Southern Fried French

Dining Out, Conversation Discouraged

First of all, my apologies—my server sent out duplicate emails last week. Trying to fix the problem.

French dining en plein air (in our slightly younger days)

I recently read an article in the New York times, in which the writer was recommending a certain piece of music as being the perfect background music for restaurants. The short article generated a gazillion impassioned reader comments about their preferred restaurant music. The commenters were in clear agreement about what the best restaurant background music was. Classical? Oldies? Current pop? Rock? See if you can guess. 

 

We will reveal that in a minute, but first let me tell you about a recent visit to a gourmet restaurant in Charleston (we are in Charleston at the moment). This was a newish French restaurant called Maison. The food was delicious, the service was good. We sat outside on the terrace. But what was not at all "French" about it: they played impossibly loud, pop/rock music with a throbbing beat you could feel in your bones. Our table of 6 struggled to have a conversation. The waiter declined to turn it down for us: “We need the buzz”, he said. 

 

Do we really? I am using Maison as an example. They are by no means the only upscale Charleston restaurant to play loud music of the sort loved mostly by pre-teens; It’s pretty much the norm. (By the way, I love music, but I hate to listen to music I don't like. You?). Of course we are spoiled: we live in France, where restaurants typically avoid background music altogether, or at most play something soft and peaceful you are barely aware of. Why? Because in France, conversation and relaxation are the goal. No need to be hip or buzzy or whatever American restaurants are striving for. The French keep their voices way lower, too. Of course  one doesn't get in the habit of shouting, if the music is not blaring. 

 

No noise problem here! A late lunch in the city of Reims.

 

Ruth Reichl, former editor of Gourmet and famous food writer, was recently asked in an interview what she disliked the most about US restaurant trends at the moment. Her answer: the incessant loud noise, which includes background music and the lack of softening acoustical material (like curtains, rugs, and other sound absorbers). The noise in many restaurants, by the way, is damaging the hearing of some servers, permanently. Everyone I know complains about it—so it baffles me why they do it. Restauranteurs, have you considered that we might want to actually converse with our friends?

 

Now, back to those New York Times readers, what was the majority vote? Their choice for the best background restaurant music was: no music at all.

 

 

Thanks for allowing me to rant, it's obviously a pet peeve of mine in the States. Now what are your thoughts? Let’s take a vote on your favorite restaurant music.

 

In the COMMENTS: So many chicken suggestions! Cynthia reminds us that chicken stock is easy and essential to make with the bones, skin, and fat. I think it's one of the best reasons to roast a chicken. Ann makes a recipe that has her turkey wearing falsies--don't miss that one. Natalia, I agree: never ever a factory-raised chicken. Not good for you OR the bird. Rollin kindly gave us a link to a simple but tasty recipe by the great Marcella Hazen. Paula has an easy brining technique and a link to her favorite chicken with olives. Peggy cooks a chicken inside a Dutch oven (actually a common French technique). Julie, your daughter has come a long way, and southern fried chicken may be the best of all.

Speaking of southern, reader Page Robertson sends us her favorite Brunswick Stew recipe. When I was eating meat, this was my favorite food (Page says you can make it vegetarian by substituting jackfruit! Hmm).

Brunswick Stew

Makes 8-10 Qt.—easy to half

• 5-6 lb. whole roaster chicken or equivalent boneless parts
• 1-2 lb. pulled pork, chopped
• 2 sticks butter
• 2 large onions, chopped 1 inch
• 3 stalks celery, chopped 1 inch
• 1 C. thick BBQ sauce
• 1 C. brown sugar
• 1 -  28 oz. can chopped tomatoes
• 1 lb. frozen sliced okra
• 2 lb. frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 tsp. Worchestershire
• ½ tsp. hot sauce
• ½ tsp. cayenne
• ½ tsp smoky paprika or chili powder
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbsp each fresh thyme, rosemary, oregano—pulled from stems
• 4 bay leaves

Cook chicken until just done and chop in bite size pieces. RESERVE BROTH

Saute onions, celery, garlic in butter until tender. Add remaining spices, herbs.

Put all ingredients into soup pot or crockpot and stir. Add chicken broth to cover, 

reserve remaining to add if necessary.

Bring to a boil and cook on low/simmer 4 hr. or longer. Correct seasonings, esp. 

salt and peppers. We like it spicy. Freeze in serving portions as desired.

Favorite READS: I've been reading The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman. Hilarious and original. And speaking of our reader Page Robertson (above), it happens that her daughter is digital editor of Flower Magazine, which a friend happened to give me a copy of this week. It's a beautiful magazine and you will love their site, which you can find here. My friend Sandi is reading something Parisian that I can't wait to read: My Place at the Table: A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris, a memoir by Alexander Lobrano. And my friend Rita found a nifty little cookbook called French Cooking in 10 Minutes. Is that possible?!

 

 

The Chicken That Flew Around the World

Lordy me, Mama’s in the kitchen, cookin’ chicken!  Now in the south that would mean the southern fried kind, but we’ll save that for another day.  No, today we’re going to talk about simplest of meals, a roasted chicken. If you need dinner in a hurry, for family or guests, this is your fall-off-a-log, fallback plan. (My mother, who was in the I-hate-to-cook club, once burst out laughing when she learned I was roasting a chicken for a big family dinner. "Even I can make that!" she said).

Which got me to thinking, how do French cooks roast a chicken?  Surely they’re full of closed guarded family secrets, recettes from mère or grand-mère.  I decided to ask my resident experts, the Lyon Ladies.

