The Secrets of Le Chateau de Bouesse

My friend Harry, an Englishman, once owned a castle in France. I suppose by medieval standards it was modest, but to my modern day eye it was very impressive indeed. It stood on a parcel of land of about 5 acres in the middle of a little village called Bouesse, southwest of Paris in Joan of Arc country, you know the place of witches and magic and all that stuff. The stone walls of the castle were over a meter thick in some places and the original part of the castle dated back to the 12th century. It was an amazing place, and after 800 years of history you can imagine that the walls had lots of stories to tell. After spending a few nights there even I came away with a strange one.

Harry and his wife, Jacqueline, had decided to buy the castle, renovate it and turn it into a first-class hotel. Jacqueline was a French national originally from New Caledonia but wanted to live back in France metropole. One of the things they wanted to open at the hotel, of course, was a restaurant.

Jacqueline was a great cook especially of French country food. During one of my visits prior to the opening of the hotel she interrupted her renovation work to fix a very simple but elegant boneless beef shank in my honor. I was so delighted I asked for the recipe which she happily gave me. Later, I was to learn that when the restaurant opened they hired a real chef, so Jacqueline no longer cooked. But I still have the recipe and have treasured it all these years, using it many times, always with great success.

For this Friday's special, I have turned once again to Jacqueline's time-honored recipe, except this time it is with Thai beef. It is interesting, however, that traditional French beef is raised in a similar manner to Thai beef, that is, free range. But can one get the same results?

Come on by on Friday and find out...oh, and while you are at Milford's Corner, ask about the strange events that take place in Room 5 at the Chateau de Bouesse.

Crispy Roast Loin of Pork

At Milford's Corner, we try to offer our customers a unique Nongkhai dining experience. Many of our dishes will not be found elsewhere in town and we take pride in being a little bit different.

Hope it  will look like this!!

This week (Friday 20 May) however, we are going to offer a dish that is found frequently around Nongkhai: crispy roast loin of pork. There quite a few folks around town who can do this dish the way it should be done, which is to say skin puffy and crispy on the outside; meat moist and tender inside. I must confess that I have attempted this dish many times but have never quite measured up to the standard. While the meat was eminently edible, the roast lacked the flair and elan of a properly done pork roast. Never mind, I shall try again.

Drop on by on Friday and weigh in whether we have yet hit the target.

Burgundy Country

Burgundy is a province of France which lies to the south and east of Paris. It is a place renowned for its food and wine and the place where I enjoyed what was perhaps the best meal I ever had. 

I was traveling back to Montreal from Geneva with a connection in Paris. Normally, I would have taken the short flight to Paris but this time decided to take the train which ran right through Burgundy country. In those days one could buy a ticket to Paris but overnight anywhere along the route then continue on the next day. My Michelin guide recommended a place called the Hotel St.  George in Chalon-sur-Saone. It turned out that both the hotel and restaurant were at the train station and both were absolutely first class. Burgundy was like that...full of pleasant surprises, including the waiter at the restaurant informing me that I was no longer in Paris…but in France!.

This week at MC, we are going to offer a dish inspired by the country stews of Burgundy: a pork stew cooked in white wine. I was actually introduced to this dish by the Lao wife of an American friend of mine. She formerly worked for L’Alliance Francaise in Vientiane and spoke the most beautiful French. She was also clearly influenced by the French country cooking so exemplified in Burgundy.

So drop on over on Friday, 13 May for a culinary excursion to the French countryside. Santé!

Cinco de Mayo

Today is Cinco de Mayo (5th of May in Spanish) celebrated in Mexico and now in a large part of the United States as the day in 1856 an outnumbered Mexican army defeated a larger and formidable French army. The Mexicans went on to lose the war but took heart from Cinco de Mayo and eventually expelled the French from Mexico.

As you can imagine, the holiday is celebrated with music and dancing and, of course, lots of food. So, for our Friday special at Milford's Corner we will be serving tacos and refried beans. Our tacos are made from hand rolled tortillas filled with our own salsa and minced pork mixture. If I can find some tequila,well........

Although we will be a day late, it should still be good fun and good food. Arriba!!!

