French Frozen Dinners

[Schneier]

Both Paul Bocuse and Joel Robuchon make a line of packaged French dinners. Fine French convenience food -- is it even possible? We decided to find out.

First off, they're refrigerated, not frozen. They're in the refrigerated case, in boxes. We bought one from each company: about five euros apiece -- cheap!

Mr. Robuchon has partnered with a food company called Fleury Michon. They only had one selection in the store: Parmentier au Canard (here's the company's web page on the product). It's a casserole of shredded duck with potatoes and cheese. The ingredients list doesn't look too bad: whole milk, duck confit, water, potatoes, butter, creme fraiche, onions, mushrooms, Emmenthal cheese, shallots, spices, and preservatives. It comes in a ceramic crock: poke some holes in the plastic top, and then three-and-a-half minutes in the microwave.

The first bites aren't bad. Cheesy potatoes: what's not to like? And the duck isn't bad, either. It didn't cook evenly, but that's okay. But after a few bites, not so much. We split both entrees, which is good, since neither of us wanted an entire meal of this.

Bocuse's offering (there are many made, but just two at the store this morning) is Noix de St. Jacques au Noilly. No, not nuts: small scallops. This one comes in two packages: one for the scallops and sauce, and another for the leeks and rice. The ingredients list for the first package is noix, creme fraiche, vermouth - Noilly Prat -- water, carrots, leeks, shallots, rice, spices, suger, salt, lemon juice, and preservatives; for the second package it's leeks, creme fraiche, tomatoes, rice, water, pepper, Emmenthal cheese, butter, fresh eggs, parsley, and preservatives. Not bad.

Cooking this one takes work. The noix are in a plastic bag, and the leek-and-rice side is in a covered plastic tub. We poke holes into each of the packages and microwave them together for three minutes, just as the package says. Then we turn the leeks and rice over in the middle of the plate -- it stays together mostly -- and then artfully pour the noix and sauce around the side, trying to make it look like the picture on the front. Step four on the package is "la touche du Chef'"; we're supposed to find a sprig of fresh fennel and a slice of lime and add it to the plate. We make do with a sprig of flat Italian parsley from the garden.

The taste: not very good. And unlike the other, it wasn't very good right from the start. The flavors were indistinguishable and not interesting either. Think airline food and you'll have the right idea. You can eat it, but you wish you didn't have to.

Bruce

Edited October 11, 2006 by Schneier (log)

[fresh_a]

Ugh - I've already tried these and found both of them disgusting. A trip to the local Picard is much more satisfying..

[Ptipois]

Ugh - I've already tried these and found both of them disgusting. A trip to the local Picard is much more satisfying..

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Exactly. A couple of rules when choosing prepackaged dishes in France:

1. Avoid the chef's hat at any rate; they're selling the chef, not the food.

2. Avoid refrigerated, prefer frozen, and Picard has really nice stuff, and no grinning chef on the package.

[mzimbeck]

Oh - the joys of Picard!

Just last night I had their Moussaka. An hour in the oven for a delicious pan of bechamelly goodness. And for something to soak up the lamb grease, I highly recommend their "pommes dauphines," which can only be described as corn dog batter in ball form (no dog).

Their single-serve microwavable pasta with mushrooms and white truffles ain't bad neither.

For a picture of some Picard offerings, click here.

[bleudauvergne]

Some of Picard's stuff is alright. I like some of the potages, they come in handy when I can't cook. Some of the basic veggies like plain green beans are alright and good for a quick fix in mid winter when the only thing at the market are potatoes leeks and endives. The wild mushroom mix comes in handy now and again to spice up a beef braise. The escargots in their shells are a nice mid week diversion. I went through a period when I was unable to cook and tried out a bunch of Picards stuff. I don't like any of the stuffed game birds or the stuffed boar, and the argentinian beef is not up to par for the price. Unfortunately I haven't found a single Picard prepared dish that I felt was worth the money (I haven't tried the moussaka, though!). What I like though is that at Picard you can get good quality single ingredients like various kinds of fish and fruits de mer, sorrel in mid-winter, etc. These are nice to keep on hand for emergencies and the quality is good.

