Coregonus...Pardon? Wie Bitte? Pardonnez-Moi?

...Corey quoi...? Corey what...? Core wie...?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coregonus
The first time I stumbled over this fish I was pleased to have found another mainly freshwater fish of great taste, simple to cook, to serve, to digest....and on top of that a "friendly" fish (because of the lack of annoying little bones), with a great taste.  I tasted it for the first time on what is called the "Genfer See" - in English "Lake Geneva" - on the French side to save money for the same thing on the Swiss side (that's even what the Swiss do)!
I was told they only exist there, but in fact that isn't true....they used to exist in almost all of the mountain seas and lakes of the Alpine region, known as "fera" - "felchen" - or simply in English as "whitefish".
That is to say, they USED to exist in all the lakes - according to Wikipedia, around 68 species are either extinct or in danger of disappearing. That doesn't stop the tourists and locals fishing them, and as usual "MAN" has stepped in and has produced "farms", rearing the small fish and setting them loose in the lakes and "Seen"...
As usual, the difference in taste is remarkable between the original article - and the "farmed" version. Really they have little in common or intensivity of taste - the one with the other.
It's another one of those examples - like Salmon, Trout and other "royal fish".
I'm thankful I tasted the real ones - whilst they were still available.
Strangely enough, the demise and "new" version of this fish is due to a "cleaner planet" policy over many years.
Mountain lake water needed to be cleaned. 
It had too many agricultural products which drained off with the rainwater into the lakes, it nurtured the natural algae which these fish fed from, the algae couldn't develop and died, and some of the fish species with it.
Other people, notably the smallish group of professional fishermen who live from the catching and selling of the fish - both fresh and smoked, attempted - by breaking the laws - to put back these chemical products into the lakes, but to no avail, they would have required enormous amounts of the stuff to make any difference!
Some 68 genres of the species are known to be extinct, or in danger, and others are "protected" - most certainly not from the fishermen!
The "fera" or German "felchen" can be seen as a member of the "mountain trout" type of fish for cooking purposes.
The best way is to give you an idea is an extract from the "Gasthof Adler" in the town of Lindau, Germany, on the "Konstanzersee", or "Lake Constance" in English.
I personally lived close to this place, just higher in the mountains for many years - a region called the "Allgäu".....here is an extract from their menu, and a link to the whole menu.....(It's all in English):
 Fish - Specialities

Felchen fillet (a locally caught fish from lake Constance, similar in taste to trout) lightly coated in flour and fried - served with boiled potatoes and a green salad	13,90
The Lake Constance Fish platter Different kinds of filleted fish from Lake Constance, fried in butter and almonds on a bed of green salad - served with boiled potatoes	14,50

all kinds..........

A whole felchen (a locally caught fish from Lake Constance, similar in taste to trout) either coated in flour and fried, or steeped in a hot marinade - served with boiled potatoes and a green salad        13.90               http://www.adler-lindau.de/version%20englisch/englisch%20speisengetr%E4nke.html A typical Hotel/Restaurant of the area........with local specialities from fish, meat, vegetables, pasta dishes from the area and local wines. NOT forgetting that other thing....German bier of all kinds.

...If you ever go that way - pop in and try their "maultaschen"....a sort of local ravioli...."Schwabli-art".....

They might even give you a bit more, or a reduction - if you mention my name and if they remember me!
So.....now you know all about it - and don't take too much time to try it - don't forget the smoked variety....just as with smoked trout, served cold, with a cold horseradish puree (watch out - it's peppery), and some of the local "halb-weisse" bread, it is possibly even finer than smoked trout, and much more agreeable than smoked salmon.

Bonne Appétit....!

(iwmpop)mrlemarquis      -      Vauvert,France      -      Juin 2011

Fire...! Au feu...! Feuer....!

...Help....it's on fire....!
http://www.thegourmetfoodieblog.com/info/how_to/perfect-technique-how-to-flambe/..

This isn't about burning food - strictly speaking. Nor is it about setting fire to the kitchen - strictly speaking... it's about the ancient and noble art of "flambe" in French "flambée" - setting a controlled flame to edible materials to give a particular flavour or a particular finish, and - of course - to present your prowess to guests, paying ones or not!..It's not limited to professionals, although you can see from the image, they are also like little children "playing with fire" and pleasure whilst practicing the art.
My suggestions are clear....DON'T let children, clumsy people, people with fear of fire or pyromaniacs do this...at least not in your home. This link gives you a large selection of ingredients and ideas: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blflambe.htm
There are a lot of dishes one can apply this to, using almost always high percentage alcoholic drinks, such as Cognac, Calvados, Brandy, Armagnac, Kirsch and many others.
Basically the alcohol must be high in volume, and should have a taste (be made from) which goes well with the article in question.
Cointreau (Orange liqueur) for example for those delicious "Crepes Suzette" because the sauce they are served in is based on orange,   and Calvados (apple liqueur) with pork dishes and so on...."facon Normande" or "a la crème"!
It is true, a little experience or practice is required, but it is quickly learnt, and your guests are always mesmerized, just in the same way that people will stand for hours looking at a BBQ - it's our basic instincts that are coming out.
It is true that the process is becoming rarer, unfortunately. People are slightly frightened mainly of making a fool of themselves, but done correctly it adds that little touc of "special" to almost anything, and even ice cream can be flambéed!
How - well try the dish "Omelette Norwegienne" - nothing to do with eggs, but a whole brick or block or bombe of ice cream wrapped in an egg meringue very firmly sealed, dowsed in any of the fruit liqueurs and set fire to! ..Other pastries or cakes can be used instead of ice cream, like "swiss roll sponge" but the unique bit about using ice cream is the difference in taste and texture and hot and cold - all together.
The secret is, of course, that the meringue acts rather like asbestos, and burns the liqueur but doesn't allow the heat to enter into the ice cream. The "flambeeing" also has another idea in this case, it caramelises and browns the meringue - pretty!
Nowadays many places actually use a special "blowtorch" in the kitchen to achieve the same effect, but the taste isn't the same.   Flambe is also often done, in the kitchen, to raw ingredients, before cooking them, to give them a different taste and texture.
You can allow your imagination to run riot.....just don't let the flames run riot......and check your home insurance before starting.......!



