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Here's a quote from an article in today's Daily Telegraph. "The pastry is Tunisian in origin, but is now made in France and is called feuille de brick. In Tunisia it was used for making deep-fried pastries filled with spinach, cheese and eggs, spiced meats or fish. Feuilles de brick look and feel like fine, lacy cloth with a satiny sheen and texture. When fried they are crisper than springroll pastry and when baked they have a dry, melt-in the-mouth crunchiness, which is better than filo." I've never heard of this pastry before, but the article does say that its now made in France. So, does anybody know where to buy it? (outside of Le Grand Pomme as well please if possible.)

I posted a bunch of holiday cocktail recipes from a current issue of a popular French cooking magazine here. You guys might be interested, and if you aren't, I don't know who would be!

Those of you in France probably have many favorite places where you buy your cheese. Since I am not in France - and live in a place where you can't even buy something like Pont l'Eveque - I don't. Anyway - my favorite place for ordering cheese from France is fromages.com. I am sure it is not the best cheese in France - but it is good cheese - and the service is excellent (overnight Fedex). If you order by late morning in the eastern US - the cheese will be on your doorstep next morning. Anyway - it is having a sale through 12/2 - 15% off cheese. Promo code is 281108. Only problem these days with buying cheese from abroad is customs (Department of Homeland Security). It will not allow through any cheese that isn't aged for at least 60 days. So if you have a favorite cheese that is past its prime at 60 days - don't order it. Fromages.com follows the rules - so your shipment doesn't wind up being rejected when it enters the US. BTW - I say this not to invite discussion of this rule - but only to bring it to your attention. BTW - I have nothing to do with this firm - except I am a satisfied customer. Robyn

I have watched a documentary about Paul Bocuse on Youtube (the part about the ham in hay begins at 6:48 minutes into the video and after a short interruption, ends at 8:37). He simmers a ham in a huge pot with hay and mint or tarragon for four hours.Does anyone have any more information/experience with this cooking method? It is so remarkably rustic that I am dying to try it.

When I was in Paris in late October (link to pics here), there was a bakery at the corner of Rue Douai and Rue de Bruxelles, in the 9th, that had the most amazing breads. One of them was called "picolla" and the place was so busy I never had enough time to ask them how they made it or what it was exactly. One thing I can say was that it was swoonaliciously good, with a thin crusty exterior and a moist, fluffy interior. Absolutely fantastic. So, what exactly is Pain Picolla? Cheers!

It's probably too early for the melanosporum, but still, I'd like to know where one should buy them, especially for one who's in Paris and won't travel to Lalbenque, Richerenches, etc. I bought some last year at "Terre de Truffes", but it was over-expensive and I'm not sure the quality was that good anyway...

I was rooting around in the bookcase the other day and found 20 or 30 French magazines from the mid to late 90's...They were Cusine Gourmande ,Cusine Actuelle,and Cusiner.I had forgotten them,but am really glad I saved them.. These are amazing mags...They assume for the most part one knows how to cook and are a bunch of recipes(up to a 100+ per issue), with pictures of the finished product. Each issue is slanted toward a general subject, the time of year ie. spring , holidays ,and, locations ,type of meals etc.. Really great inventive things that I have not seen in things like CI CL bonapite etc. If there were such a US type magazine I would think it would be well received. Now all I have to do is brush up on all my French cooking terms and get started on some new stuff to cook...Anybody else using these mags? Bud

While w have topics on the other major food-related salons in Paris, we've missed reporting on this one. So I'll kick this off and hope someone will report on it. The Salon Marjolaine bio et développement durable will be from 8-16 November from 10:30 AM-7 PM (10 on Friday) at the Parc Floral de Paris in the 12th. (Entry:8 €). Website is www.salon-marjolaine.com Figaroscope has a Dossier today on bio restaurants and wine shops that I'll post in the Digest next week.

