add 200 ml (2 fl oz. ¾ cup) double (heavy) cream and adjust the seasoning.  Serve very hot, with small steamed new potatoes, or a mixture of carrots and glazed turnips.  A small turkey can be prepared in the same way.

Fricassee of sea fish with Bellet zabaglione
To serve 6, you will need 800 g (l 3/2 lb) young turbot, l.5 kg ( 3 l/4 lb) John Dory, 4 slices of moakfish.  2 red muller, 4 scampi and 500 ml (7 fl. Oz. 2 cups) white Bellet wine or a good Provenical wine.  Fillet the turbot and the John Dory.  Was the fillets wine season with salt and pepper.  Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and 40 g ( l l/2 oz. 3 tablespoons) butter in a large frying pan.  When the mixture foams, add  at the  fish and the scampi.  Add a large chopped shallot and cook for a few seconds.  Add about 100 ml (4 fl oz. 7 tablespoons) Bellet wine.  Remove the red mullet, fillet them and replace in the pan.  Add 3 tablespoons concentrated fish stock and finish cooking.  Arrange the fish on a dish and keep hot.
                Make a zabaglione with 8 egg yolks and 400 ml (l4 fl. Oz. L ¾ cups) white  Bellet wine.  Season with salt and pepper and add 500 ml (l7 fl. Oz, 2 cups) hot double (heavy) cream.  The zabaglions should be hot and foamy, but must not boil, adjust the seasoning.  Coat the fricassee with the zabaglione.  Sprinkle with fresh chervil and serve with lightly cooked (al dente) French (green) beans, with a knob of butter on top.

Lamb fricassee
Wash and wipe some pieces of lamb (fillet, l lean leg or soulder), fry in butter without browning and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons flour and stir over the heat.  Add some white stock or consommé and a bouquet garni, and bring to the boil.  Simmer with the lid on for 45-60 minutes.  Fry some mushroom in butter and glaze some button onions.  Remove the pieces of lamb from the pan, replace with the onions and mushrooms, and stir them into the pan juices.  Take off the heat and add an egg yolk to chicken.  Pour the sauce into a large heated dish, add the lamb and sprinkle with chopped parsley.  Serve hot.

Minute fricassee of chicken
Joint 2 chickens in the usual way and put them in a saucepan with l75 g (6 oz. ¾ cup) good-quality melted butter.  Fry the chicken without browning, add 2 tablespoons flour and season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg, then add sufficient water to make a lightly thickened sauce.  Add 6 blanched utton onions and a bouquet garni and cook over a brisk heat, ensuring that the chicken pices do not burn and the sauce is gradually reduced.  After 25 minutes test o ne of the thighs to see that it is cooked.  Dd 250 g (9 oz. 3 cups) button mushrooms and skim the fat off the sauce.  Blend in 4 egg yolks to thicken the sauce and add a dash of fresh lemon juice.

FRICHTI.
A colloquial French name for a light meal or snack cooked at home.  The word was probably introduced into the French language I n the l860s by Alsatian soldiers and is derived from the German Frabstick (breakfast).

FRITELLE.
A Corsican fritter made with leavened dough containing egg yolks and oil.  It contains a mixture of chopped beef, mint ad marjoram leaves, or a slcie of Corsican sausage, or a square of Broccio (a fresh cream cheese).  Fritelles can also be made withchestnut flour and flavoured with fennel seeds.  They are then sweetened with plenty of sugar.


FRITON
A chareuterie speciality from southwestern France.  Resembling a rillette, it si made with the residue of melted pork fat and fatty pork pieces, such as belly, which is mixed with pieces of offal (togue, heart, kidneys or even head)and cooked in lard (shortening)
                The word fritons is also used for the crisp residues of goose fat and cubes of pork fat, although the more usual word is grattons or gratterons.

FRITOT
Also known as friteau.  A kind of savoury fritter made from small pieces of cooked marinated food that are dipped in a light batter and keep-fried.  Fritots are usually made with frogs legs, shellfish, leftovers of fish, poultry or meat, various types of offal (variety meats), or vegetables.  They are usually arranged on a paper napkin, garnished with fried parsley and slices of lemon, and served as a hot hors d’oeuvre, accompanied by a spicy tomato sauce.

Recipes

Friots of meat or poultry
Bone some poached or braised meat or poultry (or use leftovers), cut into even-sized pieces and marinate in a mixture of oil, brandy, chopped parsley, salt and pepper.  Finish as for frogs-leg fritots.

Frogs’ leg fritots
Trim the frogs legs and mariante them for 30 minutes in a mixture of oil, chopped garlic, chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper  Then dip them in a light batter and deep-fry until they are golden brown.  Drain on paper towels and serve with fried parsley, quarters of lemon and either curry sauce or gribiche sauce.  The frogs’ legs can also be threaded on to small skewers before being dipped in the batter and fried.

Mussel fritots
Prepare the mussles a la mariniere, remove from their shells, drain and dry.  Finish as for oyster fritots.

Oyster fritots
Remvoe the oysters from their shells and poach gently in their own liquor.  Drain an dryy, then marinate as for frogs’-legsfritots, but add a pinch of cayenne pepper to the marinade.  Finish as for frogs’-leg fritots and serve with Italin sauce.

Salmon fritots
Cut some raw salmon into thin slices or large dice and marinate in a mixture of oil, lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, finish as for frogs-leg fricots and serve with tomato or hollandaise sauce or sauce verte.

Sole fritots
Cut some sole fillets in two (or four if large gillets) and prepare as for frogs-leg fritots.  Serve with a flavoured mayonnaise sauce, for example with grated lemon zest and chopped capers.

