French people often drink apéritifs before dinner, but rarely cocktails. Americans who come to Paris are often perplexed when the waiter asks them: "Vous desirez un apéritif?" and a few minutes later, they're handed a glass of red Martini & Rossi instead of the straight-up, dry martini that they thought they had ordered.
And another heads-up: tourists are equally perplexed when the check arrives and they find that that dinky demi-flute of kir Royale costs more than their main course.
Few French people that I know order an apéritif in a restaurants, unless it's a special occasion. Sometimes visitors assume they're supposed to order one, thinking that the waiter will think they're a skinflint if they don't. But they're mostly just asking to be polite, since they're not on the "take"...er, I mean...the tip-system.
So it's no skin off their derrière if you don't order a pre-dinner drink. I doubt they order one when they go out either. Just like salesclerks in fancy clothing stores, who I'm never afraid of: the only reason they're able to wear those clothes is because they work there. I don't worry about what they think of me since they can't afford them either.
Parisians often take their pre-dinner drink at a café, where they can sit outside and it's decidedly more pleasant. Oh yeah, and of course, where you can still smoke. At dinner parties, though, apéritifs are served because it allows for stragglers and late-comers, an especially big problem for the hosts and hostesses of Paris.
During that time, there's always something to nibble on. Even though most French gag when they taste peanut butter, for some reason, they enjoy salted peanuts with their drinks. What makes me gag are the little bâtons de fromage that are offered a bit too-frequently: the bacon-flavored ones leave the worst aftertaste imaginable. I haven't figured out where the French developed a taste for snacks like this, but it's probably because they're easy and cheap. Not the French, I mean...If only!...I'm talking about the boxes of snacks.
Sometimes I'll make something like Baba Ganoush, which is called caviar d'aubergines, a tasty spread which is not only easy to make, but improves if made a day or two in advance. Sometimes I'll tone down the garlic for les Parisiennes, and in the spite of their penchant for cigarettes, I tame the smoky-flavor, too, depending on who's on the guest list.
One dinner party habit this American hasn't acclimated to is the Parisian habit of sitting down to eat at 10pm—and not leaving until 3am, or later. I'm a lightweight compared to them, and begin nodding off just after midnight. When the métro stopped at 1am, it was the perfect excuse to break up the party so I could catch my beauty sleep, as everyone made a mad dash for the underground. But now, with the extended hours and the free bikes scattered around Paris, you need a crowbar to get folks to leave. No wonder my looks are fading.
I'm still working on getting folks to leave and I haven't figured out that one out, yet. Maybe garlic ice cream should be next on my docket, so I can get some sleep around here.
Baba GanoushEight servings
I like my Baba Ganoush super-smoky, and leave the eggplants on the stovetop for a good 10 to 15 minutes, but for most people, that's probably too much. Five or so minutes, until the skin gets a bit charred, is probably right for most "normal" folks. If you have smoked salt, you can use that to give it another hit of smoked flavor, too.
Sometimes I add a pinch of ground cumin. If you do, please just add just a bit. Baba Ganoush, or anything else for that matter, shouldn't taste predominantly of cumin; anything with too much ground cumin in it is just gross.
3 medium-sized eggplants
1/2 cup (130g) tahini (roasted sesame paste)
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1/8 teaspoon chile powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
a half bunch picked flat-leaf parsley or cilantro leaves
1. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C).
2. Prick each eggplant a few times, then char the outside of the eggplants by placing them directly on the flame of a gas burner and as the skin chars, turn them until the eggplants are uniformly-charred on the outside. (If you don't have a gas stove, you can char them under the broiler. If not, skip to the next step.)
3. Place the eggplants on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until they're completely soft; you should be able to easily poke a paring knife into them and meet no resistance.
4. Remove from oven and let cool.
5. Split the eggplant and scrape out the pulp. Puree the pulp in a blender or food processor with the other ingredients until smooth.
6. Taste, and season with additional salt and lemon juice, if necessary. Chill for a few hours before serving. Serve with crackers, sliced baguette, or toasted pita chips.
Storage: Baba Ganoush can be made and refrigerated for up to five days prior to serving.
More of my party-time recipes:
Hey, that post made me chuckle twice. Well done! I will try out the recipe one of these days.
Yum! My grandma makes it as well, but in Romania it's called "salată de vinete".
Love your site and writing and recipes! :-)
Looks yummy! I love hummus, but I can't make it very often because the grocery stores in this po-dunk hick town I live in doesn't carry tahini, which really pisses me off sometimes! The next time I go to Shreveport, I'll pick some up and I will remember your recipe for the Baba Ganoush, I know I would really like it.
I have to disagree with your peanut butter statement. When I went over to visit my friends in France, the only thing they wanted us to bring was peanut butter. When they came here two months ago to visit us, we went to a food store and they bought 5 jars to bring back! They just can't get enough!
