The French Journal

NYT Day #2: Bordeaux eats, Paris after midnight, lots of opera, Marie-Thérèse

Other items from the NYT:

• For the two people who read this blog and who have unlimited budgets and who will be spending time in Bordeaux in the near future, be sure to read Christine Muhlke's recap of high-end dining in the city. The rest of us without expense accounts may not find the article edifying. Featured are Restaurant Jean-Maire Amat, La Cape, La Grand'Vigne, Cordeillan-Bages, and Hostellerie de Plaisance. (Got to get myself one of these gigs.)
• If I'm reading Elaine Sciolino's article about Paris by Night correctly, after 1:00 AM your best options in the city are some elaborate noshing and a game of pool.
• A more-or-less forgotten survivor of the French Revolution is the subject of Susan Nagel's Marie-Thérèse, Child of Terror, subtitled "The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter." (Apparently, Louis XVI is less of a draw and doesn't merit any up-front mention. Ah, the indignities continue!) The NYT review says that "while a biographer's impulse to empathize with her subject is commendable, Nagel's desire to humanize Marie-Thérèse leads her to make some unconvincing assumptions."
• To scope out the future of New York City Opera, music critic Anthony Tommasini has hied himself to Paree to check out productions overseen by Gerald Mortier, who will take over the NYCO next year. Reading between the lines, New Yorkers and opera aficionados should prepare themselves for non-traditional experiences after Mortier hits the town.

On PBS, Monet's Palate

Aileen Bordman loves Monet and Normandy a lot, and she's managed to convert her enthusiasm to an enterprise dedicated to those entities. One of the offshoots of her efforts is a television show, Monet's Palate, which will air this month on PBS. Featuring narration by Meryl Streep and appearances by renown chefs such as Alice Waters and Daniel Boulud, the documentary is a celebration of Monet and the food that he enjoyed when he was alive. A list of times that the documentary will show is on the Monet's Palate website and blog. A three minute promo video heads this post.

Vive le (raw milk) Camembert!

In a David versus Goliath battle, smaller local makers of Camembert cheese have won a victory against some much larger producers (The Tocqueville Connection/AF). Two industrial giants, Lactilis and Isigny Cooperative, had waged an appeal with the commission on Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) designations to have their cheeses, which do not use raw milk, as still worthy of an AOC. This label indicates that the foods and wines which carry it are unique, prepared under strict conditions, and only with certain ingredients. It's a symbol of quality. True Camembert, however, uses only raw milk, which makes it difficult to export to places like the U.S., where regulations require pasteurization that impacts the flavor of the cheese. (Many view the U.S. restriction as more political than based in real threat to well-being.) The loss for the big guys, who claimed that the raw milk cheese carried unhealthy bacteria, is unlikely to impact their overseas business, but may have repercussions in the local market. The A.O.C. commission determined that the dangers of raw milk cheese were "infinitesimal."

Old news from the IHT (and me): Heritage food, Saint-Exupéry, Poussin

The stories have been kickin' around for awhile, but these articles from The International Herald Tribune are fresh, and I haven't mentioned two of the subjects here, so for you enlightenment:

• Fossilizing French cuisine. Sarko has kicked off an effort to have French cuisine recognized a UNESCO World ...er...monument? Actually, it would be classified as an "intangible cultural heritage." Opponents suggest that the designation would officially indicate that French cuisine is ossified and irrelevant.
• Who killed the Little Prince? The circumstance behind the disappearance of writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry on a flight during World War II is one of aviation's great mysteries. Recent discoveries, however, have helped to pinpoint the site where Saint-Exupéry's plane crash, and a German man and former pilot has proclaimed, with great sorrow, that he was the one who shot down the writer.
• Poussin, continued. I wrote my modest appreciation last month about an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York of works by Nicolas Poussin. An expert's review of the "gripping" paintings is now available.

The story of French fries

Mon ami Alain at French Virtual Cafe takes his time in posting entries, but when he chooses a subject, he covers it with a thoroughness that has the texture of a good magazine article. His latest discourse is on pommes frites (a.k.a. French fries), and it contains just about everything you'd want to know about them. There are marvelous stories about being in France and devouring samples from street vendors; notes about the origins of the dish, and France's arguments with Belgium about bragging rights; definitions; best cooking methods (and what potatoes to use); how they arrived on U.S. shores (maybe Thomas Jefferson will get credit), and variations on the frites. Plus, if you're in the Chicago area, you'll get recommendations for the best fries in town. Good piece of knowledge: "frites à volonté’’ = "All the fries you can eat." Merci, Alain!

A superstar meal, with recipes

Looking to cook something different tonight in the kitchen? How about "Bresse Chicken in a Black Truffle and Foie Gras Jelly"? For an appetizer!?!

