I owe the concept for this post (as I so often do) to comments from two Magpie readers on two separate posts last week:
+Aoife, who wrote: “A few weeks ago I was in Provence and asked my French friends I was staying with if they could only have four cheeses for the rest of their life what they would be. When I tell you that this conversation took up most of the meal!”
and
+Kelly, who wrote: “My personal favorite chocolatier is LA Burdick. The hand-dipped stuff is incomparably cute. I like to send the penguins or ghosts or elephants, with little ears or wings made cleverly from sliced almonds.”
I found both of these chirps delightful, especially since I’d never even heard of LA Burdick, and they have a storefront in Georgetown that I have since planned a field trip to visit. I absolutely must have these sheep on my Easter table. Anyhow — I found myself thinking about the absolute treasure trove of specialty food brands and passionate cheese commentaries that lay just on the other end of this blog (i.e., with all of you). Today, I want to surface some of those for the group. (After all, because of you, we now know about and routinely buy Teddie’s peanut butter — delicious, produced in MA, not more expensive than leading brands, features only two ingredients — peanuts and salt — and it comes in a glass jar. Actually a perfect product. BTW, one of you mentioned that you live or used to live by their facility in MA and that the streets always smelled like delicious peanut butter and — if that’s not a daily lagniappe to rejoice in, I don’t know what is.)
So let’s get to it, if you please! Would you share your secret/niche/hyper-local suppliers and passionate arguments for:
+The best chocolate;
+Honey;
+Olive oil;
+Coffee;
+Bread (detail which type — baguette, pain de mie, English muffins, etc);
+Croissants;
+Peanut butter (in case there’s yet another upgrade from Teddie we need to know about)
+Cheese (detail which type);
+Ice cream;
+Butter;
+Granola;
+Toffee;
+Mustard (or other condiment);
+Dried pasta;
+Anything else you’re passionate about that you think the team needs to know.
I will offer up on my end: Sey Coffee (we think they make the best coffee beans and have been subscribers for over a year after flirting with multiple other brands) and Afeltra pasta (if you’ve yet not tried high-end dried pasta, it’s going to blow your mind). For bread, we are enormous fans of the sourdough and seeded wheat sourdough from A Baked Joint (carried, mercifully, at our nearby butcher) but the English muffins from Model Bakery out in Saint Helena blew our minds, too. And if you can get your hands on Beurre Bordier, don’t hesitate. This is very difficult to come by in the US, but we found it one time at Organic Butcher, and are forever changed. (Regrettably, very worth it.)
I know I’m skipping tons of other brands and products we are passionate about but want to clear the floor for you passionate entreaties —
Post-Scripts.
+Our thoughts on “Wuthering Heights.” Comments are fascinating.
+A great playlist for quiet, focused work.
Shopping Break.
+Rag and Bone is offering 25-30% off almost everything, PLUS you can add the code SHOPMY15 for an extra 15% off! Some gems: this denim-fleece pullover, this mock-neck bomber cardigan, this striped tee, these utility pants, these featherweight (soft as sweatpants) cropped jeans.
+Thanks to the Magpie reader who shared these chic suede mocs — a perfect look for less for my Fredas!
+Gorgeous new arrivals at Julia Amory: this skirt and top set, this organza dress (!), this pretty spring jacket.
+OMG! A restock of THE Donni pants in the coolest green gingham for spring. (More thoughts on styling these pants here.)
+A great rug for a girl’s room.
+Ordered this top to pair with my new ecru/white jeans.
+Another great look for less footwear option: these chic woven flats for my Freda flats!
+You all have been loving these chic under-$100 spring earrings.
+Favorite designer new arrivals at Nordie’s: these Loewe shades, these Prada flats, this Toteme mini t-lock. (Also think this woven raffia bucket bag, currently on sale, is CHIC.)
+Maybe it’s because I watched Sentimental Value over the weekend…but I’m obsessed with dining chairs like these. While you’re there: how fab are these colorful trays?!
