Yesterday was National Croissant Day, and while I try to avoid two food posts in a row, I came across this photo taken on an autumn morning in Provence. The plateau of just-baked buttery croissants and pains au chocolat was irresistible.
31 January 2023
Tuesday tasting
30 January 2023
Meaty Monday
Where's the beef?
In Paris, vegetarian and vegan options are getting easier to find but for now, meat is king. Especially beef. Most café-restaurants, bistros and brasseries will offer steak in some form on the menu, with all the usual suspects - côte de boeuf, entrecôte, bavette, faux-filet, rumsteak, filet mignon, onglet and plain old steak, or bifteck. [Warning: on French menus, unless filet mignon is followed by the word boeuf, it's always pork!] Langue de boeuf is beef tongue, and paleron and gîte, less tender cuts simmered for hours until chewable, show up in cold-weather stews such as Boeuf Bourguignon and Pot-Au-Feu, while meaty Côte de Boeuf (pour 2 personnes minimum), which is beef on the rib or the côte, is greatly prized as well as pricier because of its size, and might have to be reserved in advance and, due to its size, shared. Other beef dishes can include Tartare de Boeuf and Carpaccio de Boeuf. Nary a T-Bone in sight.
At the butcher's, the race bovine or cattle breed is proudly displayed, often with a photo of the animals, which does not help sales in countries where meat is presented in small portions and wrapped in plastic. Best-known breeds Charolais, Salers, Aubrac, Limousin, Rouge des prés, Gasconne, and, more recently, Angus. Where the beef comes from (origine France for example) is required to be posted, somewhere.
A particular cut of steak is expected to appear on plates in a particular way, and that’s all part of it. So sauce béarnaise and frites maison are the usual accompaniments to côte de boeuf and sometimes, a marrow bone is thrown in. Seared entrecôte will arrive with a just melting pat of beurre maître d'hôtel. No bavette, a sort of flank steak, is worth its weight if not served with sauce à l'échalote, a wine-shallot sauce. And so it goes.
American tastes usually find that meat in France - and this includes lamb and duck - is underdone when it comes to their desired cuisson: saignant (rare), à point (medium/medium rare), bien cuit (well done). The most popular (French) choice for steaks is saignant and à point for cheeseburgers. The good news is, meat that's not cooked enough to one's liking can always be sent back to the kitchen to be cooked up. The bad: just ordering beef "well-done” (Anglo style) is usually a non-non and could elicit a comment here, a pffft there, or, as recently happened to a friend visiting from New York who ordered her steak well done, she turned around and caught the waiter making grimaces behind her back. - BPJ
Above: côte de boeuf (between saignant and à point) w/three sauces
Below: a côte de boeuf (saignant)
29 January 2023
Chinese New Year
Paris celebrates Chinese New Year in four distinct Asian neighborhoods.
Ends February 5, 2023
27 January 2023
26 January 2023
Throwback Thursday
Throwback to recent trip to London over the holidays.
Above: life-sized moving window displays at ultra department store Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly
***
London: 3 hours (or less) from Paris
25 January 2023
23 January 2023
Maki Monday
Gourmet maki, temaki, sushi.... Japanese comfort food on a cold day.
Blueberry Maki Bar
6 rue du Sabot 75006
22 January 2023
Paris Design Week
Once again cutting edge international designers have descended on Paris for an exciting week of graphic design, furniture creation, decorative arts and interior innovation.
Above: Paris is my living room
***
Paris Design Week 2023
Ends Monday January 23
18 January 2023
Wednesday whimsy
For a limited time Louis Vuitton's flagship store on the Champs-Elysées embraces the art of 93-year old Yayoi Kusama whose work has been making waves internationally.
Above: sculptural self-portrait; polka dots and strong colors, a signature of her work
16 January 2023
14 January 2023
13 January 2023
A planche in winter
Warming up a Paris afternoon with a classic planche mixte - selected French cheeses and charcuteries - and wine.
11 January 2023
Wistful Wednesday
Large teddies, leftovers from le confinement, can still be seen at some restaurants and cafés all over the city.
Above: outside a café in the Latin Quarter
9 January 2023
Christmas blues
"Christmas isn't over until we say it is!"
In France, we love holidays and try to prolong the Christmas season for as long as possible. Decorations, cards, holiday wishes and even galettes des rois (so far we've had three) are tout à fait normale until the end of January. - BPJ
Above: Place du Tertre in Montmartre
🌲
6 January 2023
Fève Friday
Would you like a crown with that?
Above: just-made galettes des rois ready to take home for this evening's Fête des Rois
***
Reprint from "Feast of kings" 1/6/2019
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, and in France it is celebrated with a galette des rois. The tarte-like cakes begin to appear in pâtisserie and boulangerie windows in December and children adore this tradition where the youngest goes under the table and calls out each person's name to receive a slice. Whoever's parte contains the coveted fève - usually a small porcelain figurine of one of the gift-bearing Magi (although there are now many variations, including cartoon characters) - he/she/them will be crowned King or Queen and get to crown his/her/their King or Queen of choice, so every cake is (or should be) sold with two crowns.
The galettes usually contain crème frangipane, an almond cream, but upscale bakers have been creating away with pistachio cream (my current favorite) and other fillings, trying not to stray too far from the original. I've made my own galettes in the past - it's not difficult - and like to serve the cake warm, heated for a short time in the oven, never micro-waved (quelle horreur!) so its crispness remains intact. And did I mention its classic accord is a cidre doux - or second choice, a bubbly crémant? - BPJ
3 January 2023
1 January 2023
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