When the baker is an artist.
I did not expect to make such a beautiful encounter this Sunday June 4, 2017, when my cousins, Sylvie & Georges, took me to "Trade fair" (vide grenier") of Saint Germain de Pasquier in Eure.
Yes, I happen to leave Rouen for a bit !
The feast took place in a green country setting in the midst of closely shaven fields; on the one hand, the artisans showcased their products, which they sold as "hotcakes" (I had to make it!) & on the other, "attic bouncers" (not sure that this was correct. ..but I like!).
The atmosphere was warm & friendly.
My favorite goes to Mister Sébastien Bonnement, baker at Neubourg who spoke so generously about his profession as he worked in the old fashion way. It was he who took care of all the cooking & explained to the curious (whose I were part of) the operation of the oven.
If some visitors were satisfied with a photo, I wanted to know more about the operation of the oven. Knowing how our elders were doing is fascinating & Monsieur Bonnement, passionate about his profession, wanted to share his knowledge, the past of such an honorable profession & nevertheless binding.
An art.
The art of the baker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Subscription. You are a wonderful craftsman. A Baker.
Thank you for sharing.
Good luck & pleasure ....
Mr. Sébastien Bonnement , prime contractor of the day & baker every day in Neubourg.
-renamed in memory of former mayor Germain Leborgne- The link below tells the lovely story
The rag was hot
"Pain cut has no master." -French proverb-
The bread of sharing
“Qui ne pétrit, bon pain ne mange.” -Jean Antoine de Baïf / Mimes, enseignements et proverbes-
Hunter breads What an appetizing smell!
whites or with tomatoes... it makes you hungry...
"If you don't have any bread, you eat cake." -Quebec proverb-
Buns, douillons, breads ... only delights...
To make the oven ready for Sunday, people from the village took turns from Thursday.
They had to constantly feed it with wood until the oven reached 300 ° Celsius.
On Saturday, Monsieur Bonnement removed the ashes & cleaned the oven to allow cooking.
When the oven dropped to 200 ° C, it baked, which required less cooking time. However not having to risk that the temperature dropped any more but goes back to 300 ° C, he had to refuel it with wood to continue cooking.
The stand where these delicacies were sold was always full.
If it required a lot of work, Mr. Bonnement rightly pointed out that it was a pleasure, "think of the bakers who back in time had to do it every day" ...
"The bun you offered me was a treat accompanied by yiayia (nickname for my mum. It means" grandma" in Greek) jam.
We bought a hunter's bread for an aperitif with my cousins and it was a "slaughter", without forgetting the bread that we bought for our friends in Paris on Monday. It was all rage with our hostess's home made foie gras, and in fact it was a real success with all dishes!
And I tasted the crumb, which I only eat very rarely, loving only the crust of the bread ... we didn't leave a crumb ...
Real delicacies. A big thank you for these good moments, Mr. Bonnement "
"A miser who keeps his money looks like a man who has bread before him, and who does not eat."
- Oriental proverb -
When the herbalist is a magician
Some are like children in candy stores, I go to the herbalist. The scents, the warm colors of the spices. Spices never have garish colors, they always have warm, reassuring colors. The bags filled with dried flowers and other healing, healthy and natural plants are reminiscent of "grandmother's remedies" so often decried by doctors, and yet people are coming back to them more and more.
Of course we will always need science and doctors for serious pathologies, but why not relieve certain ailments that tease us with plants ?!
It is so much healthier than taking medicine that on the one hand will heal you but on the other also hurt you. Plants are miraculous but do not cure everything, you have to know how to use them. However, they relieve many health concerns without destroying it.
The herbalist is like a druid. No, he is not the Panoramix of "Asterix and Obelix" who prepares his potion in the cauldron but he has knowledge of plants, he knows how to mix flowers and plants that will soothe certain pains, anxieties.
And frankly, choose between a chemical remedy or a natural remedy, the choice is quickly made!
In 812, Charlemagne called spices and herbs the doctor's friend. He gave a list of 74 good herbs that were to be grown in the imperial gardens." -Jean-Claude Rodet/Vertus medicinal aromatic plants (2012) -
"Spices are all magic, even those poured with a distracted hand every day in your pot." -Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni/The Mistress of Spices (1997) -
The herborist is a craftman
"To strange ailments are applied strange remedies. " - William Shakespeare / Much noise for nothing (1600)-
It is not enough to find the cause of an ailment, it is important to find the cure. " -Samuel Ferdinand-Lop /The New Thoughts and Maximus (1970)-
"The best tea leaves must be wrinkled like the leather boots of tartar riders, cracked like the skin of a buffalo, they must shine like a lake stirred by the breath of a zephir. They must give off a scent similar to that of the mist that rises above a lonely ravine in the mountain, and their sweet flavour must evoke the earth in a light rain..." -Lu Yu-
"A little tea every day keeps the doctor away forever" -Chinese proverb-
"If you're cold, the tea will warm you up. If you're hot, it'll relax you. If you're depressed, it'll make you feel better. If you're excited, it'll calm you down." -William Gladstone-
"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food." -Hippocrates-
My herbalist is like a magician. He prepared a mixture of seven plants for these hot flashes that annoy me (... when I think about it, a woman spends her life being "indisposed" ...), if my doctor had prescribed a drug that had no other effect than adding to my list of drug treatment, this herbal tea works and is pleasant to drink.