+Another good look for less for the Doen Sebastiane!
+Add a little drop of this to cheeks and forehead and blend in with your foundation/tinted moisturizer for a perfect little faux sun effect. I have used this daily for a year now!
+Pretty eyelet number from SEA.
+Tomorrow is the final day to get 25% off the BEST shampoo and conditioner. I love this so much I bought the enormous “professional size” pump so I don’t run out.
+Chic waste bins here and here.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may receive compensation.
Obsessed with this — I’m always on the lookout for the “best in class” foodstuffs and love finding new ones! Some of my faves, although I’ll definitely be trying some new things from this comments.
The best chocolate — read more liberally as “chocolate treat,” we tend to cycle between: puddles from ApricotKing (the world’s best dried apricot + caramel, covered in chocolate); caramallows from Harbor Candy Shop in Ogunquit, ME (homemade marshmallow + caramel, covered in chocolate); and Läderach FrischSchoggi, specifically the rocher almond milk (caramelized almond bits in chocolate). The first two, we share a love with our friend so tend to alternate buying in bulk online. In terms of best pure chocolate, we love Callebaut for making chocolate bonbons!
Olive oil — it’s not the _best_ in terms of taste for drizzling, but I do love the convenience and form factor of Graza and we’ve been long-time users.
Coffee — I have strong feelings about fresh espresso (love some local faves around Boston like 3 Little Figs, Vinal, 9 Bar), but tbh you’ll find me drinking Jot most days for the convenience and consistency — it’s a coffee concentrate.
Bread — so many thoughts. For homemade, you cannot go wrong with the “ridiculously easy” focaccia from the Cafe Sucre Farine — I’ve made literally dozens of times and it never fails. But Vinal Bakery in Somerville makes the absolute best English muffins around — unbeatable.
PB — can’t beat Teddie’s, no contest.
Granola — I’ve been making Orangette’s olive oil granola for years; I make a huge batch each time, and it’s always the best.
Dried pasta — another not necessarily best ever but such a good thing for weeknight dinners: Brami. It’s a protein pasta made with lupini beans AND normal wheat, and when it’s sauced, it’s pretty indistinguishable from normal pasta. If you’re really showing off the pasta, I wouldn’t necessarily use it, but it’s so nice to get some extra protein with no added effort.
Now some more specifics:
* ApricotKing, mentioned above, has the world’s best dried apricots — they’re a specific breed (Blenheim — no idea if there’s any relation to Churchill’s birthplace!) and they’re so good.
* Flour — if you’re local to Boston, you have to check out Elmendorf, which has freshly milled flour; their red fife is amazing.
* Seasonings — Curio Spice is our general go to, and we keep their “magic salt” (slightly spicy, smoky, nuanced, and salty) in a salt-pig next to our fine salt (always La Baleine) and coarse salt (always Cyprus Flake, also from Curio) and use it every day. Ocean State Pepper Co.’s Vampire Repellent is also an amazing all-purpose spice blend. And about as ridiculous and bougie as you can get, but the Kyo Rayu Furikake (or Kyoto rice seasoning) is truly unparalleled and we do order it online now after first trying it in Japan.
* Tofu — Heiwa extra firm is truly unbeatable
* Protein powder — I can’t stand any sugar substitutes, including stevia/monkfruit, so spent forever trying to find a good protein powder sweetened with real sugar, and the best is undoubtedly Promix. I mix a scoop of their vanilla into my iced coffee every day.
* Vinegar — American Vinegar Works, another New England brand, is the absolute best and worth seeking out. Their ultimate red wine vinegar and their rice wine vinegar are absolute staples in our pantry.
* Tea — I’ve already turned several people onto local tea shop Mem Tea (including you, J); their Rooibos Decorated, Duchess Earl Grey, and Soba Cha are all in regular rotation.
