My recent trip to Paris was full of exciting adventures. Most of which required a lot of walking. I don't know how many miles these feet clocked, but I had one maimed toe by the time we left. One such adventure was the famous kitchen shop- E.DEHILLERIN 51, rue Jean- Jacques Rousseau Paris (http://www.e-dehillerin.fr/en/index.php). A favorite of Julia Child.
E. Dehillerin is an amazing shop full of all my favorite gadgets and cookware. From floor to ceiling there was real cooking stuff. No whimiscal gadgets that were merely cute and impractical. It was hard core cooking. To me it seemed more of a Kitchen Hardware store than a Williams Sonoma- where you knew what you want and just got it. No looking at a fancy display of beautiful items to inspire your shopping choices. The beauty would come when you took the item home and used it. Even the check-out was industrial. No fancy logo bag but a green plastic bag with your treasure wrapped like a fish in brown paper (they did have good Logo tape though). I should have taken a picture to show you. What was most amazing (aside from their offerings) was the catalog of prices. There was a code on each item. You either made a memory game of it and tried to memorize the number and run to the chart or drag it to end of the aisle where the price charts were located. Then the trick came to convert euro to dollar (that was most sad).
I was very pleased to find a nice supply of Staub here. Staub is the favored cook-pot in France. I saw so much Staub used in restaurants. Little Coccottes filled with lucious soups and stews. They made a wonderful presentation as well. We sell Staub at Weekend Kitchen (www.staubusa.com) and I absolutely love it. I use it all the time, not just for soups and stews but oatmeal, pasta and even boiling corn. It is so versatile. Plus there are so many nice colors of enamel that it brightens up a kitchen.
I also saw a lot of Olive wood salts (usually also available at Weekend Kitchen) in France. Olive wood is so beautiful and interesting to look at since every piece is different.
If you are in Paris and like to cook you must visit E. Dehillerin and see for yourself how amazing it is.
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