THE COMPLETE BOOK OF FRENCH COOKING ❘ FOOD


liquid and cook the vegetables in it separately for just the time required for each. 5 Serve the vegetables with the meat, and the broth in a tureen or vegetable dish. Accompany with fleur de sel and French mustard in small dishes.


Chef’s note


Use other types of meat besides beef, like pork and veal. You may even try fresh, cured, or smoked meats. If you opt for this kind of variation, don’t cook the meats together. Choose your vegetables according to the seasons. Every European country has its own version of this boiled dish. The pot-au-feu, the hearty winter meal par excellence, is a one-pot dish comprising of broth, meat, and vegetables; and leftover meat may be eaten cold, reheated, or minced to make a pie.


TROUT WITH ALMONDS Serves 6 Preparation 25 minutes Cooking 20 minutes Special equipment oval frying pan


INGREDIENTS 6 trout weighing about ½ lb (250 g) each


cup (80 g) clarified butter 4 tablespoons (60 g) salted butter 1 cup (4 oz/100 g) sliced almonds Juice of 1 lemon


1 cup (100 g) flour 1


/3


½ bunch parsley, chopped Fine salt, freshly ground pepper


METHOD 1 Dress the trout and be sure to dry them well, dabbing up all excess moisture with paper towel. 2 Spread out the flour in a conveniently sized flat dish and season it. Dip the trout in to coat it and shake it lightly to remove any excess flour. 3 Heat an oval non-stick pan with the clarified butter over low to medium heat. Place the trout in the pan and gently brown them. Turn over and brown lightly on the other side. 4 Check for doneness (the flesh should come away easily from the bone) and, if necessary place them in the oven at 325°F–350°F (160°C–170°C) for a few minutes to complete cooking. 5 Remove the skin. 6 Melt some butter in a small pan until it is brown (beurre noisette). Gently sauté the sliced almonds in the butter and deglaze with the lemon juice. 7 Arrange the trout on a large, flat serving platter, heads to the left. 8 Drizzle with the butter-almond mixture and scatter with chopped parsley.


Oct/Nov 2023 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 59


CHOCOLATE MOUSSE Serves 8 Preparation 25 minutes Chilling 1 hour minimum Cooking 10 minutes


INGREDIENTS


½ lb (250 g) dark chocolate, 64% cacao, chopped


5½ tablespoons (80 g) butter, cubed 3 eggs, separated, plus 3 egg whites ½ cup (100 g) sugar


2 oz (30 g) chocolate sprinkles, for garnish


METHOD 1 Melt the chopped chocolate and the cubed butter in a bain-marie to a temperature of 122°F (50°C). Remove the mixture from the heat and whisk in the three egg yolks until the mixture is smooth. 2 Leave to cool to about 82°F (28°C). 3 Start whisking the six egg whites. When they start to form firm peaks, add the sugar and whisk until shiny and compact. Carefully fold the meringue mixture into the chocolate-


butter mixture using a rubber spatula. Take care not to deflate the mixture by breaking the air bubbles. 4 Spoon the mousse into a piping bag and pipe into ramekins or shot glasses (verrines). Chill for at least 1 hour, until set. 5 Garnish with chocolate sprinkles.


DID YOU KNOW?


Mousses practically disappeared from classic French cuisine toward the end of the 18th century, only to reappear with the advent of nouvelle cuisine. There was one notable exception: the chocolate mousse, probably the most popular of all French desserts. FT


 Extracted from The Complete Book of French Cooking by Hubert Delorme and Vincent Boué (Flammarion, 2023). Photography © Clay McLachlan.


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