* Tortillas — El Barrio tortillas, sold uncooked so you just cook them quickly in a cast iron as you need them; you can buy them at Formaggio Kitchen, Vinal General, and other local purveyors in the Boston area, and they are truly insanely good. But the best corn tortilla award has to go to a local tortilleria in Durango, CO, where my brother in law lives. Unreal.
One niche I have yet to fill: miso! Does anyone have a favorite brand or maker I should check out? We use miso _all the time_ but I haven’t found a specific favorite.
Clearly I could write a dissertation on this topic…
I love everything about this roundup, but especially the thoughtful little asides and comments (“Blenheim — no idea if there’s a relation to Churchill’s birthplace”). I wanted to read this comment forever! Thanks for the vinegar rec – I had no idea about this and you know I’m a vinegar head. Also going to order some of these chocolates ASAP.
xx
I love this conversation so much! Taking so many notes from your original post and the comments.
+The best chocolate: Local options in California: Dandelion from SF is next level. Their single origin chocolates are made with just two ingredients — cocoa and sugar, no enhancers whatsoever. I haven’t gone on a tour of their facility yet or taken classes there but it’s on my list! Also TCHO from Berkeley. The latter has delicious plant-based options for those who don’t tolerate dairy, so it’s my go-to sweet treat to gift people in my life who are lactose intolerant. Swiss option: Läderach. This is what turned my former non-chocolate loving daughter to one who decided she loves chocolate, when we visited their store in Zurich a couple of years ago. I’m generally a purist with chocolate and prefer nothing mixed into it, BUT their dark chocolate hazelnut is sublime. They caramelize the whole hazelnuts first and then set it into the chocolate. They have them in these huge slabs from which they break pieces off to order. I learned that their turnover is so quick so everything is really fresh.
+Honey: anything local. I read somewhere that local honey helps with seasonal allergies?
+Olive oil: Probably my favorite category tied with chocolate! For California EVOO: The Olio Nuovo variety from McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma, CA or The Olive Press in Sonoma CA. Olio Nuovo is a limited production oil that they only have available in November-December, it’s the first press of that fall harvest. I took my family to an olive oil tasting in McEvoy Ranch and even my daughter who was 6 at the time enjoyed it. Highly recommend! They also do guided ranch tours, for those of you planning a visit to the area. Brightland “Pizza” Oil is so good to drizzle on not just on pizza but also on pasta, soup, roasted vegetables, grains, etc. California Olive Ranch or Graza for everyday cooking. Italian: Also love Paesanol unfiltered EVOO. Italian lemon Agrumato L’Originale. Agrumato is made by co-pressing olives with whole citrus fruit at the same time so it really captures the citrus flavor more than infusing the oil afterwards.
+Coffee: I drink more tea than coffee so I am not super discerning, but I do get palpitations from too-strong coffee so anything on the mild-medium range works for me.
+Bread (detail which type — baguette, pain de mie, English muffins, etc): Bay Area: Acme, Semifreddi, or Boudin sourdough
+Croissants: Manresa Bread in the Bay Area. Extra-flaky and messy to eat but so delicious. However, I’ve also tried the frozen ones from Trader Joe’s (you take them out of the freezer the night before to let it rise and then bake in the morning). It really brings home that French boulanger/patisserie feel to have fresh out of the oven croissants!
+Peanut butter (in case there’s yet another upgrade from Teddie we need to know about). I used to live in Ohio and loved Krema PB.