It was an interesting concept: American Express roped in two of the most famous chefs in the world, Pierre Gagnaire and Alain Ducasse, to create their "Centurion Menu." While the idea of this superchef "collaboration" produced fantasies of the two of them going knife to knife in the kitchen ("You want to use Barolo vinegar? It is to laugh!"), the reality is less dynamic. They don't work together; instead, the chefs create separate menus using the same signature ingredient for each course -- truffles for the appetizer, vin jaune for the main, and quince for dessert. (Gagnaire chose them.) The story behind the meal's creation, written by Joe Ray, is entertaining; the photos of the dishes are scrumptious; the recipes are available, but only a trained chef -- or somebody with a week to kill -- would attempt them, and they still wouldn't look as good as these pictures.

Top "archetypal" food experiences in Paris (with foot notes)

During your first visit to Paris, should you have any reasonable amount of time, there's are places you have to visit, right? You have to see the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower...make your own list. And there are foods you have to taste as well. One must experience the stereotypes if, for no other reason, you've been reading about these things all your life.

To help you fulfill the food imperatives of your journey, Diversion* magazine offers its suggestions for "The Top Ten Paris Tastes."  Here's a summary:

• Best baguette: Boulangerie Eric Kayser, Le Boulanger de Monge, Poilâne**
• Mouth-watering macarons***: Pierre Hermé****
• Magnificent cheeses: Fromagerie Barthélémy, Fromagerie Quatrehomme
• Incomparable ice cream: Berthillon
• Plateau fruits de mer: Le Dôme
• Irresistible crêpes: Crêperie at Relais Saint-Germain
• Sensational steak-frites: Bistro Paul Bert
• Incredible croissants: Pierre Hermé, Ladurée, Gérard Mulot
• Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame: Le Mabillon
• Champagne: Café de Flore, The Ritz Bar, Plaza Athénée

Addresses and much more background are available in the article.

* Diversion is a magazine for "physicians at leisure." Thanks for this post are offered to my doctor. I found this piece while waiting yesterday for my annual check-up.

**Obviously, this article was written way before yesterday's post about the best baguette.

***The author called them "macaroons" instead of "macarons."  Somewhere, a tear is being shed.

****A day late: yesterday was not only the Day of Francophonie, it was the Jour du Macaron. Had you been in Paris, and had I alerted you in time, tasting samples were available at some of the top purveyors. Zut! Next year!

The best baguette in Paris - 2008

Evidence of a changing France: the best baguette in Paris is baked by the young(ish) son of Tunisian immigrants (Business Week/Der Spiegel). Anis Bouabsa, 28, won the recognition for loaves baked in his 18th arrondissement boulangerie. One of his rewards: supplying 20 loaves every day to the Presidential Palace.

More on Bouabsa:

"In 2004, he entered France's renowned competition for 'Best Craftsman' and was elected the youngest winner of all time in his specialty 'boulangerie,' or bakery. He had to make six different kinds of bread for the exam, including pastries, Brioches, and a whimsical "pièce de fantaisie" with a theme from the movies. Ever since then, his collar patch sports the French blue-white-and red tricolor, a sign of membership in this very exclusive, very French club."

The address for the boulangerie is 32, rue Tristan Tzara. French speakers can learn more about the competition on the Michelin site, where there's a slide show of other notable masters of the baguette.

Food trucs: Michelin, mousse, Chuck has "prince"-iples

Continuing the day's unintentional food theme, here are some random French cuisine-related bits, most of them via AFP and The Tocqueville Connection.

• If you happen to be in Marseille. A new three star restaurant has been named by the Michelin Guides, venerable adjudicator of temples of cuisine. The new paradise: Le Petit Nice, a seafood restaurant in Marseille which is the domain of chef Gerald Passedat.
• Two stars is fine with Beantown. Losing a star is Le Grand Vefour, which has graced Paris for two centuries. "The problem was consistency." (IHT) The chef of Le Grand Vefour, Guy Martin, presides over a restaurant empire, with his newest eatery scheduled to open in my home town. (The Boston Globe)
• Death by chocolate. A man who lives near Paris was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering his parents by feeding them chocolate mousse laced with insecticide.
• The crown takes a stand. Prince Charles has banned foie gras from being served at his palaces.

Eating Corsican food

Here's a gig: working on a small farm in Corsica for a week in exchange for sampling some of the local fare. A reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald has contrived the assignment, and an account of the work is subsumed to descriptions of the food: beans "simmered in sage, rosemary, homemade olive oil, then slipped into a bed of polenta; wild boar; brocciu -- a versatile, ricotta-like cheese; cured meats, "considered some of the best in the world, attributed not only to the maquis but to the abundance of acorns and chestnuts that the local porkers fed on"; beignets made with chestnut flour; a fish soup called aziminu; and shots of a home-brewed acquavita. Due to timing, he misses the chance to taste casgiu merzu, a rotten cheese -- "a mass of rank slime crawling with maggots" which are introduced to help with fermentation. He's not sure he regrets the lost opportunity.

Foodies will like this one.