The puffs have not completely disappeared but they are much less virulent. I listened to his preparation tips and it works wonderfully. Because beware, a herbal tea is not prepared lightly, otherwise its virtues may diminish.
"As soon as they rested to chew, the freshness they had derived from it turned into a burn, as it did with spices or herbs with a peppery flavour." -André Gide/The Voyage of Urien (1893) -
In the light of this autumn morning, I looked distractedly at the rows of spice pots, bowls and pans. Cooking was a world in itself. Just like William Shakespeare said. The world was a kitchen." -The End of Times/ Haruki Murakami-
"Sugar. It can be said that it is the universal condiment, and that it does not spoil anything." -Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin-
"Loving the cuisine of a country is already loving the country." -Jean Giono-
"The cuisine of a people is the only accurate witness of its civilization." -Marcel Rouff-
"I try to have a great memory of what I've tasted, that's what makes my culture ultimately, my food culture, that's what I eat and taste all over the world." -Alain Ducasse-
"The heavy, musky smell, laden with the scent of nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper evoked adventure, the tropics, the murky waters of huge rivers, the tuft of impenetrable forests." -Michèle Barrière/Murders at the Roy's Garden: a black and gastronomic novel in Versailles in the 17th century (2008) -
"Pepper is stinging salt!" -Children's words: their funny phrases of Children's Words-
"Cooking is an art that, in order not to be bastardized, needs fantasy, a little grain of madness." -Yves Courrière / La Toque dans les étoiles-
I am having fun discovering unknown spices, exotic names, long peppers that until then I thought were only round ... nature is definitely full of surprises.
I love these countless jars that recall the grocery stores of yesteryear where industrial packaging was still unknown, where you could buy a piece of candy when you left school. A time not so long ago but gone that I find with this herbalist who always welcomes us with true kindness. I feel human when I enter it and it feels great ...
"What does culinary art mean? Knowledge of herbs, fruits, balms and spices and all that heals and is sweet in the fields and in the woods." - John Ruskin -
"In a good dish, a smile is the best spice." -Pierre Perret-
"There are colors that, isolated, seem tasteless, but would be terribly lacking to a demanding painter, so there are spices that, taken in isolation, are inedible and are nevertheless the indispensable elements of a great and successful cuisine." -Grégoire Lacroix/Grégoire's 12 me: Is my personal development sustainable? (2007) -
Retail or with bottles, your choice.
I compared with supermarkets and frankly, it is not more expensive at the herbalist, on the contrary, because there, you are sure of the quality of the product with multiplied flavors. No preservatives, additives, flavor enhancers that distort everything, Scents and flavors are present here naturally.
For example, nutmeg is one of my favorite condiments (... condiment or spice? ....), I scanned the jars looking for it when the herbalist showed me the "mace", also called "flower of nutmeg "". What aroma, what power! Nothing to do with these expensive tiny bottles in supermarkets which when purchased smell almost like nutmeg and quickly loose all flavor.
My herbalist was right when he explained to me that mace was even more fragrant than nutmeg. My curiosity aroused, I learned more about it by doing my little research once at home.
Macis
The mace is the envelope that surrounds the nutmeg, the latter being the fruit of the nutmeg tree. The nutmeg tree is also the only tree that produces two spices: nutmeg and mace.
Mace is thus part of the "nutmeg pulp". Fresh, it has a beautiful bright red color. Dried, it is tinged with warmer orange, slightly amber colors.
Although it is not a flower, it is also called mace flower, or nutmeg flower.
Its flavor is an extension of the nutmeg. It is fragrant, sweet and refined. It has a touch of bitterness that enhances the cuisines that accompany it.
I still do not know if the mace is a spice or a condiment since the two terms were used according to the speakers ... I must remember to ask my herbalist the question on my next visit ...
Soap stuffs ...
"Tears are to the soul what soap is to the body." - Jewish proverb -
Ah, the fabulous Aleppo soaps!
whose benefits I discovered when I lived in Greece, friends brought them to me knowing my skin problems and since then, I could not do without it as its benefits on the skin are obvious. Then I brushed my skin with Cretan olive oil (the best and I do not do in any case favoritism, I tasted it from different countries and the only one which has my favors is Cretan) when the psoriasis was too virulent, irritating. After that, I did a treatment with aloe vera that I was lucky to have in my garden (... I miss it over here but it would not have survived in Normandy, no doubt ...)
I thank my herbalist for his good advice, his handmade herbal teas and .... his jars ....
I write "my" but there are three herbalists in this one, at least I have seen three so far, Each one as efficient and kind as the other.
An adage says "Who likes well chastises well", mine would rather be "When I like, I make mine"
Thank you