Paris at a Certain Age

Pourquoi pas en Amérique?

Coke Light Sango is a blood-orange flavored Coco-Cola available in England, Belgium, France and other parts of Europe but not the United States. It's surprisingly flavorful and especially good with Chinese food. I've searched in vain for it in California and have since learned that this is the first variety of Coke to have been developed outside of the Atlanta headquarters. It was developed at a Belgium subsidiary. Apparently Belgium has the reputation as the world's top consumer of Coke Light products per capita. Bizarre, n'est-ce pas?

Cold Day/Hot Chocolate

Today began cold, cold, cold, inducing memories of Angélina's chocolat chaud l'Africain. I closed my eyes and recalled entering the belle époche tearoom at sunset on rue de Rivoli near the Tuileries. The tourists have left for the day and it's too early for the dinner crowd. I could see myself in the gilded mirrors as I was led to a tiny marble-topped round table. And yes, there was the glass of water with ice cubes (unusual in Paris), the bowl of frothy sweetened whipped cream and the pitcher of hot chocolate, thick as a melted chocolate bar, with the texture of soft velvet and that unforgettable taste.

I have a bag of Angélina's hot chocolate mix, but I can't bring myself to use it up. So I searched for recipes. Jeremiah Tower Cooks (2002, p.277) lists this as the recipe for Angélina's chocolat chaud:
"1 cup heavy cream
4 ounces very best quality bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
pinch salt
1 cup milk
Put the cream, chocolate, sugar and salt in a metal bowl over barely simmering water. When the cream is hot to the touch (but never boiling), gently whisk the chocolate until it is thoroughly mixed. Take teh bowl off the heat and whisk the mixture for 2 or 3 minutes. The mixture can be stored covered in the refrigerator for up to one week, but don't add the milk until ready to serve. Then heat the milk (without boiling) and whisk in the chocolate mixture until it is hot and frothy. Serve immediately in demitasse cups. Serves 2 to 4."

The famous chocolate expert David Lebovitz (Living the Sweet Life in Paris) states that "contrary to popular belief, most versions of Parisian hot chocolate are made with milk rather than cream, and get their luxurious richness from lots of top-quality chocolate." Check out his recipe here.

Other Angélina hot chocolate recipes on the net are similar to his. It's hard for me to believe it's possible to achieve the richness of Angélina's l'Africain without cream. I'll have to try the various recipes and see which is the closest. But I'll start with Jeremiah Tower's.

Religieuse

Ever since I first saw this oddly-shaped, oddly-named pastry in the local pâtisseries, I’ve been curious about it. There are several versions of its history on the internet and I'd be interested if you’ve heard of any others.

Version #1. It was created by Stohrer’s, a famous pâtisserie at 51 rue Montorgueil which dates back to 1730. Stohrer was originally the pastry chef to the King of Poland, but was brought to Paris when the King’s daughter married Louis XV. After leaving the court at Versailles, he opened his own shop on rue Montorgueil.

Version #2. It was so named because it resembles a nun in her habit. (not any nuns I've ever seen!)

Version #3. It was invented in Paris in 1540 by Panterelli, Catherine de Medici’s chef and originally called pâte à Panterelli. Later its name was changed to pâte à Popelini. Popelins were a kind of Middle Ages cake in the shape of women’s breasts. Later pâtissiers perfected it into its ‘religieuse’ incarnation.

Version #4. It’s all because of a nun’s fart. A group of Alsacien nuns at Marmoutier Abbey were in the kitchen preparing a feast. One of the nun’s farted, causing the other nuns to burst out laughing at which point one of them dropped some pastry into hot oil and Voila! They have also been called pet de nonne (nun’s farts), ‘wind beignets’, and soupir de nonne (nun’s sighs)

Guess which version I prefer!

For those who like to bake, here’s a recipe.

For myself, I think I’ll visit Stohrer’s and try their version (the photo above is that of my local pâtisserie’s religieuse).

Le Baron Rouge

Le Baron Rouge wine bar is a jumping part of the Marché d’Aligre scene, especially on weekends when it’s wall-to-wall people inside with lines and crowds outside. We were there on a Sunday and could barely squeeze through the mass of people to reach the zinc bar and order a glass of wine. It was soon apparent that the Baron Rouge ‘drill’ involves having one member of your party fight their way to the bar for wine, while another person stands in line outside for plates of raw oysters and French bread and another tries to grab a surface to use as a table for the wine glass and plate. Outside the bar, a man shucks oysters faster than you think possible. Watching him I worried about his poor digits getting sliced.

We did manage to find a classic Baron Rouge eating surface: the top of a garbage can. Others used a stack of crated bottles or the top of a parked car as a table. We vowed to return on a less popular day, and examine the wines more closely. Also, we’re coming back with empty bottles because you’re able to fill them from their wooden barrels and casks of fine wine. But it was a treat to experience the full Baron Rouge experience. The crowds were affable and they chatted amiably with strangers sharing their garbage can while an accordionist played and mingled amidst happy customers.

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