Show Notes
When I told a friend that when I’m in New York, I go out for drinks with Brad Parsons, she said, “Oh, he’s the holy grail of drinking buddies!” I was introduced to Brad via Ed Anderson, who photographed my books Drinking French and My Paris Kitchen, and he photographed all of Brad’s books. After shooting My Paris Kitchen, Ed sent me a copy of Bitters, which was so well-written and covered the subject so well (a subject I wasn’t all that familiar with, but the book piqued my interest!) that I had to meet him. Brad has not only written Bitters, which won coveted James Beard and IACP awards, but also the book on Amaro, and Last Call, about closing time in the bar world. In Distillery Cats, he profiles “the world’s most spirited mousers,” and he’s currently working on a book about Italian drinks. I often refer to Brad as the Godfather of Drinking French as Brad was kind enough to put me in touch with contacts he had in the U.S., and he spent more than a few evenings with me doing “research” at bars, so I could see and learn how bartenders used French spirits, while also learning what was (and wasn’t) readily available outside of France. I’m fortunate to have Brad as a friend. He knows his spirits and is great fun to have a drink with. He just launched a his own newsletter, Last Call, where he covers the cocktail scene and shares stories, such as a nostalgic look at his favorite hand pies in New Orleans, a heartfelt ode to his late best friend and companion, and cocktail recipes, including seasonal summer drinks from New York’s famed Gramercy Tavern. Subscribe to my newsletter to receive new posts, podcasts, recipes…and more! (Paid subscribers get full access to archives and more Paris stories.)
In my podcast, Brad and I talked about French and Italian spirits and apéritifs, as well as how the countries differ in what they drink, and the way they drink, along with recipes if you’d like to share a drink with us! You can also find Brad at his website and on Instagram, and the recipes for the drinks we made in the podcast are below. - David Campari and Soda From Brad Thomas Parsons
2 ounces Campari (stored in the freezer) 6 ounces ice-cold seltzer or club soda Garnish: orange slice or twist Add the chilled Campari to a frozen tumbler or highball glass. Top with seltzer or club soda. Add ice and orange slice or twist.
Campari Shakerato From Brad Thomas Parsons, adapted from Naren Young, at Dante, NYC 2 1/2 ounces Campari Add the Campari to a mixing tin and shake with ice. Strain the mixture into the empty part of the mixing tin, if using a 2-part Boston shaker—if using a standard 3-part shaker, called a cobbler shaker, strain the mixture into another vessel. (You can read about the different types of shakers here.) Discard the ice and pour the mixture back into the shaker and shake vigorously—called a “dry shake”—for 10-15 seconds. Strain into a chilled Nick and Nora glass or small coupe glass.
Suze and Tonic Adapted from Drinking French You can use Suze or Salers, another gentian-flavored French apéritif, in this twist on the classic Gin & Tonic. If you want it on the stronger side, feel free to add more Suze or Salers.
1 ounce Suze or Salers 3 ounces ice-cold tonic water 2 lime wedges
Add the Suze or Salers to a tall Collins glass or tumbler, or a footed goblet. Top with tonic water and add a generous handful or two of ice. Garnish with lime wedges.
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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
I was thrilled when Sami Tamimi told me he was coming to Paris. Sami recently released his third book, Boustany: A celebration of vegetables from my Palestine, so I invited him into my kitchen to make a recipe from it with me. And the weather was so nice, we decided to prepare it outside. Sami is the co-founder of the Ottolenghi restaurants and delis, and the author of Falastin, one of my favorite cookbooks, which explores his Palestinian heritage through stories and recipes from his homeland. Boustany focuses ore squarely on the vegetable dishes of Palestine. Sami’s book features a bounty of recipes that focus on vegetables, such as salads like the Fridge-raid fattoush, and there are beautifully verdant Gazan fava bean falafels. I’ve never made falafels, but his recipe and the gorgeous photo that accompanies it make me want to. Other recipes that I’ve bookmarked are the spicy Shatta condiment, Bulghur wheat dumplings & lentil soup, and Ouzi phyllo parcels, which are individual dishes filled with rice, orzo, vegetables, nuts, and spices. Where does chocolate fit in? Well, like tomatoes and squash (which are lavishly featured in the book), chocolate is also technically a fruit. And besides, who doesn’t love chocolate? Since I’ve been in the chocolate mode, thanks to The Great Book of Chocolate coming out, I was glad Sami was up for doing some baking and showed up ready to make his Tahini, Halvah, and Coffee Brownies. Subscribe to my newsletter and get videos, recipes, Paris tips, and more, sent right to your Inbox!
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…