… there’s a public transportation strike going on and your good friend Achmed is staying with you for several days because he can’t get to work from his home in the suburbs. From Monday through Thursday you have dinner together. He then goes to sleep by 9:30 since he needs to get up by 5 to make his way to work. An easy houseguest. You both figure he’ll be with you for just those few days, but the strike continues. He goes home for the weekend then returns Monday evening for a second week.

This time he arrives bearing gifts. There’s a box of camembert, since he knows that you like cheese, and a Tupperware of cornes de gazelle, gazelle horns. He knows that you like them, too.

After dinner, while Achmed enjoys his customary yogurt (“No,” he said when you offered to buy some, “I’ll bring my own, I know what I like”), you serve yourself one of the gazelle horns. It has almond chips on the outside and a sweet almond-orange-blossom filling. Delicious. It’s the best gazelle horn that you’ve ever had and you tell him so. “Normal,” he says, “c’est de chez moi.” His sister in Algiers made them. They were delivered over the weekend by a visiting cousin. They’re all for you, he says; he has another dozen at home. Just save him the Tupperware.

Achmed knows that you like gazelle horns because last week when you went together to an Algerian restaurant for take-out portions of a stew called chorba you bought a powdered-sugar-coated gazelle horn for dessert even though he told you not to. You’d thought that he was saying that because he believes you eat too many sweets, but he was actually trying to warning you off without saying so in front of the owner. It turned out to be hard, stale and too sugary. “I told you,” he said. “I knew they were industrial, not homemade, and could have been sitting there for weeks.”

He then tells you the following story: Many years ago, soon after he arrived in France, he bought a gazelle horn at a Tunisian bakery. The owner had told him that it was freshly made. Achmed took it home to have after dinner. When he tried to break it in half he couldn’t. He took a knife to it and even then had to insist until it finally splintered apart. And it tasted like plaster. The following day he returned the shards to the bakery and told the Tunisian owner that his so-called fresh gazelle horn was stale. The guy offered to exchange it for a new one. Achmed said, “If you can easily cut into one of those on your shelf, I’ll buy them all.” The guy picked one up and tried to break it in two but it was hard as rock. He asked if Achmed wanted a refund. Achmed said, “No, but I’m never coming back to your bakery. My name isn’t Jean-Paul or Pierre-Jacques. Maybe they’ll keep coming back for more, but not me. I’m from Algiers. You can’t get away with that with someone from Algeria.”

You ask how he knew that the chorba we’d had last week was homemade. “Because I’ve seen the kitchen, I’ve spoken with the chef, and I’ve also seen the truck that delivers the pastries.”

You allow yourself then to broach the subject of the camembert. “Excuse me for mentioning this,” you say, “but the camembert you brought—and I thank you for it—won’t be good for the same reason: it’s hard, pasteurized and industrial. It’s camembert in name only. I don’t mean to offend you, I just want to let you know that if you’re going to buy a camembert it should be Camembert de Normandie, made from raw milk.”

“I’m not offended,” says Achmed. “I just didn’t think you were so French.”

© 2019, 2021, Gary Lee Kraut

The post You know you live in Paris when … Gazelle Horns appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

The most appropriate reference point for situating Saint Leonard de Noblat isn’t a point but a line, that of the major medieval pilgrimage route from Vezelay, in Burgundy, to the relics of Saint James in Compostela, Spain. Follow it on foot, as a pilgrim did/does, proceeding at a steady pace of 14 miles (23 km) per day, and you’ll arrive in Saint Leonard de Noblat after a month or so, with another eight weeks to go before Compostela. With that as your line of reference, here’s the map to situate you.

That line, that pilgrimage along the Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago), and more specifically the relics of Saint Leonard along the Way, is what earned Saint Leonard de Noblat a significant dot on the map.

My own approach was by car from Aubusson, of tapestry fame, 41 miles (66km) to the east. Courtney Withrow approached from Limoges, 13 miles (21km) to the west. We meet here in this 2-part article, where, in this part, I give an overview of town and its development and where, in the second part, Courtney tells of its 500-year-old paper mill Le Moulin du Got.

Doubly present on the UNESCO World Heritage List

So let’s forget for a moment that Saint Leonard de Noblat is well off the beaten path for most travelers. Instead, we’ll return to a time and a place where it was very much on the path of pilgrims. Thanks to that path, this town of 4500, whose historic center is preserved in its stone simplicity, is doubly present on the UNESCO World Heritage List:

– Tangibly, for its collegiate church that was a part of a dense constellation of medieval structures in France along the Way of Saint James;

– Intangibly, as part of religious processions and ceremonies known as Limousin Septennial Ostensions, organized every seven years to present and worship the relics of saints held in the region. (An ostension is a presentation of relics.) About 20 towns in the region—most within 25 miles of Limoges, along with several outliers—band together during the Ostensions to “translate” or move their local relics from town to town through the septennial year. The next Ostensions will take place in 2023.

Leonard, patron saint of prisoners

Nobiliacum (which morphed into Noblac and Noblat) was the name of the village overlooking the Vienne River that existed here in the Dark Ages before becoming fully associated with Saint Leonard through the veneration of his relics during the Middle Ages. Saint Leonard’s life story was written in 1030, nearly 500 years after his death, so it’s as much legend as biography. As word of it spread so did the appeal of visiting his relics and perhaps benefiting from their healing powers.

As the story goes, Leonard was born into aristocracy in the late 5th century during the time of Clovis, King of the Franks. Like Clovis, he was baptized by Saint Remi in Reims, with Clovis himself as his godfather. Become a pious adult, Leonard was given by Clovis the right to release prisoners that Leonard felt worthy of amnesty, hence his status as the patron saint of prisoners. Effigies of the saint present him holding shackles and/or chains, perhaps also with a fleur de lys to symbolize his royal connection. Leonard eventually chose to live as a hermit in the forest by the crossroads that would become Nobiliacum and that would eventually also bear his own name. Hermits took part in evangelizing a region by setting up shop in the forest near well-traveled roads. Miracles followed.