FRITTER.
A preparation consisting of a piece of cooked or raw food coated in batter and fried in deep fat or oil.  Other types of fritter can be mace using choux paste, yeast dough or waffle batter.  Some believe that fritters were of Saracen origin and were brought back by the Crusaders.  They are served, according to their ingredients as in hos d’oeuvre, a main course of a dessert, almost always hot and dusted with fine salt or sugar.
                When cooking fritters, plenty of oil must always be used because the fritters drop to the bottom of the pan when they are placed in the oil and then rise to the surface as the heat cooks the batter.  Fritters should be turned halfway through cooking.  The temperature of the oil is usually moderate but can vary considerably according to the type of batter used, whether the food coated in the batter is raw or  cooked, and whether the fritter is sweet or savoury.
                The principle of the fritter is simple, but the dishes vary enormously in shape and taste and range from regional specialties to classical dishes.
  • Fritters made with batter. Some foods containing a large amount of water must be coated with batter for making fritters.  Raw ingredients are cut small so they cok 9quickly; ready-cooked ingredients may or may not be marinated.  Savoury fritters (made with vegetables, fish or cheese) are served as an hors d’oeuvre, a main course (sometimes with a sauce) or as a cocktail snack, such as prawn (shrimp) fritters.
          Sweet fritters are made with fruit or flowers.  The best known of the former are apple fritters, but they can also be made with bananas and apricots.  Flower fritters were very popular in the Middle Ages, using violets, elderflowers and lilies; today mimosa flowers, elderflowers and marrow (squash) flowers are practically the only ones still used.  Sweet fritters can also be prepared with a cold cream sauce, cold rice pudding or semolina cut into squares or rectangles and coated in batter.

Fritters made with choux paste. Fritters made using sweet or savoury choux paste re known as soufflé fritters and are sually called beignets (French for fritters); they are served as hors d’oeavre or dessers.  In savoury recipes, the pastry can be flavoured with grated cheese, diced ham and almonds.  Sweet choux paste gives a basic seet fritter.
Fritters made with yeast dough.  These fritters are made of sweet dough rounds.  Sometimes fileld with jam, plunged into boiling oil.  When pulfed and golden they are removed from the oil and dusted with sugar.
Fritters made with waffle batter.  Fritters made of waffle bauer are moulded in long-handled waffle irons of various shapes (stars, boats, hearts, roses).  In France they are mostly used for decoration,but in the USA  they are served for breakfast or as a dessert, often with maple syrup.
                Fritters are among the most ancient and wide-spread of regional dishes.  Made of special flavoured dough, they are often associated with traditional celebrations.  For instance, bagnes from lyons, mervelles and orellettes from Montpeller, eugnons from Berry, bignes from Auvergne, roussettes from Strasbourg, fourtesseaux from Anjou and bottereaux from Nantes.

Recipes
Fritter batter (l)
Sift 250 g (9 oz 2 l/2  cups) plain (all-purpose) flour into a bowl.  Heat 200 ml (7 fl oz. ¾ cup) water until just lukewarm.  Make a well in the flour and add  150 ml (l/4 pint, 2/3 cup) beer, thewarm water and a generous pinch of salt to the middle of it.  Mix, drawing the flour from the sides to the center of the well.  Add 2 tablespoons groundnut (peanut) oil and mix.  Leave to rest for l hour if possible.  When required for use, stiffly beat 2 to 3 egg whites and fold into the batter.  Do not stir or beat. For sweet fritters, flavour the batter with Calvados.  Cognac or rum.  The batter may also be sweetened with l l/2 tablesppons sugar and the oil replaced with the same amount of melted butter.

Fritter batter (2)
Put 250 g (9 oz. 2 l/4 cups) sifted plain (all-purpose) flour in a mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center and add l teaspoon salt, 2 whole eggs and 300 ml (l /2 pint, l l/4 cup) groundnut (peanut) oil.  Whisk the eggs and oil together, incorporating a little eo fthe flour.  Add 250 ml (8 fl. Oz, l cup) beer and, striing well, gradually incorporate the rest of the flour.  Allow to stand for about l hour.  A few minutes before using the batter, whisk 3 egg whites stiffly and fold into the batter using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

Savoury Fritters Anchovy fritters
Soak anchovy fillets in molk to remove all the salt.  Mix together with a fork (or in a blender)some hard-boiled (hard-cooed) egg yolk, a little butter and some chopped parsley.  Spread the mixture on the anchovy fillets and roll up.  Dip in batter, deep-fry in hot oil and serve with fried parsley.

Artichoke fritters
Trim some small, young globe artichokes (harvested before their chokes have formed) Blanch for 5 minutes until just tender, then drain and cut each one into four.  Sprinkle with plenty of lemon juice and a little oil, season with salt and pepper and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.  Drain dip in batter, deep-fry in hot oil, drain and serve on a napkin.  (Brussels sprout fritters are prepared in the same way).

Ambergine fritters
Peel some aubergines (eggplants), slice them and mariate for l hour in oil, lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt and pepper.  Continue as for anchovy fritters.  The same methods may be used for broccoli, cardoons, celery, celeriac (celery root), courgettes (zucchini), cauliflower, marrow (squash) flowers, salsify, tomatoes and Jerusalem artichokes.

Gernese fritters
Cut some Gruyere cheese into rounds 6 cm (2 l/2 in) in diameter.  Chop some ham and add to a thick béchamel sauce; spread on the Gruyere rounds and sandwich the rounds together in pairs.  Dip in batter and continue
As for anchovy fritters.

Cheese fritters (l)
Cut some Gruyebe or Comte cheese into 5 cm (2 in) squares about 4 cm ( l l/2 in) thick.  Dip in batter and contiue as for anchovy fritters.  Serve with highly seasoned tomato sauce.



Cheese fritters (2)
Add grated cheese  (Gruyere or Parmesan), chopped parsley and pepper to a thick bechannel sauce.  Allow to cool completely.  Dividwe into 25 g (l oz) portions and roll into balls.  Dip in batter and continue as for anchovy fritters.

Chicken liver fritters
Remove the gall from the chicken livers (if present) and marinate for 30 minutes in oil seasoned with salt, peper and chopped herbs to taste.  Then dry and dip in batter.  Continue as for anchovy fritters

Lamb’s or calf’s brain fritters
Poach thebrains in stock.  Slice them and marinate in oil, chopped parsley and lemon juice.  Dip in batter and continue as for anchovy fritters.
Mushroom fritters
Wash some small, fresh, tightly closed button mushrooms.  Pat dry and coat with flour.  Dip in batter and continue as for anchovy fritters.  They can be served with a highly seasoned tomato sauce.

Salsify fritters
Cut some cooked salsifies into short lengths.  Dry, dip in flour and then in batter.  Continue as for anchovy fritters.  These fritters make a particularly good accompaniment to roast beet, pork or veal.

Scampi fritters.
Shell cooked scampi talls (discarding the heads) and marinate for 30 minutes in oil, lemon juice and cayenne pepper.  Dip in batter and continue as for anchovy fritters.

