Top 10 French delicacies

1. Boulette d'Avesnes

When the cheese trolley arrives look closely and, if you are lucky, you may spot, lurking near the back, a Boulette d'Avesnes. It is easy to recognise as it is one of the few pyramidal ones, and certainly the only reddish one. It may very probably be the only one on the trolley which hasn't had a slice cut out of it. There is a good reason for this as we are dealing with the surprise symphony of French cheeses. It tastes stronger and spicier than almost any other cheese. It is actually delicious, once you have got used to its taste, especially if you wash it down with a glass of strong dark beer, preferably one from the north of France where the Boulette originates.
Where to try
The family-run Fromagers de France, 39 rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris.

2. Café gourmand

This is quite a recent idea, which you mainly come across in steak houses or fish restaurants that are part of a chain. You have enjoyed your "entrée + plat" but you don't really have enough room for a huge pudding, even though you fancy something sweet and chocolaty. Cottoning on to this, the restaurants have come up with the brilliant "café gourmand". The word gourmand doesn't relate to the coffee itself - it will just be the regular, small black expresso. The gourmand bit is what comes with the coffee - an artistic array of miniature puddings. You generally get three: a mini triangle of brownie, an eggcup-sized crème brûlée and a taste of something like clafoutis.
Where to try
Steak house chains Hippopotamus which can be found throughout France.

3. Soupe de poisson

I have always had a soft spot for French dishes with a do-it-yourself element, and "soupe de poisson" is one that has a pleasingly high DIY content. It is a dish of orangey-coloured soup, accompanied by little dish of small slices of very crisp toast and a little bowl of "rouille". You can spread some rouille - a garlic-based spicy sauce - on a piece of toast and then dunk the resulting spicy toast in the soup and eat it. Alternatively, you can drop the spicy toast in the soup and then spoon it out again later. A final option is to drop the toast in the soup and then spoon in a bit of the rouille. You then eat the soup with the occasional spoonful tasting strongly of garlic and spice.
Where to try
Fish restaurant La Criée, which can be found throughout France.

4. Canard

The presence of sugar lumps in close proximity to coffee leads to one of the many excellent reasons for going to France – dunking sugar lumps in strong, black coffee is absolutely wonderful. The act of dunking a sugar lump, preferably a large, oblong one, in a cup of coffee is known as "faire un canard" where "canard", as you know, normally means "duck". It is quite common, where several people are gathered around cups of coffee, for a person, who hasn't asked for their own cup, to pick up a sugar lump and lean over towards someone else's cup asking "Je peux faire un canard?" (Can I do the duck?). They thus get a kick of sugary caffeine without having to drink a whole cup.
Where to try
Café de Phares, place de la Bastille 4th, Paris.

5. Tarte tatin

Spare a thought for Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin, two sisters who, in 1888 in their restaurant in Lamotte-Beuvron, accidentally created a gastronomic masterpiece: la Tarte Tatin. According to legend, in the lunchtime rush in the kitchens, an apple tart was inadvertently put into the baking dish upside down and then put into the oven to cook. Being upside down, the apples became all golden and slightly caramelised. In order to hide their mistake, the sisters served portions of the tart with a large dollop of cream on the top. This is how it is served to this day and it is absolutely wonderful.
Where to try
Patisserie Lenotre, 44 rue d'Auteuil, 75016 Paris.

6. Trou Normand

This is a wonderful thing that can transform a heavy meal. It can leave a feeling of wellbeing where there might otherwise have been indigestion. In the more expensive restaurants, when you are in the middle of a long and extravagant meal, the waiter will arrive unexpectedly with a small glass containing a refreshing mix of sorbet and alcohol. This is a "Trou Normand" and generally comprises apple or lemon sorbet swimming in a generous shot of Calvados. It doesn't always feature on the menu but just appears at exactly the moment you are ready for it. Somehow, the mix of tangy sorbet and strong alcohol revives you from your food-and-drink-induced stupor and sets you up for the following courses.
Where to try
La Tour d'Argent, 15-17, quai de la Tournelle, Paris 75005 (if budget is no obstacle!). Also, slightly less expensive would be Le Meurice, 228 rue de Rivoli, 1st, Paris.