At the turn of the millennium, word was spreading throughout the region and beyond of the miraculous healing powers of a procession of the relics of Saint Martial of Limoges during an epidemic of ergot poisoning, an epidemic caused by grain infected with certain fungi that would strike the Limousin region. As the biography of Saint Leonard gained ground during the second half of the 11th century, other miracles of relief or cure would then be attributed to a procession of his relics, giving further credence to the power of ostensions. Funding from passing pilgrims and from feudal powers contributed to the creation of many churches through the 11th and 12th centuries along the pilgrimage routes of central and southwest France. The mostly Romanesque collegiate church of Saint Leonard de Noblat was a part of that movement. Today, still, it houses the saint’s relics, particularly his skull.

Massepain, the local pastry

Pilgrimages are intended to provide spiritual strength, but long-distance pilgrims, in addition to having sore feet, often had difficulties being suitably nourished. Two 13th-century entrances to a former pilgrim’s hospital still visible in town attest to the physical suffering of pilgrims.

My own visit to Saint Leonard de Noblat knew no suffering. In fact, while I spent some time visiting the old stones and the old bones of Saint Leonard de Noblat, my first encounter with the history of the pilgrimage to and through town came in the form of a pastry called massepain.

Actually, my first encounter wasn’t with a massepain but with Frédéric Rougerie, a founding member and master of ceremonies of the Confrérie des Compagnons de Massepain de Saint Leonard de Noblat, the order or brotherhood that protects and promotes traditional Saint Leonard massepain. Meeting me in the kitchen at Maison Coignac (22 Avenue du Maréchal Foch), a family-run pastry shop and bakery, one of many shops in town making massepain, he greeted me in full brotherhood regalia: a brown cape, the color of the full almonds that go into the pastry (and of Limousin cows); a neck baldric meeting at a patch of Limousin leather on which is attached, in locally-made Limoges porcelain, a reproduction of a massepain bearing the image of the arms of Saint Leonard; a large broach indicating an affiliation with other Limousin brotherhoods, and a pastry chef’s hat.

Calling massepain a pastry makes it sound fancier than it truly is. It’s simply a soft, dry, rustic biscuit made of three ingredients: almonds, egg whites and sugar. I resist translating massepain as marzipan since that risks calling to mind dense almond paste that’s often molded into animal-shaped confections. Marzipan it may be, but this one is so particular to Saint Leonard that it’s best to call it by its French name. Saint Leonard de Noblat is also known as the City of Massepain.

For pilgrims traveling on a poor diet of water, cabbage leaves and some root vegetables, almond-based biscuits were, says Rougerie, the equivalent of a high-protein sports bars. Almonds grow along the Mediterranean basin, so almonds and almond-based confections were known to southern travelers. However, the traditional recipe of the massepain of Saint Leonard practiced today wasn’t developed until 1899, when the local pastry maker Camille Petitjean learned a similar recipe from a Swiss monk who was passing through on the pilgrimage route. Petitjean sold them in town and in surrounding villages, and massepains soon became a staple of the sweet and rustic life in and around Saint Leonard.

Three ingredients go into the traditional Saint Leonard massepain: almonds (the full almond which is then finely crushed), egg whites (unbeaten) and sugar (caster). Despite its Mediterranean roots, the United States is currently the world’s largest almond producer, so many a Saint Leonard massepain likely contain California almonds. By its ingredients, the massepain is cousin to the Parisian macaroon, but it’s very much a country cousin. The macaroon doesn’t use the full almond fruit, its egg white is beaten, and its sugar is powdered, making it suitable for a highfalutin pilgrimage to Paris but not to Saint Leonard de Noblat.

Pilgrims make up only a tiny part of the clientele for massepain. The bulk is consumed by, well, everyone living in or passing through the region. Massepains can be enjoyed at aperitif-time with, say, a glass of pink champagne if you want to go upmarket with your downmarket pastry, in the afternoon with coffee or tea, even by a teething toddler. You name it, the simple yet versatile massapain can have its place.

Come mealtime, however, the traveler to the region inevitably opts for a hearty sit-down meal that may be inspired by the farmland of Saint Leonard de Noblat and the surrounding Limousin region, where you’ll see Limousin cattle, as well as Limousin lamb and Black Bottom pigs. Chestnuts and Limousin apples are also grown in the region.

Porcelain, Paper and Leather

While Saint Leonard now putters along as a largely off-track town in 21st century France, it maintains its attachment not only to its pilgrimage prosperity during the Middle Ages but also to its substantial period of prosperity as a hub for artisanal activity during the 17th and 18th centuries.

To understand the artisanal prosperity, your reference map would show the rivers running through the region, in particularly the Vienne River, which lent its name to the department or sub-region called Haute-Vienne or Upper Vienne. (Saint Leonard and Limoges are far upstream along the Vienne. Further downstream, the river makes a sharp turn north and eventually flows into the Loire River near Saumur.) The quality of its water and that of its small tributaries at this stage of its course encouraged the development two types of water-dependent manufacturing complexes: tanneries, treating hides for leather goods, and papermills. The Vienne also played a role in the development of the porcelain industry in and around Limoges.

Tanneries: By the 19th century there were about 20 sites for tanning hides in the area. The only one now in operation is Tannerie Bastin & Fils. Bastin is a 200-year-old tanner that opened the functioning Moulin Follet (Follet Mill) site in 1892 and has been owned by J.M. Weston since 1981. Weston, based in Limoges, uses leather made here for shoe soles.

Papermills: There were also some 20 paper producers in the heyday of artisanal paper production in the Saint Leonard area in the 18th century. Again, only one remains, the Moulin du Got, which Courtney Withrow tells about in the second part of this article.

Porcelain: Fine bone china and hard-paste porcelain considered “Limoges” isn’t only made in the city of Limoges or by a single producer but by artisans and industry throughout the region who have access to the proper clay within the production zone.

The region was actually known for centuries for its enamel production prior to gaining an international reputation for its porcelain in the early 18th century. In Saint Leonard, the local star of fine porcelain production is Coquet, producer of the brands J.L Coquet and Jaune de Chrome. (Two years ago the company was caught up in revelations of The Daphne Project with respect to money laundering. Since 2019, Coquet has belonged to the Compagnie Européenne de Luxe et Traditions.) Porcelaine Carpenet, a family-run Limoges producer, is also located in Saint Leonard.

