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One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

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Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#21

Post by Qahlel »

riffraff wrote: post #14
jmcgough wrote: post #11

yesss I love Bordier, showed this to my partner recently to explain to her why I love nice imported French butters. Traveling there really made me fall in love with French food and the mentality behind a lot of it. Part of what Europe does right is its legal certification process for traditionally made foods, "protected designation of origin" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_designation_of_origi... ). At nic…

while I'm a big supporter of EU PDO labels they are not perfect, they (generally) do not guarantee quality, and they have the negative effect of "crystallizing" something, which is a bit sad and paradoxical. Still, better than nothing.

| crystallizing

can you please explain what you mean by this?

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#22

Post by turtledragonfly »

"we do everything by hand"

... proceeds to demonstrate large churning machine (:

No, I know they're doing a much more manual process than most such factories. I think even the Amish use automation for churning.

For reference though, 380 tons is actually a smallish number. Seems France produces about 1000x that much in total, per year, not to mention other countries.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#23

Post by boc »

yamtaddle wrote: post #20
xwolfi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the food situation in the US is pretty sad. I rmb going there in an exchange and the family dad beeming with pride "look I bought you a French baguette", and suffice to say... it was neither French nor a baguette lol. It barely qualified as food for animals.

I live in a US city with a population over 2,000,000 that's seemingly incapable of producing what would be a very mediocre loaf of bread in Paris, for under $12. Actually-good bread simply cannot be had—there isn't any. One consequence of this is that it's impossible to get a decent sandwich here for anything but crazy-high prices. And don't get me started on the croissant situation. Ugh. They're all too-big and disg…

I mean, it’s the same reason you can’t find a great mission burrito in Paris. Every city has its own food culture.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#24

Post by sujinge9 »

Qahlel wrote: post #21
riffraff wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

while I'm a big supporter of EU PDO labels they are not perfect, they (generally) do not guarantee quality, and they have the negative effect of "crystallizing" something, which is a bit sad and paradoxical. Still, better than nothing.

| crystallizing can you please explain what you mean by this?

They probably mean that the certification requires very rigid processes which means any variation would not get the stamp of approval so innovation and experimentation is discouraged.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#25

Post by wnissen »

Qahlel wrote: post #21
riffraff wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

while I'm a big supporter of EU PDO labels they are not perfect, they (generally) do not guarantee quality, and they have the negative effect of "crystallizing" something, which is a bit sad and paradoxical. Still, better than nothing.

| crystallizing can you please explain what you mean by this?

Once you get a product, like Camembert, or a wine like Burgundy, with a big AOP apparatus around it, there is little room for experimentation. In Burgundy you can't plant anything except Chardonnay for white wine that's going to be labeled Burgundy. Someone has an idea that sauvignon blanc might do well in a famous vineyard? Too bad, instead of Grand Cru Burgundy you're going to have to sell it as generic "Vin de France", which is typically box wine.

If anyone hasn't tried AOP French butter, it is really wonderful. The cows are pastured or fed forage, no grain, so it has a lot of flavor. There's a reason the French enjoy tartines and "beurre jambon" (sandwiches with preserves and ham, respectively), with good bread and butter it's a revelation. Bordier is rightly famous but any, e.g., Beurre d'Isigny is going to be worlds above 99% of butters made in the US.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#26

Post by 0_____0 »

yamtaddle wrote: post #20
xwolfi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the food situation in the US is pretty sad. I rmb going there in an exchange and the family dad beeming with pride "look I bought you a French baguette", and suffice to say... it was neither French nor a baguette lol. It barely qualified as food for animals.

I live in a US city with a population over 2,000,000 that's seemingly incapable of producing what would be a very mediocre loaf of bread in Paris, for under $12. Actually-good bread simply cannot be had—there isn't any. One consequence of this is that it's impossible to get a decent sandwich here for anything but crazy-high prices. And don't get me started on the croissant situation. Ugh. They're all too-big and disg…

I am a fellow USian, who is haunted by the first good baguette they had. Paris, December 2012. Only half of the loaf made it to the hostel. I still vividly remember how it felt to tear that first piece off of it, the delicacy of the crust, the crumb, the warmth and aroma. I remember it better than the first time I had sex, not a joke.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#27

Post by thfuran »

boc wrote: post #23
yamtaddle wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a US city with a population over 2,000,000 that's seemingly incapable of producing what would be a very mediocre loaf of bread in Paris, for under $12. Actually-good bread simply cannot be had—there isn't any. One consequence of this is that it's impossible to get a decent sandwich here for anything but crazy-high prices. And don't get me started on the croissant situation. Ugh. They're all too-big and disg…

I mean, it’s the same reason you can’t find a great mission burrito in Paris. Every city has its own food culture.

So you're suggesting that a main feature of US food culture is shit bread?

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#28

Post by yamtaddle »

boc wrote: post #23
yamtaddle wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a US city with a population over 2,000,000 that's seemingly incapable of producing what would be a very mediocre loaf of bread in Paris, for under $12. Actually-good bread simply cannot be had—there isn't any. One consequence of this is that it's impossible to get a decent sandwich here for anything but crazy-high prices. And don't get me started on the croissant situation. Ugh. They're all too-big and disg…

I mean, it’s the same reason you can’t find a great mission burrito in Paris. Every city has its own food culture.

I mean, I'm not complaining that our foie gras is lacking, or our sushi's not very good. Bread's pretty important across a lot of cuisines and my city's bizarrely terrible at it, for some reason. Zero places here make really good bread, and the few that achieve "OK" charge so much one hesitates to eat it, rather than preserving it in a display case to impress guests.

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#29

Post by galgot »

sctgrhm wrote: post #4

Very fun to see this here ! I've been to Bordier's shop in St Malo, they do make lovely butter. If you know a bit about France and Brittany, you'll know that "les bretons" are very much fond of their butter. Check out how they make the famous kouign amann and if you get a chance, do have a taste if the quantities of sugar and butter don't put you off ;-)

Btw, is salted butter a Brittany thing ? Here in my local epicerie in Paris suburb, can only find "Demi-sel" :(

Re: One of France's oldest butter producers makes 380 tons per year [video]

#30

Post by houplaboom »

yamtaddle wrote: post #20
xwolfi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the food situation in the US is pretty sad. I rmb going there in an exchange and the family dad beeming with pride "look I bought you a French baguette", and suffice to say... it was neither French nor a baguette lol. It barely qualified as food for animals.

I live in a US city with a population over 2,000,000 that's seemingly incapable of producing what would be a very mediocre loaf of bread in Paris, for under $12. Actually-good bread simply cannot be had—there isn't any. One consequence of this is that it's impossible to get a decent sandwich here for anything but crazy-high prices. And don't get me started on the croissant situation. Ugh. They're all too-big and disg…

It's been 35 years since the price of baguette is no more regulated in France.
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