Show Notes
The baking world is a big, bountiful place, and there’s a lot of ground to cover. And French breads and pastries, of course, take up a lot of that space. I met Bryan Ford, the author of New World Sourdough, back in 2019. At the time, I didn’t realize (and likely neither did he!) that he’d be one of the bright spots of a global pandemic, teaching people the art of sourdough baking during worldwide lockdowns and confinements. Now Bryan is the host of his own television show, The Artisan’s Kitchen on Discovery+, and is working on a new book on Latin baking. Bryan raised some interesting points in an interview about how (and why) the world is captivated by European baking and croissants, and shared some observations about his Honduran heritage, that is worth reading. Since he was in town, I invited him into my Paris kitchen to talk about some breads that I gathered from my favorite local bakeries for a tasting during our podcast. Give it a listen! French breads from top: Grainy baguette from The French B******s, sourdough loaf from Ten Belles, gluten-free Five Grain bread from Chambelland, an all-butter (mostly-eaten) croissant from Boulangerie Utopie. Not shown: A sesame-curry baguette, which Bryan is holding, also from Boulangerie Utopie.
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When I wrote my book, The Great Book of Chocolate, I got to meet — and learn from —some of the best chocolatiers in the world. One of them was Michael Recchiuti, co-founder and chocolatier of Recchiuti chocolates in San Francisco. At the time, artisan and bean-to-bar chocolates were emerging in the United States, and Michael was at the forefront, incorporating diverse ingredients, such as herbs, locally grown oranges and pears, Key limes, Hawaiian coffee, and French fleur de sel, into his sublime confections. On a recent visit to Paris, I invited Michael into my kitchen, along with his wife, Jacky, who is the co-founder and creative director of the company, to chat about chocolate, including discussing some of the differences between French and American chocolates. We also did a tasting of some of his favorite chocolates. Michael recounted how we met, which was when I was working on the first edition of The Great Book of Chocolate, and the (admittedly, extreme) lengths I was going to get the recipes right, and we’ve become friends ever since. At the time, I had never tasted chocolates like Michael’s before, which combined flavors and incorporated ingredients, such as chocolate-covered pears infused with Key lime juice and fleur de sel accenting smoky caramel. Michael enrobes Kona coffee ganache centers with dark chocolate, tarragon gets combined with grapefruit, and he embeds handmade bars of Mexican chocolate (a special chocolate made exclusively for him by Valrhona) with burnt caramelized almonds. Michael also uses the darkest milk chocolate I’ve seen in tablets of chocolate that raises the milk chocolate bar (so to speak), using milk chocolate that contains 54% cacao solids. In collaboration with San Francisco coffee roaster Linea, he melds finely ground organic coffee beans with white chocolate into an irresistible café au lait bar, reminiscent of a café latte. Michael has also been working with NASA and Astreas on a “luxurious functional truffle,” which astronauts will be taking into space, to keep them alert — and satisfy their chocolate cravings — while in the stratosphere. Here on earth, The New York Time’s Wirecutter team rated Michael’s chocolates, The Best Boxed Chocolates.
It’s Saturday morning and it’s a big day in France with strikes and major demonstrations nationwide. But everyone has to eat, so we hit the Marché d’Aligre in our neighborhood, to gather some things for the weekend. My weekend projects are Lamb tagine, Green curry, and Riz au lait (rice pudding) from my book, Ready for Dessert, for a recipe that I’ll be sharing here in the newsletter shortly. The lamb tagine is from my book, My Paris Kitchen and the North African butcher was so happy that I was making a tagine, he gave me a bouquet of fresh mint to make tea with, to drink afterwards. We also picked up persimmons, avocados, speck, shallots, Japanese eggplant, and Romain’s favorite cheese! (Well, one of them 😄 …) -David
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A highlight of writing Drinking French was getting to meet, and highlight, some of my favorite creative people in Paris, and in France, who are part of the cocktail scene, which has rapidly expanded over the years, turning Paris into one of the world’s most exciting cocktail destinations. Franck was one of the heroes in Drinking French, and as you can see in the video, there are more pictures of him in my book…than of me. After working in an art gallery in Paris, Franck went on to work at the highly celebrated restaurant, Le Châteaubriand, where chef Inaki Aizpitarte was invigorating, and shaking up, the world of French cuisine. Franck saw how the world of cocktails was changing outside of France, and decided to delve into cocktails as well, creating cocktails that leaned into French spirits and ingredients. Subscribe to my newsletter to get videos, recipes, Paris tips, and more, sent right to your Inbox!
Places mentioned in the video where I shopped: Miyam, Terroirs de Avenir, Pari Local and Leonie bakery…