Saint Leonard de Noblat Tourist Office, Place du Champ de Mars, 87400 Saint-Léonard de Noblat. The tourst office website provides a list of hotels and B&Bs in the area. Note: This is not an area for luxury accommodations or haute cuisine.

Haute-Vienne Tourist Information. Saint Leonard and Limoges are within the department of Haute-Vienne. Americans on the Statue of Liberty tour of France (there are about 25 replicas in France, in addition to those in Paris) might head 12 miles southeast to Châteauneuf-la-Forêt, where one stands as the monument to the dead of the First and Second World Wars. Not much else to see once you get there, but a drive though Haute-Vienne countryside nonetheless.

Oradour sur Glane, the “martyred village,” is also located in Haute-Vienne, 28 miles (46km) west of Saint Leonard de Noblat.

© 2020, Gary Lee Kraut

Go to the second part of this 2-part article Saint Leonard de Noblat: 500 Years of Paper Production.

The post Saint Léonard de Noblat: Pilgrims, Prisoners, Pastries, Porcelain, Paper appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

The Bread

While first and foremost a pastry chef, curiosity has led Benoît Castel to explore the pleasure and craft of making quality breads. One bread in particular caught my attention because it adds pinch of North America in Castel’s otherwise patently French pastry shops/bakeries in the 11th and 20th arrondissement.

“I have a supplier who goes around the world looking for interesting spices and then holds a tasting of them twice each year,” says Castel. “The scheduling of one tasting coincided with my reflections on creating a new bread for the shop. One of the products I tasted was alder wood smoked Salish salt from Washington State. As soon as I tasted it I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to use that,’ and I started to imagine a recipe around it. I liked the smoked woody taste that was both subtle and distinct enough that its flavor would come through while keeping the salt level down. And I decided to balance it out with the addition of the earthy-floral touch of honey.”

Save the salt allotment for the butter, that’s what I say.

Along with the honey and Salish salt bread he calls Pain du Coin, his daily bread line-up also includes a traditional baguette, a traditional rounded loaf, and a walnut, hazelnut and raisin bread called Le Granola. On weekends, two other hard-crust slow-fermented breads based on organic specialty flours join the shelves: Le Pain du Traquet Pâtre (flour from Morbihan, southern Brittany) and Le Pain des Deux Livres (flour from Lot-et-Garonne, between Bordeaux and Toulouse).

The hard-crust breads, some the size of couch cushions, nearly require a chain saw to be sliced. That’s a compliment—the play between the hard crust and the spongy heart is part of the pleasure of such breads.

The Brunch

The typical traveler is unlikely to have a chain saw available to cut into a chunk of hard-crust bread during a Paris promenade. Not to worry, it’s already been sliced for those who come for brunch at Benoît Castel Ménilmontant, Castel’s pastry shop/bakery/breakfast/brunch shop-café in the 20th arrondissement.

The bread is only a small part of the pleasure of brunching here. Above all, this is a satisfying and friendly entry to a neighborhood that’s largely off-track for tourist. It’s an ideal place to begin weekend wandering in the increasingly gentrified neighborhoods of eastern Paris. From here you can explore the 20th and 11th arrondissements as you make your way back to center. (You needn’t actually wait for the weekend; Benoît Castel Ménilmontant is also open for breakfast, as wells for a light lunch Wednesday through Friday.)

The semi-industrial décor, the old bread oven in the back, the canteen-style plates, the mismatched tables and chairs, and the haphazard décor are as much a reflection of Castel’s enjoyment of sourcing furnishings from flea market and second-hand shops as it is a sign that the space is fully at home in entrepreneurial (some would say Brooklynesque) eastern Paris.

There’s an open pastry kitchen, where you might see Castel putting the finishing touches on a pie.

That, too, is a sign of the times. In an open kitchen there are no secrets and no pretentions other than to keep it fresh, keep it simple, keep it good. (The bread is made in the basement.)

During brunch, Castel works non-stop while always available for frequent interruptions from clients.

At 29€, Benoît Castel Ménilmontant’s brunch is on the upper end of brunch prices in eastern Paris. But it’s all-you-can-eat, linger-‘til-you’ve-had-your-fill, there’s-something-to-please-everyone, and compares favorably with typical 22€ single-plate offering.

Generally speaking, brunch is not a working class outing in Paris, so a 29€ brunch in an area that was, until a decade ago, largely considered a neighborhood of working class and immigration, is a sign of how much eastern Paris has changed and is changing. It remains a melting pot, though the new arrivals represent less diversity and more financial comfort than earlier arrivals.

It’s a self-serve brunch, other than the glass of fresh squeezed juices (choice of orange, apple and carrot during our brunch) that will be brought to the table.

Castel says that it’s not unusual for brunchers to stay for two hours. We did. We took a seat at 11:30AM, tried all of the breads, croissants, homemade jams and butter for breakfast, sat for a few minutes with coffee, then eased into lunch. Whether because we take our job as travel journalists seriously or because we were feeling particularly voracious, we tasted everything: the egg dish, the hams, and the salads, then the ribs, the chicken and the other salads, all country-style and freshly prepared. There’s something for everyone. We picked from each other’s plates the ones we cared for that the other didn’t.

Brunch doesn’t include the single-serving tarts and dinner-party-size pies available in the pastry shop. Yet the family-style desserts at brunch—French toast pie, panna cotta, chocolate mousse, and watermelon with a strawberry coulis—are evidence already of Castel’s easy-going sense of the sweet life.

We lingered, and only the promise of a sunny afternoon stroll pulled us from our seats.

The Pastries

Pastries are the heart of Benoît Castel’s craft and trade. It’s a craft he began training in as a teen in Brittany and has pursued in Paris since the age of 17.

Individual pastries can be purchased as an add-on to brunch, but you’re unlikely to find room in your appetite. Better to return another time. Or zig-zag slowly through eastern Paris as you make your way downhill toward Castel’s small shop on rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud. By the time you arrive you be ready for a tart of one kind or another.