Soft roc fritters
Poach some soft roes (herring, carp or mackerel, for example) in fish stock, drain and marinate for 30 minutes in oil, lemon juice and cayenne pepper.  Dip in batter and continue as for anchovy fritters.

Souffle fritters
Prepare 250 g (9 oz) unsweetened choux paste.  Using a spoon, divide the paste into small balls the size of a walnut.  Plunge into  hot oil until the fritters are puffed and golden.  Drain on a cloth and arrange in a heap on a napkin.  The following are some alternative recipes for soufflé fritters.

-          with anchovies.  Add 2 tablespoons finely chopped anchovy fillets (previously soaked in milk) to the choux paste.
-          A la hongroise.  Add 3 tablespoons onions lightly fried in butter and seasoned with paprika to the paste.
-          With cheese.  Add  50 g (2 oz, l/2 cup) grated cheese (preferably Parmesan) seasoned with a little nutmeg to the paste.
-          A la toscane.  Add a little cooked lean ham and a little chopped white truffle to the paste.

Sweet Fritters apple fritters
Core the apples with an apple corer, peel and cut-into rounds about 3 min ( l/2 in) thick.  Sprinkle with  lemon juice and macerate for 30 minutes in Cognac or Calvados.  Drain, dip in batter and continue as for apricot fritters.

Apricot fritters
Stone (pit) some ripe apricots and macerate for 30 minutes in sugar and rum (or kirsch or Cognac).  Drain thoroughly, dip in sweetened or unsweetened batter and deep-fry in hot oil.  Remvoe thefritters and drain. Dust with caster (superfine) sugar and arrange on a napkin.  Fritters may also be served dusted with icing 9confectioner’s) sugar and glazed in a hot oven or under a grill (broiler)

Banan fritters
Peel some bananas and cut in half lengthways.  Macerate for l hour in white or dak rum with sugar.  Dip in batter and deep-fry in hot oil.  Drain and continue as for apricot fritters.

Dauphine (or Viennese) fritters
Sift 500 g (l lb. 2 oz., 4 l/2cups) plain (all-purpose flour.  Set aside three-quarters of the flour, place the remaining quarter in a bowl and make a well in the center.  Put20 g (2/3 oz) fresh yeats ( l l/2 cakes compressed yeast) in the well and stir with a little warm milk or water.  Then add enough warm water so that the mixture can be kneaded into a softish dough.  Shape the dough into a ball, make  a cross in the top with a knife, cover and leave in a warm place.
  Make a well in the remaining flour on the table. Put 4 eggs and 2 tablespoons warm water in the centre of the well and work together to form a dough, pounding it several times.Dissolve 25 g (1 oz. 2 tablespoons) sugar and 15 g ( ½ oz) salt in a very small quantity of water and add to the dough. Soften 200 g ( 7 oz, 1 cup) butter and work this into the dough.Then add 2 eggs, one at a time, working the dough continuously. Pound several times, then flatten out on the table and put the yeast dough in the centre. Mix both doughs together, kneading well. Put in a bowl, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place to rise for 5-6 hours. Knead the dough again and leave, covered, in a cool place until required.
   Divide the dough in half and roll each piece out to a thickness of 5 mm ( ¼ in) On one half, arrange at regular intervals small lblobs of apricot jam, not more than 4 cm ( 1 ½ in) in diameter. Moisten the dough around each blob of jam with water and cover the other piece of dough. Press down well between the jam to stick the dough together and cut with a plain 5 cm ( 2 in0 diameter pastry (cookie) cutter.
  Spread a cloth on a plate. Dust with flour and arrange the fritters on the cloth. Allow to rise for 30 minutes and then deep fry the fritters in oil at 180 oC(356 oF) When they have puffed and are light golden on one side, turn and cook the other side. Drain the fritters. Arrange on a napkin and dust with icing (confectioner’s) sugar.
Elderflower fritters with honey
Put 250 g( 9 oz. 2 ¼ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour into a mixing bowl. Make  a well in the centre and add 1 teaspoon salt, 4 teaspoons sugar and 4 egg yolks. Very gently incorporate 325 ml ( 11 ft. oz. 1 ½ cups) light beer to make a smooth dough, but without working it. Allow to rest for 1 hour in a cool place. Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 180 oC(356 oF_ Whisk 4 egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture very carefully. Dip the flowers of 24 racemes of elder-flower into the mixture, holding them by the stem. Turn them between the fingers to remove excess dough and fry them head downwards. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle the fritters with icing (confectioner’s) sugar and pour a little acacia honey over them. Serve hot.

Fig fritters
Peel and quarter some figs and macenate for 30 minutes in brandy (or liqueur) and sugar.Dip in batter and continue as for apricot fritters.

Nanette fritters
Cut a stale brioche into round slices. Prepare a confectioner’s custard (pastry cream) and add to it some chopped crystallized (candied) fruit which has been macerated in kirsch or rum. Spread a little of this mixture on each slice of brioche and sandwich together in pairs. Moisten with a little sugar syrup favored with kirsch or rum.Dip in batter and continue as for apricot fritters.

Pineapple fritters
Slice a peeled fresh pineapple ( or use canned pineapple).Sprinkle the slcies with caster (superfine) sugar and kirsch or rum and macerate for 30 minutes. Continue as for apricot fritters.

Rice fritters
Prepare a thick rice pudding. Spread in layer 1.5 cm ( ½ -3/4 in) thick and allow to cool completely. Cut into small squares, rectangles or lozenges.Dip in batter and continue as for apricot fritters.

Semolina fritters
Add some small raisins soaked in rum to thick semolina pudding and proceed as for rice fritters.
Semolina and rice fritters may also be made of two rounds of the chilled mixture spread with  confectioner’s custard(pastry cream) and sandwiched tightly together.

FRITTO MISTO  An Italian speciality (meaning literally fried mixture) made from an assortment of savoury fritters, sliced chicken calves brains or sweetbreads, chicken livers, cauliflower, asparagus tips, artichoke hearts, rice or macaroni croquettes. The ingredients are sometimes marinated, then dipped in a light batter and plunged into very hot deep fat. They are served hot, with lemon quarters, and sometimes accompanied by very small marinated veal escalopes (scallops) coated in breadcrumbs and sauteed in butter. Fritto misto mare uses an assortment of seafood and fish.

