What another splendid reference for a read! Thanks so much, also for your kindness. Those food names really are a challenge sometimes.

In France last week I mistook ‘chevreau’ for being lamb (how I don’t know), and in Lisbon a few years ago I thought I had ordered cod but in fact a cuttlefish with black ink and everything arrived. I’m not sure what I had got into my head. However, I only make such errors once. That’s at least a good thing.

Your report on Le Clos… made it sound wonderful. I have to go there!

Alan Davidson is an unsung genius. He wrote two books on fish, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood, which are absolute classics.

The English writer Auberon Waugh said of ‘Mediterranean Seafood’ hat it was ‘the best book written on this (or possibly any other) subject’.

One thing that is really useful in these books is the lists of fish names, which are so different in different European languages.

Look forward to your next post!
Tim

Thank you so much for explaining me about the weird named but so tasty root crop! It’s a pity that they are so hard to peel. I have a wonderful recipe for Jerusalem artichoke soup where I think that a combination of the apple and the curry in it does the trick.

Yes, by the way, I think you’re right about Engel.

Also, I must thank you for the book by Alan Davidson you mention. I’ve added it to my wish list.

Trine

This place sounds nice. I like the sound of the food. But I really agree with you that it gets things off to a bad start when they don’t bring you some wine and bread straight away. Why don’t restaurants realise this?

Anyway, this is very strange: Jerusalem artichokes are not artichokes at all and they don’t come from Jerusalem! The plant they come from is a kind of sunflower. They are the root or tuber of this plant. The name jerusalem is a corruption of ‘girasole’ (You speak Italian so you will know this, but maybe not all your readers will.) Why it is called artichoke I have no idea. I think I got this information from Alan Davidson (RIP), his Oxford Companion to Food.

I like them too, and with smoked eel, that sounds really good.

I would guess that the Alsatian Engel is a different guy from the Burgundy one. I think that Engel is quite a common name in Alsace. I have a colleague called Engel, but he is very French so pronounces it in the French way rather than the German. Not sure how they pronounce it in Alsace, I’ve never been there.

all the best
Tim