June 2022 newsletter
Spring things
When I used to lead culinary tours in Paris, a frequent FAQ was why I lived in France. We’d spend a few hours visiting pastry shops and boulangeries, tasting chocolates and pastries and bread, and sometimes stop at an outdoor market to get some cheese and charcuterie to taste as well. If it wasn’t obvious by that point, I was not doing my job correctly. But I was able to keep my job until I moved on to other things.
But the food in France took a hit a while back, with some asking: Can anyone save French food? and others lamenting “The Rise and Fall of French Cuisine.” Bakeries noticeably suffered a dip in quality, so much so that people in France started eating less bread. (Le régime, or dieting, was also on people’s minds.) It’s estimated that bread consumption decreased by 25%, and bread expert Steven Kaplan was known to bring his own baguettes to restaurants to be sure he’d have good bread with his meal.
An ad campaign with the slogan “Coucou … t’as pris le pain?” or “Hey, did you get bread?” was launched to encourage people to eat more bread. Getting bread is such an integral part of French life, it didn’t seem like people needed a reminder to get it. I don’t know how effective the campaign was, but I do know that the quality of bread in Paris skyrocketed after the dip, and the bread in Paris is now better than ever, with amazing bread bakeries offering everything from sésame-curry baguettes and gluten-free grainy loaves with freshly milled buckwheat and rice flours to traditional offerings like naturally risen baguettes made with sourdough to nutrient-rich loaves with artisan grains. It’s a good time to eat bread in France!
So I was happy to have artisan baker Bryan Ford on my podcast, where we chatted about bread and tasted our way through the diverse breads shown at the top of this newsletter. Bryan had made some remarks in an interview about how French and European breads take up a lot of space in the bread world, which is certainly true, so it was nice to “break bread” with him in my kitchen, to share some thoughts on my favorite pains in Paris. (Spoiler: He loved them all.)
Another reason I came to France was for the chocolate. However, one of my teachers from pastry school in France, I just learned, has opened his own chocolate shop…in New York (436 West Broadway)! Years ago, I took a candy-making course with Thierry Atlan, who likely wouldn’t remember me, but he left an indelible impression on me.
I didn’t speak French at the time and the others in the class at school weren’t especially nice to me. (Pastry chefs anywhere can be a little competitive, but I was an outsider, which put me at a disadvantage.) However, unlike the image of the arrogant chef, Chef Atlan was lovely and a real pro and spent extra time with me, making sure I understood what I was learning. (Another chef at the school grabbed me by the hand one day and took me on a tour through the entire Lenôtre pastry-making facility, leaving the others behind.) So I’m glad to see him thriving in my homeland, as I’m doing (or trying to do) in his.
Speaking of France, we had a lot of asparagus last month. I love asparagus, especially the green. A visiting friend from San Francisco kept insisting on getting white, so we had a lot of both while the season was going strong. It was hard to complain! We also had strawberries show up, especially the Mara des Bois berries, which are my favorites, and a few cherries have been peeking out too, as well as apricots and nectarines. But I know that it’s better to wait a few weeks until they hit their stride—when they taste a lot better and are picked when they’re ready, not when they’ve rushing to be first at the market.
At the moment, I’m in New York wrapping up some stuff before heading back to our apartment renovation, which is going a lot better than the last one. I haven’t had anything as dramatic happen—yet!—as my last one, but I’ve been writing about it in my newsletter in Paris Apartment Stories. Right now the floors are being sanded and varnished, so since we can’t walk on them, we’re cooling our heels in New York with some French friends, who I’m turning on to Triscuits. Boulevardiers, burgers (good ones!), and French fries, which my French friends are admitting are better than the ones back home. But the baguettes ain’t the same. So it’s a draw.
- David
Links I’m Likin’
-I weighed in on the new Julia HBO series with some thoughts, as did John Birdsall regarding the portrayal of James Beard in Pinkwashing Julia Child. GBH (the public TV station that aired the original The French Chef series) invited the original producer of The French Chef to weigh in on it, in Separating Fact vs Fiction in the Life of Julia Child. And Adam Roberts interviewed Daniel Goldfarb, the engaging creator of the series, who’s working on Season 2.
-A writer opines that Paris may be the healthiest city in the world. Now that I’m a cyclist (again), yes, it’s become a great bicycling city! But the other side of the coin is the 350 tonnes of cigarette butts (each of which pollutes 500 liters of water) that are picked up off the streets and sidewalks each year? (Town & Country)
-Scottish cuisine gets some respect in France with a new cookbook for the French. (The Scotsman, via Stained Page News)
-A “pay what you can” organic grocery store opened in Paris. (Frenchly)
-Dianne Jacob interviewed me about newsletters and the state of food writing on the internet. (With apologies to food writer Eric Kim, who I expressed admiration for, whose name I confused in one instance with his Instagram name.)
- Who knew the French were the #1 consumer of cannabis in Europe? (France24)
- Foie gras getting harder to find in France. (Food & Wine)
-Tips for avoiding frozen pastries at bakeries in Paris. (Washington Post, article unlocked)
-The true (and staggering) cost of Haiti’s independence from France (NYT, article unlocked - the whole series is quite a read.)
