This is why the French fries are so precious

THIS IS WHY THE FRENCH FRIES ARE SO PRECIOUS

So, when was the last time you had to throw something away that you didn’t want to?

Perhaps you felt like it would be a waste and you were having second thoughts?

Well, in western society, throwing things away is almost a staple, where now waste is becoming a problem.

Check out the article below for some amazing tips on turning waste into delicious treats, and check out the video for some French you’ll never have to throw away!

(This week: the verb JETER – to throw)

Stop the gachis! Eat some hachis!
My dear, poor, non French people,

I’m so sorry. Désolée, vraiment. But once again, I have to tell you that we French people are superior… You know me, I don’t like to brag… It’s not my fault if French people always know better!

Take recycling for example. I find it funny to see all the media attention nowadays on waste and how to not put everything in the garbage bin. Rien de nouveau sous le soleil! (Nothing’s new under the sun): French cooks have been doing it for ages.

My grand-mother Georgine (84 going on 85 and still cooking) is the perfect example. When you’ve been a farmer all your life, you know how precious a “fruit of the earth” is: you don’t throw easily a vegetable you gave time and sweat to make it grow… Especially when you get the miserable wages a retiree farmers’ widow get in France.

“Je jette rien”, she always says… From the water to the leftovers, she never throws anything. I guess she would be very proud of this recipe: stop the gâchis (the waste), eat some Hachis!

Le Hachis Parmentier

2 pounds Meat
2 pounds Potatoes
1 cup milk
4,5 oz of butter
A pinch of grated cheese
Salt, pepper, and Nutmeg

Many French delicacies are actually re-use from leftovers. Hachis Parmentier is one of them: for this one I used the Boeuf Bourguignon leftover I had from last recipe.

But you can also use ground beef meet, or duck confit for example…

This recipe bears the name Parmentier in honour of a great French man: Antoine-Augustin Parmentier.

Right before the French Revolution, this pharmacist discovered the way to prevent the numerous famines that were so recurringly happening in the country: to grow and eat potatoes.

At that time, people were totally disgusted with this strange root that was only fed to the pigs. It was even forbidden to grow any at some point, because it was believed potatoes could cause leprosy!

But Antoine-Augustin Parmentier discovered that it was of a great help to fight disentry, and went on a fight to make it legal and developped all over France.

After many years of lobbying, he managed to convince Louis the XVIth (yes, the one we beheaded, but that’s another story).

But nobody wanted to eat potatoes.
Food for pigs? Non merci!
So they changed its name into “Pomme de terre” : apple of the earth, so romantic!
But non.
Toujours non…
So they asked the king to set up a new “potato trend”, by wearing a potato flower “à sa boutonnière“, at his buttonhole.
So if the King said it, did the French follow?
Non non non!
They had rather die of hunger than eat it..

And that’s when Parmentier showed that he had genius.
He asked the King for a small piece of land North of Paris.
He grew potatoes there, and surrounded the field by armed guards, as if what they were protecting was very valuable…
Parisians grew suddenly very interested in this precious plant, and started to steal it at night when the guards were not looking…

Et voilà!

That’s how the love between France and Potato started, and how French Fries were born…

La recette

Preheat the oven at 350°F

Grind the leftover meat of the bourguignon

Boil the potatoes for at least 20 minutes, then peel them and mash them with milk and butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Spread a layer of potato purée in a large casserole dish, then spread the meat

Then spread the rest of the purée on the meat.

Add some grated cheese, and hop, au four! To the oven.

Cook for at least 45 minutes.
Et voilà!

Now have a piece of this delicious French comfort food…
Isn’t it great to recycle? Merci encore Mr Parmentier!

Bon appétit les amis!
Cécile

PS: If you happen to go to Paris, you should visit the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Not because you’re a strange and morbid Goth, or a big Jim Morisson fan (Yes, he is buried there, even if some pretend that the casket was smaller than he was): but to go to Mister Parmentier’s tomb.

Notice the wild flowers all around. The gardeners of the cemetery never touch them: they are potato flowers planted by fans all over the world who want to pay him an homage.

This is a guest blog post from Cécile Delarue’s Frenchandparfait.com.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!
Tell us in the comments below, what do you do when you have a guilty craving for French fries?

Let me guess.

Do you constantly have the feeling that you can’t hear what the French say and you don’t know how to read all the French words because they are written so much differently than they sound?

Learn 3 secrets that will help you be self sufficient in the way you pronounce French words – even if you don’t know what they mean – so that you can read that sophisticated menu in your favorite French restaurant.