Ptipois

Must be Justin Bridou. They were not the first to sell mini-saucissons. I believe the Saint-André brand were the first. Then several other brands dit it. Monoprix too. I think you can order the little thingies online if you type "mini-saucissons" in Google.

Wise words indeed. This, and your whole post too.

In much of the Mediterranean and Middle East, indeed, not to mention India. When I got to know Greek cooking, I discovered that a little cinnamon in a tomato and meat sauce works wonders. And indeed the best "Italian" ragu I know of is made in the Ionian islands, where cinnamon also enters a few meat stews. Actually the cinnamon-tomato association is a delight. The Syrian recipe mnazzalet banadora (a tomato-based appetizer) has cinnamon too. Etc. I have to mention that the French are much more astonished at the use of cinnamon in savoury dishes than at its use in sweet dishes. I have never heard any French person complain about cinnamon in pastries but this is only my experience. There is cinnamon in Alsatian pastries, and in some regional pastries, including the famous tarte normande. The use of cinnamon in sweet dishes is not so widespread in France as it is in England and America, but it is not unknown.

I spent quite a lot of my life away from Paris, lived in the US for about three years, do still travel quite a lot and presently I am in China. I've been in Asia for five weeks now, first in Tokyo, then in Bangkok, then in Singapore and finally in Shanghai (I'm going home tomorrow by the way, this is getting a bit long ). I think you are not exactly getting my point. There is not a Parisian cooking — the way you can define a Breton cooking or a Genoese cooking — just because you decide there is one or that, mechanically, there should be one. I am giving you my mind as a Parisian, and strange as it seems, the existence of a Parisian cooking is extremely vague and difficult to grasp. When you have to go to such lenghts as your dad-in-law does to extract the elements, it means that there is an empty case in the cultural pattern, and why not after all. Parisians live very well without the idea of Parisian cooking. You can always find bits and pieces but nothing like the strong personalities of our regional cuisines. And - may I add - this has nothing to do with racism or xenophobia. There is no moral conclusion to draw from this. Parisian cooking is not part of regional cookings and it is extremely elusive. On the other hand, Ile-de-France cooking does exist.

Hello Linda, Sorry, I hadn't read this post of yours before typing mine. And indeed you're right, I had thought this could be the only frame of mind in which you could refer to "Parisian home cooking". What makes it Parisian is only the fact that the recipes have come with people of different origins, all converging to Paris. It is more precisely "what is cooked in Parisian homes". That doesn't produce any regional style like cuisine picarde, cuisine normande, cuisine alsacienne, périgourdine, lyonnaise, etc. Actually, what comes closest to a concept of Parisian cooking is the "cuisine bourgeoise" that used to be cooked in middle-class Parisian households since long ago, but flourished particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, this "cuisine bourgeoise" became a common characteristic of all large French cities. It borrowed elements from other regions but, being French before being regional, it is generally associated with Paris. BTW bistrot cooking is very similar to cuisine bourgeoise, with a more casual attitude.

As the first Parisian (yes, born there too) answering in this thread, I can only give you my opinion, not being sure it will be understood. No Parisian ever defines or mentions "Parisian cooking". There simply isn't such a thing. Of course there are a few recipes and specialties called "à la parisienne" (including, generally, button mushrooms, cream and diced ham), there is jambon de Paris, haricot de mouton, and much of the repertoire of bistrot food could be defined as "Parisian" but it just is not a Parisian habit to claim a specifically Parisian cuisine. These recipes are somewhat anecdotic and don't gather up as a definite style. Speaking of Ile-de-France cooking sounds more relevant as a regional cooking. I do know about the matter, having been confronted to the task of gathering recipes for a book of Parisian cooking. It can be done, but will be a hard task, demanding much historical research. Yes, Parisian cooking exists in history, but it has to be extracted from it. It cannot be found in everyday usage. Many of our great preparations and dishes were invented in Paris. Everybody knows about them, but nobody remembers they are Parisian. And sure enough there is no gâteau breton among them. Which is why I reacted in another thread, finding a gâteau breton included in a "Parisian cooking" book. First of all there is nothing Parisian about a Breton cake, and second, mentioning it in a book of "Parisian cooking" is doubly awkward. No, a couscous made in Paris is not Parisian cooking, unless you personally insist on it — then why not. But you could call anything any name if you so choose, just fry a couple of eggs in a Parisian apartment and call them Parisian eggs. This is not meant to lessen the couscous, but to insist on the nebulosity of the concept of Parisian cuisine. But here, I am thinking like a French person and particularly like a Parisian. Indeed, when I read the title "Parisian home cooking", I thought "only a foreigner could come up with this", the gâteau breton only confirming my feeling. Of course I can spend a few days in New York City, eat a great cassoulet toulousain there, ask for the recipe and write it down as "New York cassoulet toulousain". Anything is possible. But I think one needs a little more finesse than this when trying to define culinary history and geography.