Bonne Appétit......
**************
iwmpop(mrlemarquis)       -     Vauvert, France    -     Juin 2011

Weekend...Wochenende...Fin Semaine...

Have a nice Weekend.......Passez un bon fin semaine....Gutes Wochenende.....

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Was feines- Somethin' good - Des bonnes choses....

And read all about it....und lesen Sie....et lisez.....

De quoi a manger.... Essen Sie was feines.....Something nice to eat......

Cooking - Cuisiner - Kochen....!

Image by iwmpop via FlickrSimple basics.....
Einfache Kenntnisse...
Les bases simple....                            
*************When I started this blog, I supposed, wrongly it appears, that visitors would have a vague minimum of ideas about the art and Science of Cooking.





Seems this isn't completely the case, and actually, in this day and age of "ready-made" I'm not too surprised. I was surprised that whilst doing simple research, I found it quite difficult to find anywhere that covered all of the simple and basic operations in every kitchen.
I'm not too sure whether nowadays the subject still exists in Schools and Colleges - probably not, probably declared "demeaning" or "sexist" or "discriminating" the ancient subject, taught in all Girl Institutions of "Domestic Science" tells us, in its name, everything we need to know  ..Cooking is and was and always will be - a Science, and a necessary one, even if we are used nowadays to opening a packet or a tin, and hoping it's going to taste of something-recognisable!
Certainly I am not against "time-saving" nor do I think that females should be bound and tied to the kitchen and other "domestic tasks", but I do think they should be at least informed of a few basic facts, as indeed should the male of the species....It is true, in my day an image like this would not have existed. Boys did not have "Domestic Science" lessons at school, we were too busy learning how to make stink bombs or becoming experts in dissecting frogs, both useful in the kitchen! Pictures like this  were quite rare as well, it is only really after the discovery of "quick food" that the male of the species found out that cooking wasn't only a Science, but an Art, and a very useful one - one which could save a lot of money, could give a lot of pleasure - both in the preparation, serving and eating of the products. He also found out that the female of the species did not have an automatic power of attorney in the pleasures of the kitchen, and things took off - occasionally at least! Of course, professionally, the male Chef had really always been the "one in charge" ...waving large knives or wooden spoons or metal ladles around and screaming into the distance....!
Nowadays, both sexes do it....which can make it all quite confusing, if more interesting...Cookery courses, strangely enough, are visited more nowadays by males than by females...maybe because the female believes herself to be already more than capable, or maybe because of the higher divorce rates...either way, there are always things to be learnt in the kitchen, as men are finding out....
I'll give you all just one link in case you want to discover a few basics for yourselves...my only regret is that I can find nowhere sites which inform and use a sensible mixture of old and new. (unless I go back to times pre-historic to items like "Mrs Beeton's Cookbook")
http://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/cooking-basics/
"Old and New" - is the operative statement. After all - apart from a few very selective Hotels and Restaurants, not even the professional kitchens use exclusively "old" recipes, or "old" ways of preparation and cooking.
Where there is a sustainable quality whilst a great saving in expense and time, then I am in favour, and nowhere more than in the home kitchen. After all how many of you have EVER made your own meat stock  in the old and doubtlessly best way....first burning meat bones in an oven to seal the flavour, getting colour, smoking everybody else out.......then get it all into enormous containers, with all the other ingredients, spend hours and hours of expensive energy in extracting the taste and the goodness, then more hours in "reducing" it ready for use over the weeks to come.....?
All 10 or 20 gallons of it!
Although without doubt the very essence of all things good, we all have tendencies nowadays to reach for one or another of the prepared products.........amongst others.................The problem is that these commercialised products do have their own individual taste, not always appreciated or needed, and often overpowering.
Ironically, I found this site which is an AMERICAN/CANADIAN one...the continent of almost every thinkable culinary short cut.....and then some...pleasing in a way, but I wonder how many people invest.....?...Here is the link, because they give a brilliant recipe for simple meat broth or stock, usable for all other recipes, and they explain a bit about the uses.....

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/making-fresh-bone-stock/

Mysteries like the "Mirepoix" are explained, and cooking times explained as well, and you can sign up for a newsletter, and get free recipes from their style of cooking.
Of course every type of food needs it's own type of "stock". Making good sauces is based on having good stocks. For fish dishes even more important, try making a palatable fish dish with a good sauce from a meat stock....impossible...!
You need.....just for the stock!
If you know a good fishmonger ask him for the trimmings, skins, debris after fileting, actually - he probably sells it otherwise, very few just throw it away nowadays because of the price!
Here is a link to HOW to make a fish stock or "fumet":
http://www.whiskblog.com/2008/04/fumet-de-poisson-fish-stock.html
I think the words used in this Weblogsite (reproduced here) are so true and you will only appreciate the fact when you start making your fish and meat dishes from your own self-produced stocks and fumets.
Next time around, we'll start having a look at those basics to be made from your own stocks and fumets.....the sauces "Espagnol" - "Bechamel" - "Fumets"...... and all the rest.....

"Stock to a cook is voice to a singer"
   
          Anonymous...


Doesn't need to be "pre-made"............even better if it isn't.......

Aunt Bessie's Bechamel and general Mix......

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