-Watch 100 tons of oysters being harvested off the coast of France. (Eater video)
A Covid Travel Update
I recently flew from Paris to New York and since I’ve been getting a lot of messages and questions regarding traveling to and from Paris, I thought I’d just share my experience. A few questions I’ve answered here:
But regarding our experience, we had a flight on Saturday morning. We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport at 8:45 am for our 11:20 am flight. (Always give yourself at least one hour to get to and from the airport in Paris.) When we arrived, there were a lot of people at the airport, and I’m estimating maybe 10-20% were wearing masks, which are no longer required. We stood and waited in a fairly crowded area to check in and get our boarding passes. We were flying Air France and for some reason, online check-in wasn’t available. It took an hour to get through that line, so I was glad we had left early. (We were told by an employee that the airline had let go too many people during Covid, which was why there were long lines.)
We were asked for our negative Covid test results at the gate as well as completed attestations, which I’d downloaded prior to our arrival at the airport and had already filled out. A surprising number of people hadn’t done that, so they had to fill out forms there and hand them over. Air France had sent them to me, twice, a week before our flight, so it’s a good idea to check your email!
We faced a relatively short line at the douane, the frontier checkpoint, and I still don’t understand why they check your passport when you are leaving…then a rather considerable line for security and scan of our carry-ons. That line took at least 30 minutes, and people were very much packed together (with probably 1-20% of the people wearing masks), and then we had to take a crowded shuttle to get to our gate, and very few people were wearing masks on that as well.
Arriving at JFK on a Saturday afternoon, since I have Global Entry, I made it through quickly, but Romain waited in a formidable mass of people (also a place where masks aren’t required) for about an hour to get through.
Even though not required at either airport, CDG or JFK, I was a little surprised at how few people were wearing masks and how close people were standing together. This isn’t an advisement against traveling but an “on the ground” story of my experience for other travelers. Also, people in France tend to stand very close to each other, regardless of a pandemic, which I’ll admit can be especially unnerving with an airborne virus floating around. If you’re traveling and concerned about Covid, or have health issues, my recommendation would be to wear a good mask—N95, KN95, FFP2, or something with similar protection.
There is no longer the need to present results of a Covid test to enter France, but a good friend is coming to Paris and said on the way back to the U.S., they are planning on getting tested at the airport since the U.S. still requires test results. My advice, and the advice of the Paris airport, is to get tested before you go to the airport, if possible. There can be substantial lines, delays, etc. at Paris airports, and most pharmacies in Paris and in France offer rapid antigen testing with results back in 15 minutes at a reasonable cost, around €25. The Paris airports website estimates you’ll get results back in “30mn to 2 hours” and will cost €35.
Recent Recipes and Posts
In response to multiple messages that “You need to go to Mizon in Paris…,” I’m happy to report: Yes, I’ve gone! Since their first place opened in Paris in the Marais (just adjacent to the rue des Rosiers, aka falafel-central), they’ve branched out to two other addresses, which feature the same sometimes-French-inspired Middle Eastern fare stuffed in pita sandwiches, like bœuf bourguignon and poulet rôti with aïoli, and of course falafel, as well as roasted vegetables, which pleases vegan visitors and locals.
I’ve been thinking about this Tarte sablé au chocolat ever since having it at a swanky restaurant in Paris, where it goes for €36 a slice. I found the original recipe and gave it a go…five times(!)…until I got it right. It’s easy to make, and the combination of the buttery crust and remarkably light bittersweet chocolate filling will save you some serious sous (money). And I got a deep discount when I handed off some of my tests to the vendors at my local market.
In a recent installment of Paris Apartment Stories 5.0, I talk about les éléments (for paid subscribers), and it wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t obsessing about my kitchen sink, now would it? There was so much to share, readers are staying tuned for part 5.5. In the meantime, supply issues are delaying my sink for a few months. As many a renovator has said: Thank goodness I have a bathtub! Je suis d’accord…
A question on egg sizes that I posed on Instagram prompted hundreds of comments, asking what people wanted to see in recipes, with answers ranging from folks wanting the weight of eggs down to the nearest gram to others satisfied with recipes calling for “2 large eggs.” Noticing a discernible difference in seemingly same-sized eggs, in Sizing Up Eggs, I brought up the discrepancies I found with my scale, and the conversation continued there in the always-interesting comments.
Look. No one wants to go to Ikea. In Le dressing (paid subscribers), we went to three Ikea stores in one day, including a store that’s specifically devoted to designing les dressings (closets), which…believe it or not (I still can’t believe it)…doesn’t have examples of the closets in a store that sells closets. However, a friend offered us the vintage closet above, which may have been designed by a notable French designer, so we’re trying to see if a woodworker can work some magic and get it to fit in our new place. Stay tuned!…
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Things have reversed! From taking Mostly Americans on tours of culinary Paris, you're now taking French people on tours of culinary New York!! I wonder if the two groups of different nationalities made for a different guiding experience?
Thank you for all that you do. You are such a generous, and creative individual. I thoroughly enjoy your live Instagram reels, your recipes, your humor, and all the information you share about France.. stay positive and test negative.