FRIULI  The region is situated in the north of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia, and the wines reflect the melange of cultural influences with a wealth of different grape varieties planted Mainly white wines are produced in a crisp, dry fruity style.

FROG  A web footed amphibian found in damp marshland or alongside ponds and streams.Certain species are edible but only the leg meat. Frogs legs were regarded as a tasty dish in the Middle Ages, particularly during Lent. In France two main species are found the green or common frog, and the rusty or mute frog (so called because the male has no larynx) The green frog has three dark bands on its back and is considered to taste better. The draining of marshlands has considerably reduced its nubmers, but it can still be found in the Dombes (hence its fame in Lyonnals gastronomy) in Auvergne Sologne, Britany and Alsace.The rusty or mute frog is darker and only approaches the water to mate. It generally inhabits cool places, not necessarily near water. Its flesh is rather less delicate than that of the common frog.
   Most of the frogs eaten in France are improted from central Europe and Yogoslavia.They tend to be larger and have more meat than the local species. Frozen frogs legs, from bullfrogs, are also imported from Cuba or the United States.These are nearly as big as the legs of guinea fowl but they have very little flavour.
   The delicate flavour of the meat is enhanced by seasoning, and frogs legs are often prepared with herbs, garlic and chopped parsley.They are also made into blanquettes, soups, omelettes and incuselines, and can be fried or sauteed. The most highly regarded recipes come from Lyons, Alsace and Poitou.The Menagiere de Paris contained recipes for cooking them in soups and in the pie.
 Frogs legs are also eaten in Germany and Italy but they have usually filled the british with disgust. When Escoffer was chef of the Carlton Hotel in London, he managed to have them accepted at the table of the Prince of Wales by calling them cuises de nymphes aurore.

RECIPES
Preparation
Skin the frogs by slitting the skin at the neck and pulling it back. Cut the backbone so that the legs are still joined to it and can be cooked in pairs.Cut  off the feet. Skewer the legs and soak them in very cold water. Change the water 3 or 4 times over a period of 12 hours, so that the flesh writtens and swells. Dry the legs and cook them according to the recipe. Usually 3 paris per serving are allowed.

Brochettes of Frogs legs
Marinate the frogs legs for at least 2 hurs in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, grated garlic, finally chopped parsley and a pinch each of cayenne pepper, powdered bay leaf, salt and pepper.Drain dry and thread them on to skewers.Fry for 7-10 minutes in the oil in which they were marinated, or grill (broil) them gently for 15-20 minutes.Test with a fork to see if they are cooked. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve very hot garnished with slices of lemon.

Fried frogs legs
Season the prepared frogs legs with salt and pepper and dip them in flour (or in egg and breadcrumbs) Saute them in butter or olive oil  in a shallow frying pan for 7-10 minutes over a brisk heat. Drain and arrange in a heated serving dish. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and lemon juice. If they were cooked in butter, pour it over them, otherwise use matre d’hotel butter. Serve with boiled potatoes.

Frogs legs ala lyonnaise
Prepare the frogs legs and saute them in butter as for fried frogs legs.Add 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion to the frying pan and brown the ingredients.(A finely chopped shallot may be added to the onions.) Arrange on a heated serving dish and sprinkle with chopped parsley and vinegar.

Frogs legs a la meuniere
Prepare the frogs legs season with salt and pepper and dip them in flour.Saute them in butter for 7-10 minutes over a brisk heat. Place in a timbale dish and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Keep hot Heat some butter in the saute pan until it turns brown, add the juice of half a lemon and, if necessary, a little fresh butter. Pour this over the frogs legs and serve immediately.

Frogs legs with garlic puree and parsley juice
Remove the stalks from 100  g ( 4 oz. 2 cups) parsley and wash. Cook for 3 minutes in boiling water, leave to cool and then puree in a blender. Poach the cloves of 4 heads of garlic for 2 minutes in boiling water seasoned with salt. Remove the garlic from the water, peel and return to the boiling water to cook for another 7-8 minutes. Repeat 6-7 times until te garlic is soft. Puree the garlic in a blender and put in a casserole with 500 ml ( 17 ft oz. 2 cups) milk. Season with salt and pepper. Season the frogs legs  with salt pepper . Heat some olive oil and a knob of butter and fry the frogs legs for 2-3 minutes until golden. Heat the parsley puree with 100 ml ( 4 ft oz. 7 tablespoons) water. Drain the frogs legs on paper towels. Pour the parsley sauce into a warm serving dish. Arrange the garlic puree in the middle and surround with the frogs legs.

FROMAGE DES PYRENEES  Uncooked pressed cow’s milk cheese (50% fat ) with a naturally brushed crust, made inAriege. Beam and the Basque country. It is drum shaped, 30 cm (12 in) in diameter and 10 cm ( 4 in) thick weighing 3.5-4.5 kg ( 7 ¾ -10 lb) A supple, cheese pricked with little holes, it has a slightly acid taste. Fromage des Pyrences can also be made from sheep’s milk using the same method.

FROMAGE FRAIS  The French term for unripened fresh cheese. Make from whose or skimmed milk fronage frais has a thick creamy consistency.Depending on its fat content, it can be rich and creamy or very light and slightly tangy in flavour. It is used in sweet or savoury dishes, in dips and salad dressing to make occur a la crème, with fruit or fruit conserves to make simple desserts, or plain as a dessert topping.

FROMAGE GLACE  A cone shaped ice cream of the 18th and early 19th century. They originally consisted simply of ice cream in various flavours, but later became what we now call bombes.At that time, the name fromage (cheese) was used not only for fermented milk products but for all preparations based on milk, cream and sugar, provided they were shaped in a mould, thus a Bavariar cream was known as a fromage bavaroios. Grimed de la Reyniere stated that it was in error that this name is given to all sorts of ice cream made in large quantities  in moulds. Whatever one calls them, however, these fluted iced cheeses are the most beautiful ornamental desserts. They have the advantage over ice cream served in sundae dishes that they keep longer without melting, and they are better than slabs of ice cream because they are softer.
   Among the fromages glaces popular during the Second Empire were fromage a la italienne (flavoured with lemon marmalade and orange blossom) fromage de parmesan (with cinnamon and cloves, poured into a mould and sprinkled with grated Parmesan) and fromage a la chantilly ( with whiped cream and citron peel)

FROMENT  A French term for various types of wheat soft, hard and spelt. In cookery,the word froment is used in preference to ble to avoid any confusion with buckwheat, commonly known as ble noir (black wheat) Fine fleur de fromenti traditionally denotes a superior quality flour used for baking.