Fans of glossy pastry pics for their Instagram feed may be a bit disappointed to find that Castel’s creations aren’t covered in cute and cheery. He eschews efforts to raise the profile of his pastries through purely decorative means or coloring. His palette is pastel rather than acrylic. Quality classics reign, such as the simple and simply delicious tarte à la crème, along with the tartelette aux fraises, the tartelette aux framboise, the tarte citron, the millefeuille (napoleon) and the moelleux chocolat. The display counter may also include the occasional foreign (but increasingly common) intruder such as a light round of cheesecake.

Castel’s pastry signature is a tiny tart-topping square of shortbread (sablé), placed on top like a cocked cap, inviting us to enjoy, to share, and not take any of this too seriously.

Several crumbs of baking history

The Ménilmontant shop bears some Paris bread-baking history. It was here that, in 1960, Bernard Ganachaud, a son of bakers, opened his first Paris shop, Boulangerie Ganachaud. In 1968 Ganachaud turned to baking his bread in a wood-burning oven, the old-fashion way. The old oven is still visible here.

In 1981, Ganachaud created the recipe for flûte Gana, a traditional poolish pre-fermented stick of bread with a crackly crust and a tender airy crumb. The Gana is a fairly well-known branded bread in Paris, though its fame pales in comparison with that of Poilâne bread, a country-style sourdough bread baked in a wood-burning oven, whose international reputation developed under Lionel Poilâne. Nevertheless, more than 200 bakeries are licensed to produce the flûte Gana in France. The Ganachaud family sold the shop now owned by Benoît Castel long ago as they expanded their little empire in other quarters. Those on the bread tour of eastern Paris might stop at the Ganachaud boutique at 226 Rue des Pyrénées (20th arr.), a 7-minute walk from here.

Benoît Castel Ménilmontant
150 rue de Ménilmontant
75020 Paris
01 46 36 13 82
Open Wed.-Fri., 7:30AM-8PM. Breakfast and light lunch served those days. Open Sat. 8AM-8PM and Sun. 8AM-6PM. Brunch is served Saturdays and Sunday 10:30AM to 3:00PM. The space seats 50. Reservations are not taken, so arrive for brunch by 11:30AM or after 1:30PM to avoid a line. By the time the day’s crumbs have been cleared, 100 to 120 people have brunched here.

Benoît Castel Jean-Pierre Timbaud
72 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
75011 Paris
01 48 06 70 59
Open Mon.-Sat. 8AM-8:30PM, Sun. 8AM-6PM.

Castel also operates the joyfully named Josephine Bakery at 42 rue Jacob in the 6th arrondissement. The little shop isn’t big on bread but is well situated for tourists looking for a snack in the area. Open Mon.-Fri. 7:30AM-7:30PM.

Map showing the location of the Ménilmontant and Jean-Pierre Timbaud shops.

If visiting the neigbhorhoods in eastern Paris, you might find yourself on rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, as an American couple who brunched at Benoît Castel Ménilmontant did in Paris Street Talk: Chadors, Cannibals, Communists and the Wall of 3 Crowns.

© 2018, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Benoît Castel: Bread, Brunch, Pastries in Eastern Paris appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

In Paris, haute couture extends all the way to the dessert trolley. Even a venerable let-them-eat-cake institution like Angelina, founded in 1903, has to keep up with the trifle trends.

On April 29, with the accompanying pops of pink champagne, Angelina unveiled the dernier cri on the calorie chart with its spring-summer 2014 pastry collection. Dark chocolate and truffles are beating a retreat, and sunny color combinations—raspberry with ecru-tinted Earl Gray cream; mellow peach with casual crumble accents—are on the rise.

Even the ultra-classic mont blanc, the Hermès scarf of the Angelina empire chocking up 600 sales a day, gets a summer makeover. It’s keeping its famous sugar-dusted toupée of chestnut spaghetti cream… but adding a light, bright strawberry center to its Chantilly/meringue base.

Angelina has a history of adopting new food-stuffs from outside Europe. (Think of how it perfected the chocolat chaud adored by the French royal family since the early 17th century.) This season, Angelina has looked even farther afield for rare and unusual ingredients…

… Eastern Pennsylvania.

Yes, this summer Angelina débuts its first cheesecake and the fromage in question comes from Philadelphia. However, Angelina’s Chef Christophe Appert is quick to deny any undue American influence. ”American cheesecakes are always baked,” he explains. ”Ours consists of an uncooked cheese froth served on a bed of confit d’abricot and madeleine-inspired sablé crust.”

(Apparently, soggy graham crackers just don’t make the cut.)

These treats – rounded out with other ephemeral Angelina creations like peach/vanilla tarts, raspberry/macaroon courtisanes, and strawberry/whipped cream/hazlenut éclairs – can be sampled for under 7€/each at Angelina’s nine French locations in Paris, Versailles and Lyon.

Angelina. 226 rue de Rivoli (75001), 108 rue du Bac (75007), 19 rue de vaugirard (75006), Chateau de Versailles, and other locations.

© 2014, Corinne LaBalme

The post Fashion Food Alert: Angelina’s Spring-Summer Collection appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Though you’ll find some fine addresses in the four pastry-related articles of this issue, I didn’t set out to draw up a list of the best or newest pastry shops in Paris or the city’s most famous pastry chefs, but rather to explore various aspects of la dolce vita:

– A Paris Cupcake Diary, Featuring Macaroons, Too,

– ANZAC Biscuits, a Memorial Taste of War from the Battlefields of the Somme,

– Paris Street Talk: Gastronomy, Pastries and Wine on Rue de l’Abbé Grégoire and

– Angelina at 110 Pursues the Sweet Life in Paris and Beyond.

Along the way I got slightly sidetracked in Fast Food Improves on France’s Fast Train, but there’s a cup of hot chocolate there as well.

As if all that weren’t entrancing enough, I joined journalist Corinne LaBalme to visit a new boutique hotel with a magic theme, where we saw ourselves in some bathroom fun-house mirrors, met the enchanting decorator and fell under the spell of the card-trickery of the magician receptionist. Corinne then took out her magic pencil to write a hotel review, while I went off to visit Paris’s Magic Museum to add a brief P.S. to her text.

