Background: Born in Long Reach, New Brunswick, Canada; lives in Paris.
Education: Western civilization, linguistics, psychology and cross-cultural studies are among the subjects Calder studied at Canadian and English universities. She graduated from the Dubrulle Culinary Institute in Vancouver and La Varenne cooking school in Paris.
Experience: "After cooking school, I went to Napa Valley for five or six months to work for a master of wine named Tim Hanni. I helped him develop a food- and-wine pairing course for college-level students. Then I went to Burgundy to work on various projects for Anne Willan of La Varenne."
How She Came To Love Food: "My parents are Canadian, but we ate Anglo-Irish-Scottish food: oatmeal, buckwheat pancakes, pickles. We were a baking family in the English tradition rather than a cooking family in the French way. Homemade bread and cakes and cookies and jams and all that. Everything was very organic and wholesome and back-to-the-land. I mean, my mother made butter, for God's sake. On the cooking side we were very meat and vegetables. Mind you, the meat was probably some neighbor's chicken and the veggies were from our own gardens. It was basic English cooking. It wasn't extraordinary, but the ingredients were really good. I knew what a carrot ripped out of the ground tasted like."
How She Came To Love Cooking: "I started off my career as a journalist, but then I found myself in a public relations job, sitting in front of a computer going raving mad. I think I finally went into cooking because I was so desperate for reality. All the time I was in that cubicle I'd be listing the things I wanted to do before I died, and one was to become a really good cook. So I quit my job and went to cooking school. It's been five years since I first made that list."
How To Make Simple Food Look Luxurious: "You can cook something really basic and make it look like a million bucks. To feed some friends recently, I made a chickpea soup with maybe two and a half ingredients. I served it in beautiful bowls with an elegant swirl of olive oil on top, and everyone kept asking, 'What is this?' They thought they were getting some three-star thing. I bet that whole pot of soup cost me 30 cents to make."
Eating-At-Home Motto: "Make food as nice for yourself as you would for guests."
Essential French Ingredients: "Crème fraîche is at the top of the list. Also butter, olive oil, eggs, capers and bacon. I always have nuts—walnuts, pine nuts, almonds—because they are so versatile: You can put them in salads, you can use them in cakes. I also always have honey on hand."
Essential Equipment: "My top tool is my hands. I put them in everything. And I do everything in a large 10-inch sauté pan. I think you really need only three knives in life: a chef's knife, a paring knife and a bread knife. Another interesting tool I have is a pastry scraper. I've got this great stainless steel one about the size of an index card that I use for lifting stuff and moving things around. The only electric tool I have, without exaggeration, is an immersion blender. I do almost everything by hand. I whisk egg whites by hand, I whip cream by hand."
Why She Loves French Food: "It's more playful and less rule-ridden than people imagine."
Favorite Place To Eat: "I'm not really very interested in restaurants. People always ask me where I like to eat in Paris, and I always say, 'My place.'"
For more information, visit Laura Caulder's website here
Chief Laura Calder need the FRENCH TERMS of the mixture with LAVENDER with Herbs & Spices that you used. It's not Herbs De Provence recipe. give me all you got.Thanks for your help Ani8
Hello Chief Laura Calder I just joined to be able to get help from you the best.It was 2012 I was watching your show on Cooking Ch.you used a FRENCH TERM for some Herbs & Spices you used in a recipe that the main one was LAVENDER & some other herbs & spices you used I would like to know all of terms that mixtures you use with Lavender & their terms that is given in French that you use. I don't remember more so I can give more detail. IT'S NOT Herbs De Provence.Hope you can help or guide me where I can find the terms in french.I've been looking all over in the internet for 2 days can't find it HELP...!!! Ani8
Am not a cook or a chef. My life has been involved in food ingredients and recipe development and/or innovation. My 3 favorite shows in our country's Food Network Channel are: yours, that of Michael Smith and ...and...whew the name slips my mind now but he is from USA and zeroes in on BBQ.
GREAT SHOW, LOVE THE MUSIC ALSO
necesito la receta de col rizada rellena
LAURA Tonight I will be feeding a bunch of friends that have never eaten lamb. I have a beautiful 3lb roast from new zealand sitting on the counter. I have chosen you as my ghost chef from all the chefs on the internet. Here is hoping I picked the right chef and recipe. By the way great show. PETER
WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN HIDING YOU !!!!! MY, GOD ! A REALLY ARTICULATE AND TALENTED PERSON WHO COOKS AND COMMUNICATES IN A CLEAR UNCLUTTERED MANNER. HELL, EVEN I MADE ONE OF YOUR DISHES AND IT CAME OUT ..INCREDIBLY GOOD. NOW DON'T GO AND DISAPPEAR INTO CYBER SPACE.LIKE SOME SHOWS DO.
