Christmas is coming soon and, as you may have noticed, I’m continuing my series of articles on this theme. Today, I’m going to make your mouth water (well, I hope so…) with my selection of gourmet products to enjoy during the year-end festivities.
Personally, I find that one of the greatest pleasures of the holiday season is gastronomy. It’s the perfect time to delight our taste buds and eyes with refined dishes that are often more expensive than what we eat on a regular basis. But hey, these are exceptional moments, and you have to know how to enjoy them!
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Would you care for a bit of caviar?
Before last year, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you if I liked caviar or not. It’s such an expensive delicacy that it’s quite unlikely you’ll get to taste enough of it to form an opinion. Well, after a few tastings, I’ve made up my mind: I have expensive taste and I really like caviar, especially Beluga, the most expensive (because it’s rare) of them all.
When it comes to caviar, it’s worth knowing that the size and color of the eggs vary depending on the sturgeon species, but also on the preparation method and the egg selection. These variations change the taste and texture of the caviar. The price is obviously set based on production rarity.
Like all seafood, it’s a dish that tastes of iodine and salt, so that might give you a hint about your own preferences. Personally, I find it to be a very fine and flavorful delicacy, but I completely understand that some people don’t like it at all; we all have different palates.
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Caviar Perlita
This French caviar brand offers artisanal craftsmanship, and the entire production, from hatching to packaging, is carried out in Aquitaine. An important detail: it is canned on the very day of harvest to optimize the product’s shelf life, meaning the caviar is fresh and unpasteurized.
Price: 20g to 500g tins / starting from €62
The brand is also introducing a new gourmet grocery line this year, featuring 3 jars combining sturgeon with roasted lemons, caviar, and piquillo peppers (between €10 and €12 per jar).
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Maison Barthouil
The favorite photographer and I were totally won over by the high-quality products from Maison Barthouil. This human-scale business comes from the Southwest (the Landes region to be precise); everything is made on-site.
The company was founded in 1929 in Peyrehorade by Gaston, the grandfather, then run by Jacques, the father, and today, it is the daughters, Pauline and Guillemette, who are at the helm, driven by the same passion and philosophy: using traditional methods to achieve excellence.
Must-try:
Maison Barthouil smokes all its salmon—wild, farmed, or organic—using a method learned in Denmark in the 50s: using alder wood, hung and cold-smoked. To this day, they are still the only ones to smoke Adour salmon.
- For foie gras, the company is committed to a polyculture-breeding approach with only 5 farmers in their region. A process very different from mass-production models. The farmers raise the ducks outdoors, grow GMO-free corn to feed them, and they are also the ones who hand-feed the ducks on their laps to prevent any stress over a 14-week period (which is 3 weeks longer than in intensive farms).
“My way” foie gras price: €167 per kilo
- The house taramas (plain or scallop), which are absolutely delicious!
The brand also has a very beautiful boutique in Paris, on Rue Charlot.
Barthouil Boutique
41 rue Charlot 75003 Paris
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Pauline&Olivier Christmas Gift Boxes
The Pauline&Olivier brand offers quality products from the Italian gourmet region (Tuscany, Umbria, Emilia-Romagna, Campania, Piedmont…)
For the Christmas season, Pauline&Olivier have selected rare products from very small producers, available in 13 Christmas Boxes, tasting sets for all palates and budgets starting from €20.
In the mini tasting set we received for testing (but which is not for sale):
- Porcini mushroom chips by Tartufi Jimmy, for a great start to the aperitif
- Truffle balsamic vinegar by Tartufi Jimmy, especially good served as an accompaniment to a good foie gras, it makes a change
- Villa Magna salsa tartufa, a Tuscan specialty made of minced mushrooms and truffles marinated in olive oil, enjoyed as a seasoning for pasta or risottos, or as an appetizer on crostini
- A small Panettone from Albertengo pastry shop (traditional artisanal panettone with butter, Corinthian raisins, candied orange peel, and candied citron)
- Artisanal fig jam from San Benedetto (Tuscany), excellent with the panettone
- Organic raspberry juice from Radici, which is clearly exceptional
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Fauchon
I find the presentation of this festive poultry and truffle checkerboard pâté en croûte from Fauchon to be superb and so graphic!
Price: individual slice €20 / €100 per kilo
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Paul’s festive collections
Paul bakeries obviously offer special breads for the holidays, but also Yule logs and a box of 12 mini-macarons (€9.90).
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Christmas teas
You’ve known for a long time that I’m a tea enthusiast, and I love giving quality tea to the people I love. The Christmas period is the perfect time to discover the limited-edition Christmas teas offered by major tea houses and brands.