It's only a matter of knowing what a gâteau breton is or is not. A gâteau breton remains a gâteau breton wherever it is made, Paris or Hong Kong. Including it in a book as "Parisian home cooking" seems a bit weird. I make a pretty good pho soup at home and I've been making it for years, but I wouldn't describe it as "Parisian home cooking" if I were to write down the recipe for a book.

As far as gâteau breton is concerned, it shouldn't contain nuts, whatever non-Breton personal versions may be. I have seen US versions of cassoulet using frankfurters and canned flageolet beans. And by the way, there is nothing Parisian about Breton cake. I'm mentioning this just so that no search is done on the wrong tracks. There is nothing Breton about the amandine cake either, but it does look delicious.

This is simply a kouign-amann ("butter cake"). Quite difficult to make right. Just flour, butter and sugar, and indeed the technique of puff pastry with butter and sugar between the layers. The strawberries are a non-breton addition, although there is such a thing as apple kouign-amann.

Well, Mediterranean, Spanish, saucisson, speck, tartiflette, paella, and Breton cakes that aren't particularly Breton — what a mixup. Which doesn't mean that the items sold on the stalls won't be delicious, of course. But it seems that ethnologic authenticity won't be the primary quality to expect there. It is the sticky and gooey part that makes me think of crème pâtissière, au contraire. You'd be surprised at the texture a little quantity of it gives to almond-based preparations. Just a little. It is a little pastry secret. So my guess is : almonds, sugar, butter, and perhaps a little crème pâtissière to help bind the filling. The granular/crunchy texture indicates that powdered almonds weren't used, but that the almonds were roughly ground in a blender, producing a better-quality almond paste. So it seems to be: almonds in the cake dough, almonds in the filling, and the cake is called "amandine", which does make sense. If you come across a chain of French pastry shops called "Le Moule à Gâteau", look for their "pavé aux amandes", it is a very interesting example of sticky-gooey almond cake based on a financier batter. Though this one doesn't have a filling, your cake makes me think of it.

Most likely, you will not be paid a centime more. And the diners won't pay any less than they do. But more of your colleagues will be hired, for as meager a salary as they're already paid in this trade.

My two cents on this obviously yummy cake. - Indeed almonds are not native of Brittany and are seldom used in Breton pastry. Bretons have always had a talent for making their cakes deliciously melting and luscious without the help of almonds or, indeed, too many eggs (if you compare with Portugal for instance). The secret is butter, their very special butter. So there is (to my knowledge) no traditional Breton cake recipe including this almond cream, and I'm positive that there is no traditional Breton cake called amandine. Also, cakes in Brittany are seldom dusted with sugar, their surface is either matte or glistening with butter. And the texture seems lighter than that of the average Breton pound cake. Breton pastries, as a rule, are more buttery than sweet. However, cakes made in Brittany don't have to be necessarily Breton, i.e. stick to tradition by all means, and this looks to me like a nice butter sponge with plenty of eggs in it, filled with a rich almond cream which seems to be based on a thin crème pâtissière with a heavy addition of marzipan or powdered almonds, and maybe some melted butter to make it creamier. The general shape of the cake reminds me of the tarte tropézienne, which is Provençal cooking : a very light sponge filled with a chiboust-type cream of crème pâtissière mixed with whipped cream. But if the principle is similar, the composition of the cake is different. Actually, you are not mentioning how you figured out that the cake could be Breton... I'm reading about Cornwall and a Mediterranean market, but where does Brittany stand in all this? This pastry, at any rate, must be a recent creation.

Lowering or raising the prices is not particularly the concern of French restaurant owners. A lowering of the VAT tax would allow them to hire more cooks and more waiters. The present situation is often the cause of dire understaffing. That's the most frequent complain I hear from chefs and restaurant owners concerning the high VAT.

I totally agree with you. If the world turned right, I suppose that would be the case.

There have been changes. The assistant editor is new and she's doing a good job.

There is no French edition and American edition of the magazine, they are completely different and independent magazines. The French magazine is Saveurs.

