The French Menu Cookbook: The Food and Wine of France - Season by Delicious Season. Richard Olney
kitchen, but in this refrigerated age perhaps no longer indispensable.
A classic pastry-cook’s ROLLING PIN, without handles, which is longer and thinner than the standard American type and, once one is accustomed to it, more convenient.
SALAD BASKET, GRATERS for cheese, nutmeg, etc., BRUSHES for buttering, basting, brushing pastry with egg, etc., SKEWERS, LADLES, LONG-HANDLED FORKS, COFFEE-GRINDER, PEPPER GRINDERS, and lots of TOWELS and PAPER TOWELS.
ELECTRIC MIXERS and BLENDERS are certainly useful and energy-saving, but they cannot, as many people believe, do everything, and should be used only if the quality of the preparation will in no way suffer as a result.
With the ever-increasing popularity of French cuisine in the United States, it is possible to buy imported cooking equipment much more widely than ever before. Many department stores now carry a good stock of French utensils, as do specialty shops in large metropolitan centers. Bazar Français, 666 Avenue of the Americas, New York IOOIO, is one such specialty shop; it has an excellent catalogue and will ship mail orders to any part of the country.
The following suggestions include also some special addresses for those who would like to order from France, or shop there when traveling.
FRESH TRUFFLES
Mr. Paul A. Urbani
Tel.: 609-394-5851
130 Graf Avenue
P.O. Box 2054
Trenton, New Jersey 08607
Mr. Urbani will airmail fresh truffles to any place in the United States. The season for white truffles is from September through October, and for black truffles from December through February.
The supply differs greatly from one year to another and the prices differ accordingly. Truffles are always expensive.
COPPERWARE AND OTHER KITCHEN EQUIPMENT
E. Dehillerin
18-20 rue Coquillière
Paris, 1er
This famous Paris restaurant-supply house (metal and wood—no earthenware, porcelain or glass) will send its catalogue on request. It contains no prices, but, by comparison with those in America, they are astonishingly low. Copper utensils are sold by weight and not by the piece.
Tourists in Paris should not overlook a trip to Dehillerin. It is a living museum of marvelous and useful objects. Attractive and decorative brass-handled copperware is displayed on the ground floor. Heavy utilitarian iron-handled copper utensils are all in the basement.
Jacquotot
77 rue Damesme
Paris, 13ème
Another kitchen-supply firm, particularly interesting for a wide choice of copper utensils. They have no catalogue—which is perhaps as well—since prices fluctuate constantly, so the address is of interest essentially to those readers who may be visiting Paris. They will ship, and those buyers whose addresses are outside of France are spared the recent heavy taxes (19 percent) imposed by the French government. They go out of their way to be helpful and to please the client in any way possible, which is not always the case with firms accustomed to dealing only with professionals.
SEEDS
Vilmorin-Andrieux
4, Quai de la Mégisserie
Paris, 1er
Vilmorin will furnish a catalogue on request. Many seeds that are difficult to obtain in America are listed. Among those particularly useful in a kitchen garden are:
FIELD SALADS
| Rocket (roquette) | Purslane (pourpier) |
| Lamb’s lettuce (mâche)—7 varieties | Mixed wild salads (mesclun) |
| Cultivated dandelion (pissenlit) | Garden cress (cresson du jardin) |
HERBS
Basil (basilic)—the large-leafed variety is less “peppery” and more delicate in flavor
Chervil (cerfeuil)
Common or Italian parsley (persil commun), finer of flavor than the curly variety
Burnet (pimprenelle)
Angelica (angélique)
Hyssop (hysope)
Oregano (marjolaine)
Savory (sarriette)—annual and perennial are both listed; the latter is finer
MISCELLANEOUS
Sorrel (oseille)—3 varieties
Leeks (poireaux)—11 varieties
Broad beans (fèves)—3 varieties
Gray shallots (échalotes ordinaires)—bulbs
Wild strawberries (fraisiers de quatre-saisons)
To import broad-bean seeds or shallot bulbs, one must fill out a form (furnished either by Vilmorin-Andrieux or by the United States Department of Agriculture at the address given below) to be sent to the following address (requesting, at the same time, special mailing labels to be enclosed, along with the permit number, in the order):
Permit Section, Plant Importation Branch
Plant Quarantine Division
209 River Street
Hoboken, New Jersey
None of the other seeds listed above require a formal importation permit.
TURNSPITS AND ACCESSORIES
Ets. Giraudon
144, Avenue Paul Vaillant Couturier
Sainte-Geneviève des Bois 91
France
This old-fashioned firm deals only in turnspits, grills and related material. Although they specialize in made-to-order installations, they also stock a number of standard articles. They willingly ship to the United States and will furnish complete documentation on request.
The type of small portable turnspit likely to interest most readers exists in 3 electric models: one capable of turning to approximately 8 pounds (about $50); one up to 16 pounds (about $54); one up to 30 pounds—strong enough to turn a suckling pig or milk lamb (about $72). A single clockwork model exists (10-pound strength, at about $76). Each includes a single standard spit. A number of others are available. The broche-filet (a cagelike spit that avoids piercing) comes to about $10. An asbestos construction (parefeu) designed to protect the mechanism from the direct flame costs about $4.
Their standard dripping pans are constructed of thin tinned sheet metal and are totally impractical. In my kitchen I have substituted a huge skillet, which I prop at a slight tilt, permitting the juices to collect at the far side from the fire. Giraudon manufactures stainless steel dripping pans, but