FROMENT A French term for various types of wheat soft, hard and spelt. In cookery, the word froment is used in preference to ble to avoid any confusion with buckwheat, commonly known as ble noir (black wheat) Fine fleur de froment (fine wheaten flour) traditionally denotes a superior quality flour used for baking.

FRONSAC  Fruity and well rounded AOC red wine from Libournais. The appellation canon fronsee is limited to thecommunes of Fronsac and Stint Michel de Fronsac

FRONTIGNAN  A vin doux naturel made from the Muscat Blac a Petits Grains grape grown around the town of Fronignan in the Herault.Very popular at one time as Frontigna or Frontinlac.

FRONTON   AOC red and sometimes rose, supple fruity and with little tannin, made from the Negrette grape on a plateau between the Tarn and Garonne rivers.

FROST  To shake some ice cubes in an empty glass so that an opaque mist forms on the sides of the glass before a cocktail or a fruit based spirit is poured in Alternatively, a glass is frosted by moistening the rim with lemon juice or egg while then dipping it upside down in caster (superfine) sugar chocolate powder or vanilla sugar.
 Frosted fruit is whole pieces or cluster of fruit  brushed with egg white or lemon juice, then dusted with caster sugar.
   Frosted fruit is whole pieces or clusters of fruit brushed with egg white or lemon juice, then dusted with caster sugar.

FROSTING   The American term for icing used as a noun to describe the mixture applied as a cake covering and filling, and as a verb to describe the process of applying it. Frosting covers soft icing and cake fillings, such as buttercream, chocolate icing, or glace icing, but not royal icing which is known by the same name. Outside America, the soft cake covering and filling made by whisking sugar syrup into egg whites is usually called American frosting. The quick version, made by whisking egg whites and sugar over hot water, is seven minute frosting.
   Frosting is also term for applying sugar coating to fruit or mint leaves by first brushing them with egg white or water, then sprinkling with caster (superfine) sugar and allowing to set. The rims of drinking glasses are also frosted with sugar for some cocktails. Frosting also describes the way chilled glasses become cloudy when removed from the refrigerator or freezer.

RECIPES
American frosting
Make a sugar syrup using 225 g ( 8 oz. Generous 1 cup) sugar and 5 tablespoons water.Bring to the boil and cook until the syrup reaches 121 oC (250 oF) Meanwhile use an electric beater to whisk 2 egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar until stiff in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot, not boiling water. Remove the syrup from the heat. Whisking continuously pour the syrup into the egg whites in a slow, steady steam. Whisk in ½ teaspoon natural vanilla essence (extract) Remove from the heat and cool slightly, then spread the frosting over the cake.

Quick frosting
Place 225 g ( 8 oz. Generous 1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar, 3 tablespoons water, 2 egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl. Using an electric beater, whisk the mixture over a pan of water that is barely simmering, not boiling for 5 minutes, until the mixture will begin to cook on the hot bowl . Remove the bowl from the pan and add ½ teaspoon natural vanilla essence (extract). Whisk for 2 minutes, then use immediately.

FRUIT  Botanically speaking the fruit is the part of the plant that develops from the ovary of the flower and contains the seeds. This definition covers not only the sweet fleshy fruits but also certain vegetables courgette (zucchini) aubergines (eggplants), cucumbers and nuts.
  Fruit can be divided into three main groups.
Fleshy fruits with a high water content (up to 90%) These include citrus fruits, pears, pineapples, apples, peaches, mangoes and strawberries.
Fleshy fruits with a high sugar content. These includes dates and dried fruits.
Dry fruits with a high fat contents and low water content. Thee include nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds) and are usually considered in a separate category.

Exotic fruit.  The term covers a wide variety of fruit and includes many that are now familiar, such as mango, kiwi, papaya, passion fruit and lychee. Others are still aporadic in availability and not widely used either as dessert fruit or in cooking. These fruit vary widely in appearance, texture flavour and culinary characteristics.

Desserts. Raw fruit for dessert should always be sound and just ripe.Fresh fruit can also be served chilled  flamed with rice, somolina or soft cheese, in fritters or kebabs, or baked  (apples bonne femme, apricot meringue). Fruit  is also used for a wide range of mouses, creams, ice creams, sorbets, charlotte, souffles, jellies, pies and tarts. Finally diced fruit can be used in omelettes, pancakes and puddings and as a sauce or puree to accompany ice creams and desserts.
Preserving fruit.Various preservation methods are used for fleshly fruit, depending on the type. Many fruits can be sterilized and then preserved in bottle or jars. This method does not alter the vitamins content very much but the mineral content may be affected. Fruits preserved in this way may be used for a wide range of mousses, creams, ice creams, sorbets, charlotte, souffles, jellies, pies and tarts. Finally, diced fruit can be used in omelettes, pancakes and puddings and as a sauce or puree to accompany ice creams and desserts.

Fruit in cookery. Fruit can be used for making jam, marmalade, compotes and jellies, as well as for drinks, either alcoholic  or non alcoholic fruits ulcers. Natural fruit extracts are used in confectionery, baking dairy products and drinks.
    Although fruit is mostly used in sweet preparations, it also goes well with meat, fish, poultry or vegetables. Apart from lemon, the following fruits can be used in cooking pineapples and bananas with game and turkey, figs with cured ham and partridge grapefruit with crab and fish, cherries with duck and game, quince with tafines, mango with beef, orange with duck and calf’s liver grapes with quail and fish, prunes with rabbit and pork, and apple with black pudding and red cabbage.

RECIPES
Fondant coated or marquise cherries
Thoroughly drain about 50 cherries (complete with their stalks) preserved in brandy or eau-de-vie. Pat dry, removing any excess liquid. Put 375g ( 13 oz) fondant into a small heavy based saucepan and heat rapidly, adding 4 tablespoons kirsch, mix well with a wooden spatula. When the fondant is liquid, remove from the heat and incorporate 3-4 drops of red food colouring, mixing briskly. Hold each cherry by the stalk and dip it in the fondant, let any excess drip back into the saucepan. Then lay the cherries on a work surface or marble slab sprinkled  lightly with icing (confectioner’s) sugar to prevent the fruit from sticking. Transfer each cherry to a small paper case.
Alternatively, add colouring to only half the fondant, to give 25 pink and 25 white cherries.  (The same method can be used for large blackcurrants preserved in brandy use pink fondant).

