Adventures in Paris

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
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Love the spice shop in Galleries Lafayette, with the women making spice pyramids.

I’m a big fan of the foie gras mi cuit made by Yves Camdeborde’s cousin, Pascal. They serve it in all of Le Comptoir du Relais restaurants/wine bars and sell it whole at the hotel for 80 Euros/kg.

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Last Christmas pic - swung by Notre Dame to see the tree lit up at night and had to include. Walked over to Comptoir du Relais for a quick bite and the guy next to me looked genuinely confused and asked “why do they put butter on my cheese tray?” I grinned and proceeded to give him a lecture on Bordier. Then, I corrected the waiter’s cheese IDs for him (after the waiter had left). I was incredibly proud; I’ve never felt so French in all my life.
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What idiot complains about butter?

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Exactly!

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If you’ve been following the diet thread, there are MULTIPLE people who exist without butter, without bread, without pasta . . . if this makes them happy then I am happy for them but this does not describe a life I’d want to live!

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Thanks, Andrew that brings back so many good memories! Wish you were going to be there forever (no doubt you do too :slight_smile: ) so we would continue to get all these great reports.

PS quite a feat that you were able to correct the waiter’s cheese IDs. Bien fait. Maintenant vous êtes un vrai!

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Verdict? How involved was your cassoulet?

Love the ongoing updates. I’m thinking it would be worth living in Paris just for the cheese alone.

And I agree with Michel. Who complains about butter?

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That’s not living. It’s the zombie apocalypse, obviously.

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LOL, as I was thinking something similar. The guy was an older gentleman, travelling Spain/France solo. He had chuckled at one point when my wife and I were looking at appetizers and I told her, “if I see any more foie gras, I’m going to scream,” so I realized he spoke English. (see pic of foie loaf above that we ate over three days, hence the no foie zone comment). He asked me a question at one point and we started a conversation and soon narrowed into food/wine (he’s on the Cayuse list).

Some things to consider about Comptoir du Relais - it’s a big Trip Advisor place, so filled with tourists, doesn’t take reservations and always has a line. The waiters were bouncing around and not hovering over people and explaining the dishes. Menu was in French and, when I asked in French if he had an English version, the waiter responded with “I am the English version.” I think he was trying to be funny, but it was clear that most people weren’t going to ask him to translate “beef cheek” or “octopus bullion” and instead ask him what they should order. I ordered the beef cheek, of course, only to be told they were out. So, when the gentleman next to me ordered the cheese tray, the server dropped it and pointed at the different cheese saying “cow, cow, goat, sheep, butter.” Was pretty piss-poor, imho, as it would have taken 30 seconds to say “Ash-coated chevre” or “Bordier demi-sel butter” and try and impress the guy that was actually a guest at the hotel and likely wondering why their was black stuff on his cheese. For most American tourists, I don’t think there is a conscious connection between ordering a cheese tray and getting a big chunk of butter in the center… especially when they’ve already had a basket of bread sitting on the table for an hour and were not served butter with it :smiley: The poor guy didn’t know what hit him as I walked through Bordier buying an existing dairy, making butter for hundreds of restaurants, the cult-like following and different varieties that you can buy in Paris, including a smoked salt butter that I had picked up earlier at Galleries. I probably lost him at “hello,” but I felt like I fulfilled my obligation, in response to “why is there butter on my cheese plate?”

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Cassoulet was spectacular. I’ve cooked it quite a few times now and feel like I have it down to a “no-look” recipe (i.e. I don’t need to go to Serious Eats" and look up the steps). I am convinced that the single most important ingredient isn’t the beans or the poulty choice - it’s the chicken stock. I had saved up four or five carcasses (with one set of chicken feet, which still proves impossible to get the butcher to save) and reduced the stock for hours. Nutshell on the recipe:

