Pâtés and Terrines

The Paris gourmet food store La Grande Épicerie de Paris is a good source for pâtés and terrines.

I tried the Terrine de Canard aux Cèpes (duck with porcini mushroom) by Maison Papillon. It has a very strong duck flavour and hint of the mushroom. Makes for a good appetizer ingredient — for those who like duck.

terrine selection

Gourmet Shops

I'm always looking for suppliers of quality products, whether online or brick-and-mortar. Chef Shop in the U.S. is a fairly good online shop.

In Paris, I found La Grande Épicerie de Paris, rue de Sèvres in the 7th Arrondissement which has an extensive selection of gourmet products. They had a very large selection of fois gras, from small cans to whole ones and also many canned terrines. They have a good selection of caviar but only one brand of escargot – Eric Bur. I also got a few ciders there. (They have a second store at rue de Passy in the 16th Arrondissement.)

For caviar I would also go to a caviar specialty shop. 

Colatura di alici di Cetara - Italian Fish Sauce

Colatura di alici di Cetera is an Italian fish sauce made from anchovies, and the best is from the small fishing village of Cetara, Campania. One of the premier producers is Delfino Battista. It sells for about €160 per litre and is usually sold in a 100ml bottle.

The flavour is quite intense: I saw a chef adding to a pasta dish with an eye dropper! 

Caviar

The term "caviar" has come to used for the roe of any fish though most people think of caviar as the roe  from sturgeon with Beluga having the cache of being the finest, which it is to most people. 

Most other top quality caviar comes from Russia, but Amur caviar comes from the Amur River which is in both Russia and China. In China they farm the Amur breed of caviar sturgeon.

Beluga, Kaluga, Osetra, and Amur caviars differ in sturgeon species, egg size, color, and flavor profiles. 

• Beluga Caviar (Huso huso): The rarest and therefore most expensive, it has large, soft, delicate grains ranging from light to dark grey. Its flavor is mild, buttery, and creamy. 
• Kaluga Caviar (Huso dauricus): Also known as "River Beluga," it is a large, freshwater sturgeon producing large, glossy eggs ranging from grey to deep olive-brown. It has a similar buttery and rich flavor to Beluga but with a firmer, more "popping" texture. 
• Ossetra Caviar (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii): Features medium-sized, firm eggs ranging from dark brown to gold. It has a complex, nutty, and savory flavor profile. 
• Amur Caviar (Acipenser schrenckii): Derived from the Amur Sturgeon, this caviar is sometimes referred to as part of the "Amur Kaluga" group. It generally features a firm, creamy texture with a nutty and buttery taste.

In Canada, top quality caviar can be bought from Concord Caviar located in Concord, Ontario. They also sell online, shipped on ice within 48 hours. They sell sturgeon and salmon caviar. Of sturgeon caviar they sell Beluga, Kaluga and Ossetra.

Also in Canada are two online only sellers: Luxe Caviar and Lemberg Canada. Luxe Caviar sells strictly sturgeon caviar. Lemburg Canada sell everything from reasonably priced Salmon Trout to Beluga. Besides beluga, they also sell less expensive sturgeon caviar. Unfortunately Lemburg Canada are frequently out of stock on the more expensive items.

Salmon Trout

Beluga

Another source of caviar is La Maison Nordique in France. Their products can be purchased online or at their boutique located at 221 Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, 75008 Paris (Ternes metro stop). They sell exclusively sturgeon caviar whether from Iran or France. The selection below (left to right) is from cheapest to most expensive. Price is per 15 gram tin.

Shadi (€30)

Imperial Caviar of Sologne (€33)

Imperial Osetra Caviar of Sologne (€42)

Beluga Caviar (€115)

La Maison Nordique also sell a nice presentation tin containing a mother-of-pearl spoon and the Imperial Caviar of Sologne caviar.. It comes in a nice padded, zippered carry case. The caviar was quite good.

Imperial Caviar of Sologne & mother-of-pearl spoon (€45)

Mother-of-pearl Spoon

If you're going to spend all that money on caviar, you might as will spend a few more euros and buy the caviar tin key at La Maison Nordique to open the container with ease without damaging the tin.

Caviar key

As with most caviars, beluga is usually handled with a caviar spoon made of mother of pearl, bone, or other nonmetallic material, as metal utensils are said to impart an unwelcome metallic taste to the delicate roe.

SERVING CAVIAR 

Beluga caviar is usually served by itself on toast, unlike other less expensive caviars that can be served in a variety of ways, including in hollowed and cooked new potatoes, on blini, or garnished with sour cream, crème fraîche, chopped onions, or minced hard boiled egg whites. (Source: Wikipedia)

For my caviar, I did the standard way of serving caviar on blinis. See my recipe here. 

Caviar with blinis

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Lemberg Canada is a subsidiary of Lemberg Kaviar, Germany. Their Beluga Caviar 50gm jar sells for €140 in Germany which equals approximately CDN$200. They sell the same jar here for $260, a 27% premium!

Sauces

Based on Marie-Antoine Carême's classification of sauces established early in the 19^th century, this is a catalog of the various classic sauces of French cuisine. These were later codified by Auguste Escoffier toward the end of the the 19^th century into the sauces and their derivatives used today.

First are the four grande or "mother" sauces: Béchamel, Espagnole, Velouté and Allemande.

• Béchamel sauce was originally made with a fish stock and a little onion and parsley to which milk is added and thickened. It is now mostly made by thickening milk with a white roux and adding a pinch of ground nutmeg to enhance the flavor.
• Espagnole sauce in Carême's original version was made with ham, veal, and partridge braised in water, thickened with a roux and garnished with parsley, chives, bay leaves, thyme, sweet basil, cloves and parings of mushrooms. It is now a brown sauce made by thickening dark beef stock with a dark roux, then simmering with a classic mirepoix¹ and a bouquet garni² until greatly reduced. More recently pureed tomato or tomato paste is added.
• Velouté sauce is light in colour, made by reducing clear stock (made from un-roasted bones), usually veal, chicken or fish stock, thickened with a white or blond roux. Velouté is the French word for "velvety".
• Allemande sauce is based on a light-colored velouté sauce (typically veal, chicken, fish or shellfish), but thickened with egg yolks and heavy cream, and seasoned with lemon juice.

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And Carême added five petites sauces: Poivrade, Suprême, Tomate, Hollandaise and Mayonnaise.

• Poivrade sauce is made of a cooked mirepoix thickened with flour and moistened with wine and a little vinegar, then heavily seasoned with black pepper. More traditional versions in French haute cuisine use Sauce Espagnole as a thickener.
• Suprême sauce consists of Velouté thickened with cream and strained.
• Tomate sauce consists of tomato purée or fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt belly of pork, bay leaves, thyme, roux, salt, sugar, and pepper.
• Hollandaise sauce is a mixture of egg yolk, melted butter, and lemon juice. It is usually seasoned with salt, and either white pepper or cayenne pepper.
• Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil, egg yolk, and an acid, either vinegar or lemon juice.

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1. mirepoix - a mixture in equal proportions of onion, carrot and celery, all diced.
2. bouquet garni - a bundle of various herbs used to season sauces; in most French recipes it is made of thyme, bay leaf and parsley.