Since writing about the conversation I overheard in the French restaurant and my recipe for magret de canard I have been thinking about the French kitchen and my kitchen in particular… As I wrote my methods and cooking instructions I imagined the utensils I needed to create this dish. I realised that I have been using the same cooking gear since I married and that I have had a love affair with white porcelain for as long. As I reflected on how I would serve my duck breast and mashed potato my first thought was to use our large sized Pillivuyt plates.
I started buying Pillivuyt long before I moved to France… I bought my first plates, pasta bowls and serving platters in Australia… they had been shipped from France to a local distributor… When we moved to Europe, over twelve years ago, I sent them back again… Crazy… all that time on the high seas. Ever since those early days I have been adding to my Pillivuyt collection… soufflé dishes, cups and saucers, bowls and breakfast cups… I am such a fan. It is hard wearing, versatile and the white porcelain makes most food look extra fabulous. I use the jugs for flowers or for juice and I use the large bowls for vegetables or salads. Setting the table is so easy because you can mix and match all the pieces together or add in a touch of antique porcelain for colour and style.
Then I thought about Le Creuset… I dare not admit this but my mother bought me Le Creuset for le trousseau… How old fashioned and funny is that… Can you believe that this tradition even existed? But she was insistent that I set up home in the right way… maybe she is to blame for my love of all things French… Either way the French affair is well and truly established and my Le Creuset pots are still going strong… At the age of 25 I didn’t even know what a boeuf en daube was and now I couldn’t imagine my French kitchen without my mother’s Le Creuset…
All this reminiscing about my trousseau (yes, not only did it include pots, pans, kitchen knives, tea towels and porcelain but bed linen and blankets too…) made me sentimental… in a lovely way… I reflected on the history behind our possessions and how the most simple and basic of household goods can have so much meaning.
I have created a new category at SHOP FRENCH ESSENCE called ‘The French Kitchen‘ and there you can browse through the Pillivuyt porcelain that I have collected, the Le Creuset that I couldn’t live without, the knives that I use, the saucepans that are my favourites and the gadgets that make life easier… Perhaps I should have called it ‘my trousseau’…
Did you have a trousseau? Or am I the only ‘dinosaur’ amongst us?