Fruit brochettes en papillotes
Peel some orange, remove the pith and seeds, and cut the segments into pieces, peel some pears, apple, and bananas, cut into cubes or slices and sprinkle with lemon juice, cut some fresh or canned pineapple into cubes. Macerate all these ingredients for 30 minutes with some sugar to taste and liquier or spirit (Curacao, brandy, rum or Grand Marnier) then thread the pieces on to small skewers, mixing the various fruits. Lay each skewer on a piece of lightly buttered foil or greaseproof paper and dot the fruit with small pieces of butter. Wrap the brochettes in the foil or paper, lay them on the shelf ( rack) in a preheated oven at 240 oC (474 oF, gas 9) and cook for about 15 minutes. Serve the brochettes in their wrapping. To microwave, use buttered greaseproof paper and cook the brochettes for about 3 minutes on full power.

Glace cherries filled with almond paste.
Prepare some almond paste with (125 g 4 ½ oz, 1 cup) ground almonds, 250 g ( 9 oz. 1 cup) sugar, 4 tablespoons glucose powder, 5 tablespoons water and some kirsch. Split 50 glace (candied) cherries in half, but without separating the halves completely. Shape the almond paste into small balls and insert one into each cherry. Serve on a tray sprinkled with icing (confectioner’s) sugar.

FRUIT GIVRE  A dessert consisting of a hollowedout fruit skin filled with ice cream, sorbet or iced soeffle made with the flesh of the fruit.This method is particularly suitable for citrus fruit (such as oranges, lemons or tangerine) pineapple, melon and persianmon.

FRUITIER  During the Ancien Regime, the member of the royal household charged with supervising the supply of fruit, as well as tapes and candles.

FRUIT JUICE  The liquid extracted a fruit by pressure or by certrifugal  force. Fruit juice is a refreshing drink, often rich in vitamins, which can be drunk plain or diluted with water or soda water. Concentrated fruit juices have been developed, either in liquid form or in crystals, which can be diluted to taste. The fruit juices most widely consumed are apple, grape, orange, grapefruit, mango, pineapple and tomato. For fruits that are more fleshy (apricots, mangoes, pears) or more acid (gooseberry, blackcurant raspberry) the juices have a larger proportion of added water and sugar.
    Fruit juices are used mainly as drinks but they are also used to make ices and sorbets, as well as in more general cooking.Lemon juice has its special uses, in many diets, natural fruit juices are complemented by vegetable juices served as nonalcoholic aperitifs.

RECIPES
Fermented cherry juice
Remove the stones (pits) from 1 kg (2 ¼ lb) red cherries and 100 g ( 4 oz) black cherries. Press the fruit into a sieve placed over a mixing bowl, crushing then hard, put the crushed pulp in a fruit press to extract all the juice, then add this to the juice in the bow and leave to ferment at a temperature of 12-15 oC (54-59 oF) until the juice is no longer cloudy (about 24 hours) Strain through muslin (cheesecloth) or a jelly bag then add 450g (l lb. 2 cups) caster (superfine) sugar to every 600 ml (1 pint 2 ½ cups) juice. Stir until dissolved, strain again, bottle and seal.
   Raspberry, gooseberry or blackberry fermented juices is prepared in the same way.

FRUIT PASTE  A confectionery item made with fruit pulp sugar and pectin. It is prepared in a similar way to jam, but is a much drier mixture. The fruit pulp represents 50% of the finished product (40% for quinces and citrus fruits) In industrially manufactured fruit paste, this pulp usually consists of one third apricot pulp, one third apple pulp and one third pulp of the fruit that give its name to the paste, usually with a flavouring and sometimes a colouring. The pulp is cooked with sugar, glucose syrup and pectin, then flavoured, coloured and poured into moulds of starch (or on to trays to be cut into shapes later) After 12-24 hours the fruit pastes are turned out, brushed if they have been moulded in starch) and dried, then relied in caster (superfine) sugar or icing (confectioner’s) sugar.They are stored at a moderate temperature in a slightly humid atmosphere.
  Certain French regional specialities have a basis of fruit paste. Vosges apricots  Dijon cassissines Auvergne and Dauphine mulberies.

RECIPES
Apple paste
Peel and core some good dessert (eating) apples. Put them in a pan with about 750 ml ( 1 ¼ pints, 3 ¼ cups0 per 1 kg ( 2 ¼ lb) apples and cook, turning them over occasionally with a wooden spoon, until they are soft.. Remove the apples and put them in a sieve over a bowl. When they are cold, press them through the sieve and reduce the pulp by half over the heat. Pour the thick pulp into a glazed earthenware dish or a terrine. Make a syrup with the same quantity of sugar, cook it to the soft ball stage, take the pan off the heat and pour in the apple pulp. Stir well over a low heat with the mixture gently bubbling, until the bottom of the pan can be seen. Pour into a mould (as for apricot paste).

Apricot paste
Stone (pit) some very ripe apricots, put them in a pan, just cover them with water and bring to the boil. Drain and peel the fruits, then pass them through a vegetable mill. Weigh the pulp obtained,. For 1 kg (2 ¼ lb) pulp, weigh 1.1 – 1.2 kg (2 ½ - 2 ¾ lb) caster (superfine) sugar. Mix 100 g ( 4 oz. ½ cup) of this sugar with 60 g ( 2 oz. ½ cup) powdered gelatine. Pour the pulp into a heavy based saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the sugar gelatine mixture and bring back to the boil, stirring with a wooden frame, specially for making fruit paste. Pour the paste inside the frame smooth the surface and leave to cool completely (about 2 hours) Then cut the paste out into squares or rectangles, roll them in caster sugar and store them in an airtight tin, separating the layers with grease proof paper.

Cherry paste
Stalk and stone (pit) the cherries and put them through a vegetable mill. Prepare as for apricot paste but use equal weights of sugar and cherry pulp and 65 g  (2 ½ oz, 2 ½ tablespoons) powdered gelatine per 1 kg ( 2 ¼ lb ) pulp.

