Gourmet Food Kitchen

If you have watched the film Julie & Julia (starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams) or read the book, you'll then know that it is Julia Child who introduced French cooking to Americans. She is the author of the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which has more than a hundred French recipes. Among the famous ones are Boeuf Bourguignon and Coq au Vin. For a typical American, it might be hard to pronounce these two gourmet recipes, but once you've tasted them, it would be hard to forget these names.

Boeuf Bourguignon

One of the highlighted recipes in the movie is Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. Just as described, you'll then say that this French recipe is worth every minute of the tedious preparation. Perhaps the real secret to the gastronomic delight of this dish is how the flavors meld perfectly when chilled overnight. There are different stages to the preparation of this rich and flavorful dish. The first would be the braising in the oven, which would take you 2 1/2 to 3 hours. You then have to refrigerate it. You then have to prepare the pearl onions and mushrooms, which should also be refrigerated. Take out the beef and veggies from its mixture, and let the sauce thicken on its own. After which, you can include the beef and vegetables to heat them all up.

Coq au Vin

Julia Child was once a guest in Good Morning America (in 1995), where she introduced her own Coq au Vin (along with Ragout of Chicken). Coq au Vin is a chicken recipe that uses red wine, small braised onions, lardons of pork, and mushrooms as its key ingredients. Lardons of bacon create a special flavor to the sauce, while braised onions and sauteed mushrooms are used as garnish. This dish is a must-try for foodies and lovers of French cooking.

There are different recipes for Boeuf Bourguignon and Coq au Vin. If you want to try Julia Child's, you can grab a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking or look for her recipes that are published online.

If you have money to back your adventurous stomach, you may be interested in sampling weird gourmet foods. It seems that high society continues to define what should be considered as the trendiest must-eat dishes. You wonder if these high society gentlemen and dames really enjoy the concoctions or they just want to show off the fact they can afford the dish.

Weird gourmet dishes: Canard à la Rouennaise (Duck in Blood Sauce)

Violently presented, duck in blood sauce is not recommended to squeamish diners. The price tag can also leave you nauseated, at $1000 a plate. It seems some chefs and patrons cannot get enough out of a duck that even the carcass gets pressed to the limit to get at the bloody juices. For this dish to actually exist there must be some people who actually found it tasty as with weird gourmet dishes.

Weird gourmet delicacies: Bird nest soup

The very name suggests it a member of weird gourmet delicacies. The dish is made up of a bird’s nest, the swift’s in particular. This is because the bird is known for making its own nest out of its own saliva. The bird nest soup is jelly-like. The result should be downright disgusting but a soup actually sells from $300 to $1000.

So, the above are just a couple of many weird gourmet delicacies. There are still many foods that you may not even want to be near to but are being enjoyed by others.

Many members of the elite and privileged consider caviar as part of their meals. Just watch any film scene in a luxurious mansion or hotel and caviar will surely be mentioned. Caviar definitely sounds classy but what exactly is it? What flavor does it bring out when added to a recipe?

What exactly is caviar?

Caviar is made up of salted, non-fertilized, and processed sturgeon roe. The cheaper versions are made of pasteurized roe. Caviar’s four types are starlet, sevruga, osetra, and beluga. Beluga is the most expensive since it is only found in the Caspian Sea. The starlet is the next most expensive and once had the honor of only being served to Austrian emperors, Iranian shahs, and Russian Czars. If the caviar is pasteurized, this means it was partially cooked. The partial cooking gives it a different texture. Pressed caviar, on the other hand, is made of damaged eggs and are mixed with different roe types.

Popular gourmet dishes with caviar

Caviar aficionados would recommend Iranian and Russian caviar, considering they are the rarest of them all. American caviar is also popular among caviar lovers. Caviar is usually eaten as a side dish and match with most gourmet meals.

Caviar is a tasty and classy experience that everyone should try at least once in their lives. Although it may seem a bit too pricey, the taste is unique and worth remembering. It’s only once that you’ll be able to say that you’ve tasted something from the Caspian Sea. Its source and one-of-a-kind preparation make the price worth it.