I've recently discovered that torsades au fromage are very similar to some very special cheesesticks that were my favourites when I was a child. I want to try to replicate them, but I have a couple of questions. Every recipe I've found (such as this one and this one) uses pâte feuilletée. From what I've read, this is puff pastry dough--is this correct? If it's correct, could I use croissant dough instead of puff pastry dough? The bakery I buy "torsade a la tomate" from says they make theirs with croissant dough, not puff pastry, but I'm not sure if that's a translation error or if that's really the way they make them (Fauchon, but in Japan). Their torsades are the closest in texture to my beloved childhood cheesesticks, so if I can use croissant dough, I should. But pâte feuilletée would probably be easier for me to use, since I can buy some very good puff pastry dough, but not croissant dough. I also have a feeling I would really suck at making croissant dough, but I would definitely try it if it meant making really good cheesesticks. Any helpful hints out there?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello All, I am a pastry chef...a very new one and have been very fortunate to get a job in London without any prior experience. However I want to expand my horizons and persue my passion by taking it to the next level. I want to get a formal qualification in pastry in either France, Germany or Austria. I hope to do this in next summer'09 and so trying to gather as much information and feed back..as I want to make the right choice...n for once in my life not act on impulse Anyways...I've been doing a lot of research and quite a bit has been revealed to me: 1. Disappointing though..but it seems Le cordon bleu has had some ratehr negative feedback. A lotta drop outs, Bad Admin, finishing school, 70 students in one class, bla bla bla...n the list goes on. So i think tht's pretty much out for me. 2. I've short listed a few other schools in France: * Oliver Bajard's École Internationale de Pâtisserie : It seems to be totally focused on pastry and apparently the classes are taught by well known chefs rather than teachers. Its a 20 week course for 16,000 euro and then you have the option for staying in france for 6 months to gain some proffessional training by working in the industry there. *ESCF Ferrandi : Its also the same duration and almost the same price. Its not so specialized as it also does french cruisine. But has a lot of name in France. *Lenotre: Suppose to be excellent but very pricey for just a few weeks and one needs to have a lotta prior knowledge and experience (ANY OTHER RECOMMENDATION,NAMES OF INSTITUTES WOULD BE WELCOME) Amongst these 3 I am leaning a little towards Oliver Bajard...has anyone been there or heard of it...I would really appreciate it. Is it easy to get a job after coming out of there? Also is it absolutely vital to study french for going to study in france....or just a little learning of kitchen french for a month or so would suffice? 3. A cafe owner in norway or was it sweden...told me about this institute in Germany: sweet art. Anyone heard of it? Or any other proffessional pastry institute there? So these are my options...that I've short listed...I would really appreciate any postive comments, feed back. My motive in the end is to open my cafe but before that i want to explore working in exciting places. I look foward to hearing from you. Thank you for your time.

The IHT today had a article by Matthew Saltmarsh entitled 400 Cheeses: Are they losing their flavor? which made statements like ''Raw milk is the battlefield," attributed to Pierre Boisard, a sociologist who is author of "Camembert: A National Myth" and ''The big worry is whether we will be able to preserve what we have inherited," said by none other than Philippe Alléosse and "It is a silly debate," said by Luc Morelon, director of communications at Lactalis, who also stated that "We never wanted to kill small producers; they have the capacity to kill themselves." Having just had a sheep tomme and aged Conté from Quatrehommes, while passing up the fare at my Monoprix, I have no complaints but it's interesting that this has reached the international stage.

Saw just about the first cepes of the season at market this morning. They were beauties priced at 18 Euro/ kilo. Its been very dry in our part of the country so we haven't seen many cepes so far. I'm wondering what you've been seeing in your markets?

I've posted this in the France forum rather than Kitchen Consumer because I think distribution is rather limited, but moderators, feel free to move the topic! I was at Carrefour today and found Paul Bocuse enameled cast iron pots. They only had a few left, and I was very tempted to pick up the 20-cm pot. It's about the same weight as Le Creuset, but it has a metal knob (so no worrying about the knob melting in a very hot oven). I haven't been able to find any information about Paul Bocuse cookware, specifically the enameled cast iron pots. I found that he endorses Staub pots, but these are not Staub and are most definitely branded "Paul Bocuse". Does anyone have any knowledge of or experience with these pots? They're about 1/3 the cost of Le Creuset (at least at the store I went to), but since I'm trying to be frugal, I don't want to spend the money unless I'm fairly confident in the quality of the product. (I should clarify that I was at Carrefour in Japan, and although it is no longer owned by Carrefour, it still gets many of its products through Carrefour channels.)

We're heading to Paris in October. We will have only 3 days. We're staying near the Jardin Du Luxembourg. ........ Also we arrive on a Friday-- what interesting markets should we visit that are open Fri-Sun?

I returned to Annecy yesterday to find police everywhere, and a bunch of farmers selling their produce for cheap beneath large placcards. They were "waiting for Barnier". Apparently there's an agricultural summit. My relatives said (after picking up 6 crates of stuff) the government plans to ban raw milk produce and do many other bad, bad things to get in line with EU regulations. There was even talk of banning open air markets to force farmers to have their food checked before selling. I looked in Le Monde and all I found was some talk about renewing the PAC or not. What's going on? No more raw milk would be a terrible thing!