Well, not that I wish to offend anyone but, being French, I think I should be reliable about what the French do. And they do not usually have breakfast at cafés, except the quick cup of black coffee and the odd croissant on their way to work. Many of those who do breakfast do so at home. Yes, sometimes just black coffee (and sometimes you will hear them whining around 10 PM: "Ooh, my stomach hurts, I should have eaten something with my coffee this morning!"), sometimes they eat something too if they have time. Just look at the biscottes, juice and jam sections in department stores. Also watch the commercials on TV and count how many refer to home breakfasting. Do you mean "coffee" or "breakfast"? That the French have coffee at cafés is no big news. If you meant "breakfast", I'm not saying that the French *never* have breakfast at cafés, just that it isn't as common as you're saying. Hmm, the few French vacationing in Paris who won't have breakfast at the hotel most probably do so because they want to rise early and see a museum or do some sightseeing. So they leave the hotel without breakfasting because many of them are not able to eat anything early in the morning. Then around 9 or 10 they get hungry, and stop somewhere for breakfast, so that's when you see them. However this cannot be considered a "typically French" way of breakfasting : they're on vacation in Paris, as you wrote. As a rule the French don't trust a café to give them proper breakfast; hotel breakfasts are often better. And sometimes included in the room rate.

You did not offend, and don't be sad.

PassionateChefsDie, I'd be grateful to you if, when quoting a private message of mine (which I didn't intend to make public), 1. You warned me first, and 2. You quoted it so that the beginning and ending of the quote is clear to everybody. Thanks. Besides, you have asked me to participate further in this discussion, but I am not the right person to do so because I have reached the limits of what I can say on the subject within this very thread. I don't share your passion for the history of cuisine as seen through the history of chefs. I do not think chefs are that important. They are not cuisine, they are only a part of it. That being, I do not believe Nouvelle Cuisine could be traced to one single event or even one single chef. Start an archaeology of Nouvelle Cuisine and you'll pick up many tracks and end up at the Neolithic, as in any archaeology worthy of the name. However, that the phenomenon in itself started in the 70's under certain circumstances is a fact.

Whatever. I still agree with DC Mark. Besides I am sometimes a bit puzzled by the way the French are sometimes examined as objects or zoological or, at best, anthropological curiosity, when there is really nothing special about them. For instance I have read a message here from a woman wondering at "how safe she felt in the streets of Paris". What was she expecting, Euro-savages? I did not react but I was a bit shaken. Also, the number of overweight people in the US, which is the probable result of some kind of imbalance, seems to make some American people view any normal, balanced situation as an exception... In this respect the French are not very different from the Greeks, the Italians, even the British; if it is a matter of diet, the Thais and Japanese are even thinner. To me there is nothing special on the French side, and nothing to wonder at, but shouldn't the astonished look be directed to the other side? Gimmicky books about France based on this lack of perspective ("Why French women don't get fat?" — but why, indeed, does anybody get fat?), hastily-written press articles and peter-maylish literature do nothing to help this. Seriously, it is simply not true that French women don't get fat, and simply not true that French people don't get heart attacks. On the other hand it is true that children here generally get a fairly strict upbringing and are not allowed everything they fancy. Trying to be quiet in public is one of the first things kids are taught. Not all are taught this but there's enough of them to make it noticeable.

No, I rather think they're acting like some Americans in America, or rather like a certain category of Parisians. After all, brunch has been adopted here a long time ago, back in the 60's. I've noticed many people in France, especially Parisians, can't eat anything in the morning. Not a crumb. As the day goes on, they will probably nibble something once they get to work, but not generally. The same people may occasionally eat breakfast on weekends. But breakfast is no longer considered an essential meal in urban France, or it's more associated with days when you have time to sit down to it.

I agree. This is an accurate way of summing it up.

This sounds so "American in Paris"... Typically, the French have breakfast at home, and then they go to work. Or if they are the "I can't eat anything when I get up" type (very common in France), they usually get out with an empty stomach then grab a cup of coffee outside and perhaps a croissant, standing up at a counter. Sitting down outside of home for breakfast is fairly rare amongst the active population — except for top businessmen, politicians and VIPs who like to meet at big hotels for substantial breakfasts (a mark of power), which is why I mentioned hotels as a plausible answer to the initial question ("somewhere great for breakfast in Paris"). I sensed that "great" was the important word, otherwise I'd have mentioned the café-croissant/tartine like everyone else.

For a good-quality French breakfast, nothing beats going to a good hotel. I recommend the Bristol on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Yes, the French do eat eggs for breakfast - when they have time, so mostly on weekends. Generally it's soft-boiled eggs or French-style scrambled eggs.

No irony on my side. I don't consider blogging as practicing at all. Indeed, nothing could be further from practicing IMO. Practicing is what you do when nobody sees you, isn't it — until you feel ready? Blogging is full-sized, entirely-for-real, dive-and-swim writing. It is publishing on a much wider scale than book or magazine writing. It is much more exhibitionistic. It has its own characteristics. I really don't think good blog writing is ever done by lack of a nobler medium, or as a stepladder to "the real thing", which is why I don't see it as practise. The blogs I like couldn't be anything else than blogs, they never let you suspect that their authors dream of "being published for real". They are based on a good understanding of the media support and of its unique character.