7. Le quignon

One of the basic rules of French culture is the rigidly applied law which states that any person buying a baguette is obliged to eat the end of the loaf at some point between the boulangerie door and his place of residence. Failure to do so risks serious punishment. Happily, no one has discovered what the punishment is because it is actually impossible to carry a freshly baked baguette for more than seven metres without breaking off the end and eating it. Eating the end of the loaf – le quignon – is so irresistible that, if you are planning to go off on your own to buy the bread every day of your holiday, it is probably a good idea to try and convince your household that the loaves are actually sold by the baker without the ends on them.
Where to try
Au Panetier, 10 pl des Petits-Peres, 75002, Paris.

8. Café et tartines beurrées

Rather than order the classic combination of a croissant with your café au lait when you have breakfast in a French café, order "une tartine beurée" instead. Such tartines are made from a thinner loaf than a baguette called "une flute" which is cut lengthways and generously buttered. Two such tartines and a big cup of coffee will start the day off nicely and keep you going until lunchtime. It is not obligatory to dunk your tartine in your coffee, but you very probably will.
Where to try
Café de Phares, place de la Bastille 4th, Paris.

9. Chouquettes

Another relatively unknown wonder to be found in any French boulangerie. And what's more, they are very cheap. Chouquettes are chou pastry balls, the size of a plum, which are topped off with some little chunks of sugar. As they are hollow, they are very light, but taste delicious. Also, as they are sold by weight you get quite a lot for your money. Calling for "100 grammes de chouquettes, s'il vous plaït" will get you a paper bag with eight chouquettes and cost you about €1.60 (£1).
Where to try
Patisserie Lenotre, 44 rue d'Auteuil, 75016 Paris.

10. Religieuse au chocolat

A chocolate éclair, only more so. When you go into a boulangerie or a patisserie, rather than buying a simple chocolate éclair try a religieuse au chocolat. A religieuse is easy to spot because it is made up of two round éclair-like parts, a little one stuck on top of a larger one. It looks a bit like a child's snowman, only covered in chocolate icing and topped off with a swirl of cream. Religieuses are perfect to share - though of course you are faced with the problem of who gets which part. If chocolate is not your thing, they even occasionally come in a mix where one part has chocolate and the other coffee flavoured icing.
Where to try
Patisserie Lenotre, 44 rue d'Auteuil, 75016 Paris.

source : www.guardian.co.uk

Top 10 Japanese food

 
 

1) Sukiyaki
I had to keep this a secret for fear that people might look at me strangely, but my dearest ambition before going to Japan was to give a cow a massage. In the end, I did better than that, I even got to spit shochu over one, more importantly I got to the bottom of the various myths about bizarre Japanese cow husbandry techniques and how they result in such super-tender meat. My favourite way of preparing it is as sukiyaki.
Click here for recipe
 