Like apercubes, which somehow escaped my eagle-eyes for 55 years, I've never (knowingly) had Savora. My poor, long but acutely suffering French-born French teacher (what does one do with a highly motivated but impossibly challenged student?) asked me to bring her back some, so I thought I'd best taste it first - so that like the great Kings's tasters, I, not my patient, funny and wonderful professor would perish. We are having Maistre Mathieu's best chicken tonight; may/should/can I serve it with the bird? And either if so or not - with what else?

You might have seen the news... Pierre Hermé has a new book (softcover) devoted entirely to macarons and their insides. Released a few days ago, I'm wondering if anyone has seen it, read it, played with it. Opinions? Fellow eGulleteer jumanggy pointed me to this article in L'Express (in French) which includes an interview and some of the recipes. The basic batter in this book will be familiar to readers of some of his other books and to that in Christophe Felder's book on macarons. PH's technique seems to have changed, however, now advising cooking at 180C in convection oven, opening the oven twice quickly during cooking (no special dancing required though:P). Although I was excited at the news, i'm not completely convinced I need it in my library... Macaron (Amazon.fr link) Pierre Hermé Agnès Viénot Editions (11 septembre 2008) ISBN-13: 978-2353260355

So, I a moment of foolishness I bought a frozen capon today. He weighs about 3.5 kilos. We have cooking friends coming next week & I though it would be something different to try. Only later did I realize that I've never cooked a capon in my life. Plenty of other birds & I'm sure I can just roast it successfully. But In honor of our friends first visit to the French countryside I'd like to do something local with the capon. Any suggestions? Yes, I have Googled it & there are plenty of recipes, but none seem French. Help!

I'm working on a batch of Pain D'Epices, and have recently come across some new ideas/information regarding TRADITIONAL recipes, of which I was curious if any of you had opinions/experience. Several articles talk about resting the batter- some overnight (gluten-relaxation, basically), but some as long as two weeks, causing mild fermentation. Any thoughts? Have any of you tried the slightly fermented style? I use an old-world rye flour & anise recipe, for the record... Many recipes use brown sugar, all use honey, but i've come across a few that use burnt sugar- - -will this change the structure too much due to the lack of glucose from a honey-substitution? Any other fun tips/tricks/stories regarding your traditional Pain D'epices?

Today, Colette Monsat et al in Figaroscope, rated the pain au chocolat at 25 places, awarding the following: 1. Julien 2. Secco 3. Ble Sucre Of interest were: 5. Pierre Herme 6. Dalloyau 7. Kayser (Monge) 8. Fauchon 14. Lenotre 18. Gerard Mulot 18. Angelina 21. Laduree 21. Paul 23. A. Poilane

Besides Divay is there a shop or two that Parisians swear by for their Rilette and other Duck and Goose products? I have seen Bon Marche talked about. Is there by any chance a shop that specializes in the products of SW France? In addition I am hoping to find some amazing pate` both to eat and to travel home with. Is there a particular shop or are there so many wonderful shops they are too numerous to name? I am going to be sleeping in the 6th but will be all over the city, including a trip to the 18th for bread http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/viamichelin/g...-paris-2008.htm David

Forgive my ignorance of Anthony Cheeses, where besides an expensive restaurant might one find these? Does Anthony (or whomever is the person behind the name) have a shop? TIA David

Does anyone know if there's such a thing as 'kosher salt' in France? It's prevalent in the US, even though (I suspect) a majority of people who use it don't use it for koshering. I've checked in some of the Jewish épiceries in the Marais, as well as in the kosher section of supermarkets, and never saw anything. Was just wondering if it is available. (According to that bastion of truth, Wikipedia says that only in the UK is there something called 'koshering salt. Elsewhere, they say, it's called "(coarse) cooking salt." Hmmmm....because the gros sel in France, grey or otherwise, is a lot larger than the kosher salt that I'm familiar with.)

I was invited to a gorgeous Breton lunch yesterday, for which I made kouign aman and gateau Breton. Photos and some recipes are here. This has really gotten me in the mood for our upcoming trip to Bretagne. If you have some suggestions for less-known foods not to miss, please post them here. Shellfish, galettes, and of course kouign aman are already on the list.

Monday shops open This is one of a series of compendia that seeks to provide information available in prior threads on eGullet. Please feel free to add links to additional threads or posts or to add suggestions. Asian groceries