Plum paste
Use ripe plums or greengages and the same procedure as for apricot paste.

Quince paste
Peel 1 kg ( 2 ¼  lb) quinces, seed and cut into pieces. Put in a saucepan with 150 ml ( ¼ pint, 2/3 cup) waste and cook until the fruit is reduced to a puree. Strain through a vegetable mill using the disc with medium sized holes.Return the puree to the pan. Add 1.25 kg ( 2 ¼ lb) sugar and cook for about 45 minutes, until the mixture comes away from the bottom of the pan. Stir continuously to make sure the mixture does not stick. Pour the mixture into a frame placed on a marble slab coated with granulated sugar. The next day, when the quince paste is very cool, cut into pieces. Dip into granulated sugar and leave to dry.

Strawberry paste
Wash and hull the strawberries and put them through a vegetable mill. Use equal weights of sugar and strawberry pulp and 65 g ( 2 ¼ lb) pulp. Prepare as for apricot paste but note that the brisk boiling stage should last only 5 minutes.

FRUIT SALAD  A dessert consisting of pieces of sliced or chopped fruit or whole small fruit( such as grapes) stored (pitted) and peeled if necessary macerated in sugar and often in alcohol (sweet wine or liqueur) and served in a fruit dish. Traditionally a syrup was used to coat the fruit, but fruit salads are often served unsweetened, moistened with fruit juice. The dish is placed on crushed ice or chilled and the fruit,  salad may be served with cream or ice cream.
  The fruit used varies according to the season, soemtimes exotic fruit are used, such as lychees, kiwi fruit, mangoes, or passion fruit. The fruit can be raw, poached and cooled, or dried, soaked and poached. Canned fruit can also be used  (in this case the fruit juice or syrup is used instead of sugar0 and crystallized (candied) or dried fruit can be used as decoration.

RECIPES
Exotic fruit salad with lime
Peel a very ripe pineapple and dice the flesh. Peel and stone (pit) 3 mangoes, cut the flesh into strips. Peel 3 bananas, slice them and roll (but do not soak) the slices in the juice of a lime. Put all these ingredients in a bowl, sprinkle with 3-4 tablespoons sugar and chill for at least 3 hours before serving.

Fruit Salad a la maltaise
Macerate an assortment of sliced bananas, stoned (pitted) cherries and cubes of fresh pineapple in a mixture of Curacao and sugar. Chill, Put a layer of orange flavoured ice cream in the bottom of glass fruit bowl, arrange the drained fruit on top. Decorate with whipped cream and peeled orange segments. Alternatively, the ice cream can be omitted and orange juice mixed with  Curacao poured over.

Fruit salad a la normande
Peel and core a pineaple and cut the flesh into cubes. Peel and slice some bananas. Peel and core some apples, cut them into cubes and sprinkle with lemon juice. Macerate all the fruit in some Calvados mixed with sugar.Chill. Arrange the fruit in a glass bowl and pour the fruit liquid over it. Cover with single (light) or Chantilly cream.

Fruit salad a I occitaninne
Peel and core some pears, slice thickly and sprinkle with lemon juice. Peel and slice some  f gs. Peel some large black and white grapes. Arrange the ingredients in layers in a glass bowl, sprinkle with sugar and pour over some Blanquette de Limoux ( sparkling white wine) and a little brandy.Chill for at least 1 hour. Cover with Chantilly cream and decorate with peeled grapes.

FRUIT STONER (PITTER) A special utensil designed to remvoe the stones (pits) from certain fruits particularly cherries and olive, without spoiling the flesh it  type of pincers with a cupshaped depression at the end of one arm in which the fruit is held and a short rod at the end of the other arm that acts as a pusher and inserts itself in the fruit. When the pincers are squeezed together, the stone is pushed out. The stones are removed from olives before stuffing them. A type of cherry stoner with a receptacle for catching the stones is quicker and more efficient to use.

FRUMENTY  A very old country dish, consisting of a porridge or gruel made from wheat boiled with milk, then sweetened and spiced. Originating in Touraine it is mentioned as a dessert in Le Menagier de Paris (1383) being made with milk in which almonds have been boiled to give flavour and served either warm and semi-liquid or cold and set.
  In the Berry region, frumenty was made with water and served with butter or fresh cream.

FRYING  Cooking food in hot fat, Different types of fat may be used, including lard, dripping, butter or oil. Fat can be heated to a far higher temperature than water so this is often a fierce cooking method. The type of amount of fat used depends on the particular method and the result required. The minimum fat can be used to prevent food from sucking to the pan, a shallow layer can be used or the food can be submerged in fat. When the minimum of fat is used it may form the base for a sauce or in the case of butter or olive oil, it may be used to dress the  cooked food.

FRYING PAN (SKILLET)  A round or oval shallow pan with a long handle, used for frying or sauteeing food. The French word pode comes from the Latin patella, meaning a small dish. Meat, fish vegetables, eggs and various mixrure (croquettes, omelettes, pancakes) may be sauteed or fried. The classic frying pan, made of steel with a mart black finish, is thick and heavy so that it does not buckle and food does not burn. To prevent it from rusting, it must be dried thoroughly after cleaning and lightly oiled using a cloth pad or paper towels.
  There is now a wide choice of pans and finishes. Many people prefer lighter pans because they are easier to work with and maintain, pans of glazed aluminium with a ceramic interior are light and good conductors of heat.

FUDGE  A very soft caramel that melts in the mouth and is not sticky. It originated in the 19th century from an error made during the manufacture of normal toffee, when the sugar recrystallized. It can be flavoured with fruit, nuts, chocolate, or coffee, and is cut into squares when cold.

RECIPE
Vanilla fudge
Heat 150 g ( 5 oz) unsweetened condensed milk and 1 vanilla pod (bean) in a large heavy based saucepan. Add 400 g ( 14 oz, 1 ¾ cups) caster (superfine) sugar, 65 g ( 2 ½ oz, 5 tablespoons) butter and 1 teaspoon vinegar. Bring slowly to the boiled stirring all the time. Cover and simmer over a low heat for 2 minutes then remove the vanilla pod and cook until the mixture starts to form a plabble fall. Place the bottom of the pan in cold water and heat until the mixture thickens, lightens in colour and loses its shine. Pour immediately on to a marble work surface or a greased baking sheer. Smooth over with a rolling pin and cut the fudge into pieces before it has completely cooked.