[Schneier]

Are the Picrad entrees sold in normal supermarket chains, or do you have to buy them in a separate store?

Bruce

[mzimbeck]

Are the Picrad entrees sold in normal supermarket chains, or do you have to buy them in a separate store?

Bruce

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Picard products are (as far as I know) only sold in Picard stores. Picard sells exclusively frozen products (surgeles), except for the pistachios and crackers sold near the register.

It's remarkable to me because on my one little market street (rue de Meaux in the 19th) there are about 12 seperate stores each specializing in one thing: poultry, coffee, wine, cheese, fruit & veg, bread, or frozen food.

It's like every aisle in a traditional American grocery store has it's own shop here. And, come to think of it, one American store would occupy about the same amount of space as an entire block of small shops here.

[John Talbott]

Ugh - I've already tried these and found both of them disgusting. A trip to the local Picard is much more satisfying..

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To "pile on" here; I've found Picard and Monoprix stuff to be utterly different than that which one has been subjected to in the US. Picard's spinach, for instance, is astonishingly good and for someone batching it, very convenient.

Both Paul Bocuse and Joel Robuchon make a line of packaged French dinners.

As for named stuff, as Fresh_a indicates, caveat emptor, as Olivier Morteau [sic] says, more or less, when chefs brand out they sell out - wines, snacks, frozen, no diff.

[naf]

I have tried the Robuchon's Parmentier au Canard, pretty average stuff. His new range includes couscous with lamb, which is extremely oily. Forget about trying the Paul Bocose or the Bernard Loiseau prepared food, they aren't different from the 2.50 € equivanlent ones without a chef photo.

Generally, Guy Martin from Monoprix is a bit better in taste. I was surprised once with a certain duck cooked with some spice. It was actually quite good, but I saw it only once. I guess it was a Christmas special product.

I have to agree with Pitpois's 2 golden rules. Some of the Picard's product is exceptional.

[Schneier]

I've never seen a Picard store in any of the towns I've stayed in.

[Ptipois]

I've never seen a Picard store in any of the towns I've stayed in.

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Where have you stayed?

There's plenty of Picard stores all over France, except in Corsica.

[bleudauvergne]

I don't want to be completely negative here, but I'm a bit freaked out so I'm going to throw this in the mix.

I stopped in a neighborhood Picard last week and picked up a couple of prepared dishes in addition to some basic beans and peas. When I got home, I was looking at the ingredient list and they are simply loaded with added starches and sugars. Yuk.

Since we'd already bought it I heated up the lentils with lardons and it was just like the real thing except there was a thickened sauce as sweet as syrup. In my opinion not edible but my husband said he would eat it, because he doesn't like to see things go to waste. It looked really nice, would've made a nice picture, the sauce was thick and smooth and glistened in the sun, and it was indeed instant pretty food, but... Really, I don't understand the reasons for the sugars. Can't they just prepare a dish and freeze it? Even the soup contains added dextrose and starch based emulsifiers. Since we barely ever eat anything sweetened like this, the taste was really noticable.

It's got me thinking about Picard's marketing strategies, their catalog with Saveur-like styled photos to make the customer think they're getting gourmet level quality, their descriptions and choice of prepared menus targeted at a rather sophisticated palate, or at least someone who would like to think they're eating good food. Clearly the consumer is a visually oriented one, the appeal being the appearance of the product. They are trying to appeal to the people who want more. Then they pump it full of sugar and starch and artificial flavors like any premier prix product. Why?

We can't say it's for shelf life, we can't say it's for flavor, no way. Anybody who's prepared a petit salé at home would reject this. It's for how the product looks, really. But if it looks good but tastes like sugary crap, what's the point? Do they think we can't tell the difference?

