Thursday, October 30, 2008

Of French Brioche & Traiteur

I checked the internet for the definition of brioche. This is one way of explaining it.

Brioche is a French bread, characterized by a rich, sweet flavor and flaky texture which almost makes it feel like a pastry, rather than a bread. A classic shape has a fluted bottom and an upper protruding knob, and is made in a special brioche pan. The bread can also be made like a regular loaf, or it can be braided or molded into a ring. It often takes the form of an individual bun, served warm. (wisegeek.com)


Now, I don't know if you got that, cos I definitely didn't get it. So it's supposed to be a bread that feels like a pastry, & can be made into a loaf or a bun? So it's something that's in-between all of the other things & yet it's not like anyone of them? You can clearly see why I am cullinarily challenged.

NEE: Really to put it simply, it is a very buttery roll like a bun. It looks like a bun with a knob on top. And it is a very French type of bread.

Anyway, we came across a Brioche Shop called Broiche Doree along St Michel-Boluevard St Germain.


Nee of coure immediately recognised it, while I was still trying to make sense of the world around me - if it's brioche, why is the word patisserie there?

This shop sells mainly sweets like tarts, cakes & pastries. And also pain chocolat and the sweet type of croissants, broiches and danishes.


We bought a chocolate chips broiche. Very buttery. The texture is really somewhat between a light bun and a flaky pastry.


Ok, here's another one. What is a Traiteur? The word immediately conjures up images of a person who betrays someone's trust. But of course it's not. This is a food & travel blog. There are no menacing plots happening in here. All you get is Greg & Nee going places & stuffing their faces.

You see, before the 18th century, there were no restaurants in France. Hard to imagine that doesn't it? So when people at that time wanted to dine out, they would approach their traiteur to setup a table & cook a meal for them at a price.

I don't know what happened in between, but strangely enough, today, the traiteur became not a full-fledge restaurant, but a take-out food business specialising in salads, cold meat & seafood dishes.

NEE: They also sell dried & fresh pastas and many varieties of sundried vegetables. I bought some arborio rice and orriechette there. So this is essentially a form of cooked food grocer. In Paris, there are also specialised shops that sell cheeses only, truffles only, balsamic vineger only and so on. We find that all the workers there know their stuff well and would be friendly enough to attempt certain things in English.

It's very much unlike in Kuching or anywhere else in Malaysia, whenever you ask for a certain product, the store workers' favourite response would be donno or out of stock or we don't have without even trying to find out.

7 comments:

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

tt's bc d guy serving u could well be a uni student whereas here he's an illegal immigrant.

Anonymous said...

people are more passionate about their jobs. like they really want to learn and tell you about it.

here they just dont care even if itis their country. like in kl, those salespeople you want to strangle them.
ME: 'where can i find plates"
Sales: " sorry habis stock"
ME: "plate like mangkuk"
Sales: "oh piring ka. oh...sanalah"

Eyes rolled till ceiling!

madame yoshino said...

I love brioche but despite the name Brioche doree is one of the worst place to eat some in paris...

Anonymous said...

yeah we only tried the brioche nothing else. for us it was ok but greg was not all over it and i finished it by myself.

where would be a good place for brioche in Paris? we would like to collect infor for future use.

madame yoshino said...

Well usually you can find good brioche in a good bread shop. I recommand Eric Kayser for bread and brioche: http://www.maison-kayser.com

Anonymous said...

so true! even worse are those that looks at you like ur a thief or with 'black black' face when u ask for help...as if u owe them money...

Nancylia said...

Greg & Nee, all the way to paris just to taste Croque Monsieur and french toast?? oh no.. u should have contacted me when u guys were here.

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