Food Meditations...: Confit de Canard and some Bistro Classics

Critics should be provoking, constructive, but when it comes to "Gastronomie Française", for some reason, there is always somebody taking-on the French food.
Honestly, fare such as chicken with tarragon, soupe au pistou, tarte aux abricots, etc., deserve their reputation as classics.

French Classics
Recipes: French bistro classics

"Eating out in France may be disappointing, but the country still produces some of the world's best-loved dishes."

Has French food had its day? ...
American wine writer Michael Steinberger thinks so. His book, Au Revoir to All That: The Rise and Fall of French Cuisine (Bloomsbury, £18.99), doesn't merely attack the holy cow of French gastronomy, it butchers it and makes steak tartare. ...
Full Story: Recipes: French bistro classics; Telegraph.co.uk

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson"(*)

A Good Appetite
Duck Confit, and Hold the Fat

"This recipe produces a duck that is rich and glistening, even though it’s cooked without adding extra fat to the pan."

I HAD always been under the impression that making duck confit at home was a major undertaking, something along the lines of poaching a whole foie gras or ...
Full Story: Duck Confit, and Hold the Fat; NYTimes.com