[Ptipois]

That is a real problem, Lucy. I tend not to buy ready-prepared dishes anyway, frozen or not, and I like Picard above all for the frozen raw materials (fish, vegetables, fruit). There again picking is necessary. Yet I believe that the Picard frozen dishes, for all their additional starch and sugar, are still better than the refrigerated, conservative-laden, chef-stamped yucks from the "rayon frais".

Good prepared stuff from Picard include (IMO) the aligot, the desserts and pastries, breads, ice creams, escargots and other stuffed mollusks, salmon tartares... The small boudin créoles are great. That is already a lot to pick from.

Edited October 24, 2006 by Ptipois (log)

[Dave Hatfield]

Can't remember the last time I bought a pre-prepared meal. Just can't see the point given their general mediocracy and high (relatively speaking) prices.

The sugars are bad enough, but once you've read the dreaded E numbers you'll really be put off.

Fresh frozen individual ingredients can be great & I do buy them.

[RandyB]

I arrived in Paris three weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, after the local shops had closed. Some recent guests in my family's apartment had left in the freezer a Picard goat cheese and spinach lasagna.

Having heard about, but never tried, Picard, I gave it a go. Yeech! I think it should have been called Goat Cheese Glop with Bits of Spinach and Noodles.

At home I always cook fresh dinners, but often eat frozen meals at lunch in my office. I would say that an Amy's frozen lasagna, basic but also organic, is a significant level above Picard. So is Trader Joe's lasagne.

Perhaps on my next winter visit I'll try some frozen Picard ingredients, but never again a frozen dinner.

[Felice]

I arrived in Paris three weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, after the local shops had closed. Some recent guests in my family's apartment had left in the freezer a Picard goat cheese and spinach lasagna.

Having heard about, but never tried, Picard, I gave it a go. Yeech! I think it should have been called Goat Cheese Glop with Bits of Spinach and Noodles.

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Ive had the goat cheese and spinach lasagna as well and agree that it's not very good. I recently tried the sundried pizza and flammenkuche and found both to be quite good.

[John Whiting]

What a depressing thread! America and Britain, lacking a firmly based indiginous cuisine, have succumbed to the temptation of instant nourishment; but even the European countries with a long tradition are gradually yielding to the time pressures that take over when both partners go out to work.

Good food can be produced in a very short time--remember Edouard de Pomiane's _Cooking in Ten Minutes_, from the 1930's?--but the skills are not the same as those absorbed in the kitchen from a full-time housewife; and so France, followed by Italy, are gradually learning to shop rather than to cook. As frozen and cook-chill quality marginally improves, it becomes sadly evident that the mortal enemy of the best is not the worst but the almost-as-good.

John Whiting

[bleudauvergne]

John, Frozen food has been around for awhile.

[John Whiting]

John, Frozen food has been around for awhile. 

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Yeah, ever since mammoths in glaciers, but that was before it was commercialized.

[John Talbott]

That is a real problem, Lucy. I tend not to buy ready-prepared dishes anyway, frozen or not, and I like Picard above all for the frozen raw materials (fish, vegetables, fruit). There again picking is necessary. Yet I believe that the Picard frozen dishes, for all their additional starch and sugar, are still better than the refrigerated, conservative-laden, chef-stamped yucks from the "rayon frais".

Good prepared stuff from Picard include (IMO) the aligot, the desserts and pastries, breads, ice creams, escargots and other stuffed mollusks, salmon tartares... The small boudin créoles are great. That is already a lot to pick from.

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As someone who tends to do either take-out (rotisseried fowl, Noura, cheese, etc.) or simple stuff like couscous, choucroute or magret, I, like Pti, use as a resource (as I said upthread) - Picard for their spinach "turds" and Monoprix for their small portions of chicken or beef slices, perfect for woking with asparagus or broccoli.

[Ptipois]

John, Frozen food has been around for awhile. 

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In France, for a good forty years!