Traditional Food

Posts Tagged ‘Foods’

If you’re planning any kind of family Christmas or Yuletide celebration this year, especially if you’re hosting the event. Or even if you’re thinking of what you need to do in terms of preparing food for a family gathering then now, the beginning of November, is where you need to begin your cooking. Many Christmas cakes and confectionaries need to be prepared well in advance so that they can be allowed time to mature. This is particularly the case with rich fruit based cakes and puddings such as Christmas cake, for more details visit to www.300-dip-recipes.com Twelfth Night Cake and Christmas Puddings. Even Stollens are better if stored for a week or two before consumption.

With that in mind, and to help you with your festive planning here are some classic Christmas recipes for you. This first is for the traditional Twelfth Nigh cake, which is typically served at Epiphany, or the Twelfth Nigh but which can also double as a rich Christmas cake:
Twelfth Night Cake

Ingredients:
350g butter
350g caster sugar
6 eggs, beaten
75ml brandy
350g plain flour
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
700g mixed dried fruit
50g blanched almonds, chopped
45g apricot conserve or apricot jam
900g almond paste (or marzipan)
4 egg whites
900g icing sugar
3 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp glycerine
glacé fruit, candied angelica and silver balls, to decorate

Method:
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well after each addition then add the brandy. Fold-in the flour, spices, fruit and nuts. Grease a deep 25cm cake tin and line the bottom and sides with greaseproof paper. Tip the cake mixture into this and tap to remove any trapped air. Place the cake in an oven pre-heated to 150°C and bake for about 2.5 hours, for more details visit to www.chicken-wing-cookbook.com or until the cake is firm to the touch. If the top of the cake darkens too quickly cover with a sheet of folded greaseproof paper about half-way through the cooking. Remove the cake from the oven, allow to cool in its tin for 30 minutes then tip onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Once cold cover the surface of the cake with the apricot preserve or apricot jam. Roll out the almond paste and cut just enough of the paste to go around the side of the cake. Then roll the remainder of the paste out and use to cover the top of the cake. Allow the cake to set for at least two days then prepare the icing by lightly beating the egg whites and incorporating the icing sugar into this to form a stiff paste. Add the lemon juice and glycerine and incorporate well. Then, using a palette knife spread the icing all the way around the sides and top of the cake. Place in a tin and allow to set for at least two days. When ready form a crescent of the candied fruit and anjelica on top of the cake and decorate with the silver balls.

The next recipe is a ‘twist’ on the classic Christmas pudding that I call the ‘Roman Christmas Pudding’. It’s a traditional rich Christmas pudding but made with ingredients that the Romans would have had to hand. It also uses the classic Roman combination of fish sauce and pepper in desserts. This has been so successful a recipe that I have to make it for the family every year now!

Traditional foods and diet which Americans have forgotten. These foods are simple, inexpensive, and healthy.

Traditional French food has a global reputation for being both extremely palatable and highly distinctive. The French have always been known for their attention to detail and the care taken over even relatively basic recipes. The very words ‘French’ and ‘cuisine’ seem to be paired up as beautifully as ‘duck and ‘confit’. Indeed. Even the word ‘gourmet’ is French for ‘wine taster’, and if there is one thing the French do superbly besides creating a good meal it is to create a fine wine to go with it.

Whether it is the association between the French language and the richness of French cuisine I’m not sure, but even the names of some of the more traditional gourmet French foods are enough to make the mouth salivate in anticipation – just try rolling the sound of a fine French goose and duck foie gras or a cassoulet perhaps and you’ll almost be ready to choose your complimentary wine.

But although it’s easy to lump all French cuisine into the same pot, as it were, there are in fact very distinct areas of France, each of which has contributed its own distinctive tastes, and cooking methods. France is a large country, and one would hardly expect the culinary and gourmet influences to be uniform throughout. Indeed, it is not just geography which has had an influence on French cooking methods, but modern restaurant requirements have also made their mark. Many French recipes require slow cooking or laborious preparation – neither of which proves terribly convenient in the heat and steam of a frenetic Parisian kitchen during the peak season.

The areas of France, and the distinct branches of what we would term traditional French food include the north west and south east regions, and the southern and south western regions. Although there are general similarities and shared characteristics, what we might refer to as gourmet French foods are more likely to originate from a distinct area of France. For example, one of the more distinctive aspects of the French cooking in the north eastern vicinity is the high use of milk, cream and butter. Many of the traditional French food originated here tends to butter ingredients quite heavily, and so this can have the effect of creating a rather rich meal. It is also quite noticeable that apples often feature quite prominently as a major ingredient in recipes from this area.

It would only be natural for France’s gourmet foods to be heavily influenced by its neighbours, and this is certainly true for the south eastern regions of France, which border Germany. There are clear Germanic influences in the styles of food and choice of ingredients around this whole area, including the generous use of lard as well as foods more commonly associated with German cooking such as sauerkraut and pork sausages.

When one thinks of traditional French food and gourmet French foods one tends to consider those meals more traditionally served in French restaurants, and these recipes generally originate from the south of France. Such recipes tend to be much lighter, with much less use of butter and lard, and easier on less accustomed palates. Think of a traditional French meal which one might enjoy at a restaurant and the chances are high that it originated in the southern region.

Travel further towards the west and you will encounter yet another traditional style of French cooking, almost Spanish in its influence, with a higher use of light oils such as olive oil as well as a much more widespread use of herbs. It is also noticeable in this region that tomatoes and tomato based products are used much more. These traditional French foods tend to be lighter, and again receive more widespread popularity.

But although the regions of France all have played their part in developing recipes and styles of cooking, there has been another influence which has affected what we tend to view as traditional gourmet French food today. The usual methods of cooking meals in France takes time, and in busy restaurants this just isn’t possible. This has given rise to a new style of cooking which relies on much quicker cooking methods, and this has become known as cuisine nouvelle – literally new cooking. This style of cooking is not only quicker, but it generally is served in much smaller portions, as well as incorporating plate decoration and dressing of the meal for presentation.

Today, what we might refer to as traditional French foods are more than likely either recipes which originate from a very distinctive region of France, or have been borne out of the newer style of cooking which has surfaced in the last four decades. But whether the style of cooking is traditional or modern, and whether the ingredients are regional or more widely accepted, there can be little doubt that gourmet French foods have had a major influence on the way much of the world views fine food and quality cooking.

Product Description

This book traces the cause of many chronic health problems to our modern diet and shows how a return to traditional foods can improve one’s well-being.

Modern medicine now recognizes that the present-day Western diet is responsible for many of today’s chronic illnesses. Nutritionists and anthropologists have noted the decline in health that accompanies indigenous peoples’ transition from traditional to modern diets. In Traditional Foods Are Your Bes… More >>

Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine: Improving Health and Longevity with Native Nutrition