Lasagne al Forno

Milford's Corner has been open now for about seven months and until now I have avoided making one of my favorite -- and most time consuming -- dishes: lasagne al forno. Since we were closed last week for Songkran, I took advantage of the break to start making the various components of that wonderful oven-baked pasta casserole which will be this Friday's special.

Like many casseroles, there are about as many versions of lasagne as there are cooks. Our version has three main ingredients, each of which is home made separately over a period of days and then assembled for final baking. First, there is the sauce, made with fresh tomatoes, red wine and ground pork simmered slowly for a while until the sauce is thick and flavorful.

Then there is the homemade cultured dairy product which is processed to separate out the whey and yield a thick creamy consistency. Finally, there is the egg pasta.

Now there is a lot of debate about homemade pasta; some say that it must be made with durum semolina, other say regular all purpose flour will suffice. For me, the issue is very simple: use the momma mia rule. Momma mias always use regular flour and make the best pasta in the world. In my view, it is not the flour but the love which goes into the pasta. Hence, we use regular flour and lots and lots of love.

Whenever possible, the final assembly and preparation is always done the day before serving. This allows the flavors to blend to the maximum into the pasta and gives you the best tasing results.

So, if you want to experience a delicious lasagne infused with momma mia's love, come on by MC on Friday and Mangia!

Pre-Songkran Weekend

On order from a very high authority,  Milford's Corner will be closed for the entire week of Songkran. Specifically, we will be closed starting on Sunday, April 10th up to and including Monday, April 18th, reopening on Tuesday April 19th.

To warm up for the holidays, I thought it would be interesting to do something a little different for this final weekend. So, tonight for our Friday special we will have roast leg of lamb  with roast potatoes and pumpkin together with asparagus.  Tomorrow, for our weekly BBQ we will have our usual barbecue ribs, sausages, and  pork chops  but we'll also offer  some Indian style grilled chicken.  Plus,as part of our coming to terms with Thai beef  project, we will grill up some beef fillet steaks.

 So come on out and join us as we get ready to celebrate another Thai New Year. Sawatdee Pee Mai!

Kalahari Pulled Beef

For this week's special, the Thai beef challenge takes us to southern Africa and the Kalahari Desert. I have previously blogged on beef from the region but this week's focus is on the Desert culture itself.

The Kalahari is a vast arid area located in the southwest part of Botswana, the northwest of South Africa and the eastern part of Namibia. Although rainfall is scarce, the region is surprisingly green owing to subterranean water which seeps in from rivers emptying into the desert from the north. The green, mostly scrub brush, supports an amazing variety of wild life with herds of giraffe, springbok, wildebeest, and zebra together with birds like ostrich as well as smaller game like wild boar.

The Kalahari is the traditional home of the Basarwa (or San) people, more familiarly (and pejoratively) known as the Bushmen. The San were the indigenous people of the region and survived for thousands of years hunting and gathering in the bountiful desert. Unfortunately, today the culture of the San, like so many other aboriginal people in America, Australia  and elsewhere, has been almost completely destroyed from a combination of government confiscation of their land and resettlement in villages. Here, cut off from their traditions, their spirit atrophies and they descend into the familiar pattern of alcoholism and abuse so pervasive in indigenous communities elsewhere.

But despite all this, two of their culinary influences have been adopted throughout the region: biltong and seswaa, the latter being what I call Kalahari Pulled Beef. Biltong is dried meat; the San would hang meat from a successful hunt to dry, both to preserve it and to make it easier to carry back to the group campsite. Upon arrival at the campsite, assuming water was available, the dried meat would be boiled, sometimes for hours, until it literally fell apart. The result was seswaa.

When I first encountered seswaa, I scoffed at the idea of boiling meat until it fell apart; the concept was somehow offensive to my notions of flavor retention. I was sure the meat would be overcooked and tasteless. I was wrong; it was delicious and to this day I cannot explain why the flavor is so well retained.

In any event, this week's Friday special is Kalahari Pulled Beef. Our version is made with fresh (not dried) beef to which I have added an onion, a little garlic and seasonings and then boiled until it falls apart -- in the true style of the Basarwa.