Baguette to Bistro: A Culinary Tour of Paris

After almost nine months of being constantly on the move, Jeff and I have been relishing our month-long sojourn in Paris.  I have been excited for quite some time now to get to spend a month being a Parisian.  Albeit a Parisian that doesn't actually speak French, but I'm trying!

So what are some of the perks of being a Parisian?  Well the food, of course!  Sadly, due to our budgetary constraints, we have not been able to partake in many of the gastronomical wonders Paris has to offer.  Prior to leaving for our trip we thought New York was an expensive city.  We have come to find, however, that New York is in fact one of the less expensive major cities.  Go figure.  Though we cannot afford to eat out, we have quickly adapted to the Parisian custom of buying fresh baguettes every day at the local boulangerie (see, look at my fantastic French skills.)

To further our experience of French culinary culture, we decided to take part in the Baguette to Bistro tour offered by Context Travel.  As the title promises, we began our tour with a discussion of the iconic baguette.  Interestingly, we found out that the baguette came into fashion following the Second World War as a backlash to the large, round loaves of dark bread that were given as rations.  What's the opposite of big, dark, and round?  Long, thin, and white . . . the baguette!

The de facto maker of the best baguette

Part of being a Parisian is lining up on your way home to grab a fresh baguette for dinner.  Every afternoon I have swooned as I walk into the boulangerie across the street, intoxicated by the amazing smell of bread being baked in the oven.  Really, a baguette should be consumed within three to six hours of preparation for optimal experience.  They become quite hard otherwise and are more useful as a weapon than for consumption.

As far as I was concerned, I had experienced the pinnacle of bread creation at the boulangerie we frequent across the street.  I found out today, however, that not all baguettes are created equal, and I'm afraid to say that my coveted across-the-street baguette may be on the less equal side of the spectrum.  Who would have thought that something made from four such simple ingredients (just flour, water, yeast, and salt) could produce such a broad range of quality?

Our incredible guide, Meg, showed us that there is a huge difference between the average baguette and the truly great baguette.  After stopping off at her favorite boulangerie, she took us outside and compared the baguette she had just purchased to one that she had bought near her home that morning, which she considered to be "O.K."  While the "O.K." baguette was indeed quite good (and reminded me a lot of the one I get every day), the exceptional baguette was truly something else.  Crispy on the outside, doughy on the inside . . . yummmmmmmm!  Meg explained that a number of factors affect the quality of the bread including how long the dough is allowed to rise prior to baking and the type of yeast used.

Parisians, as you can imagine, are quite passionate about their baguettes.  Every year there is a competition to be named the Best Baguette in Paris.  The winner not only gets the honor of being the maker of the Best Baguette, they also prepare the baguettes consumed by the President every day.  Jeff and I were surprised (and quite thrilled) to find out that the current winner is located within walking distance of where we are staying.  It goes without saying that this evening I will be procuring one of these baguettes.  (Don't tell the boulangerie across the street!) If you were wondering, the boulangerie Meg took us to has not won the award for the best baguette because the owner will not enter the contest.  Meg surmised that this was because the owner, acknowledged to be the baker of the best bread, had too much to lose by entering the contest.  How Parisian of him.

After becoming experts on how to select the perfect baguette, we just had to cross the street for our next topic: cheese.  While I love cheese and consider myself to be a bit more knowledgeable than the average person about different types of cheese, I have to admit that I was totally overwhelmed the first week Jeff and I arrived and went to purchase some fresh cheese for a picnic.  Luckily, the man at the fromagerie (look at me, again, with my French words!) was incredibly kind and helped us choose an excellent goat cheese (in season from early spring til November, we learned today).  So I was quite excited to actually learn a little bit about cheeses so that I wouldn't look like a complete fool the next time I went to buy some.

We found out that a critical piece of information can be gleaned from the sign prior to even entering the store.  If  "Affineur" is written on the outside that means that the store ages much of the cheese themselves on site.  This allows them to sell the cheese at its peak.  You may even walk in and tell them when you will be consuming the cheese - today, in three days, in a week - and since they are aging the cheese on site they will be able to choose one that is at the proper stage in the aging process.

