We were a class of 7 altogether: the two of us, a mother and 2 daughters from Canada, and this couple who happened to stay in the same neighbourhood as Eric did when in New York. We discussed menus on the way to the shops – decided upon mussels at the beginning, saw what was available in the shops for the starter, and so on (the French typically eat what's in season). For dessert, we decided upon the chocolate lava cake. Yum!
Market visit was not to a market per se but rather to a little series of shops on the street near the metro stop (Rue du Poteau). Our first stop was a horse shop. Now Eric prounounces horse “ors” so one of the Canadian ladies thought he was saying “ox”. But the horse heads on the sign gives it away. Eric says that the French are losing the taste for horse meat. There are now fewer horse meat shops in Paris than there used to be, and it is eaten largely by the old. Of course, the French do not eat the whole horse. Just three parts – the rump, tenderloin (and I forget the third). For hygiene reasons horse meat must be sold on its own and not with the other meats, hence these stand alone shops.We next visited the cheese shop or fromagerie. I rather liked the shop, with the huge variety of cheese available to look at – from France and other regions in Europe (Italy, Switzerland and Holland). We got some cheeses here. Then, the butcher shop (boucherie) – again, incredible variety - with rabbit, chicken, duck, lamb, pork etc. Some with the "AOC" tag to show that it is meat of the highest standards. There was a “no dogs” sign in the shop but dogs were still pottering in and out. Need a proper leashing area for the dogs outside, since it would be impossible to think that the French would leave their dogs at home.
Next to the fishmongers (le poissonnerie), where we were going to get our mussels plus two large sea bream. The fishmonger de-scaled, de-boned and filleted the fish on the spot for us. Finally, the vegetable shop where we were shown around all the varieties of beautiful tomatoes, potatoes and so on – and where we also picked up bunches of white asparagus for our appetizer, in addition to loads of veggie and salad items - macha leaves or “lamb lettuce”, oranges, a tomato, potatoes, celeriac (celery root tuber – now I know what that looks like) plus lots of herbs - flat leaf parsley, tarragon, and a bouquet garni of thyme and bay leaves, and some strawberries and raspberries to accompany our dessert. And just before our arrival at our cooking school, we picked up some bread from an artisan boulanger, i.e. the baker bakes from scratch including milling his own cereal. No short cuts on food for the French.What was really charming was that these little stand alone shops have not been completely replaced by supermarkets. The variety and high quality of goods available in each shop indeed is better than anything I've seen in Singapore.
We then proceeded for class, which was very nearby. Eric's chosen his spot well. This was quite enjoyable even though I wish we were more active in the cooking – Eric passed us vegetables/food and told us to chop this and that, as opposed to giving us a recipe which we then had to work through. I do appreciate he has to work with a large range of ability and kitchen experience, so I guess this is what he has found works. Also interesting to note that practically everything we ate was boiled as opposed to fried. Hmmmm… French food is healthier than I thought.
Finally, it was time to eat.
The white asparagus was beautiful…. it was soft and melted in the mouth. I really loved its delicate flavour. It was accompanied by a green salad of mache or lamb lettuce, with chopped tomatoes and orange segments and a dressing of honey, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Incidentally, I must say that I know now the amount of waste that must be generated in the French restaurants. A good quarter to one-third of the asparagus is not eaten because it is too fibrous; this is gauged by bending the asparagus and seeing where it breaks. The Canadian lady asked Eric whether he composts; he confessed he did not as he would have to travel to the suburbs to do this and he only had a little motor car...The fish was alright, and I now definitely know what is meant by French food being all about the sauce.
But the mussels were beautiful – tasted so fresh and cooked just right so that they were soft, succulent and juicy. They were accompanied by a mash of the celeriac and potato, and by little pearled vegetables. Incidentally, pearling the veggies also results in a lot of waste being generated, especially when done by unskilled hands who scoop out the little spheres at quite some distance from each other. I of course tried to maximise the number of pearls I got out of each courgette or turnip or carrot.The chocolate cake was fun!
It was also so simple to make, that I am really encouraged to do this at home. Essentially the cake doesn’t cook all the way through – so the molten centre is really the original cake mix (egg, sugar, chocolate, butter and flour). Eric also told us the secret of really sweet strawberries – forget about what the outside looks like – what is important is whether the core of the strawberry is pink – that’s the sign of a sweet strawberry. The inner cores of the strawberries we get in Singapore are all white, so that’s the reason why they just are not so sweet.Ah yes, a really satisfying and filling meal indeed. After all that, it was difficult to put down the other things we did that day. In fact they are just jottings, so I will end this post here. (And the photolink is here).
P.S. The website for Cook'n with Class (note! there's a large section with recipes): http://www.cooknwithclass.com/index.html. And Eric is a warm and friendly chap, who makes everyone feel comfortable (aside from explaining things very well).
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