You can learn a lot about a place from its supermarket, and when I first got to France I was overwhelmed by the sprawling, two story store that sold not just a narrow selection of food, but televisions, computers, appliances, clothing, DVDs, car tires, and toys. The selection of food, in my opinion, is rather limited. This is for several reasons, I believe. First, the produce section mainly concerns itself with products that are in season. Most of our citrus comes from Spain, for two weeks in September we were overrun with grapes, and right now litchis are the hot item, coming in by the boatload from Madagascar. But for the most part, the products are pretty run of the mill. For France. I was surprised when I noticed that a package of a dozen QUAIL EGGS were a regular item. These are about half the size of medium chicken eggs. For now, just enjoy how pretty they are, and look for a future installment where I figure out what to do with Quail Eggs. It seems so undignified to sell prepared French dishes in a can, but they do. Especially Cassoulet, which is a slow cooked casserole from the south of France that’s made with white beans, some form of meat (goose confit in the photo) and pig skin. Confit means that the, most likely, legs of the goose have been cooked in goosefat, and then left to cool and preserved in the same fat. There are more cans of marinated mackerel filets than tuna in the canned fish aisle, and an equivalent number of sardine products. Do you put it on salad? My grandmother served me tripe once in my life and I will never, ever get over it. Walking by packages...
Confessions of Cereal Addict [Fierce Foodie]
posted by Roya Hamadani
Dear reader, tonight I am questioning whether I am truly the right person to be writing a food column because darn it, all I want for dinner is cereal. I love the initial crunchiness, the salty sweetness, and finally gulping down the survivors sopping with milk. Rather than dairy, I prefer a light vanilla soy to accompany my preferred cereals. And like a good girl, I always drink up the left over cereal milk, when I am not using it in my coffee. Okay, so I’ve bared my lazy self. Now you know that if I say something is easy to make, it really, really is. This is a recipe for pulled pork from my friend Mary, and it is so easy it is criminal. It is amazing with coleslaw and cornbread. Please to enjoy! Mary’s Easiest Pulled Pork Ever 2-3 lbs of boneless pork ribs 1 bottle of barbecue sauce, your choice (we like Sweet Baby Ray’s) 1 large onion or 2 medium, chopped Take pork and put in hot oiled grill pan or on a hot grill. Brush with barbecue sauce and cook until seared on outside, 5-7 minutes per side. Next, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take pork and put in a foil lined pan, cover with raw onion and rest of the bottle of barbecue sauce. Cover with foil and cook for 2 hours. Remove and pull apart with fork. Too good to be so easy! If you liked this post, please do us the further boon of Liking the Fierce and Nerdy page on FaceBook. Also, we’re giving great stream on Twitter, so do give us follow. featured image credit:...