I really love you show; it is the BEST. Everything is fantastic and still simple to make. Even I can make an elegant dinner with your recipes. Merci,
Hi my name is Allen may I say you are a wonderfull person and I watch your show you are an inspirational person with your speciall ways of cooking. May I ask are you single you are very pretty you have a wonderfull night.
Merci Laura, I am French and I have been missing a show that showcases French cuisine at it's simplest form, I am also a chef and find your show and your style of cooking very refreshing, and I have learned things that I have not done in the kitchen for years all over again, merci encore mon ami. Edouard
hello Laura...I love the way you cook and i always watch your FRENCH FOOD at HOME at the asian food channel...you're the best!
Hello !! my name is Adriano valdez, graduated from Le Cordon Blue, Miamii..I love you show: French cook at home, I felt in love with your cooking style and the way you demonstrate all the techniques, it looks so easy and simple...I just love it...Thanks
Did your raspberry duck it was very nice, my friends who i cook it for they said it was rearly lovely and ask me to do it again when they come around for dinner. love your show
Dear Laura, I love your show and I wish you success so I could continue learning french cooking. How do you make creme fraiche; how long does it keep; and could you sour cream instead of buttermilk because even for this New Yorker finding buttermilk would become a day of exploration, something which I rather not do--a search for a good pair of shoes is a different story but if you insist, I will comply.This would be better than buying ready-made creme-friache because it is way too expensive to consider because I'm smart not stupid,like a cow. I like my independence. Also, for future episodes, would you consider a show along the lines of making your own ready-made condiments, spices and herbs, sauces, etc.etc. etc., i feel this is a ggod way to maintain a french kitchen, which i would love to learn to do for myself. I have enjoyed your show strawberry ice-cream with using your Grandfather's converted wooden pail--I make ice-cream in my modernize CusineArt plastic machine- not as "romantic" as your inherited machine but it is easier on my forearms, which needs its rest for wrenching and carpentry. If andwhen you do the show, please no bathroom preparations for a hot soak--I'm very healthy but i could be slightly faint of heart and i which to live as long as my appetite lasts. Au revior... A bientot ( on TV, of course) Etienne Haas
I have only been recently introduced to your cooking show on the cooking network. I simply must tell you how much I enjoy the fact that you seem to have so much fun in the kitchen. Again, thank you.
Fayez De Guise
I love your show, and I like the way you present French cooking, you make it easy!
Laura: Love your show and recipes, BUT, it offends my delicate sensibilities when you pronounce "herbs" with an "H." Your show is about French Cooking, why not follow through? Babs
HELLO LAURA I AM OF PANAMA ME ENCATAS YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS YOU ARE WONDERFUL THANKS VIELKA CORTEZ
Hi Laura,
Yestertday I watched your show in Argentina and I loved the recepies you did. I can´t seem to find them anywhere. You prepared a red pepper mousse, a cauliflower salad, a pumpking tart, sweet radishes, and a summer vegetable soup. Would love to get the recepies since I would like to try each and every single one of them. Thanks! Flora2501@gmail.com
hope to have a dinner with you in "your place" or perhaps in "my place".......
what type of takeout is this is it BASED IN PHILODOLPHIA CAUSE I want to order because it looks good
Laura,would it be possible to get the nutritional values of your Beef Bourguignon ? I believe the air date was 9/21/10 ?? Thanks Dave
The best Chef ever!
You have a fan here!
Love your cookbook French Taste
Laura, I simply love your natural style, the way you cook without effort... everything seems so easy. You made me enjoy cooking. Thank you for being you!
laura has perfect ***
HOLA NECESITO TU RECETA DE BERENJENAS GRACIAS, TU PROGRAMA ME ENCANTA...
Laura! You are fresh, honest,whitty, not afraid to express yourself,You are like a recipe all the goodness of the ingredients served up to enjoy! Thankyou for your inspiration!!! Julie
Love your recipes! I've already tried some...looking forward to try them all!
i really admire to Laura. She is very nice and fun. I like to cook thanks her.
Love your show and just bought your cookbook. I was wondering ...Did your Dad teach english at Kennebecasis Valley Hight School? If so we were brought up in the same neighbourhood. Keep up the inspiring work.
Ref. Macaroni and cheese recipe. serves?
