Posted by David Lebovitz : 26 Nov 2013
People often ask me what Parisians
do for Thanksgiving. And while many French holidays are celebrated in America,
Thanksgiving is one that doesn’t cross the Atlantic.
I’ve done a Thanksgiving dinner for
friends and it takes quite a bit of time to find and assemble all the
ingredients. And although a few stores that cater to American expats stock
everything, it’s more fun to make fresh pumpkin puree for pies, break up a pain au levain for stuffing,
and to get a free-range French turkey – which I found out that many poultry
sellers with rotisseries will pop it on their spit-roaster for you, which is a
boon for those in Paris with dinky ovens.
And, if I may be so bold,
Thanksgiving is a holiday where we spend eating food that doesn’t especially
appeal to people outside of the United States. The French eat pumpkins, but
roasted, and not in dessert. (Nor with marshmallows!) The French version of
stuffing, or farce
is mostly meat, with a bit of seasonings to round out the flavor. And
flour-thickened brown gravy isn’t quite the same as sauce au jus de volaille.
So while we Americans love all that
stuff for nostalgic reasons, people in France don’t have that same set of
references we do, and most seem to politely “appreciate” it, but I don’t know
any French people who hoard molasses or stuffing mix, or spend the few months
prior to November downloading Thanksgiving recipes.
Continue Reading Cranberry Sauce
with Red Wine and Figs...
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