Cooking with Isabelle

My Favorite Type of French Dessert

I was asked recently if I could cook.  The answer is, “kind of”.  I am good at following recipes (except in chemistry class), so usually my baking is edible and sometimes fantastic.  I can make some savoury food too, like pasta, and anything really easy.  My specialty is turning leftovers into a delicious lunch (which sometimes only involves putting the food in a container).  While this is useful when I am with my parents, it is not so good if I am trying to cook dinner solo. 

My delight with the food in Europe has been partly tied to my desire to recreate the new flavours.  However, my quest for new recipes has been mostly focused on desserts.  

Saint Someone Cheese--a Favorite

Isabelle, our hostess and a wonderful cook, kindly offered to give me a cooking lesson during our second week in Sauzet.  The item on the menu was “Tarte au Tatin” a traditional recipe from Southern France—an upside-down apple pie.  

I loved cooking with Isabelle.  She was so efficient that I felt a little bit useless; I peeled two apples in the time she peeled seven, but she never said a word about my ineptitude at using a peeler.  As Isabelle whirled around the kitchen, I furiously copied down the recipe, trying to capture the atmosphere of the kitchen as well as the ingredients.  The tart was a success; it was one of the most delicious pastries I have ever had a part in making.  Thank you Isabelle! 

The Uncooked Tarte au Tatin

As well as cooking, Isabelle and I swapped French/Canadian stereotypes.  My favourite of hers was that all Canadians eat pancakes for breakfast—every day.  My rejoinder was that Canadians believe all French cook with copious quantities of butter.  Isabelle said that Jura, where she was from (near the border of Switzerland), butter is the fat of choice.  Jura is the cow region of France, so they are big on dairy products.  However, the preferred fat in The Lot is either olive oil or goose fat.  Traditionally, it would be as strange for them to cook with butter as it would be for a vegan to do so. 

Finished!

Since Isabelle was such a good teacher, I requested another lesson.  I wanted to retry the “Gateaux de Noix” and figure out my errors.  It turns out that I made quite a few mistakes and missed some common French baking conventions. 

Error #1: when adding sugar to the egg yolks, beat them for about ten minutes until the yolks have turned colour. 

Error #2: there is no rule about mixing the dry vs. wet ingredient separately to avoid producing a dry cake; just add them together and then, to my mind, over-mix them.

Error #3: add a pinch of salt to the egg whites before beating them. 

Error #4: even though there is a large amount of butter in the recipe, grease the baking dish well. 

Error #5: take the finished cake out of the pan immediately. 

Gateaux de Noix

Error #6: it is necessary to speak French while making a French recipe. It also helps if you are dressed well. 

The cake I created with Isabelle was entirely different from my previous endeavour.  The proper “Gateaux de Noix” was light and fluffy.  It tasted slightly like banana bread, except more interesting.  If I can recreate this cake sans Isabelle, I will be thrilled.