France & Itally - The Gastronomic Posts - Part I France

I originally had not planned on focusing on food for my writing of this trip. However since wedding girl #3 specifically asked that I go into all the gory details I will relent.

I dedicate this section to #2 who in preparing for this trip indicated that she had no preferences on where we should go or what we should do, that she was willing to go where ever everyone else decided with one exception – food. She made it clear in no uncertain terms that her goal was to have the best eating experience possible.

As #2 is a military officer and Air Force in specific, she addressed this issue with ruthless efficiency and commitment. Any flagging energy or enthusiasm on the part of the rest of us was met with discipline and a required recommitment to the mission. She approached the exercise with the same strategy as the Air Force did in WW II and Vietnamese War; saturation bombing leaving no area of consumption avoided – full meals, tasting menus, street food, snacks, etc. Of course in any such mission there would be casualties. There were members of our team whose digestive tracks may never recover. Casualties ran as high as 50% on any given mission. But persevere we did. And I believe Captain #2 would agree that we accomplished the objective.

Rather than go meal by meal, I’m dividing this into two sections France and Italy and focusing on the high points from each.

France

I am a real Francophile, having studied in France and developed deep comfort and facility for being there. There was a time in the 80’s and early 90’s where it seemed that there was a deterioration of the qualities that made eating in France such a pleasure. That seems to have changed. From what I’ve read and what I experienced on this trip, there seems to have been renewed commitment to the quality of ingredient and preparation. We didn’t do much “high” dining in France. Most of the time we were just stopping in cafés and brasseries along our walks. But I was much impressed with the quality of the basics; the bread, the cheeses, and the charcutrie. On to details

France got off with a bang before #2 and 2B arrived with the lamb shoulder event in Paris with 1A, a preparation that matched the wonderful lamb I had in New Zealand last year. This is also where I found the place that had the tête de veau and where #1 had here beloved moules frites – steamed mussels with French fries. In fact there was hardly a day we were in Paris that we didn’t take the opportunity to eat frites.

We had lots of wonderful charcutrie – pâtés, terrines, sausisson (dry cured sausages) and country hams in the cafés and at the chateau. Bread is a big deal in France more so than anywhere else I’ve gone. Both in Paris and the country, you never fail to see people bringing the fresh loaf home for either lunch or dinner.

No discussion of the French eating experience would be complete without discussing the pigs roasted at #3’s wedding. They were brined so they almost tasted like hams and they were stuffed with chopped pig meat as well.

Our grand repas (meal) at the L’Espadon at the Ritz, a meal worthy of going into detail. I think Wife and I both agreed that this was one of the best meals of our lives. We started with a trio of amuse-bouches to go with champagne chosen by our sommelier (who was just great). There was this cream of broccoli in a tiny circle of crisp wafer, a tiny fried croquette of mushrooms on a spoon and a little bowl that had a thin layer of foie gras covered by a layer of passion fruit purée.

The next course for Wife was small filet of rouget with a sauce that was based on foie gras. Mine was a single large ravioli with a soft egg yolk within. This was surrounded by some escargot (out of the shell) and some chanterelle mushrooms and a very light sauce. With both these dishes all the components melded to create a complete flavor. In fact with mine, eating components separately was disappointing but the combination exquisite. The pairing with the rouget was wine from around the Bixarete section of France while mine was paired with a Sancerre, a sauvignon blanc from the Loire area.

For our main courses, Wife chose a Guinea Fowl that was combined with a piece of cooked foie gras. The chef pulled off a culinary miracle here because, she ate every bit and I have never seen Wife ever eat foie gras before! I had piece of turbot on bed of white beans and tomatoes. With the Guinea Fowl, Wife had a glass of a red burgundy while I had a white burgundy. Both wines were killer. The red (which is based on pinot noir) was very peppery in its flavor. The white had all the spicy notes one expects from a good white burgundy.

Then it was on to dessert. Wife chose a chocolate dessert that I can only describe as a thin, super light brownie with 10 2Bes more chocolate flavor along with a bit of ice cream. I had a grapefruit based mousse but it wasn’t really a mousse because it was much lighter, almost airy, and firmer. Plus there were these slightly crispy white accompaniments that I really am not sure what they were. There were dessert wines with these but by this 2Be we were getting a bit fuzzy from the wine – this was lunch remember. And there were two other desserts as well! We got these tiny little apple creams with small pieces of apple that just screamed fruit flavor and a little selection of cookies to go with coffee.

France finished up on our last evening at my favorite local place near the hotel with a selection of fish served family style with sides of frites, veggies and wonderful classic French salad – beautiful bib lettuce greens lightly dressed in this understated vinaigrette with a hint of garlic.