Promanades Gourmandes with Paule Caillet
paule.caillat@wanadoo.fr
Promenadesgourmandes.com
Paris, France: A week in Paris could not have been better spent than waltzing through the tourist-less streets, poking around the farmers markets and enjoying 2 perfect days with the Promanades Gourmandes on a guided walking tour, market visit and cooking class.
Paule begins her adventure with a tour through the nooks and crannies of the Les Halles neighborhood. As if an entirely new city unfolded before our eyes, places that we had never known to exist were introduced, and a world gastronomical delights was made available for specialty browsing and shopping. The tour first began at the shop of E. Dehillerin, Le Specialiste du Material de Cuisine. E. Dehillerin began in 1820 as a family operated business and still continues to run in very much the same way, now under the 5th generation of family ownership. K-Mart and Martha Stewart do not have a leg to stand on next to the high quality items that are proudly displayed in the store and demonstrated by the knowledgeable staff. We had the pleasure to meet M. Dehillerin and he pulled out a few items of particular interest, most noteworthy a muffin 'tin' made from silicon, which bakes muffins without shortening.
As a pleasant
contrast to the classic cooking implements of Dehillerin, our next stop was Moanoir D'Apreval,
and modern contemporary cooking appliance store with highly sophisticated comtempory, sheik
designed items. My friend and I pondered over a few items that we could not possibly figure out
the practical application, which turned out to be a innocently enough a pizza cutter, and
an olive pit remover.
Next we ended up the Poilane bakery, which is known to serve the absolute best baguette in
all of Paris. In addition, the apple tarts were extraordinary and the secrets were revealed
to us in the he basement where all the magic takes place daily.
The second day of the Promanades Gourmandes tour began with a visit to the open-air market and a shopping excursion that only the most discriminate of Parisians would have the insight to share. Paule knows the fish man, the cheese guy, the vegetable lady and chats with them in a friendly manner. Everything is carefully selected for the meal to be prepared back in the French kitchen. Family recipes and cooking techniques were shared to prepare a lovely meal of cheese souffle, chard with red onion compote and a perfectly baked apple tarte. A great time was had by all.
Words and images by Jenine Lurie
