22 December 2016

On sait qu'on est en France...

...when the biggest ad for holiday foods in the whole supermarket flyer is for escargots. N'est-ce pas ?


"An Enchanted Christmas" with snails — two dozen of them for 10 euros, with a 3€ rebate in store credit. It's tempting. Walt and I ate snails, actually, as the appetizer course for his birthday dinner yesterday, just because we like them. The frozen ones above can be had à la bourguignonne (that's what we had: snails in garlic-parsley butter, like the ones in the picture above), or au Chablis (the famous white wine of Burgundy), or aux morilles (morel mushrooms). If you can't decide, there's an assortment package available as well.

Besides snails, there are other choices. How about some canapés? Or a few petits fours? They'd go well with a glass of champagne.


Because of this ad, I learned the difference between these two classic French treats. Canapés are little pieces of bread, sometimes toasted or fried, garnished with things like foie gras, pâté, cheese, mushrooms, or anything tasty you want. Chicken liver paste, anchovies, or smoked eel , for example. The ones on offer here include Christmas specialties (canapés de Noël), regional treats (canapés régions de France), or fish and seafood flavors (canapés marins). You pays your money...

Petits fours, meanwhile, are (according to the Grand Larousse Gastronomique encyclopedia) little bite-size pieces of baked pastry with a garnish. They can be savory or sweet. Their history goes back to the 18th century, when such delicacies were cooked in masonry or stone ovens at low temperature — « à petit four » was the expression meaning "in a slow oven", which was cooling down after the big roasts or loaves of bread had already been cooked. Described in the ad are petits-fours to serve with cocktails or wine, and others to serve at a reception or party. The difference is not obvious to me. But I really like knowing that some are called « saucisses costumées » — "costumed" or "disguised" sausages — in other words, "pigs in a blanket".

19 comments:

  1. I never knew petit fours could be savory. Thanks for teaching me something new! I hope Walt had a nice birthday, and I hope you both have a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas. Miss you a lot!

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    1. Hi Ginny. Merry Christmas to you, Mitch, Gabe, and Molly. Maybe someday we'll get back to California. I'm probably going to go to NC in February.

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  2. I'll take Canapés...
    Merry Christmas

    -craig-

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  3. french grocery stores are wonderful places

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    1. Oh, meant to say that I went to our local SuperU this morning and I got an effectively free farm-raised Label Rouge capon. And we found room for it in the freezer. It was basically free, because I got a 15€ store credit for buying it, and I cashed out the 10€ of store credits I had already accumulated. Since the capon was priced at 25€... well, it cost me nothing. I think it will be the main course for my birthday dinner in early March.

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  4. I too am delighted to learn of the existance of 'costumed sausages'. Excellent!

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  5. Bonjour Ken,

    J'apprends du nouveau tous les jours - hier une bonne révision sur la volaille et aujourd'hui sur les amuse-gueules. Merci bien car je suis moins niaiseuse qu'hier et qui sait, J'en apprendrai plus demain matin :-)
    We may get a white Christmas this year though it is already white everywhere except the roads and highways

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    1. Bonjour Cousine,
      Your comment made me think of Rosemonde Gérard, Edmond Rostand's wife, who dedicated a poem to him of which a line became famous:
      Aujourd'hui plus qu'hier et bien moins que demain.
      I saw her with her son Maurice in the métro in the early 40s during the Paris Occupation. It was a sight! She was in her seventies and her and her son were outrageously made up. Her other son was Jean Rostand.

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    2. Sorry... it was she and her son...

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  6. "Pigs in a blanket" reminds me of our first visit to Burgundy, over 20 years ago. We took our niece and her husband for their honeymoon, and rented a gite for a week in the small village of Givry (not the wine town Givry) in northern Burgundy. The owners lived in the village, and on the last evening we were invited over. First of all we started in their cave, where the man had amassed a large wine cellar. He started out by opening some Premier Cru and Grand Cru Chablis wines, and then his wife brought down a plate of .... pigs in a blanket. My niece's husband was amused at the disconnect between such rarified wine and pedestrian fare.

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  7. Those money back coupons are the cat's meow. CVS does that here, but I don't know of any groceries doing such. I didn't know the origin of petit fours either- sympa. Wishing you and Walt the joy of the season and all the good food of France for the New Year.

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  8. I'll have the snails with garlic and parsley thank you. ;-)

    The petits fours seem to be the equivalent of the British "vol aux vents." The prices certainly seem reasonable for what you are getting. And I love the little Christmas tree shaped canapes.

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  9. LOL, way back when I was a gourmet cook ( or dreamt of being one when I grew up) , I would wrap those little sausages in a Pillsbury dough "crescent" roll and bake them.
    I was so Posh ... :)

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  10. Like M. Jourdain, all these years I was making canapés without even knowing it!

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  11. Do you know if the packages of escargots are only a Christmas seasonal thing, or are they available at other times?
    I, too, like the little Christmas tree canapés.

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