Category Archives: Food Writing

Fromage: Tasting Notes

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Nancy’s Cheese distributes little blurbs on small slips with the cheese you purchase. It’s a way of educating our palate and making us more articulate in expressing our tastes. This one for LE MAMIROLLE (Fromagerie Eco Délices, Plessisville, QC) caught … Continue reading →

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Craft, Cookery and the Good

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Simon Hopkinson. Introduction to Roast Chicken and Other Stories Good cooking, in the final analysis, depends on two things: common sense and good taste. It is also something that you naturally have to want to do well in the first … Continue reading →

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Tastes of Years Past

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Denied my Proustian moment by the vagaries of the marketing machine that displaces product lines… Memories of Twinings Prince of Wales tea — no longer available in Canada Zoubrovka (buffalo grass scented black tea) from Kousmichoff (now Kusmi Tea) Black … Continue reading →

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Not So Long Ago

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Francois Lachance

First a description of the product and its cross-cultural appeal. Known as croccante to the Italians, praline to the French and turrón to the Spanish, such a golden nutty sweetmeat is better known here in Britain as brittle or, occasionally, … Continue reading →

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Chasing Flavour Enhancing the Moment

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Francois Lachance

After an evening feasting on creamy St. Simon oysters from New Brunswick on offer at Oyster Boy, I encountered this tantalizing passage in Sina Queyras Lemon Hound moments sliding like oysters on the tongue, salty and filled with dreams of … Continue reading →

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Flavour Syntagms

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Francois Lachance

Nelson Handel. “Frontiers of Flavour” in The Walrus June 2005 Though a science, flavour creation is to some degree a literary conceit. To understand it, you must learn to speak it trippingly on your tongue. Every act of tasting has … Continue reading →

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Don’t Throw Out That Old Edition

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Francois Lachance

Joy of Cooking It boasts 500 new recipes for a total of 4,500 “recipes for the way we cook now”. It’s the 75th Anniversary edition. It’s good but (like those dictionaries that feature new entries without telling which one’s they’ve … Continue reading →

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Spoilage Avoidance

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Francois Lachance

Spoiler alert — damage control demanded. The quality of vegetables depends much both on the soil in which they are grown, and on the degree of care bestowed upon their culture; but if produced in ever so great perfection, their … Continue reading →

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Shape & Weight

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Francois Lachance

Yvonne as a model. I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t confess to knowing a French woman or two who was fat all her life. We had a great family friend called Yvonne, who reveled in food and wine more … Continue reading →

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Soup of the Hour

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Francois Lachance

Ken Babstock Methodist Hatchet “The Decor” honked at. Is this about style? I remember being          warned ontology was ugly by a poet who then ordered the chowder. Grass          tells a story of listening It could have been: bouillabaisse vichyssoise gazpacho … Continue reading →

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