France

This is a paradoxical cake. It’s pretty easy to make from a technical perspective, but the key ingredient — the ingredient that makes the cake — is very difficult to find here in the United States....

While I wouldn’t visit France just to eat there, it’s a lot of fun to go to a branch of L’Entrecôte. If you go, there are effectively no choices. You get a green salad, fries, and steak with sauce....

While I’m sure there’s a tourist board or local association that claims there’s one true recipe for pan bagnat, I think the true spirit of the sandwich is something looser. At least that’s what I’ve gotten from spending time in Nice and doing a bit of reading....

Like many of the best ideas, this one was born out of a need to clear out my refrigerator. I had a print container with a bunch of leftover fermentation medium from a batch of lacto-fermented strawberries, and I needed to use it up....

Oil poaching fish gives it a really wonderful flavor and texture, but doing it the traditional way always feels very wasteful to me because you have to use such an incredible quantity of oil that you then have to toss....

This is a favorite little biscuit from the wonderful people at Poilâne. The ingredients list is minimal, they’re really easy to make, and they taste great. You can really use any cutter you like....

Longtime readers will recall that on a trip to Nice, France, I had a transcendent peach tart. After nearly a decade of tinkering and dozens of peach tarts later, I think I have something that comes close to its inspiration....

After doing some research, I learned that a clafoutis is meant to be made with cherries. If you’re using the same technique with other stone fruit, it’s called a flaugnarde. The name comes from the Occitan word fleunhe or flaunhard, meaning soft or duvet....

This is, with some adaptations and tweaks, a recipe from Raymond Blanc, the French-British chef. It’s his take on the simple apple tart his mother used to make. In honor of that culinary tradition, I’ve given this a name in honor of the region where he grew up....

While I don’t totally understand the soft matter physics at work, this is easily the best and, importantly, easiest tart base to work with. This is an unsweetened shortcrust pastry. That tends to lend it to savory tarts, but it can also work for a very sweet filling....