+Cheese (detail which type): Truffle D’affinois paired with orange blossom honey. Tete de moine – they shave them into these beautiful ruffly rosettes, so pretty for a celebration (or a solo celebration to treat yourself). Trader Joe’s toscano studded with black pepper, paired with hot honey. Aged goat gouda paired with Divina caramelized onion jam
+Ice cream: again, because I used to live in Ohio: Jeni’s! My favorite was their goat cheese and cherries, and their seasonal grapefruit frozen yogurt. I haven’t found anyone else who does grapefruit frozen yogurt! +1 to Kelly’s comment below about Jeni’s cookbook — I’ve tried several recipes and they always turn out. West Coast: Salt and Straw’s double fold vanilla will ruin you for all other vanilla ice cream. Also love their Arbequina olive oil (yes, as an ice cream flavor), chocolate fudge brownie, and honey lavender. There used to be another local ice cream shop in the Bay Area called Tin Pot Creamery, but unfortunately our local store closed. They had this amazing creme fraiche ice cream. My fave order was creme fraiche with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. And their affogato! Vanilla ice cream, espresso shot poured over, and what took it to the next level was the sprinkle of finely shaved candied orange peel. I still try to recreate these two at home.
+Butter: Kerrygold salted, but we’ve also been happy with the Kirkland/Costco brand of New Zealand grass fed butter.
+Granola: my own! I make it with a 50-50 ratio of oats to nuts (mix of pistachios, almonds, walnuts) so it’s super nutty.
+Toffee: not a big toffee fan
+Mustard (or other condiment); Maille or Edmond Fallot,
+Dried pasta: Jen, you’ve turned me on to Afeltra and have been using this! However, Rummo also works in a pinch.
+Anything else you’re passionate about that you think the team needs to know:
+Tea: Earl grey from Harney and Sons or Taylor’s of Harrogate, always loose leaf. For matcha: Naoki “superior blend” ceremonial grade
These are so fantastic (and mouth-watering). I’m also batch-reading these comments and so charmed by how much overlap there is in certain areas, i.e., lots of at-home granola enthusiasts, local honey advocates, and kerrygold ladies!
xx
What a fun topic!!
+The best chocolate: Bissingers. The raspberry caramels are everything.
+Coffee; Blanchard’s Coffee from Richmond, Va (though I have seen it at grocery stores in neighboring states)
My very niche pick is The Fresh Market (grocery chain) flavored coffee. SUCH a treat. French toast, sugar cookie, pumpkin, toffee, peppermint creme, and in February they have the most decadent raspberry truffle flavor for Valentine’s Day. Oh how I wish they shipped!!
+Toffee; Was gifted Cheeky Bits Toffee from San Francisco and it was pretty spectacular. I didn’t even know I really loved toffee!
+Dried pasta; Scratch Pasta of Lynchburg, VA is special. I love the lemon gemelli. Nice texture and barely needs a sauce.
My additions:
Crackers
Piedmont Pennies – Addicting!! A savory cookie similar to cheese straws and perfectly delectable happy hour snack. Based in NC but ship nationally so perfect for gifting.
Cookies
Lark cookies: out of Charleston I think but I discovered at a gourmet market not in SC. Delicate slice and bake shortbread cookie, flavorful and not very sweet. Ideal with tea. Expensive but worth it.
Shortbread Society (NYC): discovered recently via goldbelly. This is the opposite experience – VERY sweet, luxurious, buttery, like a birthday cake in a cookie.
Living for all these chocolate recs! I think I’m going to do a tour of fine chocolate this year and report back on which were my favorites! Added Bissingers raspberry caramels of course.
I also LOVE THE NICHENESS of a grocery chain coffee bean rec. YES! Living for this.
xx
This is so fun! Here’s my two cents worth…
Tea (I’m not a coffee drinker, other than the occasional cappuccino when I’m out for breakfast)
Barry’s Gold Blend for a good cup of “builder’s brew”
Rishi Chamomile
Marriage Frères for Earl Grey
Butter
Kerrygold or any good beurre de baratte
Bread/Croissants
Anything from our local bakery, Red Bench Bakery in Excelsior MN
I also second the recommendation for the TJ frozen croissants. Allow them to proof overnight and bake them up the following morning. Love the pains au chocolate or croissants aux amandes.
