On a Sunday morning in the French coastal town of Douarnenez, a queue snakes out the door of a boulangerie. This is a common enough sight across the country, where picking up freshly made bread is a daily ritual, but here the people aren’t just buying a baguette. Most are also waiting to purchase one … Read more
Joining a French restaurant kitchen is a baptism by fire. An apprentice has mere moments to make an impression, and, according to Yves Camdeborde, owner of Paris’ four Avant-Comptoir restaurants, is frequently given a task whose outward simplicity conceals true technicity. To succeed is to garner favour; to fail is to show one still has … Read more
With a muted sweetness balanced by the yoghurt’s welcome tang, “it’s just enough to make it a dessert, but not so much that it feels like it needs to be a special occasion.” Indeed, birthdays and Sunday lunches in France are more often concluded with the wares of pro pâtissiers, architectural marvels of ganache, syrup … Read more