Thank you for your writing and so many good recommendations in Paris. In our upcoming trip we hope to find some of the flea markets which you detailed in a great list ten years ago. Wondering if you have tips/suggestions for current source of shops and locations, some those not being open now. Thank you
I’m very late reading this but Happy New Year/Bonne Année to you and Romain. I would be interested in reading about whelks. They were in a French children’s book that I read when I was young. It was enchanting to think you could go down to the sea and harvest them, like clams. I think I’ve maybe seen them once in person. So, whelk away!
I have a Paris question for David or anyone else who can help: I have friends who will be in Paris in May and they would like to spend a day or an afternoon taking a cooking or baking class. Has anyone reading the comments done anything like that in the past year or two? Any recommendations? Thank you in advance.
Six dozen oysters for five people sounds about right to me... We had four dozen on New Year's Eve and three of us who ate most of them. Have you had the Gillardeau? I discovered them that evening (and just wrote about them on my own Substack) and they are now my favorite. And what do you think of the Belons? I haven't tried them again since getting very ill eating them at the Salon d'Agriculture in 2012.
David, Happy New Year to you and Roman! I loved reading about your Christmas food and all the planning it takes to make it happen! After Carver passed a few months ago, I decided to spend the holidays with one of our daughters and her family who live in Berlin and end the year with a few days at Ballymaloe in Ireland. Ballymaloe was where we first met at the Literary Food Festival a number of years ago. They are having a Food Festival there in early May! I plan to be back in Normandy in early June for the DDay Anniversary. I believe there will be a mention of Carver then. I’m looking forward to your new book in 2025…Blessings to you and Roman, Marianne
Bulots! Count me among those who crave them. They're like sea escargot that you eat like movie popcorn. Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, and Happy New Year, David!
Hi, David. All my life I’ve loved quiche and have made many, many, often for holiday hors d’oeuvres or breakfasts. This year, looking for more inspiration, I tried your tarte de salee recipe from My Paris Kitchen. What a game changer! It’s not that I used exactly the same ingredients, (not a bleu cheese aficionado), it’s the technique and the extra cornmeal in the crust and the cream cheese in the filling. Like many quiches it’s so easily adapted, but it looked like it came from a Paris patisserie and was both beautiful and delicious both warm and room temp and next day and reheated…. Definitely a game changer. I’ll never go back to my 50-year standard again. THANK YOU! And I was lucky in today’s version to have found a beautiful block of Comte cheese at my local Fresh Market. Best ever!
Glad you like the recipe! Most people know or think of quiche as flatter but the tarte salée is more lofty - and I like the bit of cornmeal in the crust too - happy holidays!
Do they taste anything like the mini mussels we devored in Brittany? If I had lots of bucks, I would fly to Brittany every other week just to eat them. But that said there is much else that I love about Brittany.
And I love your emails and recipes beacoup! And cookbooks as well.
Bulots taste more like conch, if you've ever had it (I've had it in Mexico but never anywhere else) but they're not much like mussels in terms of flavor and texture. They're more chewy. And yes, those little mussels are certainly delicious-I agree!
Bonne année à vous David et Romain - et en retard joyeux anniversaire David!!! From another very late December baby. Its better these days when at least some shops and restaurants are open. We introduced a Half Birthday for our son who was born in late November. When he was a child the half birthday in May was for things like the new bicycle or other significant object.
Thank you for the useful info on the CooP Savoiarde! And I may have mentioned before that we have introduced the oysters Charentaise to our friends here in Melbourne - serving with good merguez sausages.. 😊
What to do with bulots? Yes, please. I always see them at the outdoor market and wonder how they are best prepared. Also, I LOVE Magnolia!! Happy New Year and happy birthday !
I've only been served them cooked, and served cold with mayo but I did see recipes online for pastas and so forth. But I've never been served them any of those ways.
Sounds like a wonderful holiday season with friends and food. Love Romains gift of “aide-memoire”, as an obsessive list maker, I would love one of these. Would save many trees.😂
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday, David! I too like Bulots. i ate something very similar in NYC growing up called Scungili, usually served with pasta and tomato sauce (based on photos, they look very similar). Turns out that "scungili" is a Neapolitan word, unknown here in the Marche, where they are known as "bombolini" and served In a spicy tomato sauce without the pasta.
Thank you for your writing and so many good recommendations in Paris. In our upcoming trip we hope to find some of the flea markets which you detailed in a great list ten years ago. Wondering if you have tips/suggestions for current source of shops and locations, some those not being open now. Thank you
I’m very late reading this but Happy New Year/Bonne Année to you and Romain. I would be interested in reading about whelks. They were in a French children’s book that I read when I was young. It was enchanting to think you could go down to the sea and harvest them, like clams. I think I’ve maybe seen them once in person. So, whelk away!
