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Normandy Chez Mes Amies Les Brossollets-Vacation Part 2
Maison Brossollets à Reveillon
my friend max brossollet is publisher of the scientific american in france, called pour la science, and he reads what he publishes. despite his great appreciation for technology (they even cook by induction in their paris apt.) they claim they will never have a computer so i can assume they will not be reading this blog. therefore i can confide that though i know they love me, they always find some little thing to criticize. last visit it was my running shoes so i made sure to bring more conventional walking shoes this time. max told me he now accepts that running shoes are the fashion. so this visit’s reproach was my lack of capitalization in the blog posting article i printed out for him on their friend the molecular gastronomist hervé this. my dear friend nadège brossollet was especially horrified when she saw her name without capitalization. at least this time i finally got the spelling right (i managed to fail at this in both mentions in two of my cookbooks).
getting back to max, he is a font of fascinating technological and scientific information and a great conversationalist to boot. when driving through the beautiful countryside of normandy for example, he explained to me how this area between le bouce and orléans is the most fertile in all of france and perhaps in all the world. proof could be the crème fraîche into which i went ecstatic over. (this atrocious grammar being a direct result of my over to top delight recollection) nadège is an equally fascinating friend and fantastic cook. she had already purchased some excellent crème fraîche in paris—far better than anything we get in the u.s. because it is made with raw (unpasteurized cream). but i insisted that i wanted to try the crème fraîche or normandy, renowned for its dairy products and she obligingly purchased some at the local market. we were all astonished at just how justified this claim of superior dairy products turned out to be. the crème was yellow with butterfat and the flavor beyond description—o.k.—i’ll try—faintly nutty, distinctly tangy, yet compellingly mellow and coating the mouth with velvety fullness. sorry—that’s the best i can do. moaning is far more expressive.
we spent my entire visit of 7 days in normandy, returning to paris the afternoon before my flight to germany. every glorious day followed a similar routine: breakfast of country eggs soft boiled (oh the flavor!) and bread from the local bakery toasted and cut into rectangles to dip in the yolk, then toasted brioche for nadège’s confitures my favorite of which were the quince and the blackberry—in fact my hardest decision of the day was which one to choose. yes—i was spoiled silly. let me do a quick run down of what we ate over a period of several days:
pâté of hare (hunted by max), lamb chops, magret de canard, bio (organic_ spinach of incomparable flavor, buttery mashed potatoes, grilled tomatoes, haricots vert, oysters, grey shrimp, pink shrimp, scallops, fat white spring asparagus with sauce mousseline (hollandaise lightened with stiffly whipped egg whites), salmon. strawberries for desert were accompanied by a special whipped cream from a dispenser. no—not fake cream—crème d'isigny made with madagascar vanilla. the night we watched the elections we ate a t.v. dinner, i.e. foie gras de canard and grand cru champagne (a first in every respect except perhaps the foie gras of which i have been blessed to enjoy on many occasions). did i mention that no meal other than breakfast went without an excellent wine. (max is the family expert, buy and bottling for his entire family.)
the one lunch we had “out” was on market day in the town of l’aigle at l'auberge de st. michèl. the compatibility of our 25 year friendship was demonstrated perfectly by the fact that we all ordered the exact same things: escargots (fabulous!) followed by pied de cochon in mustard sauce--memorable. but i was the only one who had to try dessert: crèpes filled with caramelized apples then oven crisped, served with vanilla ice cream AND crème anglaise.
MAX PERUSING THE WINE MENU
on the way home, nadège asked max to stop by the town of vernuil where i took this photo of the gothic church known for it’s “dentelle” or lace-like details. then home for dinner.
all i can say is that when i wasn’t eating i was walking—long 2 hour walks. the fields were filled with bright yellow flowers called colza—so bright they seemed to capture the very sunlight. it turned out to be the source of the ubiquitous rape seed oil.
where was elliott you may be wondering? eating himself sick is NOT his idea of a perfect vacation and he doesn’t speak french so he was happily at home and work, awaiting a very special week we are spending with wine friends in tuscany this coming fall.
speaking of future plans, max also pointed out the nearby 13 century church, explaining about the dark stones interspersed throughout that are an amalgamation of materials, including iron, of unsurpassing strength. they are visible in the photo if you look carefully. he went on to tell me that the little graveyard in front of the church would be their final resting place and smiling said that someday i will be able to visit them there. i had an instant image of standing by the church gate tears running down my face. yet—it was a dear thing to say and i cherish knowing that my treasured friends have so beautiful a place in which to spend eternity. (elliott and i plan to spend ours somewhere in the molecular environs of the universe. of course i will have the good fortune also to be found in several million cookbooks!)
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always from the top!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | February 16, 2008 2:22 PM #
Question about measuring brioche molds. I'm trying to determine if my molds are the same size you call for in the bread bible (2.75 inches). When I measure top of flute across I get 3.25 (green line--see photo), when I measure bottom of flute across I get 2.75 (red line). Do you recall how you measure yours?
Reply to this Posted by: Matthew | February 16, 2008 2:13 AM #
gloria, i'm not sure to what you're referring bc max publishes the scientific american in french and hervé this writes techology type books such as molecular gastronomy that are translated at least that one is!
xoxo
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | July 14, 2007 4:08 PM #
Hi Rose,
You sounded like you had a wonderful time in France. If you ever need a traveling buddy, call me.
Does Max have an English version of his technology book?
When you are down again, I will introduce you to a local Westport farmer who went to France and learned how to make cheese with the milk from his cows. It is unpasteurized farm cheese made in bite size pieces, and it is absolutely wonderful. It will be on the market soon.
Enjoying you newsletter.
