Thursday, July 24, 2014

A long, long time ago... our last post!


But today we have a great news: our friend Jean-Pierre Rambault (french citizen... nobody is perfect) started the production of french delicatessen, in french: PATES or TERRINES, you know, this kind of mixing of meat or fish with spices you spread on bread or crackers and you cannot stop because it is so good! We encouraged Jean-Pierre, his wife Sally and his daughter Georgia to start home production to see if Bacolenos enjoy with his delicatessen as do the small french community.
Lola's Garden Jam distributes the different flavors Jean-Pierre started to produce and at the present time you can find them at Bob's North drive, Pendy's and Virgie's with our jams.

Easy to recognize:

Because a few people are not speaking french in Bacolod, you can find a translation in English of the name of the PATE and the ingredients. You will note on this top label the information: "STERILIZED WITH STEAM AUTOCLAVE". For your safety, he invested in this expensive tool to elimate any risk of contamination with bad micro-organisms which can grow in meat or fish processed products if not treated correctly over 120 degres Celsius.
There are already 8 kinds of PATES:

  • PATES with pork:
    • BOUDIN NOIR* (Black pudding), comparable to Dinuguan but with a french taste because of the spices. This preparation is normally presented as sausage but can be spreaded on bread also.
    • RILLETTES DE PORC (Pork rillettes) with Cognac is one of the best PATE in France, at the origin made in Le Mans, a town also known for the 24 hours car race.
    • SAUCISSON A L'AIL DE PARIS (Paris garlic sausage) is the kind of sausage you think to it and you can smelt it and remember something about it. "So French!". For me, it is sandwich I ate along the Seine banks, in front of Notre-Dame and waiting for a young parisian girl. She never came but I ate a second sandwich and ... forgot the girl.
  • PATE with beef:
    • MERGUEZ MAISON* (Merguez like at home). We leave Paris to North Africa. The merguez is a sausage we eat with the famous couscous, with tagines or simply grilled. The taste is unique.
  • PATE with chicken:
    • BOUDIN BLANC DE NOEL* (Christmas white pudding) has nothing in common with the black pudding except the name. It was before reserved for Christmas but it can now be eaten everyday. I recommend it for its truffle taste (truffle is the most expensive mushroom, around 80000 Pesos the kilo. Don't worry, Jean-Pierre uses a few drops of truffle oil, it's enough!).
    • PATE DE POULET A L'INDIENNE (Pate of indian chicken). Where Indian and French cooking meet. Many spices including saffron explode in the mouth when you bite it.
    • MOUSSE DE FOIE DE VOLAILLE TRUFFEE (Chicken liver mousse with truffle oil). Already the favorite in Bacolod! Sorry, it is not "Foie gras", but not so far... And the truffle oil again add this incomparable french touch.
  • PATE with fish:
    • PATE DE POISSON EPICE (Pate of spicy fish). No, Jean-Pierre will not give you his secret to prepare this excellent terrine of Pangasisus. May be you have bad opinion of this fish? Well it seems competition is hard between Europe and Asian fisheries and all methods are good in the fighting. What is sure is the Pangasius has been subjected to far more bacteriological, chemical and physical testing than any other (29 parameters according to  Seafoodsource.com). This fish is clean and more important, very good to eat. And better than Bangus or Tilapia with mud taste as we can buy in the markets.
* Jean-Pierre recommend to eat these three PATES hot (1minute in micro-wave oven) or to fry 4 minutes each side in oil and eat with rice.

BREAKING NEWS: To know better all these PATES, we invite you to come tomorrow, Saturduy 26 of July 2014 to our free tasting session:
  • During the morning, at PENDY'S
  • During the afternoon, at BOB'S NORTH DRIVE
and next week: Saturday 2 of August 2014,

  • During the morning, at VIRGIE'S
  • During the afternoon, at BOB'S NORTH DRIVE