41–50 of 91 posts
"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.
Um, did anyone think any different??
"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.
The difference is that it’s not a mass production process that usually requires special chemicals and treatments to keep the ingredients in certain state to run high speed high yield process.
It’s like the hand made toys that are actually made using power tools, knives, hammers etc.
as long as you don’t alter the process but just get help from machines to speed up things or increase yields, it’s handmade.
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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 Fra…
>Bordier is rightly famous Oh, the smoked butter (sel fumé) from a small specialist farm in Bretagne.. stuff of dreams.
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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.
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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 can really imagine all portions being over sized and saturated with fat and sugar in an attempt to (over) compensate with all its consequences.
And yes, proper fresh French baguette is worth a meal on its own.
Claudia Romeo from Food Insider interviewed the super enthusiastic owner of this place. https://youtu.be/ZyXUzhTn0kI
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| 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.
It just makes more sense to create a brand that binds hundreds of producers together by standards. Everyone on average is better off.
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…
I can get these at Costco
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>Bordier is rightly famous Oh, the smoked butter (sel fumé) from a small specialist farm in Bretagne.. stuff of dreams.
Beurre fumé or sel fumé? (Is the salted butter itself smoked, or is it butter made with smoked salt?)
About two years ago I bought just about every butter at the local grocery and started sampling them. (COVID hobby i guess) and it completely changed my relationship with butter. I found a few that were clear favorites...to the point where one of them I can slice off a thin pat and just eat it neat.
Butter in the abstract is loved, but somehow it has been relegated to commodity status (at least around here). It's fun digging into it and realizing there's a whole landscape out there.