With the help of the store's affable owner, Meg was also able to answer the burning question that has been keeping us up at night since we arrived in Paris: what is the difference between yogurt and fromage blanc?  We noticed that fromage blanc is always displayed with the yogurt whenever we go to the market.  When we tried the fromage blanc we found that despite a slight difference in consistency (a bit thicker) it tasted basically like yogurt.  So we've been asking many people what the difference is between the two.  Everyone assures us that there is a difference, and yet no one is able to tell us what that difference actually is.  Poor Jeff had to listen to a lady by the dairy section go on for quite a few minutes about the difference between the two when he asked one day.  Despite her long-winded response, she actually didn't tell us what the difference was.

So now that I've gone into all of this I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats wondering what the difference could possibly be.  Well, apparently it all has to do with a simple enzyme, called rennet, which is used to make fromage blanc instead of the bacteria used to make yogurt.  Jeff and I felt pretty darn smart when they were telling us about this because we had already learned what rennet was during the parmagiano reggiano tour we took in Italy.  (The enzyme is extracted from the stomach of cows, in case you were interested.)

Jeff is not big into the taste of exotic cheeses (he's a cheddar guy), but he was a trooper and gave everything a try.  Though one might expect brie to be the cheese of choice for most Parisians, we found out that in fact most Parisians go gaga for comté, a harder cheese that is similar to gruyere.  We also got to sample the difference between goat cheese that is six weeks old and much younger goat cheese that is only a few days old. We were amazed at how different they were. 

After consuming our fill of cheese, I was a bit worried Jeff might not be enjoying himself.  Fortunately, my worries vanished when we found out that our next stop would be a chocolate shop.  You should have seen the huge smile that spread over his face at that news. 

I guess Parisians are a pretty competitive bunch because in addition to their little baguette contest, they also have a competition to establish the best chocolate each year.  The chocolatier we visited had won on two occasions and we were able to taste the delectable winning confections: one with pink peppercorn and the other made with smoked salt, almond and pistachio (I can't eat anything with pistachio without thinking about Lucie!).  No, I wouldn't have thought those sounded like very tempting combinations either, but I have to say that they were pretty darn amazing.  We also tried a basil chocolate, which Jeff picked out and was quite good as well. 

In addition to sampling some delectable chocolate concoctions we also learned a lot about cocoa beans, of which there are three major types: forastero, criollo,  and trinitario (a hybrid of the first two).   Forastero is the type of bean used to make most chocolates, while criollo is the darling of the chocolate world.  Meg purchased two bars for us to sample: both were from Venezuela and had 75% cocoa content, but one was made with forastero beans and the other with criollo.  The difference in taste was surprising.  We tried the criollo first and all noted that it was not like any chocolate we had tasted before.  Notably, it had a bit of acidity to its taste.  The bar made with forastero tasted almost like nothing following the robust taste of the criollo bar. 

Experiencing a rush from all the chocolate, we happily followed as Meg led us to a patesserie to sample a couple pastries.  (No, this tour is not appropriate for anyone on a diet.) To be honest, I don't actually remember the names of the two pastries we tried, but I do remember that they were good.  Jeff and I will have to go back to that patesserie so I can figure out the names (and sample some more!)*. 

Though all our dinners have been eaten at home so far, we do plan on having at least one or two meals out so we can experience some of the food for which the French are so famous.  Luckily, Meg makes a living writing articles on food and restaurants, so as we happily noshed away on our pastries, were able to get some recommendations for restaurants that serve exceptional French food.  Stay tuned . . . 

The pretty cloth napkin they include with their pastries.

What does this have to do with food, you ask?  Well, nothing, but we took a five minute stop to visit this taxidermy store.  They wouldn't allow pictures inside, so I only had this from the window to put up.  It was crazy!

*This is Jeff, and I remember.  One was called Kouign-amann, a cake from Brittany.  Its main ingredients are butter and sugar, so it's predictably delicious.  The other was a Paris-Brest, a pastry filled with hazelnut cream and caramel.