David Lebovitz podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

A few years ago, I visited several Pineau des Charentes producers in a region of France known as the Charente, where Cognac is made. Legend has it that it was originally made by accident when a Cognac producer centuries ago added fresh grape to a barrel of eau-de-vie (a clear distillation of grapes), intended to be aged for Cognac. He let it rest, and age, anyways, and thus, Pineau des Charentes was made.

Nowadays Pineau des Charentes comes in white, red, and rosé varieties, with the rosé version aging the shortest, to some of the reds and whites being aged a decade or more, although most Pineau des Charentes is aged for about 12-18 months before it’s bottled.

It’s one of my favorite French apéritifs, which I wrote about in my book Drinking French. During my travels for the book, doing research, and diving deeper into the world of French spirits, I was fortunate to meet various producers, and it was gratifying to see what care they took

Amy married into a Cognac-making family and I met her on a visit to the region when I was visiting

I sort of made a gaffe when I was in the region prior to visiting Amy and her husband Jean, by slipping a cube of ice into my glass of Pineau des Charentes, which shocked a few of the people around me. Amy later showed me an ad from years ago that said “Osez!” (“Dare!”) and pictured a glass of Pineau des Charentes with ice is in.

Nowadays, they’re upping the “cool” factor of Pineau des Charentes by showing bartenders putting ice into Pineau des Charentes, which is a great way to enjoy it, but well-chilled, without glaçons is good fine, too.

I love Pineau des Charentes and am particularly fond of the apéritif made by Jean-Luc Pasquet, which has a unique freshness that makes it brighter than other Pineaus, and their apéritif infused with raspberries from their garden, is wonderful sipped in the summer, with or without ice. Although I always put a cube or two in mine : )

They are also making a rosé Pineau des Charentes which is giving other rosé-based French apéritifs a run for their money.

Amy was recently elected to be the president of the Comité National du Pineau des Charentes

We talked about what is Pineau des Charentes, how it relates to the Cognac-making region of France, how to drink it, and what makes it so special. While not as well-known as other French apéritifs (98% of the Cognac production is exported from France, whereas only 20% of the Pineau des Charentes is exported) and we agree that it deserves to be better-known.

I hope you enjoy my chat wtih Amy about this uniquely French apéritif!

-David

You can find Jean-Luc Pasquet Pineau des Charentes on Wine Searcher.

Follow Jean-Luc Pasquet on Instagram.

Visit the Jean-Luc Pasquet website.

Try this Fall-friendly Harvest Spritz Cocktail, made with Pineau des Charentes.

If anyone knows the cuisine of Nice, it’s Rosa Jackson, owner of Les Petits Farcis for over twenty years. Located in the sunny south of France, Niçoise cooking is known for its freshness and Mediterranean flavors, using ingredients that range from local olive oil and anchovies to vibrant vegetables, such as tomatoes, Swiss chard, and zucchini (and zucchini flowers), as well as fresh goat cheeses and fragrant basil.

Rosa is the author of Niçoise: Market-Inspired Cooking from France's Sunniest City, with recipes that’ll entice you: Pan bagnat sandwiches packed with fresh, crisp vegetables; soupe au pistou, a lively vegetable soup for summer swirled with basil pistou; caramelized orange cake; a foolproof lemon soufflé; and a lemon tart accented with olive oil.

During our chat in my kitchen in Paris, Rosa and I discussed the cuisine of the sunny city she lives in, including the controversies surrounding the salade Niçoise (and the, um…less-than-enthusiastic local reaction to the Larousse version) and how to make a proper Pan bagnat, a sandwich that’s so esteemed in the region that there are official guidelines about what can, and can’t, go into the sandwich.

Enjoy the chat!

- David

* Visit Rosa at her website Rosajackson.com

* Follow Rosa on Instagram

* Subscribe to Rosa Jackson’s newsletter

* Visit Rosa’s cooking school in Nice, Les Petits Farcis

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When Phil Rosenthal, star of Somebody Feed Phil, comes to town, we did what we do best: Eat.

Phil was in Paris recently on tour celebrating his book, Somebody Feed Phil, the companion to his Netflix series. The cookbook is a compilation of the most requested recipes from the show, which has become wildly popular, and we had a lot of fun catching up since we first met in Paris, back in 2014, when it all began for him.

We dined well in a few great restaurants in Paris, but took a break from the savory side to enjoy some classic French pastries (from Maison Landemaine), which included Chouquettes and a Croissant aux amandes* (above), the latter of which I call the “slippery slope” of French pastries, because once you start eating one, you can’t stop. This particular one also had chocolate in it, which made it extra irresistible. (While we were recording, Phil liked it so much, he almost ate the whole thing himself!)

We also shared a classic Chocolate éclair as well as one of the lesser-known French pastries (outside of France, that is): Flan Parisien. Check out our chat, and our tasting of these sublime French pastries.

Enjoy the podcast!

-David

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*There’s a recipe for making these in my book, L’Appart.

I recently sat down with my friend Heather Stimmler, of Secrets of Paris, to talk about tourism in Paris for my podcast. Often called “the most visited city in the world,” Paris has an admirable reputation, but the word “tourist” comes with negative connotations. Personally, I love to “play tourist” and spend a day hitting museums, sightseeing, or getting to know a new neighborhood.

Whether you’re a first-time tourist, a resident, a multiple-time visitor, or just interested in Paris, you’ll learn something from Heather and I was happy to have a chat with her about tourism—and other topics—in the city we both call home.

-David

If you want to learn more about French cheeses, you can't do better than to sit down with Jennifer Greco, a French cheese and wine expert. Jennifer stopped by my kitchen with a basket of magnificent French cheeses which we sampled—and, I apologize in advance, but a few I swooned a little too much over. Yes, she knows her stuff!