I have a Paris question for David or anyone else who can help: I have friends who will be in Paris in May and they would like to spend a day or an afternoon taking a cooking or baking class. Has anyone reading the comments done anything like that in the past year or two? Any recommendations? Thank you in advance.
Try La Cuisine in Paris. They do classes and everyone seems to like them a lot.
Six dozen oysters for five people sounds about right to me... We had four dozen on New Year's Eve and three of us who ate most of them. Have you had the Gillardeau? I discovered them that evening (and just wrote about them on my own Substack) and they are now my favorite. And what do you think of the Belons? I haven't tried them again since getting very ill eating them at the Salon d'Agriculture in 2012.
David, Happy New Year to you and Roman! I loved reading about your Christmas food and all the planning it takes to make it happen! After Carver passed a few months ago, I decided to spend the holidays with one of our daughters and her family who live in Berlin and end the year with a few days at Ballymaloe in Ireland. Ballymaloe was where we first met at the Literary Food Festival a number of years ago. They are having a Food Festival there in early May! I plan to be back in Normandy in early June for the DDay Anniversary. I believe there will be a mention of Carver then. I’m looking forward to your new book in 2025…Blessings to you and Roman, Marianne
Bulots! Count me among those who crave them. They're like sea escargot that you eat like movie popcorn. Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, and Happy New Year, David!
I was thinking about you, and how much you liked them : )
Happy holidays to you too! xxx
Hi, David. All my life I’ve loved quiche and have made many, many, often for holiday hors d’oeuvres or breakfasts. This year, looking for more inspiration, I tried your tarte de salee recipe from My Paris Kitchen. What a game changer! It’s not that I used exactly the same ingredients, (not a bleu cheese aficionado), it’s the technique and the extra cornmeal in the crust and the cream cheese in the filling. Like many quiches it’s so easily adapted, but it looked like it came from a Paris patisserie and was both beautiful and delicious both warm and room temp and next day and reheated…. Definitely a game changer. I’ll never go back to my 50-year standard again. THANK YOU! And I was lucky in today’s version to have found a beautiful block of Comte cheese at my local Fresh Market. Best ever!
Glad you like the recipe! Most people know or think of quiche as flatter but the tarte salée is more lofty - and I like the bit of cornmeal in the crust too - happy holidays!
Do they taste anything like the mini mussels we devored in Brittany? If I had lots of bucks, I would fly to Brittany every other week just to eat them. But that said there is much else that I love about Brittany.
And I love your emails and recipes beacoup! And cookbooks as well.
Thank you David
happy you're enjoying the newsletter!
Bulots taste more like conch, if you've ever had it (I've had it in Mexico but never anywhere else) but they're not much like mussels in terms of flavor and texture. They're more chewy. And yes, those little mussels are certainly delicious-I agree!
Happy Birthday and Happy New Year, David! I return to France in February and
1) Hope to try the Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage (I also just read about it in Bill Buford's book "Dirt")
2) Need those French Patisserie stamps! I wonder if they'd ship to the US...
Thanks!
You can certainly check if they send to the U.S. (at the link). I know they do send stamps by post, but it may be only to France or Europe.
Fingers crossed! If not, I may have to practice my French + try to snag ‘em at La Poste while in town. (I really love stamps)
Wishing you a late Happy Birthday, David! And a very prosperous New Year!
Bonne année à vous David et Romain - et en retard joyeux anniversaire David!!! From another very late December baby. Its better these days when at least some shops and restaurants are open. We introduced a Half Birthday for our son who was born in late November. When he was a child the half birthday in May was for things like the new bicycle or other significant object.
Thank you for the useful info on the CooP Savoiarde! And I may have mentioned before that we have introduced the oysters Charentaise to our friends here in Melbourne - serving with good merguez sausages.. 😊
David and Romain..bon annee (my French is bad, I know) but wishing you both all the joy
you can hold..David, your posts are my salvation and my salivation LOL. Happy Belated
Birthday too..don't pour over your new book too too much. Love the photos, descriptions,
stories and those miniatures...wow. Kate in sunny FL (sorry, didn't mean to rub that in.
I would trade for gray skies of Paris in a heartbeat).
What to do with bulots? Yes, please. I always see them at the outdoor market and wonder how they are best prepared. Also, I LOVE Magnolia!! Happy New Year and happy birthday !
I've only been served them cooked, and served cold with mayo but I did see recipes online for pastas and so forth. But I've never been served them any of those ways.
Sounds like a wonderful holiday season with friends and food. Love Romains gift of “aide-memoire”, as an obsessive list maker, I would love one of these. Would save many trees.😂
Happy Birthday. Ready to pre-order the new book whenever it becomes available!
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday, David! I too like Bulots. i ate something very similar in NYC growing up called Scungili, usually served with pasta and tomato sauce (based on photos, they look very similar). Turns out that "scungili" is a Neapolitan word, unknown here in the Marche, where they are known as "bombolini" and served In a spicy tomato sauce without the pasta.