Granola
My son’s homemade granola. It’s a little different every time 🙂
Olive Oil
I’m not too fussy. I like TJ Sicilian olive oil
Chocolate
Love Irish Cadbury’s chocolate (the formulation is different over here; they sub-contracted with Hershey’s to manufacture for the US market).
Läderach Swiss chocolate
Peanut Butter
Old Home (all natural, refrigerated)
Ice Cream
My daughter makes amazing vanilla and chocolate ice creams!
Soft serve from Adele’s in Excelsior, MN (if you ever visit Ireland and buy soft serve, ask for a “99” – it’s a soft serve cone with a Cadbury’s Flake)
Other than that, I’m happy with Hagen Daz or Tillamook.
Cheese
Love a good blue cheese, Camembert or Triple crème
Would anyone be willing to share their recipe for homemade toffee?
Fab – thank you so much for these! I love that your son makes you granola — how cute?! And thanks for the MN recs — will note these if I’m ever in the area —
xx
An absolute font of brands and items from a group of women with a keen, curatorial lens! LOVE this as an exercise! For me and mine, I fear they will be largely specific to where we live, insomuch as we favor local purveyors with items mostly made in greater Boston. Nonetheless:
Chocolate; Kinder if it comes from Europe – the nostalgia of the branding really transports me back to my first trip abroad. I know we can’t supersede the health-benefits of dark chocolate, but milk is familiar and accessible and at the end of the day, indulgent – and really, isn’t that what we’re really asking for from chocolate?
Honey; My in-laws live in Upstate NY (yes, real Upstate – Skaneateles, for the NY geography purists among us!), and they are lucky enough to share a property line with a bee-keeper who decants honey into upcycled mason jars with burlap coverings to share with his neighbors occasionally. We use it frugally, and typically only for tea or granola, to ensure it lasts until his next harvest!
Olive Oil; Frankie’s from Whole Foods – consistent, good quality, cooks well, dresses well
Coffee / Tea; Little Wolf Coffee in Ipswich, MA – they lend so much care and consideration to every aspect of the business, from sourcing the beans, to perfecting the grind, to intentional messaging and marketing. A 12-oz. cup feels like coffee is meant to be enjoyed – savory, sweet, simple. As someone who loves a specialty shop-coffee or an espresso drink frothed to extremes, Little Wolf I drink black, because it’s so rich and complex.
Bread; A&J King in Salem, MA – is there anything more life-affirming than a warm baguette and a heavy-handed smear of butter with a sprinkle of Maldon? I’ll wait…
Croissants; Greystone, South End, Boston, MA – while a morning bun isn’t categorically a ‘croissant,’ this one does have an incredible flake and layered composition that lends itself to the croissant variety. If a pastry were life-changing, this would be the one. I think they sell out daily before 9am, so you really need to wake with a competitive spirit.
Peanut butter: Teddie – reputation precedes.
Cheese; A classic, raw sheep’s milk Manchego, aged at a minimum of 2-years. Tangy and crumbly!
Ice cream; Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium on the Vineyard – chocolate peanut butter cookie dough – how can you even pack so many of life’s great delicacies into one scoop, I’ll never know. Sugar cones only, fresh off the cone press.
Butter; Kerrygold (salted) due to accessibility, but only in cooking and eating (like spread on breads), never in baking – their recipe changed in recent years, and the water / fat content seems skewed, so baked goods sometimes take a more oily texture if we use Kerrygold. We are a ‘double butter house’ and for cooking / eating it’s Kerrygold, and for baking it’s whatever French variety we can find at the store; generic sweet cream butter if we can’t find French.
Granola; Treat Baking Co., Hamilton, MA – fresh, simple, clean. Can be eaten standalone as a snack, or with fruit / yogurt. Short shelf-life, though in our house, never a problem.
Toffee; Homemade – salted with Maldon before it’s fully firm.
