Dear One and All,
 
It has been just over a week since I sent out the first call for volunteers to assist with my French recipes. At that moment in time, a few had been encouraged to shelter-in-place. So, who would have guessed that the whole nation would go on ‘lock-down’ and many would be searching for creative ways to use their time?
 
I must say, I have received an outpouring of requests. And, it has been an absolute delight to hear from friends—old and new—from across the country and even from across the ‘pond.’ Some have enlisted their friends to join in on the fun, so, as you can imagine, I’m very gratified. 

I now have well over forty ‘testers’, have sent out over eighty-one recipes and I am still receiving requests.  I feel as long as people are enjoying this experiment, I’m all for continuing on. I will not need the results/feedback for at least another month. 

Moroccan Chicken Stew (Lisa Meltzer Penn) 

I’ve also requested photos of your finished dishes. Some of you have already seen gorgeous results. But, other recipes leave us wondering if we prepared it correctly. What were we to expect? Take the Teurgoule or rice pudding recipe. Karyn (who is in this new book and lives in France) offered this week to prepare her great-grandmother’s recipe for us. (See photo below.)  This is quite an ancient recipe, so measurements and ingredients from the original Norman recipe may have been changed.  I believe the original recipe arose out of another environmental crisis of sorts – a famine.  In the late 1700s, the Normans experienced a drought; their wheat crop was decimated. In order to help feed his people, it has been said that the French King arranged for rice to be delivered to the Normans.  But, no one in the North had tasted rice or knew how to cook it.  It was the king’s chef, who created this very recipe and it has long been hailed as the dessert that saved the French.
 

Teurgoule – Rice Pudding (Karyn Foucher)

So, the recipes I have chosen for this upcoming book were handed down through the generations by the generous French men and women I came to know in France. The recipes are old, regional, seasonal, local, and simple. This is known as ‘cuisine pauvre‘ or peasant cooking.  (You’ll find this to be true in Book One of this same book series.  Check it out.)
           
So, when collecting ingredients to test these recipes, consider where they came from. Most are from northern France, so expect to search for very rich cream, cheeses, milks, and wonderful hard ciders.  Some recipes are from the seas around Brittany, and have no flamboyant flavors like those more prominently found in the south, or Provence. And, if they are heavily spiced, know that cultural influences from French colonies have made them so. So, do as anyone would do under these circumstances, substitute ingredients if/as necessary. Have fun with your own creations. And take notes.

Your questions for more information have been helpful. Your feedback, quite useful. Thank you so much for stepping up to the stove with me. I hope you continue to enjoy this new way of connecting in a world in the throes of a pandemic. 
  

  (Now available for pre-order)