I’m somewhat saddened to see this Magical Pastry Issue end, but nevertheless ready to improve my diet. Not right away though, because my new-found credibility as a cupcake expert in Paris has landed me a chair at the judging table of Cupcake Camp Paris, which takes place on Sunday afternoon Nov. 24, with proceeds going to Make-a-Wish France. Cupcake Camp Paris may not get the mass attention and local investment of Batkid in San Francisco, but we take our moments of happiness where we can get them.

You can grab some informative happiness right now by reading the Magical Pastry Issue. Don’t overdo it though. Savor these articles like I have pastries over the past few weeks, one or two a day, with long walks in Paris in between. How sweet it is!

See here for information about how to join on a culinary and wine adventure in the spirit of France Revisited.

The post The Magical Pastry Issue appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

After making a name for himself in the candy business in the south of France, Antoine Rumpelmayer, originally from Austria, opened a tea room in Paris’s most fashionable commercial quarter in 1903 and named it after his daughter-in-law Angeline. Rue de Rivioli, where it borders the Tuileries Garden, was then part of the most exclusive commercial district in the city thanks to the presence of the grand hotels of the late 19th-century (the Meurice, the Ritz, the Hotel du Louvre, et al.), the Garnier Opera, the high jewelry business then claiming Place Vendôme as its home (Boucheron, Cartier and Chaumet were then present), and the haute couture business that had been taking shape.

The brand was expanding to Japan while Angelina was still in its 90s, but that expansion has been occurring at more corporate speed since its purchase five years ago by Groupe Bernard, the fifth owner in Angelina’s history.

Japan now has two Angelina tea rooms along with 14 corners and boutiques. Franchises opened in Beijing and in Dubai this fall, with one in Doha slated for this winter. There’s an outlet at Galeries Lafayette in Lyon. Closer to home, there are currently seven outlets in Paris (not franchises), including the original tea room on rue de Rivoli, and a new bakery at 108 rue du Bac.

Hot Chocolate at Versailles

There’s also a tea room inside the Palace of Versailles and an Angelina counter by the entrance to the Petit Trianon. Angelina’s presence at Versailles is first and foremost a reflection of the need of the gatekeepers to the palace-museum to augment state subsidies, but its presence is also a charming historical reminder of Louis XIV’s and his queen Marie-Thérèse’s enjoyment of hot chocolate, which helped launch the beverage in France. France got a taste for hot chocolate in the 17th-century via Iberian Penninsula whose conquistadors first encountered cacao during their South American conquest. Marie-Thérèse, l’infante d’Espagne, was in fact the daughter of the king of Spain. Admitted, Angelina’s chocolate is proudly African whereas the chocolate of Versailles was South American. No matter, it makes for a good little lesson in the history of chocolate.

L’Africain

L’Africain, as Angelina calls its hot chocolate, derives its name from the use of four types of African cacao in the mix. The unsweetened whipped cream served with it may be caloric overkill, but its nevertheless useful in toning down the bitterness that some—particularly Americans since we’re less accustom to eating/drinking dark chocolates—taste with a first mouthful of Angelina’s thick nectar. L’Africain used to beat the competition in Paris hands down, but thick hot chocolates can now be found elsewhere in the capital. Still, it’s a joy. Six hundred servings are ordered at the Rivoli tea room each day.

L’Africain is also sold in bottles to be heated up at home, a creation that in 2009 began replacing the previously sold powder to which one added milk. As of this fall travelers can even order Angelina hot chocolate at the snack bar on the TGV high speed trains in France, poured from a single-serving bottle and heated by microwave behind the counter. I enjoy a little history with my Angelina hot chocolate and tend to recommend drinking it from a porcelain cup from the original tea room, but a paper cup on the TGV is not to be scoffed at, especially when traveling with children.

Groupe Bertrand

Angelina’s expansion under Groupe Bertrand hasn’t eased its 4pm lines under the arcades of rue de Rivoli any more than Ladurée’s expansion under Groupe Holder has shortened the queues for macaroons at its main outlets.

Groupe Bertrand owns or franchises numerous restaurants, fast-food joints, pubs, brasseries and cafeterias in Paris, the Paris region and well beyond. In addition to Angelina, their most notable Paris properties are Brasserie Lipp, Charlie Birdy, Sir Winston and Tsé , while the group also operates restaurants in the Printemps department store.

The Mont-Blanc

No documents have been found to indicate precisely when the tea room began selling its most famous pastry, the mont-blanc, but Angelina’s archives show that it already appeared on menus from the 1930s. The blob-shaped mont-blanc may look less refined and delicate than other pastries chez Angelina, but that copper brown ball of sweet chestnut cream surrounding unsweetened whipped cream and a meringue heart remains worthy of admiration for any sweet-tooth and cream-hound. Angelina sells 2500 of them each day in France. (A serving of hot chocolate and mont-blanc being far too rich for most mortals, it might be advisable to accompany the pastry with tea or coffee or simply to share.)

Expanding the Angelina brand also means adding new pastry recipes to the display counter, such as the cassis-flavored mont blanc that reached rue de Rivoli to coincide with the 110th anniversary and the babylon, an almond dacquoise with vanilla mousse, candied raspberries and strawberry marshmallow created to mark the opening of Angelina Rive Gauche, the brand’s new pastry shop at 108 rue du Bac.

The light and relatively pricey lunch at Angelina is not my cup of tea, personally, but at any time of day the Belle Epoque tea room holds its historical aura. However, that aura disappears when seated in one of the back rooms. As to the space upstairs, some see it as being too close to les toilettes or away from the action of the main room, but in its far reaches, with the right company or alone with a good book or a promising text, it can feel nicely private, even exclusive.

Le Club des Gourmandes

There, in May 2013, Angela held its first invitation-only meeting of Le Club des Gourmandes, a gathering of “influential” women who delight in partaking of good food, with a special affection for sweet delicacies (gourmandises). “Influential” largely refers thus far to women in the media.

