A Franco-American Cook to the Rescue

Our loyal reader Francine Chough moved in the other direction: born and raised near Beaune, she moved to the US 40 years ago. And she has written a cookbook to help Americans de-mystify French cuisine. Francine has kindly agreed to do a guest post for us today, to tell her story. And don't miss her recipe at the end--it's something you can do with those leftover bananas that is a lot more glamorous than banana bread!

Soufflés at The Kitchen Engine 

"Your blog was introduced to me by my dearest friend, my soul sister, Eleanor who was quite the Francophile. She passed away in 2019.

Being born in France and having lived in the US for 40 plus years on the West coast, I loved to read your stories about small town life in France.

I grew up in Burgundy 20 kms from Beaune and went to Dijon University. I always loved cooking, eating and entertaining and have always been fascinated by the interest Americans had for French cooking.

I taught family French home cooking classes called “Easy French Cooking” at community colleges then “Regional French Cooking” at the Alliance Française de Portland. I tried to teach easy French home cooking for Americans who were intimidated by French cuisine.

During the pandemic, I had more time to write a cookbook called “Bricks in a Pebble Sauce”.  This cookbook tells how food is interconnected with culture, history, geography, family anecdotes. It is not just a cookbook! It tells you about French traditions, sauces, drinks, culture, appetizers, main dishes, cheeses, desserts and more.

The title “Bricks in a Pebble Sauce” is an expression my mom used all the time if we asked her what was on the menu when we got home from school for lunch : “On mange des briques à la sauce cailloux”.

As I was looking for a title, my brother who lives in Vannes, in Brittany, suggested I should use that expression. I was a little worried since the translation of mom’s expression in English is a little intriguing to say the least! So I guess intriguing it is!!"

Teaching how to make salade niçoise on AMNorthwest a morning show on ABC affiliate in Portland, Oregon

 

Teaching a class on French Mother Sauces at The Kitchen Engine in Spokane, WA

Francine, your title is intriquing and so are your recipes. Merci beaucoup for sharing with us!

 

RECIPE: Francine's Bananas Flambée

This recipe is reprinted from the Frenchly blog, where you can learn even more about Francine. She also contributed to an article on how to cut French cheese (yes there are rules!) on this Frenchly post, and she covers it in her book too.

Serves 4

1 to 2 tablespoons of butter
3 to 4 bananas, peeled, cut in half and then lengthwise
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of Grand Marnier, Cognac, rum, or other liquor with at least 40% alcohol

Needed:
Paring knife
Frying pan
Matches or lighter

Directions:
In a frying pan, melt butter on medium heat. When it is sizzling, place the cut bananas and sprinkle with sugar.
When they start to caramelize, pour the alcohol and, when warm, light a match and bring it close to the dish so it lights up. Swirl the pan around to burn off all the alcohol.
Serve as is or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

Tip:
Do not use the kitchen fan when you flambé.

In the COMMENTS: the comments last time were chock full of enthusiastic words about moving to France, many from those who have done so. The expression “life-changing” comes up a couple of times (and mostly in a good way, though Cynthia and Tom give us some reality checks). 

My dear friend Belinda, who found me on my blog before she came to France for a year and ended up staying in the Château, left a nice comment and referred us to her memoir of that time, Sixty Steps in the Turret. Don’t miss it if you are thinking of a French adventure.

 

Monica has a  story too and was also lucky to find an angel who “tucked them under her wings”. Jane discusses life in “la France profonde”.

 

Please don’t miss Tom’s lengthy comment, full of tips and wisdom. I have followed Tom's blog, Life in the Lanquedoc since he moved to France with his cat in tow, and I can recommend it to you. He has generously offered to answer questions, for those considering a move to the southwest.

 

To Norma and Cindy, You will see a number of readers telling you to forget the age thing and go for it! I am 73 , Ron's a bit older, and we are not even thinking about leaving. And y’all sound healthy and fit. We have great confidence in the French health care system, but you do have to consider your language abilities and  your comfort level at being away from your family, and your favorite doctors. As Cynthia points out (in a comment which cracked me up, and Ron as well), "it’s hard to navigate through a health issue and conjugate verbs at the same time.” Been there, Cynthia!

 

Carolyn, Cynthia, and other readers have emphasized the importance of learning the language, however imperfectly. I could not agree more.

In the next post, we’ll be discussing the practicalities of moving to France—and for those of you struggling with the details of a move and/or the language, we’ve got two professionals to recommend who can help you every step of the way.

Favorite READS: Susan Crawford has written a major book about climate change that I've started reading, and she's used Charleston as an example of the struggle because it's one of the cities that will be the first to be affected by rising waters. And because poor communities around the world are likely to be left to cope on their own. It's an eye opener. Charleston: Race, Water, and The Coming Storm.  On a perkier note, Natalia of course has a good book for us: "Expect A Miracle by Danielle Steele. "Her work is always reliably good, with nice endings, but this one is different from her usual fare-- she was given an antique book with blank pages by her grandmother,and she filled it with sayings, quotes, Bible verses (whatever struck her fancy at the time)".