Great approach to food. She definately posseses that certain je ne se quois
I absolutely love Laura's sense of humor and have prepared many of her recipes for my family and friends. The leek tart...I can make it in my sleep! Thank you Laura for making French cuisine a favorite in my home.
Laura is an amazing chef . She is so natural, clean, it can see the pleasure of cooking. Congratulation
We just got the food channel in our house and Laura Calder is my favourite - cooking just the way I would like to cook - actually she made this chocolate cake the other day and I said I have a frozen one of those in the freezer - made with a bain marie - anyway you can imagine how delighted I was to find out she's from New Brunswick - how cool is that - i live in montreal but have a special connection to the maritimes having waitressed at the algonquin when i was a kid - way to go Laura - keep up the good work - you're fun to watch
I really like your show "French Food at home", i love french cuisine.
i love your show laura....
Laura, he visto tus programas,es muy evidente el espìritu que le pones a la cocina,realmente la disfrutas..y èso es la cocina disfrutarla,no sòlo al comerla sino, desde la preparaciòn misma,ocurre en todas las cocinas,incluso la mìa ..la peruana,ah ! eres muy atractiva tambièn...saludos.
Amazing you are:-))still need that woodsman to share your fennel soup?
I would love to have dinner at your place ....YUM!!!!!
I love your shows, try to catch it at Asian Food Channel! I tried your rack of lamb roast the other day w the breadcrumbs+parmesan+ rosemary+parsley seasoning. it was GREAT! YUM! Thanks, look forward to try your other recipies.
how i wish to be like you ........
huhuhuhuhuhu
Simple and delicious. I love your show
I am located near your birth place in Kingston Peninsula and I wonder if you ever cooked sturgeon and/or tried the Saint John River Caviar. Beside caviar that everybody knows (with many misconceptions here too...), sturgeon is an amazing, undiscovered fish and we believe that when promoted and discovered will be a wonderful addition to our culinary culture. Hope to hear from you and have you visit/ taste some of our sturgeon products!
I watched you cooking the eclairs yesterday. They look yummy. You explain everything in such a easy to do way. Keep up the good work.
Why I like your shows are that you are so down to earth and following your recieps are easy.
i love...
DEAR LAURA !!!!!!!!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!! I WATCH YOU EVERYDAY ON TV. I LIVE IN ANTOFAGASTA CITY, CHILE. I LOVE ALL YOUR RECIPIES. I DON'T LIKE COOKING,BUT WHEN I SEE YOU I REALLY TRY. WARM REGARDS. MARIA CONTRERAS
I saw her show for the first time a week ago,and loved it right away.
I love watching you cook. You make it seem so easy!!! I had no idea about french cuisine until I watched your show.
I met Laura Calder for an interview in Montréal. She is so adorable! Have a look :www.tourisme-montreal.org/Blogs/Epicurean-Life/Laura-Calder-in-Montréal
Are you people stupid? She will never read these comments. Why are you addressing them to her?
I love watching Laura cook and I love French food!!!
great show Laura, first recipe seen and tried an absolute success-childrens yoghurt cake, yummy!! Great idea- the baby crushed potatoes, success for my husband.
Would also love you to do a French gastronomic odyssey on location a la rick stein, possibly cooking in the castles of different regions, visiting rooms while the food is cooking, or maybe just detailing the kitchen itself. What an experience. What a dream. i wonder if it is possible.
Very sexy and funny - great recipes of my favouite food - would love you to do a French gastronomic odessey on location a la rick stein as I love provincial france and its cooking. PS I could rendevous with you on location
You do it for me,Laura. I love French.Dont stop.
Loved the sauted chicken recipe a few days ago. Looking forward to making it myself. Seems so quick and easy. Love this show.
Wow, intelligent, gorgeous and can clearly cook and explain all in one woman?, I am astounded.
A great Job Laura.
Laura: you are the woman I was looking for many years ago and never found: intelligent, educated, sophisticated, attractive. sensuous. I grew up in a food-centered home ( also rooted in the Maritimes) and am just now learning the rudiments of the art ( and science ) of food preparation. I credit both you and Michael Smith with enabling me to break through the mystique of cooking in a simple , unrushed and patient manner. The french dimension also takes me back to memories of great food and cooks during some formative years I spent in post-WWII Europe. I love your show ( especially the erly ones) and wish you well in your career and life.
I think you are a hottie. A real yummy mummy and I love your recipes which are simple for a mere batchelor like me to prepare. I really enjoy your uncomplicated versions of complex French dishes.
totally agree! A triple threat. gorgeous, great cook, and great personality.
Would love to take you out on a date.
Would like the recipe of the shortcrust shell and cookie shell. Thank you.