bleudauvergne

I'll second the fact that AOC is meant to protect original products from being ripped off by fakes. Marketing is fine for any wine, but please don't call it something it isn't and call that 'marketing'. I agree also with Huillet in the article when he states that the supermarkets are strangling the wineries. Take a look at the situation which is quite straightforward and it is a classic case of killing of the goose that lays the golden egg. They have no interest beyond that quarter's earnings.

No way. I've had a lot of strange food in my life and I am very open minded when it comes to things I'll try but I cannot even imagine this combination without cringing. I'll never try it.

Interesting question. What do you mean by affordable?

I can't believe this didn't spring to mind the moment The Alone in Paris in April thread opened. I met my husband when he was dining alone. We were both waiting for a table. My friend and I discovered he was traveling and all by himself. I invited him to share a table with us. As the meal went on we discovered a suprising number of common interests. We struck up a friendship that evening and kept in touch. Two years later we got married. Why did I invite him to my table? I used to travel to a lot of small industrial towns for work, in China. Everywhere I went, I always had a few meals alone. Some of them were pretty dismal. Don't get me wrong, dining alone can be a wonderful thing, but sometimes when you're a stranger somewhere, and you're taking your meals one after the other at a table for one, it can get old. Sometimes I'd pick up strange touring companions just to have someone to eat with, like the guy who had the use of that limousine in Urumqi, or the nice fellows in Tian Jin who took me to the fish market and helped me box up some crabs to take home to Beijing. I had some very interesting meals in Shanghai with some curious characters. But that is the past. There were some things I learned about being a traveler that will never leave me, and it was really what prompted me to invite my future husband to join us. I'm so glad I did! Has anyone else met interesting people while dining alone, or decide to eat with people you didn't know? Anyone have stories to tell?

NYT Article I suppose some restaurants already have the paperwork done. How many are there that have not?

This also eliminates much of the caffiene in the tea, which may or may not be a useful tidbit of information ← It does? I didn't know that. I've never felt caffeine deprived after drinking tea that's been rinsed. I always thought it was to wash the leaves and make a smoother tasting brew. Here's a picture of a kind of tea that I don't rinse - a friend brought me from Shanghai. You drop the ball into the water and it opens up into a flower form. It is actually different kinds of teas tied into a bundle. I had some others and they opened up much better and looked a lot prettier once they opened up because they were symmetrical. But this one was pretty nice, because it looked like a certain kind of wild flower.

But Culinista, you're saying that strangers actually approach you and ask for your phone number while you are dining in restaurants in Paris?

I always get very good thinking done when dining alone. I have never gotten even a sidelong glance from anyone. In fact I've always felt like I got better treatment when dining alone. In Paris, you should have no problems whatsoever.

Great info. If jg488 does choose to have the inside of the vessel re-glazed, how long should it dry out before taking it to have it done? A few days? A week?

Loic and I were arguing about whether any air actually gets in through those little holes in the metal cover on top. He was talking to one vigneron who said that the holes are there in order to allow air to circulate in, and I was thinking, oh, to keep fungal growth down at the surface of the cork and Loic said non, for allowing air in to the wine! I scoffed and we argued for quite a long time about that. There is a really good conversation over in the wine forum called Looking for Closure: Screwcaps vs. Corks, Love 'em or Leave 'em [merged] with lots of technical details and opinions. Here is a link to the last post in that thread since it's a long one and has been going on for 5 years now!

One big brain. One big town. One small list . What a great article! Go there!

So sorry to hear it. Yes, just hop to the nearest casino or monoprix and you'll find it.

So there are two solutions - you can make mayonnaise. It may not taste exactly like Hellmans. But it will taste like mayonnaise. Coming from someone who gew up on Hellmans and was flabbergasted with joy the first time I prepared mayonnaise at home, I can promise that. Or you can try the chilled Maille product in the refrigerated section and see if it tastes closer to what you were looking for. Here are a couple of links to threads where you can learn to make mayonnaise. I am lazy and do it with the blender. (now that I have an immersion blender I rarely ever even use the blender with the blades on the bottom - thank you, kind angel who introduced me to this valuable tool!). Jack does a class in the eG Culinary Insitute that includes mayonnaise called Non Stock Based Sauces. Otherwise I can reccomend Julia Child's blender mayo recipe, which I still use even though now I never measure my ingredients. I covered my recipe which evolved from that once with instructions, Here, and in that thread there are more recipes. There must be a million ways to do mayo. Once you have mayo, you can branch into rouille to serve on toast with fish soup, aioli (garlic mayo), which really takes a sandwich to the next level, etc. If you ever have a chance while in France to go out and have a Pierrade, or what they're now sometimes calling a grillade, where you're given meats to cook on a stone, you'll get lots of fun sauces based on mayo. Herbs, even blending in different kinds of greens, mixes of spice, etc. This is the base for super dips and sauces of all kinds. Then of course there is the American hot dip that includes shrimp, mayo, lots of cheese, etc. and that many French people tasted and begun rambling that they think that this must have been invented somewhere in France because it is so good. Here are also some threads that discuss Mayo in the cooking forum, Here, and Here.