Mustard; As a condiment, Pilsudski is the best traditional Polish I can find. They also make a horseradish mustard, that is exceptional with sausages, sandwiches / paninis, etc. For dressings and marinades, Maille whole graint Dijon mustard.
Dried pasta; We have sadly been ruined by a homemade pasta shop around the corner from us, to the point that our four year old turns her nose up (literally) at any dried pasta. When they went to open, we said ‘How will they ever survive selling $5 half-pound bags of fresh pasta?’ And did we ever eat our words – they are thriving, and a mainstay in the community. If you’re in Boston, Main Street Pasta and Wine in Charlestown is truly exceptional quality and service, and home to tons of small batch makers for chocolates, sauces, packaged desserts and crackers, etc.
Just chiming in to say hi as a fellow daughter-in-law of Skaneateles residents! 🙂
This comment has me missing New England! Originally from Rhode Island, born and bred. Loved having Boston in our backyard. Adding a trip to Greystone to the list for my next visit back. Little Wolf Coffee sounds amazing too. Just ordered some beans online to try.
It is so interesting to learn about the different regions Magpies hail from.
Agree! I feel like I need to create a little city/region-specific list of places that have come up in this rich archive of recs…
xx
SUCH a delightful reply — I just texted my sis about some of these as she lives in Boston and needs to know!!
Where do you get the Pilsudski mustard?!
You left me so hungry!!
xx
They have a retailer search function on their website – you can buy direct, but also stocked in tons of delis, culinary shops, etc. in the lower 48!
I was hoping you might sneak in a book tour stop at Beacon Hill Books, in which case Greystone is begging for a visit!
Thank you!!! I would love to visit Beacon Hill Books. Not sure if it’s in the cards for right now but it’s on my wishlist!!
xx
What a fun topic, could talk about this stuff for days!
Best butter: agree, beurre bordier or isigny st. mare (sold in specialty shops similar to bordier)
Fave cheese: jasper hill farms harbison (spoonable cheese wrapped and aged in spruce bark), cowgirl creamery mt. tam
Croissants: Des Croissants Paris, a tiny French-owned shop near my home. Perfectly laminated, shatteringly crisp, just amazing.
Chocolate: Royce Japanese Nama chocolate
Teas: Fortnum and mason (love visiting their flagship in London, feels like a grown up Willy wonkas to me), lupicia Japanese teas, jeju green tea, fresh roasted buckwheat (soba) tea from Japan
Olive oil: olive and lavender farms in Los olivos (central CA wine country)
Salt: flavored salts from Japan— yuzu, shichimi, seaweed, wasabi, etc etc. definitely stock up at the grocery store if you ever find yourself there!
Bread: Korean salt bread. Heavenly.
Condiment: yuzu kosho (super spicy pickled yuzu), white balsamic from olive and lavender farms (usually make this the base of my salad dressings)
Specialty food store: surfas, a kitchen supply and gourmet grocery store in LA. SO fun for home chefs.
Ice cream: basic, but Haagen dazs strawberry will always be my forever favorite. McConnell’s salted cream and cookies is a close second.
Kimchi: homemade over store bought every time. Making kimchi is so labor intensive and time consuming but I love the ritual of it. Maybe because as korean, it’s so specific to our identity? Anyway, it’s always worth the effort!
Ooo these are fantastic! “Spoonable cheese”?!?!? What in heaven…?! I’m also keen on trying that Royce chocolate. I need to special order all of these and write about the experience!
xx
It’s funny that we’re discussing granola today – I currently have this recipe in the oven! https://www.seriouseats.com/crispy-homemade-granola-recipe. First time trying it. I also love Purely Elizabeth when I can find it on sale.
For chocolate I’m loyal to 72% dark from ghirardelli since it scored well on that report about heavy metals etc in chocolate eeek (I previously only bought Theo’s, bc it doesn’t have soy…but it’s also pricey!)