At the second gathering in October 2013, five gourmandes were inducted into the clubs,

– Natasha Harry, a television personality, who adores milk chocolate;
– Isabelle Bourdet, Director-General of the Press Club of Paris, who prefers a good ol’ pain aux raisins;
– Mercotte, a cookbook author and co-host of Le Meilleur Pâtissier, a top pastry chef competition, who claims a special affection for the classic French pastry the Paris-Brest, made by Philippe Conticini (founder of La Pâtisserie des Rêves);
– Sonia Ezgulian, a journalist, cookbook author and culinary consultant, who’s a fan of Calissons Petit Duc, a diamond-shaped almond-paste confection, and
– Catherine Guérin, founder of the international culinary public relations firm Toques Connection, a fan of anything containing almonds.

Asked what it meant to be honored into the Club des Gourmandes, Guérin said that “gathering around gourmandises gives positive energy—it’s a breath of fresh air.”

Here’s to many more years of positive energy!

Angelina, 226 rue de Rivoli, 1st arr. Metro Tuileries. Tel. 01 42 60 82 00. Open daily: Mon.–Fri. 7:30am-7pm, Sat. and Sun. 8:30am-7pm. The site has a complete list of the Angelina’s outlets in Paris and elsewhere.

The post Angelina At 110 Pursues the Sweet Life In Paris and Beyond appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

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It’s hard to imagine that a district as well-trodden as the 6th arrondissement would still have anything resembling a backstreet, but if a backstreet in Paris can be defined as a street with neither thru-traffic nor croissants—selling croissants requires sufficient morning traffic or an elementary school nearby—then rue de l’Abbé Grégoire fits the bill.

Ferrandi, the French School of Gastronomy

Actually, there are croissants on rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, but they aren’t for public sale. They’re made as a practical exercise during baking class at the Ferrandi School.

Ferrandi is well known in Paris’s gastronomic circles for its secondary school curricula covering all aspects of the culinary arts and the restaurant business, from chef to manager. The school also offers short and long programs for amateur or professional chefs, and foreigners may apply for any of the school’s programs.

The culinary school also houses one of the best kept gastronomic secrets in Paris. Anyone, upon reservation, can become the well-fed guinea pig for the cuisine and services of the school’s young and budding chefs and restaurant staff at Ferrandi’s two dining rooms, les restaurants d’application.

A 3-course lunch menu is served Tues.-Fri. for 25€ or 30€, depending on the dining room. A 3-course dinner menu is served Mon. and Tues. (45€) and the occasional Thurs. (40€). Prices exclude beverages; there’s a decent wine list here. The students in the kitchen and in the dining room are being trained in French gastronomy, so whether achieved or not in every dish and every gesture, each meal has gastronomic leanings in its preparation and service.

Each table is requested to select a variety of dishes so as to give the chefs practice in the full range of the day’s menu. Come as a couple if you like, but as a restaurant experience a meal chez Ferrandi is especially endearing for a party of four or more. You’ll find the wait staff more willing to speak with diners than other waiters about town (students are expected to attain a certain proficiency in English) and you may even have the occasion to meet the young chefs before they head to their next class, or out for a smoke.

Ferrandi Paris, 28 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 6th arr. Tel. 01 49 54 28 00. Saint-Placide (line 4) is the closest metro station to Ferrandi and to the shops below, while the Rennes station (line 12) is just a bit further.

Backstreet doesn’t mean that Abbé Grégoire is difficult to find (the liberal, revolutionary abbot himself is entombed in the Pantheon) but that the neighboring streets are more commonly shopped and strolled and transited: rue du Cherche-Midi, rue de Vaugirard, rue Saint-Placide, rue de Rennes.

Colorova, Pastry Shop and Tea/Lunch Room

Guillaume Gil, the chef and owner of Colorova, a shop across the street from Ferrandi, is a 2004 graduate of the school, pastry section. Though he speaks highly of education at Ferrandi, it isn’t an attachment to the school that brought him to rue de l’Abbé Grégoire but the possibility in 2012, at the age of 31, to deploy his dream of operating his own business after honing his skills as an apprentice at the Plaza-Athenée, as commis chef at La Maison Blanche and as second and then chef at the Terrass Hotel.

At first glance, Colorova could be taken for an architect’s office, a frame shop, a design shop or a decorator’s showroom. You’ll likely first notice the light jade Smeg fridge to one side of the window and the Florentine nest of tables and woven-fabric-covered footstools to the other before catching sight of the presentation counters. And even then you might notice the slats that decorate the side of the counters before the array of pastries on top. But there they are: Guillaume Gil’s beautiful and delicious creations, and behind one of the counters, the man himself, working away with an assistant or two in the open kitchen.

About ten different pastries appear on the counter on a given day. Since the pastry presentation isn’t the focus of the room, the offerings of about 10 different pastries can appear rather sparse, but that illusion disappears as soon as you take on the challenge of trying to select one.

Gil’s luscious modern pastries stray noticeably if slightly from the canons of classic fine pastry-making without being avant-garde, e.g. a commendable caramel mousse tarte with a ring of speculoos and peanuts; a candied raspberry and chocolate tart; a café mousse with amaretto mascarpone. Gil eschews traditional pastries such as éclairs and basic fruit tarts. Viennoiserie (croissants, pains au chocolat and other morning pastries) are also absent, other than on weekends and holidays, when Colorova serves what has become a very popular brunch (26€ or 35€, reservations required). Weekday lunch, also prepared by Gil and his assistance, is also available. Pastries remain his true expertise.

The large minimalist boutique area and additional seating area, both enlivened with splashes of color, have an air of refinement but neither snobbery nor exclusivity. Anyone will feel comfortable here. In the morning and during afternoon tea, Colorova is a fairly quiet place that makes for a sweet, perhaps romantic linger.

Since Gil’s aren’t pastries that one can easily eat while walking, it’s best to choose one and have a seat. Pastries cost 4€50-5€50, so you might as well take a seat and savor the pleasure along with a Lov Organic tea or Nespresso coffee or a thick hot chocolate for overkill. A nice breakfast is also available at 12€ consisting of a slice of soft, delicate French toast (from a brioche made here); a whipped vanilla cream, caramel and apple compote; a hot drink and orange juice; bread (not made here), and homemade jams, a chocolate spread and a caramel spread.

