A Visit to Rungis

On a cold winter morning, the Anglophone program (both Cuisine and Pastry) headed to Rungis market at 4am because this is when the trading/buying/selling period begins for most produce, apart from fish and seafood which ends around this time (and started at 10pm the previous night). Rungis market is the largest wholesale food market in the world used by most of the restaurants in Paris and the country, with about 2000 companies and 15 000 employees working there. Apparently, there are at least 20 000 visitors to the market each year. It is so big that we even took buses to get to different pavillions of the market: fish and seafood, organs, meat, poultry, fruit and vegetables and finally cheese. Unfortunately, the market is not open to the public and you cannot buy the produce there unless you're interested in buying 400 kg of potatoes at a time! 

In our winter jackets and all (it's colder in the pavillion than outside!) covered with 'sanitary' jackets and matching hat

If you're a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, he shot an episode in Paris and went to Rungis too. 

I took a lot of pictures of produce so the pictures are pretty-self-explanatory.

1. Poissons et Fruits de Mer (Fish and Seafood)

Beautiful coquilles St-Jacques (Scallops)

Crab claws

Swordfish

Some of the fish

Looking chirpy in the early morning

Though it's 5 am in the morning, some of us were wide awake (hum, hum Marysol and Carolina)

Love the mussels

2. Triperie (Tripe pavillion)

Looks almost like clay...

3. Viandes (Meat)

Totally wanted to take this home with me...

So did Marysol...star of today's blog entry :)

Suckling pig anyone?

On the job...

3. Volaille (Poultry)

The best chicken (poulet) from Bresse

This could have been a great Turkey for Thanksgiving..unfortunately we can't purchase anything

4. Fruits et Legumes (Fruits and Vegetables)

I found a lot of them to have been imported from Chile, parts of Africa and the Caribbean compared to meat, poultry and fish.

Some herbs

Citrus fruits

All the colors...of the tomato

5. Fromages (Cheese)

Huge bloc of Parmeggiano

The day, or should I say morning ended with breakfast in the Rungis restaurant. Pork belly and fries with table wine...sounds good, especially for me but unfortunately the horrible flu made me lose my appetite, and it was made worse with the switch from cold air (outside), freezing temperatures (inside the pavillion) and super hot air (from the bus)...yes even for pork I had to sit this one out...

Aquaculture

This week, we were also lucky enough to have a demo by Bruno Gauvain, Directeur de C.F.A Poissonnerie Rungis and a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (M.O.F 2007) - in recognition of his outstanding work in the fish and seafood industries. Once you are a M.O.F, your uniform distinguishes you from the rest of the people in your industry as the collar will be striped blue, white and red (symbolizing the French flag). Pretty awesome!

In this demo, which is one of two, he showed us how to open scallops, oysters and different kinds of clams. I really liked the demo of Mr. Gauvain as he was patient with us, explained it thoroughly and was even humorous.

Scallops:

Rosella and Roberto opening scallops

Now, explaining the oysters and how to open them...a bit more complicated. Also, oysters are ranked from 1 to 5 according to their size, where 1 is the biggest and 5 is the smallest. Apparently number 3 is what most people by at the fishmonger's.

Sea urchins:

Not as sweet as the Japanese ones...

Razor clams (couteaux) which were still alive...

Seasonal delights

As I finally moved into and settled properly in my apartment in Paris, I decided to stock up on as much groceries as I could.
The best part about going to local food markets is the local/seasonal produce that comes to be available; and in Paris it is one of the best..


I came upon a ton of mirabelles and after snacking on them yesterday, they are definitely my new favorite seasonal fruit. I've always known what mirabelles were but never tried one before. They're basically  plums, but are yellow/green and are the size of grapes. You can easily find them in jam, especially in France, but eaten fresh are even better and the price was a good bargain (2 Euros per kilo). No wonder all these people (mostly elderly) were surrounding the mirabelles. The problem was, though, how do you know if it's good? I learned from an 80-year old french man, that you have to pick the mirabelles one by one; those that exert pressure but are soft at the tip, and that indeed fresh ones were best between July and mid-September, usually from Lorraine. 


I better stock on these before they run out!

I was surprisingly full of energy yesterday (with jetlag in tow) that I strutted to Paris Chinatown (13ème arrondissement) and bought diced pork spare ribs. It's best if you ask the butcher to cut it in smaller halves and then at home all you have to do is cut it in smaller pieces if that's what you prefer. 

Pork spare ribs with rock candy

Now pork spare ribs can be found all year round, but I find them to be a great transition to the fall season before restaurants bring out rather gamey meat, when it's not too hot and not too cold. Even at the end of august, Paris is getting a little colder, with mornings and nights averaging around 11-12 degrees celsius. This recipe is fairly easy to make, with all the usual suspects: 3/4 cup marinated in rice wine, 1 cup sweet soya sauce and 1 cup of sugar for about an hour, frying the ribs in oil covering the pan (peanut, sunflower are best), keeping the marinade for later and frying them until they are crispy. The trick is to not cook them until the meat has hardened or else it tends to get too dry. Before serving just pour the left-over marinade for quick mix and...voilà!