Sunday, March 29, 2020

Dear Fellow Testers and Readers of my Savoring the Olde Ways
Series –
 
The Test Kitchen is now entering the third week, and we are going strong.  I am most happy to relate that I have received incredible feedback from you, my ‘testers.’  You have diligently held to the recipe (as best as possible, when not able to get to the store), and have also made some mighty creative substitutions, when necessary.  
         
We have discovered some errors/typos in one of the recipes, which could have been confounding, if not brought to heel by the pure logic of one astute tester.  (It is not 7 ½ cups of flour, but 2 ½ cups of flour to make a pastry dough.) And others discovered that the Teurgoule rice pudding recipe needed far less milk than listed in the ancient recipe.
         
The issue of which region from France came up in several recipes. I forget you have not read the stories connected to the recipes. Understanding ‘place’ and history within a recipe makes a big difference as to your expectations of the final result. You’ll read all those stories in the very book you are working on.       

Thank you again to all those of you who have tested recipes and those who are continuing to test–at a time we are being tested by the corona virus.  Stay safe and healthy!
 
Here are only some of the photos received from some of you testers:
French Onion Soup – Shannon Amerman
French Onion Soup – John and Penny Dancer (UK)
Tarte Tatin – Carol & Tim Petersen
Moroccan Chicken Stew and fresh bread – Arthur Wood
Truffle Scrambled Eggs – Robin & Paul Bantz  
Moroccan Chicken Stew – Sandy Hardaker
Cotriade Seafood Stew – Bonnie Schmidt