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Les Halles Report


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bleu, you are a cruel, cruel person..... :wink:

Most women don't seem to know how much flour to use so it gets so thick you have to chop it off the plate with a knife and it tastes like wallpaper paste....Just why cream sauce is bitched up so often is an all-time mytery to me, because it's so easy to make and can be used as the basis for such a variety of really delicious food.

- Victor Bergeron, Trader Vic's Book of Food & Drink, 1946

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For all the post nouvelle cuisines changes that have appeared in France and for all the decline in public taste since McDo has become a familiar site all over France, so much of that magnificent charcuterie looks as it did forty years ago when we first started visiting France. You do great justice to your subject though some of your readers may not realize how much choice there is in les Halles and in the rest of the shops in Lyon.

Robert Buxbaum

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Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

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It is encouraging that, in spite of the encroachment of cheap clothing and knick-knack stalls, these genuine food markets still function all over Paris (and elsewhere). By the nature of their produce, they must be kept alive by the local residents, not by the sight-seeing tourists.

John Whiting, London

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Top Google/MSN hit for Paris Bistros

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Lyon's great, isn't it?

There's so much good stuff in Les Halles that you've got to question your own culture when you get home (assuming you're not French). :biggrin:

PS

Edinburgh

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In terms of cured pork and fresh seafood, not to mention dried cod, a Spaniard would not be sad to return home or question his culture, but I would sell my soul for daily access to the cheeses of France.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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  • 2 weeks later...
In Portland Metro we have more than 21 and we're working on a permanent indoor version like SF's:

I'll agree I love our farmer's markets in Seattle and Portland, BUT, I've never seen terrines like that at ANY OF THEM.

Kindly direct me to one where I can!!!

Born Free, Now Expensive

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Oh Bleu, that's cruel. You've got to stop this, or at least put a disclaimer on reports like that so I can brace myself and not drool into my keyboard.

Er - do you happen to remember what that first cheese was? It strikes a familiar chord, but I can't quite place it.

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Er - do you happen to remember what that first cheese was? It strikes a familiar chord, but I can't quite place it.

The little sign says " ... Chèvre, white or ash," those appear to be ash covered. I recognize the symbol from the flag of Toulouse, or maybe it's the Midi Pyrenees. I guess they have some sort of stencil. It looks neat. Anyway, I'd guess it's a chèvre from the Midi Pyrenees. It may have a name, but 90% of chèvres, no matter how distinctive are just called chèvres.

Oh, and I'm glad everyone is proud of their North American hometown markets, but les Halles de Lyon are special. Take another look at the cheeses. :biggrin:

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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The little sign says " ... Chèvre, white or ash," those appear to be ash covered. I recognize the symbol from the flag of Toulouse, or maybe it's the Midi Pyrenees. I guess they have some sort of stencil. It looks neat. Anyway, I'd guess it's a chèvre from the Midi Pyrenees. It may have a name, but 90% of chèvres, no matter how distinctive are just called chèvres.

Oooops, so it do - "white or ashed," actually, to coin a phrase. Sorry! When I looked at the post last night I was using my tiny notebook which doesn't quite do justice to detail - scroll to bottom of image and you've lost the top. Had got it into my head that they were on a much larger scale than your basic crottin because I was seeing part of the smaller-looking ones in the shot below - but of course that's a red herring. (No, there weren't any herring pictures, though.) Funny the tricks one's eyes will play....

(Now that I've had a proper look at the pictures, though, I'm seriously wondering whether it might not be possible to patent a Keyboard-Drool-Guard. Forewarned is forearmed, in this case, so I knew what to expect. But still had to jury-rig the mechanism. How about it? Think I'll get to work on some drawings.)

So anyway, Bleu, thank you very much for offering but never mind!

(Still, there is something familiar about that damn pattern....)

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Don't those photos qualify as pornography? I know I was aroused!

Yup - I don't imagine we'd want Dr. Michael Jacobsen (is that his name? you know who I mean, the Food Police) snooping around this particular red-light district. They are definitely... extremely moving... in the, er, French sense of that word. Can't you just see us all in durance vile and sentenced to bread and water - and no, that's stale Wonder Bread, kids, none of your pains artisanaux. A fate worse than - anything.

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Had got it into my head that they were on a much larger scale than your basic crottin because I was seeing part of the smaller-looking ones in the shot below - but of course that's a red herring. (No, there weren't any herring pictures, though.) Funny the tricks one's eyes will play....

The cheeses were quite large and flat, about 1-2 cms' high, and I would say were about 12 cm's in diameter each. Chevre comes in many forms. I have just called them and they say it is a "Cathare de Chevre" from the Carcassone region.

edited to add a Link to Fromages.com's description of this cheese in French and a llink to the same description in English. :smile:

Edited by bleudauvergne (log)
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Great cheese link. Worth a look for anyone interesting in learning about French cheeses. it gives the type of milk (cow, goat, sheep) as well as the area in France in which the cheese is made, the seasons it's available, traditional choice of wines to serve with the cheese, and a description of the cheese, it's texture and taste. There are a few ringer cheeses fron Italy, Spain and England as well.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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