Archive for the ‘Normandy’ category
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Something else Isigny is famous for…
Saturday, December 25th, 2010
At the end of every year, it is common to see oyster sellers outside the entrances to French supermarket entrances. Everywhere you look, there will be tables piled high with France’s favourite seasonal seafood: marquees filled with boxes of oysters of all sizes destined for new year celebrations. Depending on the region, the sellers will [...]
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Snow can spread faster than butter…
Monday, December 20th, 2010
The snow currently falling across Europe is a timely reminder that butter was once a cold weather product. Before the days of universal refrigeration, it was harder to keep butter from going rancid or melting. Not impossible, but a sufficient challenge to ensure it remained the prerogative of rich households. Where available, a buttery or [...]
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From Isigny to Birmingham and the world
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
From the Normandy coast to the heart of England is a well-trodden path for Isigny Sainte-Mère’s cheesemakers. This time, though, the occasion was shared with cheesemakers from all around the globe at the World Cheese Awards. Birmingham has been an export destination for Normandy dairy products since the days when steam power first started supplying [...]
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Foods that span centuries
Friday, December 18th, 2009
A Croque Monsieur is standard offering at bars and cafes across France: it comprises melted cheese on toast with a slice of ham between the cheese and the meat. When the Isigny Sainte-Mère chef Ivan Vautier prepared his version, he used Normandy’s charcuterie speciality, andouille, with Pont l’Evêque cheese. The andouille is a speciality sausage [...]
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Lobster on a plancha, Normandy style
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
Fancy a change from turkey at Christmas? The Isigny Sainte-Mère chef and Michelin-starred restaurateur Ivan Vautier has a dramatic recipe for lobster on an onion tart base. Working in the opposite way to the celebrated Tatin sisters, Ivan cooks his onions on top of greaseproof paper atop a plancha or Spanish worktop hotplate, before adding [...]
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Terroir as living tradition (1)
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Most of the things that make a terroir a distinct environment are simple enough: Normandy cows grazing in the marshland meadows or the patchwork of upland pastures known as the bocage are not hard to spot; rain that falls on the land all drains into small rivers like the Vire that converge on a breach [...]
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Who will turn out a winning croissant?
Monday, October 12th, 2009
This weekend (October 17) sees the first national edition of Isigny Sainte-Mère’s annual search for the best croissant made with Isigny AOC butter. Over the past four years, the contest has gradually turned from a regional cook-off to a national contest with regional heats, staged during the summer months. The contestants are all students at [...]
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The legendary Camembert name
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Given the enormous success enjoyed by Camembert, it is hardly surprising that other cheesemakers started to join in. The existing Camemberts had branding, but there was no legally binding description or appellation for the cheese, which sold by thousands across the country. In 1909, Camembert makers joined forces to organise the Syndicat des Fromagers du [...]
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The Camembert legend (2)
Friday, August 14th, 2009
Endorsed by the Emperor himself, Camembert could hardly fail to take Paris by storm, as well as many provincial capitals. There was a very real result from these early travels: originally wrapped simply in paper, it rapidly became clear that something more substantial was needed to protect the ripening cheeses on their journey.In the 1890s, [...]
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The Camembert legend (1)
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
There are many legends that date back to the French revolution. However, few are as persistent as the story of Marie Harel and the origins of Camembert cheese.In 1791, religion was excised from the French state and priests were banned. Farmer’s wife Marie Harel sheltered a fugitive priest from Brie, even if she did not [...]