If you read this blog you know the Lyon Ladies are a group of French femmes that our châtelaine Nicole has been teaching English to weekly for years. And these ladies sure can cook. So, recently, I asked Nicole to post the question to them.

Their reply: French shrug.

They all agreed on the same basic recipe, which is pretty much the same thing I do: you put the poulet in the oven on high heat to brown, lower the heat after 20 minutes or so, and cook until done. Maybe you throw some cut up potatoes and carrots in the bottom of the pan. And baste often. Nothing exotic about that! Sometimes when you think there might be a cultural gap, you discover that some things, tried and true, really do fly around the world.

They did have a few small astuces (tips) to add, however.  “If you cook a really good, farm-raised, grain-fed chicken,” said Lyon Lady Eliane, “you don’t NEED to do anything special to it. Let the taste of the chicken be the star." And especially, I might add, if it’s a Poulet de Bresse, which everyone knows is the best chicken in France (i.e., the world), and which have, for reasons unknown, blue feet. “For a lower quality chicken”, added Giselle, “you might add some herbes de provence.” 

Ah, but Nicole has some French tricks up her sleeve.  “I use a recipe that’s been in our family for a long time. Rub the outside of the chicken with some thyme. Then cut up some good bread, mostly the crusts,  into large chunks and you rub them all over with cut garlic gloves and stuff them in the chicken. It makes a very simple tasty stuffing.”  

This reminded me, too, that in Paris on the Place de Mexico they make the best rotisserie chickens ever, with a deep golden skin, very spicy.  I asked Monsieur  about the spices he uses.  “Just herbes de Provence,” he shrugged.  “But LOTS of herbes de Provence, that’s the secret.” I now rub my chickens with oil and lemon juice and rub in a couple of tablespoons of the dried herbs.

These days I'm mostly a vegetarian (I'm a die-hard animal lover) and only cook chicken for my husband. But I NEVER buy a factory farmed chicken--they live a life of torture. Only a reputable organic, free-range chicken farm for me. And as Eliane says, they taste better too.

A close friend here who is Dutch has a son, Rudy, who lives in Asia.  He’s a great cook in his own right and his good friend and cooking buddy who lived next door is a Michelin starred chef in Beijing.  So I put my question to him, and got this recipe in return. 

So, there IS more than one way to skin a chicken. His  is a really sassy, show-off recipe when you’ve got guests coming. I tried it--divine!  And it has a French connection: it’s stuffed with Boursin cheese (created by a Frenchman named François Boursin, in 1963, in case you were wondering). Thanks, Rudy, for this lovely recipe. 

 

RECIPE: Roast Chicken, Rudy Style

"A 5 pound chicken or however big you like your birds!!!

For the brine:

• 1 gallon cold water
• 1 cup plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
• 12 bay leaves
• 1 head of garlic, smashed but not peeled
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
• 3 large rosemary sprigs
• 1 small bunch of thyme
• 1 small bunch of parsley
• 2 lemons roughly chopped

For the stuffing :

• 1 packet of boursin ( herb flavour – although other flavours are great too)
• 1 lemon
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 2 sprigs parsley
• 3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
• salt and pepper

Method

In a very large pot, combine 1 quart of the water with 1 cup of the salt and the honey, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme and parsley. Add the lemon zest and juice and the lemon halves and bring to a simmer over moderate heat, stirring until the salt is dissolved. Let cool completely, then stir in the remaining 3 quarts of cold water. Add the chickens, being sure they're completely submerged, and refrigerate overnight.

Drain the chicken and pat dry. Scrape off any herbs or peppercorns stuck to the skin.

Place sprigs of thyme, rosemary and parsley and a lemon chopped into four into the inside of the cavity of the chicken and season generously with salt and pepper.

Gently ease the skin off the breast, taking care not to tear the skin. Take the boursin and stuff it underneath the skin making sure to push the boursin as far as it will go (towards the back of the chicken).

Season the top of the skin as well and rub the skin with a small amount of butter.

Place in a 450 degree oven (220C) . After 20 minutes if the skin is browning too quickly. Place a sheet of aluminium foil over the top of the breast meat to protect it. After 40 minutes, check the temperature of the bird by inserting an instant read thermometer between the leg and the thigh : the temperature should read 155 F (68C). The chicken will continue to cook as it sits, reaching a temperature of 165F (74C) .

Serve with whatever you want! Roast vegetables, a crisp green salad

or whatever takes your fancy.

Happy eating!" 

Rudy

Here are some more ideas for roasting chicken from Southern Fried French.

 

In the COMMENTS: Paula, the Hotel California is right. It lives on in memory. Julie I hope you do get back soon to check out that ebb and flow. Suzanne, Savanna is great but you really must get to Charleston! Bonnie, only the French would have such a road sign. Yours sounds like a proper transhumance. Monty and Ali, we miss you!

 

Favorite READS: You really must check out My Paris market Cookbook. Our reader and honorary book critic Natalia recommends it. It looks divine! 

 

FRANCOPHILE ALERT: Did you know that our loyal reader Bonnie has an Etsy site, with great  french finds from her home in Provence? It’s called ChateauNo5 and you can visit it here.

 

Also, many of you follow the Small Village in France Blog. Here you can buy beautiful silk scarves and watercolors by artist Tom Vieth. I’m the proud owner of several of their torchons, or  dish towels