Page 294 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

292  TR A VELLERS ’ NEEDS

The Flavours of Paris

From the glittering temples of haute cuisine to the humblest
neighbourhood bistro, Paris is a paradise for food lovers,
whether you dine on foie gras and truffles or steak-frites, a
seafood platter or a perfumed Moroccan couscous. France is
immensely proud of its food, from classic haute cuisine to
the most rustic of regional dishes. All are available in the
capital and, though the French themselves will debate
endlessly about the ideal sauce to complement meat or fish,
or the right wine to accompany them, they will always be in
total agreement that theirs is the best food in the world.

prize ingredients of the season. represented in the capital, from
Even if you are not shopping the rich, bourgeois cuisines of
for food to cook, the markets Burgundy and Lyon to the
are worth browsing and, after celebrated healthy
an hour or so in the crowded, Mediterranean diet of
narrow streets of the Rue de Provence. Paris itself is
Buci or Rue Mouffetard, you will surrounded by top quality
be more than ready for lunch. market gardens which supply
The food of the French young peas, carrots and pot-
provinces, once despised for atoes. Salmon, asparagus and
its rusticity, is now celebrated wild mushrooms come from
and almost every region is the Loire; Normandy brings
Comté
Brie
Girolles (chanterelles) on a stall in Rue
Mouffetard market
What all French chefs agree on
is the importance of using the
finest quality ingredients, and
there is no better place to
appreciate the quality of French
produce than in the markets of Tomme de
chèvre
Paris. Here, top chefs may be
spied early in the morning, Ami du Chambertin
alongside local shoppers, Roquefort
seeking inspiration and the Selection of fine French cheeses in perfect condition
Classic French Cuisine
What is usually thought of as classic French
cuisine was developed in royal palaces and
noble châteaux, with the emphasis on
luxury and display, not frugality or health.
Dishes are often bathed in rich sauces
of butter or cream, enhanced with
luxurious ingredients like truffles, foie
gras, rare mushrooms and alcohol. Meat is
treated with reverence, and you will usually be asked how
you want your beef, lamb or duck cooked; the French tend to like
their beef rare or medium rare (bleu or saignant) and their lamb
and duck pink (rose). For well-cooked meat, ask for “bien cuit” but
still expect at least a tinge of pinkness. The most famous country Escargots à la Bourguignon
classics include slowly cooked casseroles like coq au vin and are plump Burgundy snails
boeuf bourguignon, as well as the bean, sausage and baked served in their shells with
duck dish cassoulet, from the southwest. garlic, butter and parsley.

292-293_EW_Paris.indd 292 25/04/16 5:04 pm