Souper aux Abats

The Montréal association of food journalists held a Souper aux abats last Monday and I was the guest of honour. This is the best way to attend a dinner as you get credit for the food, but it's the chef who does all the work, a big thank you to Patrick. The menu was loosely based on recipes in my book Odd Bitsafter a discussion with Chef Patrick Plouffe of Chez Bouffe, Gildas Meneu,  Mario Hinse from L'Epicerie. The matching wines were chosen by Guénaël Revel, don't ask, all I remember is a zinfandel that I liked because I usually don't.

Beyond Fat-tailed lamb

Writing cookbooks introduces you to lots of people, in person and by email. In Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with RecipesI wrote about my search for fat-tailed lamb. Several people wrote offering the tail, but I couldn't accept as there was no way to bring it legally into Canada. Then Laurie Maus, wrote from a farm halfway between Ottawa and Montréal, telling me that she had fat-tailed sheep and would put some aside for me. Finally I would get to try it, however I haven't been to visit her yet.

Montréal

I was in Montréal last weekend, eating and drinking my way around the city. Alas there is only so much you can physically consume in 3 days.

The Year of Onion Soup?

Perhaps this will be the year of onion soup? Despite its popularity  a really good onion soup is hard to find. Often under a lid of too much, not very tasty melted cheese that usually burns the roof of your mouth, is an insipid broth with too few onions.
However this is not the case at the Breslin in New York. There the onion and bone marrow soup is full of caramelised onions and rich with the flavour of marrow bones. The soup is topped with a simple toasted baguette slice lightly covered in melted Parmesan cheese. No need to hide the soup here.

Macarons

My friend David brought this box back from Montreal on Saturday night, an early birthday present.

According to him macarons are all the rage in Montreal. Well not only in Montreal, it seems these delicious little biscuits (cookies) are finally becoming popular outside France.