Colorova, 47 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 6th arr. Tel. 01 45 44 67 56. Open Tues. 10am-5pm, Wed.-Fri. 7:30am-7pm, Sat.Sun. 9am-7pm. Weekend brunch is served at three seatings: beginning at 11/11:30am, 1/1:30pm and 3:30/4pm.

Le Vin en Bouche, Wine Shop

While Colorova, at first glance, looks like a design shop, Le Vin en Bouche, when I first walked by, looked as though someone had left the door open to the back pantry. I say that fondly because this quirky little wine shop and tasting room has an inviting spirit that comes from the knowledge and personalities of its two dissimilar owners, Vincent Martin, 41, and Jonathan Jean, 24, either of which would make a fine drinking companion.

Vincent Martin is a Ferrandi graduate, where he studied the culinary arts from 1993 to 1995 after three years in hotel school and where he discovered an aptitude for and an interest in the subtleties of wine. He was head sommelier at La Truffière, where he worked from 2000 to 2010 and helped develop the gastronomic restaurant’s tremendous wine cellar. He and Jean met when the latter, then in his teens, was hired as his apprentice.

Combining Martin’s great experience and Jean’s knowledgeable and engaging enthusiasm, they opened their little shop as peers in 2012. Whether you come upon one or the other you’ll get expert advice on an eclectic selection of wines and spirits and can pursue the conversation with them or with your travel companions over a glass and some well-selected charcuterie or fromage at the narrow table by the brick wall. They also offer wine tasting workshops and events, and Martin continues to advise restaurants and individuals on constituting wine lists and wine cellars.

Martin has personally visited each of the vineyards represented in the shop. But that’s not the end of his purchase policy. More than a dozen bottles are open at the shop at any time. The purpose of the open bottles isn’t simply to give clients a taste or larger pour, but also because Martin believes that for a wine to be worthy it must, among other qualities, be able to stand up to having been opened for a week or so. He continues to test open bottles for up to ten days to understand how they evolve. They’re simply recorked after each taste, without any air pump device, and either left on the table or placed in the wine fridge. “It’s a little extreme,” he acknowledges, “but I don’t like to leave things to chance.”

Martin and Jean’s small selection echoes their “passion for the wines of small winegrowers that truly represent their place of origin [terroir],” as Martin says. That’s a formula, at once trendy and old-fashion, that the traveler is well-advised to take as his own motto while getting to know French wines.  In wine tastings with those unaccustomed to French and European appellations, Martin joins many small-shop owners in saying that one of his tasks with New World consumers it to get them to loosen their focus on expecting a particular taste from a particular grape varietal.

These aren’t necessarily pricey wines. Most are in the 15-35€ range, along with a splash of more expensive wines from notable low-yield vineyards. There’s no Bordeaux in the shop, as Martin explains, because he finds that too many vintners and traders of the Bordeaux region have generally opted to sell through large distribution channels, meaning that any retail price that he might have for such wines would far exceed their price in chain shops, which would in term make him and Jean look like a price gougers. Actually, Martin does have some well-aging Bordeaux along with along with other “vins de garde” and old vintages in a private cellar in the 5th arrondissement. Those wines are also available for sale, so knowledgeable wine-lovers might wish to inquire about wines beyond those found in this wonderful little wine pantry.

Le Vin en Bouche, 27 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 6th arr. Tél. 01 42 22 02 97. Open Mon.-Sat. 10am-8pm.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Paris Street Talk: Gastronomy, Pastries and Wine on Rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 6th Arr. appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working, if such be called work, on France Revisited’s Pastry Issue, which involves tasting cupcakes, trying the new blackcurrant-flavored mont blanc made in honor of the 110th anniversary of the venerable tea room Angelina, and meeting several bakers.

Thinking about war tourism and commemorative travel on the one hand and about pastry tourism and yummy travels on the other may sound a bit schizophrenic, but tourism and travel present us with the wonderful challenge of enjoying the ridiculous within the sublime, the sublime within the solemn, the contemporary within the historical, the economics within the culture, and vice versa. And anyway you’ve got to eat and drink along the way, so why not enjoy.

Actually, juggling thoughts of sweets and war it isn’t so schizophrenic after all since they led me to ANZAC biscuits, which are well known to Australians and New Zealanders but new to me.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC biscuits are oatmeal biscuits that were sent to soldier from down under during the Great War.

I brought back a pack of ANZAC biscuits from my visit to Picardy last week and opened it today to raise a morning toast, so to speak, to veterans and fallen soldiers (and to share with a Brazilian neighbor). The Australian War Memorial provides a recipe. They were better than I expected—quite good company with tea (as is the Brazilian neighbor and her dog)—nothing I’d dive into a trench for but a nice bite of history on Veterans/Remembrance/Armistice Day. The AWM site notes that early recipes for the biscuits didn’t include coconut. You’ll also see there a recipe for ANZAC tiles or wafers, a long shelf-life substitute for bread that was also shipped to soldiers.

Those visiting northern France may find them in bakeries and shops frequented by tourists near WWI sites and museums, possibly alongside poppy-flavored goods, such as poppy-flavored jelly and syrup. Though those aren’t wartime products (and in any case are mostly sugar), they recall the significance of the poppy (le coquelicot) as a symbol of the fallen of nations of the British Empire/Commonwealth ever since the publication in 1915 of John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” (1915): “In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row…” The poppy’s significance stems from its being the only plant that grew in the traumatized soil of the battlefields of France and Belgium.

At least that’s how the British saw it. The French also noticed the cornflowers (les bleuets). Bleuet was also the nickname given to the young soldiers who arrived after the start of the war in new blue uniforms. (The old uniforms, still worn at the start of the war but too flashy for a modern battlefield, had red pants.) Thus, President Hollande wore a cornflower on his lapel today as he laid a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe, site of France’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

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For general tourist information about touring WWI sites, museums and monuments in the department of Somme, see the official Somme tourist site.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

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Vincent Dallet, a master pâtissier-chocolatier, is one of the top chocolate-makers in France and no slouch as a pastry-maker either. His shop/tea room is in the center of town and he has another in Reims.

