In my suitcase #2

After my little trip to France and all the many blog posts about it (yes, it feels like I blogged about everything I did there ... but really, I kept a lot of my memories there for myself), here is the second edition of the food contents of my French Expat's Suitcase (the first edition was nearly a year ago).
I did not bring as much as I did the last time for many diverse reasons. One of them being that I can find most French products I love around here in Dublin, the other being that I found a cookbook with recipes of cult French products so I can reproduce them here and the other reason... Well, the price of groceries has really risen in France lately (I was actually a bit shocked seeing that) and let's be honest, there are things like fruit, vegetables and meats that I do not need to bring back here as I can easily find those products in Dublin. I do miss the lovely Challans duck meat but I cannot seriously imagine myself bringing a whole duck back in my suitcase (do I need to give any obvious reasons about that?!).

Now, let's see what I brought back this time. Some of it is purely nostalgic and some of it is not edible but will help me cook delicious things.

First, let's start with that little vintage box above. Inside, you can find tiny liquorice and mint black candies. The smell of those sweets remind me of the times after school when we would all rush to the bakery and get ourselves a selection of delicious little bonbons. Some of them were the famous liquorice rolls and some were the little boxes of Cachou (a tiny liquorice candy).
All the candies in that little box above had melted and hardened so the shop owner gave it to me for free. Since I cannot eat the candies, I just open the box to smell the wonderful fragrance of liquorice that reminds me of my childhood sweets (believe me, I have been tempted to lick the melted sweets inside the box but that would not be very clever, I would probably just end up cutting myself on the edge...).

I brought back those little bags of bouquet garni as it is very handy to have around. Each little bag is shaped like a teabag and packed with dried rosemary, basil, bay leaf, thyme, Summer savoury and black pepper. It will be great to use in stews and big pots of delicious pots-au-feu or boeuf bourguignon this Winter.
The jar in the photo on the right is filled with wonderfully fragrant nutmegs. Alright, I know nutmegs are easily found around here (I bought them many many times) but I really love the tiny microplane grater you can find in the above jar. I might even be obsessed with it... I have stared at many pots and jars of nutmegs I bought in the past wondering where the tiny grater was hiding until I realised it makes sense that not everybody includes one with their product. But what a business it would be for tiny graters manufacturers?! (no?)

Up above is a small jar of piment d'Espelette (Espelette pepper). I kept hearing about this spice in French blogs or I would find it in recipes in French magazines so I was a bit curious to find out how it tasted. My mother kindly gave me her small jar as I was dying to try it. It is a bit expensive to buy but since you only use a tiny bit at a time, it does actually last a long time.
This variety of chilli pepper is grown in the little town of Espelette in the Pyrenées-Atlantiques (a region in the very South-West of France). I have been using it a few times since we came back and the flavours it creates are very different from the usual chilli peppers I have tried before. I have added it to soups, egg dishes and even a sauce for pulled pork, one tiny pinch at a time, so delicious!

So, yes, I brought back some canned food... One is blurred but I can tell you it is foie gras and will be greatly enjoyed for Christmas. The other tin is filled with beef tongue cooked in Madeira sauce (some of you will probably have stopped reading at this point because of the foie gras or that beef tongue part but if you are curious keep reading). I guess us French people have a reputation for cooking with a lot of animal parts that a lot of you would not dream of eating. Let me tell you that if it has been cooked and seasoned properly, it can be wonderful (but true that in some cases, it is repulsive, especially when not prepared well). My mother makes an incredibly delicious dish of beef tongue cooked with Madeira sauce, served with mushrooms and small boiled potatoes. As I cannot put my mother and her pots and pans in my suitcase, I brought back this little tin with me instead. This brand makes a lovely version of it (not as good as my mother's obviously!) and all the ingredients used are very natural (no numbers or words you do not understand in there).
I also brought back a big packet of coarse sea salt and a little bag of fleur de sel. I already told you about that in the previous blog post. Oh and look at that little wood salt spoon! Clearly adding it to my collection of mini kitchen utensils with the tiny grater (it is ok to have mini kitchen utensils, right?).

Now, you are looking at the photo above and think: 'em... vanilla sugar? We have that too!'. I know I can find it here and I even make my own using emptied vanilla beans to flavour the sugar. But le sucre vanillé has something more about it: memories of my first times baking cakes with my mother. You know that when you are in charge of carefully adding it to the batter, it is super special (especially when you are 4 years old!). And I also got some vanilla extract, why not!
Beside it is a bag of pralin (or praline: a powder made with ground sugar-coated almonds and hazelnuts). I envision some delicious desserts in my future, maybe an indulgent chocolate mousse with praline or a cheeky Paris-Brest.

And yes, what you are seeing here is a bottle of red wine. A bottle of Saint Emilion even! It is one of my favourite wines and my family gave it to us as a gift. I will be keeping it for a special occasion or a lovely dinner with friends.
I could probably give you a history of St Emilion here but since you are on the internet, it is probably easier for you to search it up if you want to know more.

For the non edible part, I made some space in my suitcase for a few cookbooks. I obviously did not have enough cookbooks already... ahem...
Two of them are quite specialised: one for Japanese cuisine (Petits Plats Japonais by Laure Kié), and one containing recipes that all include raclette cheese (Raclette by Isabelle Guerre).
The bigger one, and my new favourite French cookbook, is called 'La Petite Epicerie du Fait-Maison' by Estérelle Payany. It contains 80 recipes for cult products we love in France, but all only using natural ingredients. And that is why I did not need to fill my suitcase up with many products I will now be able to make by myself! I already gave a try to the recipe for Petits Beurre and they tasted exactly like the real deal. Next, I will probably try the recipe for homemade sweetened condensed milk or the tartinella (chocolate, hazelnuts... Need I say more?).

And that is all with the contents of my French Expat's Suitcase!

Do you also bring products and ingredients back when you travel, be it for a visit to your home country or just some holidays abroad?

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The Food Contents of A French Expat's Suitcase