During citrus season in France, if you’re lucky, you’ll run across something called a bergamot (shown above, on the left). They’re not brilliant yellow like regular lemons, but a sort of orangey color, and when split open, they’re quite juicy and the flavor is much sweeter than regular lemons. They often call them citrons doux, which translates to “sweet lemons,” and they remind me of…
Last month I was teaching at Central Market, a chain of pretty amazing supermarkets in Texas that has just about anything you can imagine—including cooking classes. And I never pass up the chance to teach there. For one thing, the staff is uniformly excellent and it’s just a pleasure to step into their kitchens and work with them. But the other is that I get…
A few years ago I got a message from a nice young couple that had worked their way through each and every recipe in Room for Dessert, my first book, and wanted me to sign their copy. And let me tell you, these kids were really pioneers, as this was well before the “cook every recipe from the book” blogs got so popular—they didn’t even…
When I was in Mexico last year, after they were able to uncurl my iron-clad grip on the airport entrance door frame because I was having a hard time leaving all those warm, freshly made corn tortillas behind, on the walkway to the departure gate, I realized I had a few extra pesos jingling in my pocket. Thankfully aside from a lot of great Mexican…
Did you know that (technically) there is no such thing as a Meyer lemon? Well, at least not as we know them. Officially, they haven’t existed for about fifty years, since a virus attacked the Meyer lemon trees and they were banned in the United States. In 1975, an Improved Meyer Lemon was introduced, whose plants were virus-free, and people began planting them in backyards…
I once asked a restaurateur, who owns restaurants in European and in America, what he thought was the main difference between the food in American and the food in Europe. “Everything’s is sweeter,” he replied right away. I thought about it for a moment, and considering everyone’s got their panties in a knot about all the sweeteners that are dumped into everything from tomato sauce, bottled salad…
For some reason, people think I eat out all the time. I like eating in restaurants, but I really like to cook make for myself and friends. When I do, I get to pick and choose exactly what I’m going to make, what I’m going to put into it, and how to cook it. I become the proverbial free man in Paris. At least in…
I know some of you’ve been thinking; “When is David finally going to clean-up and organize his links page?” Well, that day has come and gone folks, and instead of the previous mish-mash of links added haphazardly, they’re now neatly organized into categories and specialties. I’ve added a couple—and given a few the heave-ho, especially the stale ones that are perhaps older than a few…
This is the post I never thought I’d write. I never wanted to tackle madeleines. I thought they were something that…darn it…you just needed to eat when you’re in France. Like hamburgers and bagels, I didn’t think everything translated cross-culturally. If you wanted a madeleine, darn it, you came to France to have one. I mean, did you ever have a bagel in Banff? Do…
Join me on my Spring 2026 book tour for my latest book, The Great Book of Chocolate
A
Get David's newsletter sent right to your Inbox!
Sign up for my newsletter and get my FREE guidebook to the best bakeries and pastry shops in Paris...