Love Gloria
Reply to this Posted by: Gloria Cabral | June 11, 2007 8:48 AM #
Rose,
I made more Sacaduros last night, but made them slightly larger, which seemed to help. The bottoms were pretty buttery, though. The first batch I made were on the small side.
I suppose letting the dough rest in the fridge for a day or two changed the flavor of the end product a bit, but dad and I really enjoyed them.
Reply to this Posted by: Yet Another Anna | June 7, 2007 12:12 PM #
sounds like the butter wasn't sealed in enough if it ended up on the cookie sheet!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | June 6, 2007 10:27 PM #
Rose (or anyone who might know):
I've made some dough for the Sacaduro rolls in the Bread bible, and since the recipe for the rolls itself called for using 3/4 of a recipe's worth of dough, I went ahead and made a double batch of dough. Since it seems over-rising is an issue with these rolls, I wonder how to handle the leftover dough? (I refrigerated it.) Bring it to room temp, and take it from there?
I'm not sure how well my first batch turned out, the butter in the middles melted, and a good bit of it wound up on the cookie sheet. Yummy, but a bit messy. Was that a sign that I goofed in shaping the rolls? in timing the baking? in chilling the butter (or not)?
I hope someone out there's got a bit of experience with this recipe, FWIW, the rolls were delicious, if not perfect. I used Plugra and a touch of Maldon salt.
Reply to this Posted by: Yet Another Anna | June 5, 2007 4:54 PM #
Thank you for taking the time to write such a happy article. Of course as jealous as can be.
Reply to this Posted by: Jean Pennels | June 4, 2007 8:35 PM #
thank you for warning everyone. as for me--i doubt if i'll be lucky enough to have the chance to enjoy excessive amounts! but it's important to be careful about this.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | June 4, 2007 8:16 PM #
Remember to be careful when drinking or eating unpasteurized dairy. It's all right for people who grow up around it, but if you suddenly start eating large quantities, you can give yourself a very serious type of food poisoning called Campylobacter. I had a near-death experience with it myself - my high school sweetheart worked at a dairy and I gorged myself on delicious unpasteurized milk.
Reply to this Posted by: Carolyn J. | June 4, 2007 7:37 PM #
the accent marks don't come up nearly as often!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | June 4, 2007 5:58 PM #
Rose, you skip capitalization of letters, but you don't skip putting accents, reverse accents, and tildas which are by far harder to type!
Reply to this Posted by: Hector | June 4, 2007 5:47 PM #
What a lovely place! I feel peaceful just looking at the pictures. Thanks for sharing with us, Rose.
Reply to this Posted by: Theresa | June 4, 2007 9:17 AM #
Tina - have you tried searching on Allrecipes.com?
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | June 3, 2007 10:40 PM #
Mmm...foie gras is delicious, but I don't like the texture. It's so good as paté, though, like in beef wellington.
Does anybody here know of any recipes for fried rolls? There's a local restaurant here that makes these delicious fried rolls---shaped like donuts and the size of potato rolls, but only slightly sweet. I don't know whether they're light or dense. Is there a place where people have recipes and tips for fried bread?
Reply to this Posted by: Tina | June 3, 2007 9:57 PM #
Yes, I spoke with my French friend Aurelie and the flowers are indeed called Colza, and are used to produce oil.
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | June 3, 2007 1:15 PM #
your right--it was colza! i never saw it written so i remembered it incorrectly. i also thought it was rape seed oil but friends said arrachide. of course they could have been mistaken which i suspect is the case because i never heard of peanut oil as being the main oil in france but i did hear about arrachide.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | June 3, 2007 8:38 AM #
Sydney - that sounds like a perfectly reasonable possibility. I have a friend from France - she's a great resource when I have a question about anything french. I'll ask her about it today.
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | June 3, 2007 5:36 AM #
I am surrounded by the yellow flowers here in Englans. They are rape.
Reply to this Posted by: Melinda Pickworth | June 3, 2007 3:14 AM #
I know what Rose wrote, and I have enormous respect for her.
One last post re: the yellow flowers.
In French, rape is called colza, which could sound very much like 'culva' which, as far as I know is not a word in French.
I'm not trying to be a pain in the rear, I only thought that in the interest of accuracy she might want to double check her information.
Reply to this Posted by: Sydney | June 3, 2007 2:39 AM #
I know what Rose wrote, and I have enormous respect for her.
One last post re: the yellow flowers.
In French, rape is called colza, which could sound very much like 'culva' which, as far as I know is not a word in French.
I'm not trying to be a pain in the rear, I only thought that in the interest of accuracy she might want to double check her information.
Reply to this Posted by: Sydney | June 3, 2007 2:38 AM #
Rose states in her posting from May 25th (vacation part 1),
"... the fields with golden culvas from which the ubiquitous cooking oil arrachide is made".
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | June 2, 2007 6:38 PM #
I do hate to doubt a respected scientist, but those plants look suspiciously more like rape than peanuts. The foliage, particularly, looks really un-peanut-like. Peanut plants have much broader leaves, from what I've seen.
Reply to this Posted by: sydney | June 2, 2007 6:17 PM #
Dear Rose' thank you for sharing. I am strawberry speachless.
Reply to this Posted by: Hector | June 2, 2007 2:19 PM #
Huile d'arachide is (maybe was, it's been a long time) a commonly used cooking oil in France. It is in fact peanut oil.
Reply to this Posted by: dragon | June 2, 2007 6:34 AM #
I'm 99% sure that the yellow flowers are rape (in English) from which we get canola oil.
I can't find a translation for rachid, so I can't be totally sure.
Reply to this Posted by: Sydney | June 2, 2007 3:27 AM #
Absolutely gorgeous photos! I especially like the field of yellow flowers - a breath taking view!
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | June 2, 2007 12:59 AM #