Sexy Salty Caramel ... French Style

Grab a spoon, lick your lips and brace yourself for a recipe that will romance your palate !


The key element in making this smooth and rich salted caramel (also known as caramel au beurre salé...Ooooh la la) is the salt. In France, we use a salt known as sel de Guérande. All you need is a little pinch of this salt at the final stage of your caramel bubbling away.


But before we get to the part where we eat our sexy salty caramel, here are 5 simple steps to follow - the best part is this doesn't take very long at all, so you'll be devouring this delicious goo before you know it ! I've put together these steps because I work better in the kitchen when I can see what my delicious dessert is going to look like...


Before you start Step 1, swish a little water around your pot and pour it back out - this stops the sugar from crystallizing around the edges of the pot. If you have cream of tartar within arms reach, add some to the sugar and it will give you the same result as the water.

Step 1: Combine 300g sugar, [a pinch cream of tartar - if you are using this method], and 2 tablespoons of water in a saucepan over a low heat (this helps keep it smooth and sexy)

Step 2: As the mixture comes to a boil, the sugar will slowly dissolve. Stir once or twice with a heatproof spatula to incorporate the sugar and water

Step 3: This stage is hands-off, but make sure you keep a close eye as the mixture boils. After a few minutes, it will start to caramelize in spots. Once you see that, liberally stir again to encourage even browning....mmmmm almost there ! When the mixture is a light-golden colour, the process will begin to speed up rapidly. Lower the heat (this will give you more control) and cook, without stirring (you can move the pot in a circular motion to combine), until mixture is a deep golden colour

Step 4: When you reach the deep golden colour, turn off the heat, and carefully, very carefully, stir in 250ml of heavy cream, after this is combined, add in your 80g of salted butter and a pinch of salt. Mix until smooth...et voila !


Drizzle your hot salty caramel over a pudding with some vanilla ice cream to enjoy...if you want to be really French (comme moi), make some crepes in advance, and liberally pour the hot salty caramel on your plate....BON APPETIT !!!


Some other ideas for your hot salty caramel...use it to spoon over home made biscuits


Or my personal favourite, mix it with a home made chocolate sauce and bake it as a hot lava pudding ... C'EST FORMIDABLE !!!

How do you like eating your salty caramel ? Share your pictures with me.......  

Follow Me on Pinterest
 

The world of bread !

In France, bakers are genuine artisans who never fail to impress: golden crusts, soft and fine crumb...The world of bread invites us on a passionate and delicious journey !

All of the different types of bread bear witness to an artisanal heritage, passed down through generations: from the dough mixing, the decisive moment when the baker mixes the ingredients, to the humidification of the oven so that the bread bakes without drying out...the key stages in the bread making process have remained the same and require a great deal of expertise.
The imaginative breads of the east of France, the brioches from the north, the Couronnes Bordelaises (bread rings) from the West, different types of Provence Fougasse bread from the south… There are more than a hundred different types of bread, each with varying recipes and regional traditions. Bread making truly is a know-how that is still very much alive and is constantly changing.


The “Fête du pain” bread festival! Every year in May, bread is celebrated for a week in the four corners of France. Present during every meal, it is one of the key ingredients on the French table and arguably one of the most reputed: talented cooks choose their breads with care, in harmony with the dishes on the menu.
Much to our pleasure, texture and taste vary from one type of bread to the next, and from one baker to the next: the more compact leavened or rustic breads, brown rye bread with seafood, its spicy variant for cheeses...and that's not forgetting the special breads (nuts, figs, olives) or white bread for aperitifs with toast.







The wines of the Loire !

Travel through the Loire Valley to enjoy the charms of France's No. 3 wine-producing region: incredible tourism itineraries, châteaux and wines of great diversity … and many flavours to discover!

The longest wine trail of France lets you explore, from East to West, 4 areas with very different micro-climates and soils: Saumurois, Touraine, Anjou and the Pays Nantais. This gives rise to a unique palette of varieties and a highly diversified range of wines with a highly aromatic expression.
Saumur-Champigny, Chinon, Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil… The Loire reds have an excellent reputation, structured and well-balanced on the palate. Their hints of violet and red berries, cherries and blackberries for Menetou-Salon, are enjoyable choices with poultry and white meat.