For example, I discovered and have become absolutely obsessed with Dammann Frères teas, which I have mentioned several times on the blog. This year, the tea house offers a Christmas range with 3 Christmas teas, a rooibos, and a Christmas infusion, presented in magnificent boxes (which can be purchased empty for €5 and filled with 100g of the tea of your choice).
Red tin with 100g of black tea flavored with pineapple, orange, and caramel
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Papillotes
I’m not sure if it’s a tradition particularly rooted in the Lyon region, but I cannot imagine a Christmas without papillotes, simply because it’s unthinkable in my family!
And then, once again, certainly because of my Lyonnais origins, for me, papillotes mean Révillon, since the chocolatier also comes from the capital of the Gauls.
Chic black package with an assortment of 4 different chocolates (€8.49 for 400g)
Enchanteur dark and milk with an assortment of 4 different dark and milk pralines (€8.49 for 400g)
My little treat:
eating the papillotes placed at the foot of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning while opening gifts with my parents.
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The Sève house, another Lyonnais institution, also offers its own papillotes, wrapped with rebuses telling the story of famous figures from Lyon.
The hot tip: if you collect all 12 different rebuses from the papillotes, you can exchange them for a breakfast in the famous peristyle of the Fourvière Hotel cloister (by reservation: contact@fourviere-hotel.com). This offer is valid until April 2018.
Price: 250g tube, €25.30
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Some chocolate sweets and other delicacies
What would Christmas be without some chocolate-based treats…
Kinder Christmas products
Kinder Schoko-bons in a festive bag
Price: €3.09
A letter to Santa Claus ready to be posted (and decorated with cute stickers) + some Kinder to enjoy
Price: €3.19
The traditional Kinder stocking filled with goodies (Kinder Bueno, Kinder Maxi, Kinder Country and Kinder Chocolat)
Price: €9.99
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The Michel Cluizel shimmering pearl box
A beautiful box illustrated by Fabienne Legrand, inside which we find Michel Cluizel’s pearls: roasted hazelnuts covered in gianduja, available in fleur de sel, raspberry, lemon, or coconut versions
Price: €38.70 (285g)
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Réauté Chocolats
The brand has just opened a new store within Paris (the brand’s first!) in the 18th arrondissement, on Boulevard de Clichy.
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Starry Night collection box by La Maison du Chocolat
This collection, decorated by artists Alex & Marine, tells the magic of Christmas during a starry night
Price: €22 for 15 pieces
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Mazet Christmas baubles
This year, the confectioner partnered with the designers from La Cocotte Paris for a Christmas collection, including pop and colorful Christmas baubles filled with Mazet confectionery specialties, ready to be hung.
Price: set of 3 Christmas baubles €19.40 (90g)
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The golden Christmas box by Léonidas
Inside, there are pretty chocolate fir trees, which are actually pralines, along with last year’s chocolate successes.
Price: €38 (about 640g)
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The Joyeuses Fêtes chocolate bouquet from Atelier du Chocolat
L’Atelier du Chocolat offers a fan of chocolate sheets with Christmas spices (milk cardamom, dark 5-spice, white coriander)
Price: €16.90 for 250g
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Candied chestnuts from Maison Sabaton
These candied chestnuts are made with Ardèche PDO chestnuts
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The Le Comptoir de Mathilde surprise bag
This surprise bag contains papillotes, truffles, nougats, chocolates…
Surprise bag price: €15.90
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Chocolate snails from the Lanvin house
This gourmet tradition that dates back to my childhood is in a way my own Proust’s madeleine. When I was little, every Christmas my grandmother would give me a box of Lanvin milk chocolate snails, and this tradition still continues today.
I always ate them very slowly (no more than one per day) so that they would last as long as possible.
This house, which has existed for over 80 years now, remains for me the inimitable Christmas praline chocolate. Plus, this year, the company also makes little chocolate pouches (€3.25) to hang on the tree, as well as other chocolate boxes.
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Christmas drinks
Christmas is also the season for limited-edition Christmas beers, for example, and it’s also the time of year when Champagne generally flows freely…
- Leffe is offering its new Christmas beer for the occasion (a dark ale with notes of spices and caramel), a special vintage for the holidays
Price: about €3.30 per 75cl bottle
- The Winter beer from La Chouffe (Belgian brewery) with the N’Ice Chouffe, a strong dark ale (10%) with spicy notes that will pair very well with oysters, smoked salmon, or an ash-coated goat cheese.
- Another type of drink: coffee and the Christmas collector tins from Caffè Vergnano. This Italian coffee brand, which has existed since 1882, has been passed down for 4 generations now. For the end-of-year holidays, the brand is offering a Coffee Tins set with 3 pretty tins in Christmas colors.