2) Zaru Soba
Eating cold noodles may, for many, conjure disturbing flashbacks to cold pasta buffets, but in Tokyo, Zaru Soba (cold buckwheat noodles served with a dashi-based dipping sauce), is considered the height of refinement. It’s easy to make at home, but ideally you’ll have a zaru (drainage basket) to serve the noodles on.
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3) Agedashi Tofu
Tofu deserves a major PR overhaul in the West. In Japan, where it used to be delivered fresh, daily, like milk, they are used to eating theirs soon after it is made and adore its clean, light mineral flavour and creamy texture (one of the things I love most about Japanese cuisine is its incredibly broad texture palette). The best I ever tasted was in the temple quarter of Kyoto, where the icy, clean mountain water helps create the finest tofu in Japan. Chances are you don’t live in Kyoto, but worry not. Serving it as agedashi, or deep fried tofu, conceals a multitude of inferior tofu sins, and it makes a brilliant show-offy starter with its crisp, hot exterior and creamy, cool interior - especially if you can muster the all important garnishes.
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4) Classic Osakan brown sauce
It was the infamous French restaurant critic, Francois Simon, who told me Osaka was the most exciting food city on earth. He was right, particularly as far as its fast food is concerned. Tako yaki (octopus doughnuts - no, really, they are delicious); okonomiyaki (a thick pancake, typically with pork or seafood in the mix); and kushikatsu (related to yakitori, but breaded), were all invented there, along with kaiten sushi and instant noodles. Osakans are famed for their impatience and gluttony. Best of all are the thick, brown, meaty-sweet sauces that accompany all three of them. Each chef will have his own, often highly elaborate secret recipe, simply topping them up at the end of the week with new ingredients -some are, thus, decades old.
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5) Chanko nabe
While in Tokyo we were lucky enough to be allowed into a small Sumo stable, or heya, in Ikegami. I had ambitions to sumo-size myself and took a sneak peek into their fridge. Disappointingly, it was full of healthy fresh vegetables, tofu and chicken. As we discovered when we were invited to lunch, sumos are quite the gourmets.
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6) Okinawan sweet potato ice cream
While visiting Okinawa to research the fascinating secrets of their traditional diet - part of the reason why Okinawans live longer than anyone else in the world - we discovered the delicately floral-flavoured Okinawan sweet potato ice-cream, famous throughout Japan. It is made from the equally celebrated Okinawan sweet potato, a deep purple-coloured tuber believed to have miraculous nourishment properties. Ordinary sweet potatoes work almost as well, although you won’t get quite the same pale lavender colour.
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7) Dengaku aubergine
Western chefs discovered the meaty, nutty - admittedly also slightly farty - flavours of miso paste years ago, but still home cooks seem reluctant to introduce this salty, fermented soy bean paste (which can also include barley and rice) into their cooking. When I was in Osaka I met an English miso maker, Tony Flenley, who tipped me off about all manner of uses for miso in home cooking - it adds a potent umami boost to stews and sauces, for instance. A classic is to sweeten miso paste to use as a dengaku, a topping for grilled vegetables, tofu, or best of all, aubergine.
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8) Sushi and sashimi
Of course, we didn’t abstain entirely from sushi while in Japan. How could we? Raw Matsusaka beef nigiri and whale and horse sashimi were unexpected highlights, as was an afternoon I spent learning tips and tricks at the feet of a master sushi chef in Ebisu, Tokyo, incuding keep the rice at its body temperature so that it contrasts with the chilled seafood; don’t mix your wasabi into your dipping sauce - it’s common - and steer clear of the spicy tuna rolls. Why do you suppose they are using those spices?
 
9) Japanese pickles
The Japanese are infatuated with pickles, or ‘tsukemono’. No meal is complete without their welcome vinegary crunch. Indeed, the Japanese equivalent of meat and two veg is miso soup, rice and pickles, and every town or shopping area will have at least one pickle shop with barrels of funky smelling vegetables steeped most often in rice bran, but also sake lees (the by-product from making sake), miso and brine, out front. Kyoto’s astonishing Nishikoji market is the spiritual home of Japanese pickles and there I tasted a simple but highly addictive cucumber pickle.
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10) Sea urchin
For me the king of all seafoods are the gonads scooped from within a still-living sea urchin, or ‘uni’. Challenging for some, I know, but they do really need to be alive because uni go off rapidly, taking on an unpleasantly chemical, ‘toilet cleaner’ flavour. At their best, meanwhile, they taste how I imagine vanilla ice cream might taste if it were made by mermaids. My family and I were lucky enough to enjoy a grilled lunch with the fabled female free divers, or ‘ama’, of Mie prefecture. They told me their favourite thing to do with uni.
Click here to repices

source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk 

Ten Most Common Food Allergies

Food allergies should not be confused with intolerance for certain food items. Lactose intolerance is caused by a scarcity of the enzyme lactase and can lead to bloating and digestive problems. Whereas,  a milk allergy can cause severe immediate or delayed reactions, whenever a food item containing milk in any form is consumed. Allergies which occur in childhood often go away after a certain length of time, but adult allergies normally remain through a lifetime.
The most common food Allergies are as follows:



1. Shellfish

2. Peanuts

3. Tree Nuts

4. Fish

5. Eggs

6. Soy

7. Wheat

8. Milk

9. Sugar

10. Garlic

sourch : top-10-list.org