from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Boucherie Charcuterie Traiteur Pouzadoux
In Sainte-Maxime in Provence on the French Riviera
Few charcuteries hold to their original
trade of only selling cured or pre-cooked meats, and few traiteurs keep to
their trade of only selling cooked products.
Most have become Charcuterie-Traiteurs and offer the full services of a full-service delicatessen. The largest also
offer catering services for hundreds. Many charcuterie-traiteurs have expanded
further by offering the services of a fromagerie, a cheese shop, and others a
boucherie, a butcher’s shop; many offer an acceptable selection of wines
and liqueurs.
Charcuterie - Traiteur Maillet
In the town of Gradignan, close to Bordeaux
In France, especially in upscale
areas, you will be absolutely staggered by some of the window displays; one
look in the windows of a leading charcuterie-traiteur and you will
realize that not only in the kitchens are exceptionally well-trained chefs, but
the staff in charge of food presentation are undoubtedly among the best in the
world.
Charcuterie-Traiteur
www.flickr.com/photos/jeanlouis_zimmermann/2567729331/
Charcuterie-traiteurs provide office or
home delivery, with the larger companies
catering for weddings and other celebrations. For visitors to France, they are
delightful places to choose picnic lunches with pate, cheese, and wine. French families will order a take-away dinner
with a soup or a salad and a main course on days when no one feels like
cooking. Others, with no prior advice,
may walk into a high-end charcuterie-traiteur and order a 5-star 7-course
dinner for 12 guests who will be served on the host’s best china. I have been
invited to charcuterie-traiteur home catered dinners, and have enjoyed
seriously well-prepared French cuisine served together with fine wines. Then, at the end, there were perfectly aged
cheeses and fabulous desserts.
Sausages galore
www.flickr.com/photos/zigazou76/6250763520/
The trade of traiteurs, before the coming of restaurants
was to provide cooked meals in their own homes; when restaurants with large
menus took away their business they opened shops offering prepared soups,
salads, stews, cooked meat and fish dishes. Today as
combined charcuterie-traiteurs there are few prepared food products that they do not sell.
To compete with these high-end French delicatessens, who are taking away a
great deal of the upscale food business; the larger supermarkets have added
cooked-food departments, together with the requisite mouth-watering
displays. For a brown-bag lunch in the park charcuterie-traiteurs are
the place to go to. Few charcuterie-traiteurs offer any seating, though some, in the
summer may place tables and chairs outside.
Meats, pates and sausages on offer in a charcuterie-traiteur.
Photograph by cynoclub through Yay Micro
Traiteur Asiatic – An Asian delicatessen. The popularity of Asian cuisine created a
demand for traiteurs specializing in France, in Chinese, and or Vietnamese
dishes. To keep up with the changing tastes of their clientele, many of these
traiteurs have added sushi and other Asian specialties. When you want Asian
cuisine as a take-away dinner, then most traiteur Asiatiques will offer a wider
choice of cuisines than a regular restaurant take-away.
Your picnic lunch.
For more about buying cheese and sausages
in France:
--------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019
--------------------------------
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