Andy: Some of the younger crowd do like peanut butter, but most French folks I know make a face and won't touch it. (I was going to quote what one of them said the taste reminded him of, but it was kinda disgusting, so I won't repeat it. )
I asked chocolatier Michel Chaudun, who makes a peanut-filled chocolate, why French people have an aversion to peanut butter and he said, "It's because it's associated with the salted nuts they serve in bars and cafés." That particular chocolate is not a big seller here in France, he said, but he sells a lot of them in Japan.
Such a good idea to "smoke" the eggplant first - on the stove: it must bring a nice depth of flavors. I take you have no smoke detector, David? I would probably try it on the grill outside (my stove is electric anyway...)
Another very nice appetizer I like to serve with aperitif besides humus and tapenade, is the classic Provencal pissaladiere. Even people who say they don't like anchovies are converted! Also easy to make and since it can be served at room temperature, it can be made in advance.
And re: The French & Peanut Butter.
In the corner of oversea France where I grew up, peanut butter (home-made or sold under the brand name of "Dakatine") was almost a staple: we used it mostly in side savory dishes (spicy hot) served with rice and curry and on baguette tartines with apricot jam for an after school snack. It was almost impossible to find in in mainland France 25 years ago - except in fancy food shops like Fauchon. Imagine my delight that it (and peanuts) was even more of a staple here in the States, and was used in all kind of dishes unknown to me before: cookies, ice-cream, soup etc.
Sounds delicious, though I'll have to take issue with your ground cumin comment. Anything with black beans as a predominate flavor is gross, unless copious amounts of cumin are added. Then the dish transforms into something magical.
By coincidence, I made Baba Ganoush just the other day. It was deeelicious!
I had some left over falafel sauce in the fridge from making "the" most amazing falafels this side of Heaven and, home made pita. ( Might as well go all the way and make everything from scratch)
Anyway, I used the sauce I made for the falafels in the Baba Ganoush.
Man oh man, was that yummy!!!!
*I always look forward to your postings
Mmm, I like my Baba Ganoush super-smokey, too, but it's a bit too much for most people.
I didn't know about the extended hours; when I lived in Paris, I'd relied on le dernier mètro to clear my dinner guests from the table at a "decent" hour. Hmmmm, maybe a cinnamon-flavored dessert might work instead. (I remember a cultural aversion to cinnamon among my French friends.)
i am so in love with baba ganoush that i recently strong-armed a friend into letting me stick some eggplants into her stovetop smoker. i'm forever in search of the perfect balance of smoky flavor and creamy eggplant. mmmmm.
The late hours thing threw me off when I lived in DK. During the summer the sun doesn't even go down until 10:30 at night, and no one would dream of going out before the sun went down. They'd do the same thing in the winter though, when the sun would go down at 3:30 in the afternoon. My first New Year's Party there was long. It started with the Queen's speech at 6PM and ended the next morning at 7AM. Did I mention I was the host?
I never did learn the polite way to get people to leave.
Weren't we the idiot Americans when we queued up for dinner at 6pm in Florence. We were very tired from sight-seeing and wanted to have an early dinner and bedtime. Not to be! We had to go see some more sights just to wait around for the place to open.
I just recently made the Iranian version of Baba Ganoush, called Bademjan
on my blog. The flavor is quite different, more fried and onion-y, but still way delicious. Also served with pita chips. Take a look, if you're interested in trying something new!
A friend of mine excused herself to say that she wanted to change to something more comfortable and came out in her pjs! They sure got the hint real fast!
Sylvie: Yes, you can get peanut butter here in ethnic markets, and some of the supermarkets carry it too (although the American-brands are a bit pricey.) I bring mine back from the US, since I insist on extra-chunky and preferably, organic.
Darlene: I've read that in Paris, if you want dinner guests to leave, serve them orange juice. I assume that's a polite way of giving someone the hint. But no one's ever offered me oj and I always think it's rude for me to leave when they keep pouring me wine.
Cindym: My dream is a stovetop smoker! I brought a bunch of smoked salt back from Texas in May and I love it.
Life in Paris would thrill me, but I'd never thrive socially. I'm fading fast at 11:00 and am the living dead by midnight. As always, your writing and photography have, what I like to call, casual elegance. Beautiful!
Well, first off you are a good sport staying awake till midnight, which is way past my bedtime. I think I would have to limit my guests to lunch to get them out early enough. My daughter is visiting me for the week and her favorite is Baba Ganoush-so I will make a batch for her.
This is excellent! Though, when I made baba ganouj, I had problems keeping the pulp free of charred skin, bleh... I only used 1 tbsp. of home-made tahini (I reduced the recipe to two eggplants), and lots of garlic ( 6 cloves)! I also threw in some plain yogurt ... sure, that tempers with the authenticity, but it's so delicious!