+Coffee; Roos Roast lobster butter love…debating buying the 5lb bag even though I’m the only coffee drinker in the house! Feeling the pinch from rising coffee prices. Gonna have to do some serious coffee math to see if this makes sense.
+For bread, we normally only have Ezekiel sprouted grain bread…but I’m just eating a slice of Irish soda bread that I made from this recipe yesterday https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/grandmas-irish-soda-bread/
+Croissants; TJs frozen chocolate croissants! Hope this is not offensive to all the magpie Francophiles!!
+Peanut butter – always only TJs creamy salted almond butter.
+Cheese – I’m not particular about cheese but I do enjoy brie and white cheddar (TJs unexpected cheddar). My husband does most of the shopping and he is the biggest cheese fan in the family and he likes getting cheese at aldi. I think we are raising cheese enthusiasts though…my daughters (8 and 6) request charcuterie for special dinners, including my oldest’s 6th bd, and my SIL got my baby her own toy charcuterie set when she was 4.
+Ice cream; we’ve already lauded Jeni’s so I’ll shout out Blank Slate in Ann Arbor. Mmm can smell the homemade waffle cones just thinking about it!
Oo these are so great — several new discoveries for me! I hadn’t heard about that heavy metal in chocolate report – yikes.
Blank Slate in Ann Arbor sounds like a dream!
xx
GREAT topic. My picks:
+The best chocolate; I’m a sucker for British Cadbury (which is manufactured differently/better than the kind we get in the US). Unfortunately I am just not a chic dark chocolate person- milk all day!
+Bread: my own homemade sourdough, using a local fresh milled whole grain flour I get from a place here in Brooklyn.
+Peanut butter: as a born and bred New Englander, I ride or die for Teddie.
+Cheese; Danish aged havarti (Gammel Knas). As far as I can tell, no one in the US imports it, but Castello brand is a close enough substitute.
+Ice cream; Tillamook chocolate peanut butter. I find a lot of chocolate PB ice creams are too sweet, but this one has the right level of salt in the PB.
+Butter; Salted Kerrygold, or anything French.
+Toffee; again, my homemade toffee that I make at Christmas, using a King Arthur recipe.
LOVE Cadburys! It’s hard to resist the mini eggs every time I’m in a store this time of year
I haven’t had these in so long!! xx
LOVE these. We’re also a Kerrygold family — it’s all we use, for everything, from baking to buttering bread!
Funny re: Cadbury. Just got to the part in the “Acquired” podcast on the Mars company (as in Mars chocolate) and they are explaining how the European varieties of chocolate they manufacture are so different from the American ones. It’s so interesting to learn about the reasons behind this! (In the case of Mars: a family fracture!)
xx
Jen, Can you confirm your code for Rag & Bone please. It’s not working for me. Thank you.
Shoot – will check on this!
xx
I actually just sent a box of those lambs to my dad for his birthday, they’re his absolute favorite.
The best honey is whatever’s local. I like French wildflower honey from the grocery store. The best olive oil is whatever’s fresh—I buy small bidon tins from local Nice brand Nicolas Alziari and use them up quickly. Same goes for butter: when I move somewhere new, I buy one of each in the case and determine a favorite, and I use it quickly once I buy it. Salted, obviously. The reason there isn’t one best butter is because how it’s stored matters so much, domes of president butter were amazing in France and terrible when we’d buy them in Austin, all the salt melted out. But when in doubt, Kerrygold!
The best mustard is Edmond Fallot, still stoneground and family operated.
The best ice cream is Jeni’s Splendid because of the cream cheese base. GF Birthday Cake is unbelievable. Her cookbook is fabulous and easy, please make one batch of ice cream at home this summer. An incredible mail-order gift too.
The best toffee is homemade, and easy. Equal amounts of butter and sugar heated until roiling, a splash of vanilla, chocolate to coat. I can make it by memory.
Best granola is homemade too. This recipe: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/brown-butter-pecan-granola
We use dried cherries instead of cranberries.