The most renowned whites, such as Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, subtle and fragrant, accompany noble fish. The excellent Vouvray and Montlouis, which combine roundness and finesse, are perfect with white meat. And the popular Muscadet goes perfectly with seafood and shellfish.
The very fine rosés, crisp and generous, are a perfect match for the cold cuts and meat specialties of the region. The prestigious sparkling wines of Anjou offer candied fruits and suave notes and are excellent for aperitifs. The sparkling wines, including the delicious Crémant de Loire, are served with fruited desserts.

Macarons: seductive little biscuits !

Back in favour due to the creativity of great Parisian chefs, macarons come in an infinite variety of flavours and an explosion of colours. Considered to be one of the jewels of French patisserie, the little round biscuit is showing its delicious colours way beyond our borders.


Pink, green, yellow, blue, brown... Decorating the shelves of French patisseries, the macaron attracts attention and sharpens the appetite. Brought back into favour by the boundless imagination of patissiers such as Pierre Hermé, and now a consumer craze , this little round biscuit related to the meringue is now available in an infinite range of colours and flavours.


In Paris, Maison Ladurée, the celebrated maker of the macaron founded in 1862, draws gourmands from around the world, who come to sample its original creations. In addition to the traditional range of raspberry, chocolate and lemon macarons, they regularly produce Limited Edition special collections to go with the seasons and special events. Another celebrated maker of the macaroon is Maison Dalloyau, founded in 1802 – their ancestors even organised sumptuous receptions for Louis XIV at Versailles !

We may well allow that French patissiers invented the macaron as we know it today, with its two shells sandwiched together with a soft and creamy ganache, but the roots of the macaron are probably Italian, or even Arabic. The little biscuit, which was at that time simple and colourless, is purported to have arrived in France in the luggage of Catherine of Medicis in the 16th century. It apparently then developed in various regional ways, still with the same three ingredients from the basic recipe: egg white, sugar and almonds.

Today, macarons produced by the big Paris houses are one of the high points of French patisserie. Chefs patissiers, some well-known and others less so, stretch their imagination to the limit to perfect new macaron recipes: the lemon and raspberry duo, exotic mango and even savoury with foie gras and truffle. This little French biscuit has seen amazing success abroad. Pierre Hermé, Ladurée, Dalloyau... they have all taken their brands and their macarons abroad, notably to Europe, the Middle East and Japan.

The macaron: one name but many recipes. This little twin-shelled macaron is much better known in France and throughout the world, but a number of French towns are continuing the tradition of the authentic macaron, minus colour and artifice. This is true of Saint-Jean-de-Luze, Saint-Emilion, Lusignan, Cormery, Boulay, Nancy and Montmorillon. These macarons might not look much like the little biscuit made by the great houses in Paris, but they all have the basic recipe of egg, sugar and almonds and a jealously guarded production in common.







Roquefort : A major cheese of truly international reputation

Blue-veined cheese. Origin: southern Massif Central (Aveyron, but also Lozère and Tarn)


A major cheese of truly international repute, Roquefort is produced solely from whole, raw ewe's milk in the Aveyron in the southwest of the Massif Central mountains. This cheese earned France's very first Denomination of Origin (AO) in 1925. It contains at least 52% fat and is sold aluminium-wrapped under the label "Roquefort", accompanied by its "AOC" and the "Brebis Rouge" (red ewe) shared trademark.


The cheese is creamy and soft, yet firm, with a fine, sharp taste and a most remarkable bouquet that hints at mould. It is ripened and matured with particular care in Roquefort's famous caves. Roquefort must always be isolated from the ambient air, either by its original packaging or by aluminium foil, to avoid drying and to conserve its creamy, mellow texture. It can be kept in the bottom of the refrigerator if you don't have a cool, damp cellar. Like a fine wine, Roquefort is best brought to room temperature for an hour or so before tasting.
Roquefort is widely employed in culinary recipes: in canapés, salads and soufflés, with puff-pastry, etc... Another particularity is that it goes very well with sweet, mellow wines such as Sauterne and Jurançon, and with natural sweet wines such as Maury, Rivesaltes and Port.