100 year old French cookbook meal! #baking #cooking #recipes #chef #french #books #booktok #paris

My adapted recipes below!

Now even though I am a professional pastry chef, I am by no means a chef in the savory sense, but that’s why I was so excited when Lev showed me his great grandmother’s cookbook, it’s for the everyday cook!

The recipes in this cookbook aren’t like the recipes of today though – the baking and cooking times aren’t precise, the temperatures are rarely given, yet each recipe is a beautiful testament to French cuisine in its simplicity and attention to each ingredient and its seasonality.

This book “La Veritable Cuisine de Famille par Tante Marie” was originally published in 1925(Lev’s is the 1959 edition), and it has over 1,000 recipes that are “tres simples, economiques, indignant les quantites,” and it has also has 500 menus, which is what l used for this meal!

In the back of the book, it gives menus by each month, based on what is seasonally available, so I chose one of the many June menus – which is rich with all the vegetable splendor that the beginning of summer has to offer! This menu comprises of a roasted duck with a rendered tomato and olive sauce, vegetable stuffed tomatoes, feves with a sauce poulette, and a cherry tart !

My outfit is linked in my Shopmy – link is in my linktree in my bio.

I also have linked my LTK page where I link similar vintage plates, bowls, and aprons that I use. I also have my Amazon page, where l list many tools that I use like my pans, scales, tools, favorite baking books, etc. , and I’ve linked my oven!

Please don’t repost full my recipes. DM to collaborate or share with credit + permission.

Here is the timeline of how I made the meal – first start with the duck and the tomatoes. While those are baking, work on the dough for the cherry tart and put in the tart mold, remove the pits from the cherries, and make the tart filling. Then prepare the feves and the sauce. Once the tomatoes and the duck are done, you can blind bake the tart dough, and then make the sauce for the duck. Take out the tart crust, add the cherries and the filling, then bake. While that is baking, you can serve the meal. Then remove that tart and let cool for 30 minutes and then serve!

I chopped an onion and added to a dish with olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley, garlic, herbs de provence, and a bay leaf. Then I pricked with a fork all over the duck skin, then salt and peppered both sides of duck legs (make sure they are not cold, have been taken out of fridge for at least 15 minutes) and placed on top of the veg with the skin facing up. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven at 180C for about one hour, then uncover and bake a further 30 – 40 minutes till the skin is crispy and a thermometer inserted reaches at least 74C. Time varies on strength of ovens.
-For the tomatoes, cut the tops of the 3 tomatoes and then hollow them out. Thinly cut an onion, 2-3 big mushrooms, and garlic. Cook this in a pan over medium heat with olive oil and the insides of the tomatoes for about 6 minutes or until browned and fragrant. Season with salt, pepper, herbs de provence, and chopped parsley. Then add about 50 grams of breadcrumbs. Spoon this mixture into the tomatoes, add a knob of butter on top, place back the tomato tops and place in a dish with olive oil on the bottom, and bake at 180C for about one hour.
-For the feves, I removed them from the pods and then mine were easy to remove from the outer layer, but if yours are not, you can boil them for a couple minutes, then immediately place in ice water and they should be able to be easily removed. I boiled them for about 5 minutes in salted water, and then placed in ice water to prevent further cooking.
-For the sauce poulette for the feves, I diced a shallot and cooked in butter for about 5 minutes, then I added a swig of white wine and let reduce for a couple minutes, then add 250 grams of chicken stock and 50 grams of cream on medium heat. In a bowl, whisk an egg yolk and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Slowly add the mixture from the pan into the egg while whisking, then pour all of this back into the pan and add a tablespoon of flour and while continuously whisking, cook over medium heat till it thickens or coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt, pepper and chopped parsley.
-When the duck is done, remove from the pan and then add the rest to a pan (remove the bay leaf or other big dried herbs). Add a tablespoon of flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Add a swig or two of white wine and let reduce. Then add chicken stock (I didn’t measure😅like most of these recipes, I just added enough to make a sauce consistency) then add about 2 tablespoons of tomato puree. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs de provence. Let reduce then add pitted green olives.
-Bon appetit! Let me know if you’d like the cherry tart!