Food in France: was your confit frozen?

[rotuts]

was your restaurant dinner frozen elsewhere? interesting issues.

Le Philosophes Duck Confit : 25 euros

around the corner, made elsewhere and probably frozen: 16 euros

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/business/international/in-france-a-battle-to-keep-menus-fresh.html?src=me&_r=0

[Shel_B]

The insidious corporations are everywhere ... <LOL> Once again Nestlé raises its ugly head.

I'm of a mind to have full labeling, so people know what they're getting and can make an informed decision.

And when I pay good $$ to eat at a restaurant, I don't want my food coming from a plastic carton and microwaved. OTOH, if I want budget food, I don't mind the shortcuts, convenience, and lower quality - but, in any case, I want to know what I'm getting.

Thanks for linking the article - gave me something interesting to read with lunch.

[jmacnaughtan]

I've worked for a large-scale traiteur in France that does good food, but also uses a range of frozen preparations. Most are very good- there's nothing wrong with using frozen chopped herbs or frozen fruit preparations. I don't think there's any pâtisserie in France that doesn't use at the very least frozen fruit purées.

It's also an embarrassing truth that many frozen croissants are better than fresh. They're hard to make properly, and a lot of otherwise good boulangeries can't make ones that rival good quality frozen pastries.

Finally, in every pâtisserie, boulangerie and I imagine most traiteurs, preparations are made in the afternoon and stored in the fridge or freezer. In that way, they can be quickly finished the following mornings and dispatched either to the front of shop or elsewhere. The impact on quality? Zero difference. In fact, it's probably better as the workers have time to do it properly.

[rotuts]

"" truth that many frozen croissants are better than fresh ""

i believe this to be true. for a long while there were frozen C's sold to various higher end supermarkets in the Bay Area and then baked for sale that day after an overnight defrost and riseing

one store sold them to me frozen, at a discount to the 'baked' price

I let them rise over night and baked them in the morning. as good as any Ive had. and you could control the baking time to suit your prefs.