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Champagne and sparkling wines
Regarding Champagne, you know it’s a subject close to my heart and one I’ve developed several times on the blog.
- On one hand, we obviously have the big names in Champagne like Laurent Perrier (with whom I had already collaborated to give you a chance to win a night at the Okko Hotel, if you remember) with its Cuvée Brut shown below (€37.80 per bottle).
But on the other hand, there are also more confidential houses that work differently to offer different and unique taste experiences.
- I recently discovered the Champagne Charles Legend house, whose ethics and products really convinced me. The brand offers a collection of 4 champagnes with very fine bubbles (Brut Nature €29 / Brut Royal €39 / Brut Rosé €45 / Blanc de Blancs €49) made with a winegrower in the Côte des Bar, the southernmost part of Champagne, around two grape varieties that express themselves fully in this terroir: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. All these champagnes are low in sulfites and sugar.
Actually, for Christmas, I’m going to try to make a slightly different pairing by tasting Maison Barthouil’s foie gras with the Charles Legend Blanc de Blancs. I’ll let you know how it goes…
Hot tip: 20% discount (excluding shipping costs) until January 31, 2018, with the promo code “mademoisellebonplan“ on the brand’s e-shop.
- If you are a Champagne lover, the beautiful boutique Vintage&Cie (a unique Parisian place dedicated to grands crus and old vintages) offers for these holiday periods the chance to taste prestigious wines and champagnes—to be chosen from a selection—in the company of three of your guests in their private space (price between €200 and €350 for 4 people).
- Last possibility: you can opt for sparkling wines, which will give you the bubbles but at much more reasonable prices if you don’t have the budget for Champagne. For example, Roche Mazet offers to pair bubbles with grape varieties from the Pays d’Oc with a collection of 3 sparkling wines: a Chardonnay Brut and a Muscat Demi-Sec for the whites, as well as a Syrah rosé.
Price per bottle: €5.95
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Sweet white wines from Bordeaux
The holiday season is the right time for a little gustatory excursion into these 10 PDOs: Sauternes, Barsac, Loupiac, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, Cadillac, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux, Graves Supérieur, Côtes de Saint-Macaire, Bordeaux Supérieur, Cérons.
The typicity of these wines comes from the characteristics of Botrytis, a microscopic fungus that develops on the Sémillon grapes in autumn and is the source of the specific candied fruit aromas found in these appellations.
We are easily accustomed to pairing these wines with foie gras, and yet, after a few experiments during an evening at Fromagerie Saisons (which I had already mentioned on the blog and which is an address I adore!), I think we can find more interesting pairings than that, such as with cheeses, for example.
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Foie gras from Maison Jean Larnaudie
Recognized for its expertise in making foie gras, Maison Jean Larnaudie has been located in the hills of Figeac en Quercy since 1951, in the heart of Southwest France.
Jean Larnaudie develops a range of foie gras with PGI certification, from ducks raised by local producers and crafted with respect for the product and tradition.
2017 novelty: a Signature foie gras with old Armagnac, Madagascar pepper, and Guérande salt
Price: €16.90 to €49.90 depending on the format
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GIVEAWAY:
To celebrate this holiday season properly and to help you wait until Christmas, Maison Jean Larnaudie is partnering with the blog to give one of my readers a Quercy PGI foie gras, a must-have from the house thanks to its production method which respects tradition.
The prize: a Signature foie gras in a jar (old Armagnac, Madagascar pepper, and Guérande salt), a Madagascar vanilla jelly, and a foie gras lyre (value €25.90)
To enter, simply leave a comment below this article telling me which dishes you prefer to enjoy during these holiday periods.
A random draw among the answers to this question will determine the winner of the foie gras! Good luck to everyone, and all that’s left for me is to wish you all a very happy holiday season!
Rules:
– Giveaway limited to Metropolitan France
– +1 chance if you are a fan of the blog’s Facebook page; +1 chance if you follow the blog’s Twitter page; +1 chance if you follow the blog’s Hellocoton page +1 chance if you follow the blog’s Instagram page +1 chance if you follow the blog’s YouTube channel +1 chance for every share of the article (don’t forget to leave your usernames in your comment if you want to benefit from additional chance(s))
– 1 entry per IP address
– Giveaway start date Saturday, December 16, 2017 – participation deadline Saturday, December 23, 2017 and result the next day on the blog in an edit of this article.
Edit of December 26, 2017:
Following the random draw, I am announcing that the lucky winner of the foie gras prize from Jean Larnaudie is Paula Samppaiio.
Congratulations, I will contact you by email shortly. Thank you all for your numerous entries, and happy holidays again!
Photo credits: Nicolas Diolez and Melle Bon Plan
