LoveTheJourney

Pastry chef Camille emailed in from Paris on Friday to ask why I didn’t incorporate any almond flour/ground almonds into the clafoutis. I had no answer other than I didn’t think about it (almond flour being something of a rarity in the states). That said, I should point out that you can substitute almond flour [...]

Having made so many clafoutises this week, er, clafoutees. No…clafouteece?
Having made so much clafoutis this week, I’ve learned a thing or two. Firstly, that there’s simply no comparison between a clafoutis made with unpitted cherries and one made with pitted cherries. The unpitted version wins the taste, texture and appearance trifecta hands down. Second, the [...]

…have been removed from these cherries and this is the result. This is the worst of my five attempts at clafoutis this week, but a helpful case study in what happens when you pit your cherries. The juice leaks out and stains the custard, plus the cherries deflate and the skins end up looking all [...]

So what’s the deal with using whole cherries in clafoutis? There are three main arguments for leaving the pits in. The first has to do with taste. Specifically that cherry pits give off a vaguely almond-y flavor as they bake, infusing the cherry flesh (and to a lesser extent the batter) with complex flavors and [...]

Here’s en excellent question from reader Pete:
I like your idea about clafoutis in cast iron, but I get nervous about using my cast iron pan because I don’t know if it’s properly seasoned. Can you tell me a little about seasoning and how to do it right?

Pete, I would love to. Seasoning is the process [...]

A truly authentic clafoutis is made in a deep ceramic dish about eight inches across and four inches deep. I don’t have anything like that handy, though I do have plenty of cast iron, which is pretty much perfect for a job like this. I’ll use either a 9″ skillet or a small Dutch oven, [...]

Clafoutis may be French, but refined it ain’t. It’s a rough country dish from the Limousin region, which is in the south-central part of France, near the mountainous Massif Central. No one knows just how long the people of Limousin have been making clafoutis, though it’s fair to say that the dish became famous all [...]

Kla-FOO-tiss.
Oh alright, that’s not how you say it. Can’t a guy have a little fun? Most anglophones pronounce the word kla-FOO-tee, though if you really want to get your frog on, you can say kla-foo-TEE. However I warn you that your friends will think you’re auditioning for an announcer gig on National Pubic Radio. [...]