High hydration levain bread, cooked dark and caramelized. The stuff from Tartine or MH Bread & Butter. Or make it at home with the Tartine bread book.
Best seasonal item: oyster mushrooms.
I like all cheeses, but my husband’s favorite is Snowdonia Cheddar from Wales. My nana always served triple crème cheeses like St Andre on Bremner Wafers, does anyone else eat those?
Best gluten free pasta is Rummo, and best GF ramen is King Soba. Best bone broth concentrate is Jarmino, best chipotle mayo is Zaaschile. Best hop water is Burnt Mills (NJ) with grapefruit. Best GF beer is Dutch Bargain’s imperial stout. I miss the zhoug from Trader Joe’s more than any other food in the states. For dairy free folks, Kite Hill onion dip. Austinites, get Grandma’s Hummus. Everyone else, Ithaca Hummus jalapeño lime. The best place to find new food brands is NYMag’s the Strategist.
Your note about mushrooms made my mouth watering thinking about morel season…
These are so good and I love the emphasis on what’s local to you. We have a few random local finds along these lines, i.e., we found that a nearby co-op grocery carries a really good rye bread made in Baltimore. Never seen it anywhere else, never heard of the bakery either! So we’ll make a specific trip that way for that bread because it’s so fresh (comes from just down the road in Maryland).
xx
I feel that I can’t fully contribute on this level with brands due to having more Australian/European-specific preferences though I will try a little bit:
1. Favourite cheeses — if I could only have four: Italian Gorgonzola Dolce, Corsican Fleur du Maquis sheep cheese rolled in dried herbs, Australian King Island Stokes Point Smoked Cheddar (this cheese is so monumentally good that my brother/SIL had it as one of their “cake” layers on their wedding “cake” of tiers of different cheese wheels), and, Albanian Kaçkavall (a god-tier salad is just this cheese fried + arugula + sliced Mediterranean tomatoes + local olive oil + balsamic vinegar).
2. Lao Gan Ma (Old Godmother) Chinese chili crisp — I know that there are fancier brands but this is what we’ve purchased/inhaled most frequently and occasionally there is a Sichuan version that thoroughly has permanent rent-free square footage in my mind’s stomach.
3. Maldon Smoked Salt — the best. And also so good for a mezcal margarita.
Jen, is it possible for us to go down this route in terms of our favourite flavour combinations? Like you can only have one: sandwich, pizza, pasta, breakfast dish, egg dish, bar snack, noodle dish, etc? My husband indulges me with this on the regular regarding our top 4 sandwiches for the rest of our life, the snacks we miss from specific grocery stores in Australia, and so on. Also recently we’ve been playing bone-marry-bury for certain cuisines/charcuterie/cheese/wine and these conversations are spicy… Basically: all I think about is food, perfume, fashion, and travel LOL.
And lastly, I have to recommend the food podcast/videocast Waitrose Dish. It’s actual HEAVEN not least because of the two sections called Food Likes & Dislikes (so enjoyable to hear) and their Fast Food Quiz Rapid Fire (again, so enjoyable and this is the sort of information I want to know about everyone I meet…). Recently Jennifer Garner was on and she was so endearing and her answers were so fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0SuP4GORYE
xx
Aoife, have you listened to the Off Menu podcast?? It’s such a good interview format. Could be up your alley! My favorite episodes and Jen Brister, Marion Keynes, Lucy Beaumont, and Paul Rudd.
Oh I love this! Going to watch the Garner episode — I find her so charming.
YES, great idea for a follow on post. And I love this comment SO MUCH: ” Basically: all I think about is food, perfume, fashion, and travel LOL.” What a joy you are to be around (even from across the pond, and through the screen!). Your joie de vivre is so obvious!
Thanks too for these specific cheeses. Makes me realize our cheese case at the standard American supermarket is lacking…
xx