I hope you enjoy the podcast—and the sampling of French cheeses—as much as I did😋

-David

To learn more about Jennifer's Cheese and Wine tastings in Paris, click here.

Sarah and I bonded over our mutual bewilderment over square pillows (which perplex me since people move from side to side when they sleep - not up and down), as well as traversins, the odd cylindrical bed pillows in France that all but guarantee a sleepless night.

So I was excited to attend her latest show, The Only American in Paris, a hilarious hour of comedy, with stories about her arrival in France, meeting her French husband, and raising two Parisian children.

In her fast-moving hour of comedy, Sarah shares revealing photos of her favorite French politicians, and talks about getting her citizenship, which involved quite a few missteps along the way, including the challenge of trying to get a decent photo in one of those photo booths in the métro station, which you need to accompany one of the many dossiers of paperwork you have to compile to live here. (If even the smallest bit of your teeth are showing, your photo—and file—will be rejected.) She also explains why everyone in Paris needs to have two pharmacists. I won’t give away the ending of the one-hour comedy fest, but I will say this: Photos don’t lie!

I loved talking to Sarah for this podcast and hope you enjoy it as well

-David

Forest Collins of 52 Martinis, a website dedicated to featuring the best cocktail bars in Paris, stopped by my kitchen to shake, stir, and share a few of her favorite cocktail recipes with us, which use French spirits.

There's a delicious 50:50 Martini, a Jack Rose, and a Sidecar to sip on. The recipes are posted in my newsletter at: davidlebovitz.substack.com

Enjoy the podcast, and the drinks!

-David

Visit Forest Collins at her website: 52 Martinis

Listen to Forest’s podcast: Paris Cocktail Talk

Follow Forest on Instagram and Facebook

France is well-known for its pastries and sweets, but the culture does have a bitter side, which includes bittersweet chocolate, dark and dusky chestnut and buckwheat honey, red currants, assertive gentian apéritifs, bitter almonds, amers like Picon, beers, and leafy salads tossed with bitter greens, such as frisée, roquette (arugula), and Belgian endive.

I first heard of Jennifer McLagan when I saw the striking cover of her book, Fat. Published in 2008, it was a grenade tossed against the fat phobia at the time. (Hard to believe there were stampedes in supermarkets, once upon a time, with people hoarding fat-free SnackWell’s chocolate cookies, which have now disappeared.)

Around the same time, I was having a difference of opinion over the cover of one of my books, and I constantly referred to the cover of Fat as a great cookbook cover. I was also interested in meeting the person who had the audacity to go against the flow and publish a positive book on something that was so reviled at the time.

Jennifer McLagan went on to write an award-winning book on another brilliant subject, Bitter: A Taste of the World’s Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes, and keeps an apartment in Paris where she enjoys the bitter side of the city. We’ve become friends, and it was fun chatting with her in this podcast about the bitter foods enjoyed in France, as well as the drinks.

Enjoy the podcast!

- David

Visit Jennifer at her website: Jennifermclagan.com

Follow Jennifer on Instagram

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One of my heroes in Paris is Miranda Junowicz Bothe. We’ve been friends for many years, and thanks to her, I saved a bundle when buying my previous apartment; she got me through some of the rough patches that came up during the purchase, which were challenging, especially because I wasn’t familiar with the process of (and the cultural differences between) how real estate is bought and sold in the United States versus in France. So it helped to have someone on my side to negotiate, who knew the rules and had connections to the right people to steer the sale through.

Unlike what you see on television, home and apartment buyers in France don’t use agents—if you’re buying a place, the seller’s agent handles the sale and the seller’s agent’s objective is to represent the seller and do what’s in their best interest, not yours. Hence Miranda, who founded Paris Property Group sixteen years ago, with a team of chasseurs (apartment hunters) who help buyers find their dream property and guide them through the process, looking out for them every step of the way.

I did a Q+A with Miranda here in the newsletter:

Recently, I invited Miranda to come to my apartment, the one she helped me buy, to talk about the ins and outs of the Paris real estate market. We covered a lot of ground, from what to expect…to what can go wrong (and how to avoid it).

I hope you enjoy the podcast!

-David

Visit Miranda at Paris Property Group.

Follow Paris Property Group on Facebook and Instagram.

Subscribe to This Paris Life, the Paris Property Group newsletter for insider tips to Paris.

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How does a cookbook get published? What goes into creating a cookbook, and what makes a cookbook great? While the author’s job is to write the book and create the recipes, a good editor will nurture the book until it’s in its final form, ready to send to the printers, before it’s sent to bookstores and eventually lands in the hands of readers.

What does an editor do along the way? Why aren’t there metrics in American cookbooks? Why isn’t there a picture to accompany every recipe in every cookbook published? How does an editor (and ultimately…a publisher) decide who gets to be published?

On my podcast, I talk to legendary cookbook editor Susan Friedland, who edited cookbook greats, including Paula Wolfert, Marcella Hazan, Felipe Rojas-Lombardi, Anissa Helou, Nick Malgieri, Alice Waters, Richard Olney, Raymond Sokolov, Joyce White, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Patricia Wells, and Lydie Marshall.

Susan also took a chance on an unknown author and was the editor of my first two books, Room for Dessert and Ripe for Dessert (!).

Now retired, Susan remains a good friend and I enjoy visiting her at home (rather than in her office, although to be honest, we often met in restaurants as we both love eating), surrounded by bookshelves that are loaded with classic cookbooks, many that she’s published and others that she admires and continues to cook from.

For our podcast, we chatted in her New York apartment and discussed the ins and outs of cookbook publishing and how things have changed in recent years, as well as what makes a cookbook a classic, as many of hers have become.

I hope you enjoy our chat!

-David

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