Flashback Friday

Festive feasting in the English countryside.

 Above: roasted wild pheasants; savory stuffing; fresh (apple-raisin-orange-zest) cranberry chutney; creative salads; homemade tartes

Below: chestnuts for the stuffing; a chai-obsessed chicken; glorious sunrise on a country road 

 

 

 

 

3 hours (or less) from Paris

Eurostar

 

London

 

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Years ago, living in London and invited by friends to the Cotswolds, I was surprised to discover that in the modern English countryside game birds regularly appear on tables ready to carve, and some say are more abundant than ever. These birds, trussed with rosemary, roasted til golden, skin crackling, have earned their place in the kitchen. The majority of pheasants and partridges survive the season to breed wild. Hedgerows are planted and managed specifically for them, cover crops of kale and quinoa stretch for miles and predators are legally controlled. The result: on a good estate you’ll see thirty or forty pheasants strutting along a single lane at dusk, tails flashing, while coveys of partridges whirl up from the stubble like brown fireworks. Soon the birds are plucked, seasoned simply with sea salt, cracked pepper, butter, rosemary or thyme sprigs and laid breast-up on the rack. Glasses are filled with good red wine or a local cider, and the company - cheeks flushed from laughter and gathering chestnuts - falls upon the feast with the honest hunger that only a day in the cold can give. Welcome to the enchanting rhythm of the countryside. - BPJ

 

 

Next newsletter

An English country Thanksgiving

 

Thankful Thursday

Today is Thanksgiving, a time to celebrate and be thankful for Life's bounty.

 🦃 

- FocusOnParis returns next week -

Thankful

 

Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S., with much to be thankful for.

 

Above: tree-lined path in the Jardin du Palais-Royal leads to the Louvre

 

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A Very Happy Thanksgiving from Paris

🦃

 

A Thanksgiving table

 

 

A casual Thanksgiving in a Montmartre loft.

- Merci nos chers amis -

Turkey Tuesday

 

A turkey run on a farm that welcomes school groups and visitors.

 

(click to enlarge)

 

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In France, bigger is not necessarily better and as turkeys are usually smaller than those in the US, cooking time is shorter. And because they are free range the quality and taste of the meat will be superbe. When cooking a turkey my French mother-in-law would lay a rasher of lard (bacon - fumé or not fumé) from the butcher atop the whole bird before bunging it in the oven and the fat basted the skin. Stuffed with chestnuts or a breadless herbed pork farce and served with grilled seasonal vegetables and autumn fruits - figs, apples, airelles (easy to find and often mistaken for cranberries) - a feast was inevitable.

 

A very Happy Thanksgiving to one/all and until next week... - BPJ

 

 

Giving thanks

- A very Happy Thanksgiving 2021 -

 

A turkey in Turkey

 

 

 A week ago today marked Thanksgiving, a favorite American holiday that, in France, or any country outside the US, usually gets put on hold until the weekend, as ours does almost every year. But the upshot is that because of the weekend option there is often more than one Thanksgiving feast over the four days spanning Thursday through Sunday.

 

The exquisite bird, (above) weighing in at eight kilos and just out of the oven, was left to repose for about an hour before being carved so its juices could be redistributed. Ordered two weeks ahead from an organic farm, it had been brined overnight before being roasted, and reminded me of the Thanksgiving turkey with crackling skin we had in Istanbul a few years back, high on a terrace overlooking the Bosphorus with postcard views of the city skyline at sunset.

 

That was the first time I'd ever had a brined turkey and it was a game changer. The guests were from all over the world, and while everyone was working their way through Turkish mezze appetizers as well as delectable French hors d'oeuvres spread out on a terrace table outside, inside, traditional Thanksgiving side dishes and pies were being laid out buffet style, making it a truly international feast. - BPJ

 

Merci Tom Paris

 

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Tomorrow:

Looking back: fooding and spice markets in Old Istanbul

Giving thanks

 

 

 If you're reading this you're alive, hopefully well, and have much to be thankful for.

 

- A Very Happy Thanksgiving 2020 -

 

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Autumn in Montmartre

Grateful

Today is Thanksgiving. So very much to be grateful for.

Above: modern rendition of Albrecht Dürer's "Praying Hands" in a Marais gallery