FUFU  Also called fonfou or fontou  a traditional starchy African savoury pudding or thick pordge. Fufu may be made from vegetables, sucha s cassava, yam, sweet potato and or plantain a flour or meal ground from root vegetables or corn (maize) or rice. The starchy ingredient is cooked in water to make a smooth, thick porridge or mixture as thick as a dough which can be shaped in a dish. Fufu is served as an accompaniment to rich and spicy fish, meat and/ or vegetable stews or soups .

FUGU Japanese name for a fish of the Tetraodontidae family, also called blowfish or puffer.The species valued in Japan is notorious for its poisonous liver and other innards.The fish has to be prepared with skill to avoid contaminating the edible flesh with poisons from the internal organs.Chef’s are specially trained in the preparation of fugu and only those who are qualified are allowed to prepare the fish, which is served in licensed restaurants.The  excitement of possibly dicing with death by eating the fish is one of the reasons for its popularity (deaths are occasionally recorded as a result of preparation by unqualified home cooks) Fugu is served as sashimi, cut in fine slices. It is also served, simmered, with tofu, and a dipping sauce. The fins are dried, salted and toasted, then used to flavour sake.
  There is a related northern swellfish, puffer or blowfish that is not poisonous, found in the North Atlantic.

FULBERT-DUMONTEIL, JEAN CAMILLE  French journalist and writer (born v
ergi, 1831, died Neuilly sur Siene, 1912) He was the author of numerous articles and about 30 books, starting his career with the Mousquetaire newspaper (owned by Dumas pere) and later moving to Le Figaro. In 1906 he published a colleciton of articles on gastronomy entitled La France gourmande, which reflect his Belle Epoque spirit and love of food. He choose as his coat of arms truffles and smiles on a field of roses. Besides  gastronomy, he was passionately interested in zoology and travel which inspired some flights of lyricism on exotic cookery.

FUL MEDAMES  Also known as foul medames. The name of the Egyptian national dish, and of the type of bean in which it is made, a bean as old as the Pharoals comes from the same root as          ful in Egypt also embraces the dried brown broad bean. But the name is specifically identified  with a smallish, squart smooth brown bean, unusual in that the contact point with the pod is on the end. In Egypt it is an important source of nutrition in the average diet. It is eaten throughout the Middle East, commonly seasoned  with olive oil, garlic and lemon juice, and eaten with bamine eggs and or bread. Traditionally the beans are long cooked in a pot burried overnight in the fire ashes. As such it is Egypt’s national breakfast, and an essential mezze.

FUMET  A liquid obtained by reducing a stock or cooking liquid that is added to as sauce or cooking stock to enhance its flavour or give it extra body. Literally meaning aroma, the word fumet is used for concentrated mushroom, and fish stocks, for meat poultry and game stock the word fond is used.
  Mushroom fumet The concentrated cooking liquid obtained  by boiling cultivated mushrooms in salted, lemon flavoured water with butter, it is used to improve the flavour of some sauces and can be kept, in a well sealed bottle, in the refrigerator or freezer. Truffle fumet can be made by cooking truffle peelings with Madeira and reducing the liquid.

RECIPES
Fish fumet
Crush 2.5 kg ( 5 ½ lb) bones and trimming of white fish (sole, lemon sole, whting  brill, turbot) Peel and thinly slice 125 g ( 4 ½ oz, 1 ½ cups) onions and shallots, clean and thinly slice 150 g ( 5 oz. 1 2/3 cups) mushrooms or mushroom stalks and trimmings, squeeze the juice from half a lemon tie 25 g ( 1 oz) parsley sprigs into a bundle. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and add a small spig of thyme, a bay leaf, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt. Moisten with 2.5  litres (4 ¼ pints, 11 cups) water and 500 ml ( 17 ft oz. 2 cups) dry white wine ( or red for some recipes) Bring to the boil, then skin and boil very gently for 30 minutes. Strain through muslin (cheesecloth) and leave to cool.

Mushroom fumet
Bring 500 ml (17 ft oz. 2 cups) water to the boil with 40 g ( 1 ½ oz 3 tablespoons) butter, the juice of half a lemon, and 1 teaspoon slat, add 500 g ( 1 lb 2 oz) cleaned mushrooms to this mixture and leave to boil for about 10 minutes. Remove the mushrooms ( which can be used as a garnish) and reduce the cooking liquid by half. This fumet will keep in the refrigerator, covered, until required.

FUNGUS, CHINESE  The white fungus has a sponge like texture and is brilliant white in colour.Wood ear (black fungus) is a grey black curly fungus used in soups or chopped up in spring rolls. It is almost flavourless , but retains its texture after cooking.

FUNNEL  A utensil for filling bottles or other containers.Generally conical (oval for brandy) with a long narrow stem, funnel are made of glass, stainless steel, tin plate, enamelled metal or plastic. There is sometimes a tap for controlling the flow.An icing funnel has a wooden stick to control the aperture and is used to pour certain types of confectionery into moulds.

FUSION COOKING  A term used to describe cooking styles making use of techniques, ingredients and seasoning from Asian and Western cuisines for any one dish. Fusion food, the description often applied to the resulting dishes may consist of European ingredients cut and cooked by a Chinese method, seasoned with Asian or Southeast Asian herbs or spices. Stir frying and steaming are typical cooking methods, noodles dim sum wrappers and Chinese pancakes are versatile ingredients, dipping sauces are likely accompaniments, and salads bring together hot and cold. Western and Oriental vegetables or  dressings. Fusion cooking reflects the fashion for meals that are light, but satisyfing and full of  contrasting flavour and textures. Dishes often have a high proportion of vegetables and a comparatively small amount of fish, meat or poultry, with a small quantity of thin, but full flavoured sauces and dresssings.

FUZZY MELON Also caleld fuzzy squash or hairy melon, this vegetables is used  in Chinese and Asian cooking. This long green squash is covered with short hairs, and the peel has to be removed before cooking. The flesh is firm and mild, and it readily takes on the flavour of ingredients with which it is cooked,. It is braised with meat or seafood, stir fried in a vareity of Chiense dishes or seasoned with curry spices in Indian dishes.

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