French Sophistication

[kinell]

i take it all back,

clearly the french are not a peasant race..

tonights french classics on masterchef...

chicken cooked in a pigs bladder,

and for your further culinary delight...

stuffed pigs trotter with mushrooms, sweetbreads (maybe a load of old botox) and mash

mmm, might reconsider

[kinell]

clearly not botox.....

[Huderon]

er ... Pigs trotters have been used for centuries in this country and there are plenty of recipes for them. They are also used in dishes in many other parts of the world.

Back in the days when animals were herded to market, often over considerable distances, it was usual to put leather bootees on pigs and some other animals to prevent damage to the feet during the journey. Apart from the obvious reason of not wanting any of the animals to go lame en route, the bootees meant that the pig's trotters were in good condition for selling at the end of the trip.

[New Judge]

Some traditional French cuisine (what we might call “home made or “Farmhouse”) is delightful. The problem is that much of their “haute cuisine” maintains its reputation only because of the “King’s New Clothes “ syndrome. Much of it is over-hyped and frankly second rate but many so-called gourmets will not rock the boat for fear of appearing to be Philistines.

A great example of the French catering industry conning their clients by preying on this fear was the famous “Nouvelle Cuisine” project of a few years ago. All the food critics lauded the exciting new recipes (which mainly comprised an inch cube of lightly boiled fish surrounded by a picture of a flower drawn in sauce, garnished with a single leaf of water cress all on a twenty inch diameter plate). It was some years before any of them had the guts to suggest they were being somehow ripped off.

[ichkeria]

I'm not sure I understand the question, but there's no comparison between French and British cooking. Britain's a fine country, but not because of the food ...

[Philtaz]

When I saw the headline of the OP I thought it was going to be a thread about them rubbishing our economy......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16222988

[Euphemia]

If you are visiting Nice, you can experience some real French culinary sophistication by sampling the Rognons blancs (testicules) cooked in lemon juice, lavender and cream.

[boxtops]

The cooking on Masterchef Master Class looks absolutely delicious!

[ichkeria]

I used to watch Masterchef occasionally when Loyd Grossman did it. Then I saw it recently under the new format and saw to my disappointment (but not surprise) that it had gone down the X Factor/I'm a Nobody route: namely a weekly soap opera and judges with "attitude".
It also didn't help when I read an interview in a magazine with a previous winner, whose main gimmick seemed to be sticking beer and cheese in most of his recipes, but, tellingly, couldn't cook a joint of lamb properly. Hmmm,

[boxtops]

The current series wasn't like that at all, ichkeria, it was good viewing.

[ichkeria]

"The current series wasn't like that at all, ichkeria, it was good viewing. "

Oh that's good. The one I saw had the same people every week, which might not have been too bad but it reminded me too much of "other programmes" :-)
It's really only the food that interests me, not the people (and I'm no foodie!). It used to be just interesting watching how amateur experts performed under pressure and did so brilliantly without being insulted by minor celebrity chefs pretending to be nasty.
Maybe I'll start watching again

[jomifl]

Like all countries French chefs can dish up their share of shiite which some French are happy to eat. My worst experience, Andouillette, which if you are not familiar with it is a pig's rectum skillfully stuffed with errr.pig's rectum, the upside is that it does have a delicate perfume of pig's rectum so you know not to eat it.
Now kidneys are a different matter ....

[boxtops]

Most of the contestants this time were already chefs, and one of the judges was Michel Roux Jnr - you can't get much more professional than that.

[ichkeria]

I agree - there's a lot of rubbish in France, and some terrific stuff in the UK, but in my experience you're more likely to get something nice, on a random basis, in France.