I simply adore the china. Is that platinum around the edges?

hmm... I've live in North America for 3 years and all I could find in grocery stores, is this nasty Hellman's... Funny that I prefer the "Maille" mayonnaise, even is, frankly, it's so much better when you make it yourself? Equivalents to Hellman's would be the mayonnaise sold in "toothpaste tubes", the cheapest available, at the bottom of the shelf at Auchan or alike. I'd avoid that. But you can now find "Philadelphia" in France which is clearly creamcheese to me... ← Getting used to cooking in another country is not easy, nor does it happen overnight. Sometimes, we just want something close to what we had at home. There are plenty of folks who love Hellman's and if that's what Mangosteen's looking for at this point in time, I hope she finds it! Do the tubed mayos on the bottom shelf at Auchun taste like American mayo or were you just kidding? Mike, where can Mangosteen find Philadelphia Cream Cheese? Do you know of a source in Paris? We don't have it anywhere here in Lyon that I know of, but if it's available somewhere specific that would be valuable information! Please don't shy away from simple examples in this thread - I am thankful for the questions and the solutions! I for example had no idea that Picard offered bagels. Another question: Does anyone know what I should look for when looking for a Dill like a Klaussen? Most of the pickles I find here are either much more sour or have lots of sugar in them. Cornichon "style American" has translated in France to mean sugary, but I'm craving the good substantial crisp salty unsweetened dills of home.

My first great tea experience was when I had a Taiwanese roommate at the University. She used to use a big plunger type french coffee pot to brew her green tea that she brought from home. She insisted that I try it and I'm glad she did. Now that I've grown up and lived in Mainland China, I have expanded my love of tea to fit where I've traveled there. There are so many kinds of tea! By all means try out the major types, and once you find one you like, then you can start finding out where the best example of certain teas are grown. We get so many different types of tea thrown at us these days, it is confusing. I recently rediscovered a basic bergamot tea through my equitable commerce seller and have been drinking that lately because it takes me back to a certain time when that's what came in the tea bags when you'd fish in the pantry for some to go with cookies in the afternoon. I've been scolded over and over by British friends for not following certain rules like rinse your cup out with hot water, etc. - the only one I follow is to wash the leaves in one rinse of brewing water before I brew the tea I'm going to drink, that's something I learned in China and it makes sense to me to do it with any tea I drink, especially the 'monkey picked tea'.

Thank you for the reply. Does this mean that the average home cook in France would make their chantilly with 30% fat cream? Somehow, I expected that French home cooks would be using a higher percentage cream than we typically get here (33% in Canada). ← Great question. The answer lies at the source, of course. Check out this link to the authentic recipe for the original whipped cream in the patrimoine section of the Town of Chantilly Website (its down at the bottom). The recipe they endorse calls for crème double, which is cut with milk to varying degrees, depending on the taste of the chef. As for French home cooks, I don't know if they follow the recipe for La véritable crème Chantilly or not. There are lots of recipes out there, for sure. As for 30 vs. 33%, what I should have specified is that 30% is the minimum fat content for a product to be labeled Crème Fraîche Liquide and most grocery store brands hover around that. When you go shopping for cream, also keep in mind that each brand is going to have their own product. Inevitably in addition to the grand distribution products like Danone or Yoplait brands, you can find local creamery's products which will vary in fat content.

I had no idea - thank you mangosteen! Now I can stop boiling baguette dough! Yes indeed! Tamales also do very well using duck fat. I also use duck fat in pate brisee from time to time, and in biscuits. My grandmother instructed us to use chicken fat if we could, so now I'm using duck fat every once in a while. I find thet duck fat popcorn is also a wonderful treat. What we usually do is get a boule of pain de campagne and slice it thick for the times we do fix American style burgers with the mustard, onions, pickles, etc. at home. Perhaps a fresh roll made with baguette dough would also do the trick. You can ask your boulanger for pate de baguette and if he has some ready he'll sell it to you. They're happy to do this because they sell by weight and it saves him money because it doesn't go through his ovens. You can also use it for home made pizzas. That's a tough one. Mayo is something I just quit buying when we got here, I now just make a batch whenever I need it. Have you tried the Grande Epicerie at the Bon Marche department store? You might start there to try some imports and see if they taste any closer. Heck, they might even have Hellmans. I don't know about that. I have French guests coming this weekend who are passionate about the New York style baked cheesecake - so I'll be making one on Thursday. The recipe I adapted for France cheesecake making uses fresh white cheese from the market. I think that if you were to do a non-cook cheesecake with kiri it might turn out alright. The reason why I'd hesitate to cook with it is that (I might be wrong) the way it molds to the wrapper tells me that the product looks like it was in liquid form when it went into its packaging. If so, it might turn into an oozy goo when cooking, and do something strange like not set properly. However, I've never tried it. If you do try it, mangosteen, please do report how it goes on this thread! Happy peeling! Isn't it great that you can telll your butcher the name of the dish you're going to prepare and how many people you're serving and he'll just get to work?! I love that! Hold on to your butcher because they're dissapearing fast! I have an Italian friend that actually found an Italian butcher so she's happy. For a nice juicy steak the way I like it, I get my butcher to cut a thick slab from the aloyeau. They usually cut these steaks rather thin if you just ask them for one, so specify nice and thick.... I cut that in half for two steaks. Similarly, if you order the bavette d'aloyeau which might run cheaper, you'll also get a truly delicious tender steak for pan frying. Just ordering bavette might get you an unpleasant suprise, because most butchers here take great liberty with this cut. One butcher I interviewed for a piece on the Bavette told me that he does 4 types of faux bavette that he uses to fill orders whenever people don't specify the Aloyeau. The reason is that for one animal, you've only got about 8 steaks. He saves them for the people who really love, know, and want them. You might start watching when in the week your butcher does his carving, it can pay off.

