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.

Group of 7 Odd Bits Dinner

I've been looking forward to this night, since Scott from Beast and Matty from Parts and Labour first suggested it. As members of the Group of 7 Chefs they thought an Odd Bits dinner would be fun and a way to help them raise money for their trip to New York to cook at the James Beard House later this year. Importantly it would be a way for offal lovers and neophytes to try a range of dishes not often found on restaurant menus. All seven chefs picked an odd bit and created a dish. The list was bone and tendon, lamb kidneys, lamb tripe, tongue and testicles, pork heart, veal brain and pork blood.

Odd Bits Dinner in Waterloo

Last night I was at Nick and Nat's Uptown 21 in Waterloo. I met Nick last year at Savour Stratford, when we were both judging the Best Chef competition. Nick asked if I would participate in a cookbook dinner at his restaurant sponsored by the local bookstore Wordsworth Books. I said yes,  Nick had told me he loved my Fat book, authors always fall for flattery. Also I love this type of event, the chef does all the work and I have time to meet people who like my books and I can continue my mission of convincing people to try odd bits. Nick made my food shine and alas my photography doesn't do it justice - I had a camera incident - my flash had a mind of its own deciding when it would and wouldn't work, but I've posted the snaps anyway.

Smiling in the Supermarket

So I was a little rough on Parisian old ladies in my last post. Perhaps they read my blog because lo, and behold when went in the supermarket it was full of them, all smiles and no shoving.

More green oreilles de cochon

When I posted about green pig's ears I forgot to mention their name in French. You can see this plant is really called oreilles de cochon, I have the receipt to prove it. And now I know the charming venduse, is called Martine. You can see I also bought - tourteaux cuits, - cooked crab

Green pig's ears

No, it's not something from Dr Seuss, but an edible plant that grows in the salt marshes of Northern France and no doubt on the other side of the channel. The name, in French, oreilles de cochon, refers to the texture of the plant, soft leaves and crunchy stems that mimics the texture of cooked pig's ears. You can eat it it raw or cook it like spinach. As I only bought a small bunch I decided to add it to a salad.

Tasty Odd Bits

You'd think I'd eaten enough odd bits over the last couple of years while working on my book Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal, but when my husband suggested we go to Le Ribouldingue for dinner I said yes straight away. How could I not return to the restaurant that introduced me to cow's udder and testicles?