Word Of The Week

bourriche

I like to watch cooking shows on television, not that that's a surprise to anyone that knows me. A day or so ago, while watching Eric Léautey on Cuisine TV, I noticed that he was working with oysters. This time of year, the holiday season, is oyster season. In France, oysters (les huîtres) are big food items for celebration meals, especially xmas eve and new year's eve - les réveillons in French.

In fact, Ken and I will likely get some oysters at least for new year's, as is our tradition. So, Eric was talking about buying oysters and mentioned that one should never buy them en vrac (loosely or in bulk) because they have a tendency to open and expose themselves to the air and that makes them less fresh.

Instead, he recommended that one should always buy them dans une bourriche because that way they're packed in and covered and are less likely to open. Since we have always purchased oysters the other way, I wondered what a bourriche is.

Turns out it's simply the wooden basket, with no handles but with a lid, that oysters are typically sold in. Of course, I have seen these all over wherever oysters are sold, but always just assumed that it's better to buy the tasty coquillages you could see rather than take a chance on ones packed in a box. Silly me.

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For those of you who asked for the eggplant curry recipe, it's here. You can use your favorite curry powder in place of the individual spices in the recipe, or you can mix up your own spice mix according to your taste.

Also, we didn't add potatoes; instead, we added tofu cubes toward the end of the recipe. It was great, and we'll probably try it again with potatoes one day.