Gorgeous photo, it looks delicious!
I love the idea of serving garlic ice cream. Fantastic.
Jean: Well, the idea is probably more interesting than the reality!
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My take on the ubiquity of those salty aperitif snacks is that all of that salt cuts the sweetness of the aperitifs that the French customarily have drunk, such as Martini and Ross, Lillet, kir, etc. Would work too with the sugary Coke or Fanta that those not imbibing would take.
Of course, why this held on when more and more French would take "un peu de whisky" as an aperitif, I haven't the foggiest!
I also read 'More of my party-time recipes' and I was wondering about something in the Cosmopolitan recipe. I wasn't able to post a comment there, so I post it here if that's ok.
You write about using Triple Sec instead of Grand Marnier or Cointreau. But G M and Cointreau are Triple Sec or I'm a mistaking something?
I really love a good Cosmopolitan so I'm very curious for the best recipe.
David--Smoked salt sounds wonderful. Where in TX did you find it (I'm in Houston and would like to find some--Central Market maybe?).
Did you ever try vacuuming? Yes, I know it is rude, but we tend to be late eaters and have been at several restaurants (all over) where we know it is time to go when they bring out the vacuum. I guess the worst that could happen is that you have a clean floor!
Andrea: When I worked in the restaurant business, even if all the other customers left, the kitchen had closed and turned off the lights, and the chairs surrounding them were put up on tables, we'd have people that would linger on and on and on and...zzzzz...I guess because in France, you can really stay as long as you like and no one will say anything, people don't feel the need to leave dinner parties with any urgency.
Either that, or maybe my guests are hoping I bring out more desserts?
Maaike: Triple Sec, I think, is slightly-sweeter, and although I'm not a fan of sugary drinks, in Cosmos it seems to play off better with the lime juice than the stronger liqueurs you mentioned.
Absinthe: Yes, I got my smoked salts at Central Market. My luggage reeked of smoke, by the way, and I had to quadruple-wrap it because I was afraid that airport security might think it was something else!
Once, out of desperation, we put on Time To Say Goodbye and turned it up pretty loud. The only reaction we got was: "Oh, don't you just love Andrea Bocelli? Got any more of his CD's?" Never considered oj or garlic ice cream, hm.......
First of all, David, thanks for the amusing post! It's great to have an unexpected chuckle. I have to chime in on the peanut butter conversation. When I shared PB and J sandwiches with French friends during a semester abroad, some were repulsed by the idea, some tried out of curiosity; but no one really enjoyed the combination!
Thanks also for giving me a reason to pick up some eggplant. Apart from ratatouille, I don't think about it at all.
oh my - my dad has fresh eggplant in his garden (in Maine), i think i'm going to go raid his garden (hehe). thanks for the recipe D!
AH HA! That explains it. My 4 year-old son is actually a Parisienne at heart. The mere smell of peanut butter makes him gag. Kindergarten lunches will be a challenge. Maybe I will make him baba ganoush sandwiches.
I really do have a question here and it involves another nut butter. Do you find that your tahini is somewhat bitter? Is it supposed to be that way?
I need to make this! I've been overwhelmed by all of the eggplant lately. Its hard to use up.
David here is what you do. You just ask them to leave, politely of course, as if you have a problem and they can help you - by leaving. They don't want to leave because they don't want to suggest that they are not having fun and that they are bored at your place. So you have to ask them. That's what I would do.
So you say: "Mes chers amis, c'est toujours un grand plaisir de vous avoir ici chez moi. Mais j'ai un petit probleme. En fait, je suis une petite nature. Nous les Americains il nous faut notre sommeil pour pouvoir fonctionner normalement. Alors moi, je vous mets a la porte. Sinon, je ne pourrai jamais tenir le coup et je me ruinerai la sante. Je vous aime bien, tous, mais maintenant c'est bye bye"
You'll have to supplement the accents, though. I can't seem to be able to them in the comment box.
Worth the paper it's written on!
Good luck you social butterfly you.
That Baba Ganoush looks good! It sounds nice and simple and tasty.
I had the same late-night problem when I lived in Chile. For an 8:00 party, the Americans would arrive at 8:15 or 8:30 and leave by midnight or 1:00. The Chileans would arrive at 11:00 and stay until 4:00. I finally got to the point where I would just tell my guests that I had to go to bed and to please lock the door behind them when they left.
If you like the super-smoky flavor, try grilling the eggplants over charcoal. Here's the recipe from my blog:
http://laroccosspiceoflife.blogspot.com/2008/07/grilled-baba-ghanoush.html
I also add smoked paprika. Try it out sometime.
Chris
I made it but I think it taste better if you add a couple tablespoons of yogurt. By the way very nice pictures :)