Writing on www.slashfood.com Andrew has posted a recipe for a Grand Marnier Marmalade Sauce, which led me to discover other recipes for this orange-flavoued liqueur from NEAUPHLE-LE-CHATEAU near Paris.
As well as favourites such as Crepes Suzette, there is also a recipe for a Grand Marnier Soufflé, which may be just the thing over Christmas - indulgent certainly, but with some skilful cooking the result is as light as air "Souffle" means a breath or puff of air.
Grand Marnier is made from fine cognac infused with the a distillation of the peel of wild oranges from the West Indies.
For the recipes and to learn more about Grand Marnier, see their website at www.grand-marnier.com (in English (well, American).
The alternative is Cointreau (www.cointreau.com) which is made from similar ingredients.What is interesting is that the Cointreau website is much funkier - compared to the rather staid and traditional Grand Marnier image. Although I have never done a side-by-side comparative tasting my impression has always been that Cointreau is slightly fresher and lighter than Grand Marnier. For Crepes Suzette it has to be traditional Grand Marnier - whereas for a liqueur by itself I would probably choose Cointreau. They also have cocktails and recipes on the website including Bittersweet Glazed Duck with Cointreau Marinated Orange - a sophisticated variation on the old Duck à l'Orange.
If you are in the Loire Valley you can visit to Cointreau factory in Angers (49, Maine-et-Loire)
Seasons Greetings to all - FrenchDuck will be back in the New Year!
For more on French Wine, Food & Travel see www.frenchduck.co.uk
Keywords: France,Wine,Food,Grand,Marnier,liqueur,orange,recipe
Comments
There are distinct differences - Cointreau is made with the peel of of bitter oranges from Haiti, sweet orange peel from Spain, neutral alcohol, sugar and water. Grand Marnier however is Haitian oranges barrel aged with French Cognac.
Cointreau is much sweeter.
Posted by: Andrew | December 24, 2005 6:23 PM