Most years, Walt and I cook a gigot d'agneau (leg of lamb) just once a year here in France. Back in California we did the same, and we made it into our alternative Thanksgiving dinner decades ago. Why? Just because it was an occasion for us to cook lamb the way we remembered eating it in France in the 1980s. It's the same with Easter — we cook a rabbit at Easter because we missed eating rabbit after we moved back to the States. It became "a thing" we enjoyed doing.
We enjoy the Christmas turkey or capon more when we haven't already gorged on poultry in late November. So on Thanksgiving weekend we have three or four meals of lamb prepared and served in different ways — hot, fresh out of the oven, with beans — cold the next day, with steamed broccoli, steamed potatoes, and home-made mayonnaise — and finally, cooked into a curry or a shepherd's pie to use up the leftovers. My plan is to make a lamb curry today. That will be a good way to celebrate December 1. The weather is supposed to turn cold over the next few days.
P.S. (medical update): The big toe that I jammed when I fell on our slippery wooden stairs
a couple of weeks ago is healing nicely. I'd say it's about 90% of the way there.
I can still feel the sprain, and there's still a little swelling,
but it's not really painful any more.
but it's not really painful any more.
From your link on making mayonnaise, would you say, as far as volume is concerned, that the quantity of mustard is about the size of the egg yolk and the vinegar about half of it?
ReplyDeleteThanks to you, I made my first mayonnaise well in my seventies and, except for the egg yolk and the oil, I used pifomètre for the other ingrédients. It always turned out well, but it is good to know!
And it's also how I found out that rémoulade, the sauce that seasons celery root, was in fact a mayonnaise thinned with cream. In other words, a mayonnaise allongée!
I would say less mustard than the size of the egg yolk, but it's a matter of taste. The mustard does help the emulsification process that successful mayonnaise depends on.
DeleteI wrote about the dressing for céleri rémoulade in this 2010 post.
Time flies! Can't believe it's already fifteen years ago that, after trials and errors, I finally discovered the right composition of the rémoulade in Salton City!
DeleteWhere did you get crème fraîche in the Salton City area back then?
DeleteIf I recall correctly, I used heavy cream that I bought at Stater Brothers in Indio or at Trader Joe's in La Quinta. To be honest, I don't know if they had crème fraîche at this latter store since I was very satisfied with heavy cream. In fact, I didn't use cream very often.
DeleteI spent two years in Palm Desert when I attended College of the Desert before moving on to San Diego State University. Stater Brothers in Indian Wells was one of my main stores to shop in! I hadn't thought of that store in decades (1969-1970 when I was there!) Thanks for the memories CHM.
DeleteMary in Oregon
Mary, since you lived in Palm Desert, you might remember the Elephant Bar, at the corner of San Luis Rey and route 111. We used to go there very often. After my partner passed away, I continued going there for sweet memories, until I moved back to the East Coast. Well, like everything else, the Elephant Bar in Palm Desert is no more! Sic transit...
DeleteYou probably also remember the Living Desert on Portola? Ken and I visited it once in the late '90s!
It all looks delicious. I am wondering if French lamb tastes at all different than what I can buy here which seems to mostly come from Australia. I miss leg of lamb, but I would be cooking it for myself alone since I live with a vegetarian. My mother always made curried lamb with the leftovers and that is a delicious memory, too.
ReplyDeleteI think French lamb has a much milder, less gamey taste than Australian or New Zealand lamb — at least that imported lamb we find in France. I'm not sure I know why.
DeleteI have a vague and tentative memory that it has to do with what they graze on - I think I once read that sheep raised in Normandy graze on grass with something special about it? And good news about your toe healing!
DeleteThickethouse, was it pré salé you read about? Have you ever seen pictures of sheep grazing in fields with Mont-Saint-Michel in the background?
DeleteThe word salt did come into my mind, but it is very vague, a memory from long ago. I don't remember Mont-Saint -Michel in any photos but I would love to know more about it.
DeleteHello Thickethouse, here are two few minutes clip in French about prés-salés, salt marshes, and the sheep grazing there. At the beginning of the first one you can see Mont Saint-Michel.
DeleteThere are also moutons de pré-salé in the Baie de Somme of which Ken wrote about a few days ago.
I looked at those two clips with the sound off and they're still comprehensible, except when the two girls or the two men talk together without real context, but probably about the special vegetation that gives the pré-salé lamb's meat its characteristic taste. This will give you an idea about what pré-salé means and is. The photography is very good. Enjoy!
Thank you, chm!
DeleteI made quite a few trips to the Mont Saint-Michel 10 or 12 years ago and did several posts about the Mont with photos, including some of grazing pré salé sheep.
DeleteAh, I just read the first post and see you mentioned the lamb that graze there are known to have very flavorful flesh. I should have remembered.
DeleteGood news about your toe. The lamb curry would be my favorite.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't tried lamb in France, E., I think you should. It's mild and tasty at the same time.
DeleteWhat a treat delicious, fresh, home-made food is.
ReplyDeleteWonderful that your toe is healing. I think I must have dropped something on my foot a while back - I sort of remember but it must have been worse than I thought. I am limping around so I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fine plate you serve, Ken! Who wouldn't be eager to sit down at your table - anytime! Good news about your toe, too!
ReplyDeleteMary in Oregon