Not so fast on this breed being killed off, Jamie! What is at risk is this batch's AOC certification. They need to run outdoors in order to get the certification. Otherwise, they're just chickens like any other. Keeping them inside will not kill them off. Next generation that is authorized to run free will certainly do so, of that I'm sure. Yes sir, that's why we're keeping them inside for the time being! Still no announcement on the sale or consumption of chicken here in France. We're still eating it.

Therese, I am really enjoying your accounts. Reading this through makes me wish you had stayed in Paris much longer just so I had more of your vignettes to read. Thank you.

They do. The full fat version for the heavy liquid cream is around 30%. The lightened versions have percentages specified on the package. Once you've found the liquid cream, read the packaging for the uses. If a cream is labeled specifically for chantilly, they are authorized to add a certain percentage of stabilizers and sugars. To get pure unsweetened cream, the only ingredient listed can be cream. Sterilized (not to be confused with pasturized) products are available unrefrigerated, and they normally don't taste the same, although they do maintain all of their nutritional value and the full fat version will perform like any other cream for whipping, sauces, etc. A sterilized product cannot be labelled fraîche, although a pasturized one can. A cream product sold in a store is going to be pasturized. They are not required to mark the label as pasturized. If you do get products au lait cru (can be found at the outdoor markets and certain fromagers), use them right away since they don't keep very long!

Reminder: For further discussion of the translation of Mme de la Pradelle's book please take the discussion to the existing thread. I personally am very impressed every time I go to Paris with the amazing things I find at the markets there. Having adopted Lyon as my home town, I'm always feeling happy with the idea of the Rhone Valley as a huge cornucopia and am always trying to convince myself that we have the monopoly on it all. Then I go to Paris. The thing about the markets there is that there are so many and so many good ones. Every time I stumble into one I find something new - and like you mentioned, the regional specialties that all go there are what make the pickings so rich. All roads lead to Paris. We almost never get things from Brittany or Normandie. We do get a lot coming down from the mountains and good Italian sources, plus the bounty from the hills eminating west out to the Auvergne. But rarely will we see good andouille in the Breton style coming from the source, for example. It's just too long of a trip. The Oyster guy we buy from does come from the coast each WE, but he has a large product turnover. He's sold out by 10AM on Saturday. For him its worth the trip. Mentioning Summer Beaufort - for cheeses, remember that you can ask for a taste before you buy, and you don't have to buy even if you do taste!

When one of your recipes from home calls for "heavy cream" in English, look for one of the synonomous terms Crème Fleurette or Crème Fraîche Liquide. It is the same as whole uncultured cream and can be beaten stiff just like heavy cream. You can get it refrigerated in the same section that you find the cultured Crème Fraîche Épaisse which comes in pots, is cultured and slightly fermented, is a whole different animal, and also Crème Fraiche d'Isigny which is liquid but also cultured and slightly thickened and will not be the closest substitute for "Heavy Cream" in an American Recipe. Crème Fraîche Épaisse can be used as a substitute when you have a recipe requiring sour cream, and if your recipe does not involve cooking, such as a dip, you can also use Fromage blanc veloutée as a substitute for sour cream. Various grades of fat content in all of these products are available. Below a certain percentage and the creme will clot and seperate when used in cooking. The red for full fat, green for reduced fat, and blue for skimmed codes in American packaging translate roughly as red=full fat, blue=reduced fat. Skimmed milk products are not differentiated by color from the reduced fat products but can be identified the big '0%' on the label.

Indeed, plus ziplock bags, Comet and pumice (but now I'm straying OT onto cleaning). ← I've been looking everywhere for the thread you mention and cannot find it - anyone have an idea where it is? Thanks much ← Here it is.

This year I have seen a whole lot of new dried fruits available from my normal spice vendors. I'm sure they're available everywhere since I saw them both in Provence and in Lyon. Dried melons, red berries like strawberries and raspberries, kiwis (didn't like those, they'd picked up some kind of odor), and some others.