I first met Mr. Dallet, at his pastry and chocolate school, behind the Epernay shop, where individuals can join in occasional afternoon classes in French. I’d come to bake—or rather watch Mr. Dallet bake—his version of the region’s famous pink biscuit, the biscuit rose or biscuit rose de Reims, known in English as champagne biscuits.

Akin to the ladyfinger, the champagne biscuit is a light biscuit with a sprinkling of powdered sugar on top. It can be softened, if you like, by dipping it into champagne. Though often sold packaged as a dry and crumbly biscuit, Vincent Dallet prefers them tender and moist, as he explains in his personal recipe which he was kind enough to share below.

Mr. Dallet’s apprenticeship and training in pastry- and chocolate-making came during his years of journey as a compagnon du Tour de France, an organization through which young craftsmen and artisans, from woodworkers to chocolate-makers, travel around France to learn from masters in their field. After working with several 3-star Michelin chefs, Mr. Dallet opened his shop in Epernay in 1991, where he now continues the tradition by training young compagnons in his business. He opened a second shop in Reims in 2006. That same year he was named Best Pastry Maker in France by Pudlowski, a major French gastronomy guide.

Vincent Dallet in Epernay. 26 rue du Général Leclerc. Tel. 03 26 55 31 08. Open Tues.-Sun. 7:30am-7:45pm. Closed two weeks Jan./Feb. and two weeks July/Aug.

Vincent Dallet’s Ecole du Chocolate is just behind the shop. The current schedule of afternoon classes can be found here.

Vincent Dallet in Reims. 27 cours Jean-Baptiste Langlet. Tel. 03 26 35 40 53. Open Mon. 2-7:30pm and Tues.-Sat. 10am-7:30pm.

© 2012, Gary Lee Kraut

Here is Vincent Dallet’s recipe for biscuits roses, first in English (GLK’s translation) then in the original French.

Biscuits Roses, a.k.a. Champagne Biscuits, Vincent Dallet’s way

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 250 grams (1.1 cups) of powdered sugar
• 5 drops of red food coloring or carmine. [The scarlet coloring carmine that was originally used to color the biscuits pink came from cochineal insects, but other deep red food colorings will do.]
• 240 grams (1.9 cups) of flour
• 6 grams (.21 ounces or just under 1 packet) of yeast

Directions:
• Place a stainless steel mixing bowl on a saucepan of simmering water.
• Beat together the eggs and sugar and food coloring.
• Warm the mixture gradually until it becomes a thick mousse.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the bain-marie (boiler) and continue whipping until cool.
• Slowly pour the flour (previously sieved) along with the yeast and delicately mix it all together with a rubber spatula.
• Preheat the oven at 180°C (350°F).

• Butter the biscuit mold.
• Fill it with the mixture to the top edge of the mold.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar using a sifter.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the molds.
• Remove from the mold while hot.
• Allow to cool. And enjoy without moderation.

Tip:
• For me a biscuit rose should be tender and moist, not dry. That’s the big difference with industrially produced biscuits roses.
• However, if you prefer them dry, you can simply leave them in the over for an extra 15 minutes at a temperature of 80°C (175°).

Biscuit rose à ma façon (Vincent Dallet)

Recette de base :
• 5 œufs entiers
• 250 g de sucre semoule
• 5 gouttes de carmin (colorant alimentaire rouge)
• 240 g de farine
• 6 gr de levure

Procédé de fabrication :
• Sur une casserole d’eau frémissante, posez un cul de poule en inox.
• Travaillez au fouet les œufs et le sucre et le carmin.
• Faites tiédir doucement ce mélange, afin d’obtenir une mousse épaisse.
• Retirez du bain marie, et fouettez jusqu’à complet refroidissement.
• Versez doucement la farine préalablement tamisée avec la levure et mélangez le tout délicatement à la Maryse.
• Préchauffez votre four à 180°.
• Beurrez les moules à biscuits roses.
• Garnissez les de pâte à biscuits rose à ras du moule.
• Saupoudrez les de sucre glace à l’aide d’une passoire étamine.
• Cuisez les entre 25 à 30 minutes suivant la grosseur de vos moules.
• Démoulez les à chaud.
• Laissez refroidir et dégustez sans modération….

Astuce :
• Pour moi un biscuit rose doit être fondant et moelleux et non sec.C’est la grande différence avec les biscuits roses fabriqués de façon industriel.
• Mais si vous les voulez sec, il suffit de les laisser 15 minutes de plus au four, mais à une température de 80°.

The post Vincent Dallet, Master Pastissier-Chocolatier in Epernay, and His Recipe for Champagne Biscuits (Biscuits Roses) appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

Yes, Cupcake Camp is returning to Paris on the afternoon of Sunday Oct. 2, 2011. I made sufficient mockery of its first Paris edition last year so I’ll try to play it straight this year.

Cupcake Camp is a charity event whose 2011 proceeds will be donated to the French chapter of Make a Wish Foundation, an association that helps fulfill the wishes of gravely ill children.

Entrance is free to Cupcake Camp with visitors paying for any drinks and cupcakes. There will be live music, a raffle, and icing galore.

The event will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. at Le Comptoir Général by Canal Saint Martin, 80 quai de Jemmapes in the 10th arrondissement. To read about CG on France Revisited and see its location on a map see here.

The cheery cupcake (or fairy cake) so beloved to children in the US and UK was largely unknown in Paris until four or five years ago. Since then a half-dozen cupcake shops have entered the bakery scene in Paris (can donut shops be far behind? hopefully, yes), and some traditional French bakeries and caterers occasionally add them to their displays. There are also several home-based cupcake makers offering cupcakes and cakes made to order for parties.

I’ll be organizing a taste-testing of the offerings of the better professional cupcake bakers of Paris for the purposes of a France Revisited “Tasted-Tested” article this fall.

If you’re over 20, have some culinary cred and would like to take part in a France Revisited taste-testing of the products of professional cupcakers in Paris write to me at gary [at] francerevisited.com.

© 2011 Gary Lee Kraut

The post Cupcake Camp Promises to Be Even Sweeter This Year appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.