  • 2-3 tablespoons of goose fat that I rendered last Christmas from a chapon de Bresse (holy crap it was expensive, but we did it ONCE) in a large Le Creuset
  • brown pork lardons in it, put to the side
  • brown duck/chicken in it, put to the side. Temp is critical, as too hot burns the fat/browned bits and not hot enough doesn’t render the skin fat in the poultry well and put to the side
  • brown sausage (I use Toulouse), cut into chunks and put to the side
  • cook diced onions in the fat for 5-10 mins, then add beans and cover with stock. Simmer for ~45 mins.
  • stir in the lardons and sausage, then drop the poultry pieces on top
  • oven temp ~300F, depending on convection or not, and let cook for 2 hrs and keep an eye on the browning. If the skin gets too brown, push it down into the stock/juice and get it moist again. If all of the stock evaporates, pour some more on top.
  • crack it every 20-30 mins, depending on how it’s browning. Add stock, as needed.
  • total cook time is ~5 to 6 hours. You’d be surprised at how many bottles of Cote Rotie you can go through while cooking a Cassoulet :smiley:
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That makes sense when you point it out, but not something I would have thought about - thanks for making that point. I’m sure it intensifies the flavor in the beans and overall, and is very true to the dish’s origins. I’ve shied away from making one here in the States mostly because of challenges sourcing some of the ingredients locally. But your point makes me wonder if I could compromise a bit on some of the other ingredients’ ‘authenticity’ if I had a killer stock. Awesome recipe summary. Another benefit to your time in Paris: you can add ‘no-look cassoulet proficient’ to your resumé. [welldone.gif]

I think those are words to live by. Might even need its own meme. [cheers.gif]

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You know you’re in France when… there’s an hour-long cheese discussion/debate on France 24 :smiley: Somewhat simplistic, but some interesting parts around how to “cut the cheese” and what pairs with what around the 25:00 mark.

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@Jason - in the event you haven’t seen the cassoulet thread over in the Epicurean Exploits section, this is the long, drawn-out Food Lab article on how make cassoulet. Fantastic read, if you’re into this stuff → Traditional French Cassoulet Recipe

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Philadelphia cream cheese?!!?

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FWIW - had another great dinner at Philou, which is over in the Republique/St Martin Canal area. Good wine (Lapierre Morgon and a GUY BAUDIN FUME DU MILIEU POUILLY-FUME). English-friendly service and great food. Only complaint was that I pulled a single birdshot beebee out of my roasted partridge:) 39 euro, three course menu.

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Good to know, as I won’t be far from that in February. And especially as I import Guy Baudin’s Pouilly Fume Fume du Milieu into the US! Hope you liked the wine…

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Hah! Really enjoyed it. Label was funny; saw that he had some fight over the AOC when I looked it up.

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Yeah, the 2010 didn’t get the AOC and he fought them in court for 5 years. During the time, the 2010 sat in concrete tanks on its lees, until he needed the space and money in late 2015, so he bottled it with a “f*ck You” label. I tasted it at L’Avant Comptoir in February 2016 and fell in love with it (the time on its lees gave it a really neat waxy feel), and we’ve worked with it ever since. The 2014, which we’re currently selling, got the AOC but we had him keep the, ahem, interesting label.

He’s pretty old school (no chemicals in the vines, everything hand-harvested - one of the last few to do so, no wood only steel and concrete tanks). When I visited him last year he asked me what my birth year was (1971), found a dusty bottle from that vintage in his cellar, and opened it, only to discover after wiping it clean that he had opened a 1971 Chasselas. It was delicious!

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Is that the one with the merkin on the label? I liked that wine (also at Avant Comptoir last year).

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Really a fantastic thread! I’ve very much enjoyed seeing Paris through your eyes. We share many of the same interests and many of the things you’ve mentioned are things I’ve loved as well. My family and I have been living outside in the US for most of the last 15 years (currently in Berlin) and I LOVE how your feelings for a place change when you make the mental shift from tourist to resident. Good on you for pushing yourselves to get out and see the wonders that your new home has to offer; your time there will be finished before you know it.

Anyway, my next trip to Paris will hopefully be in February and I’ll be following your adventures to see where I should eat/drink next!

By the way, if you haven’t tried it yet, one of my favorite meals from my last trip (May 2017) was:

Fantastic meal, really enjoyed the wine list, and at the end of it all, couldn’t believe how far my Euro went.

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Merkin? Why, I have no idea what you’re talking about… It’s just a topographical map that’s all… [wow.gif] [berserker.gif]
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