The Jambon Beurre in New York

When I'm travelling, literally, half the freshly baked baguette never makes it back to the hotel room.

I love a simple jambon beurre. Occassionally, I can find a fresh baguette at a real bakery in the states and some markets carry French ham. Still, it's nowhere near as good as in France.

The ham that we see in the photos does not appeal to me at all. As mentioned in the article, the real "jambon-beurre" as I ate regularly in local bistros was made with ham cooked on the bone and sliced ​​on the spot (you could see the ham slicer from the counter)

The baguettes were fresh and were dropped off in the morning by the neighborhood baker. The little extra was the "pickles" supplement at 50 cents (in French Francs, before the Euro)
With the exception of a few rare bakeries , this practically no longer exists in France, Sandwiches factories like Paul only serve industrial ersatz.

All that remains is to wait for Alain Ducasse, the most Michelin-starred chef, to revisit the "jambon-beurre" as he recently revisited the "Croque Monsieur". But it won't be at the same price as in my old neighborhood bistro.

2023 is coming, and as a famous French actress said "nostalgia isn't what it used to be" :))

I'm sorry but the baguette in that photo is a disgrace. It has proper texture on only one side but hasn't risen correctly on the other. It would be a soft-crust chewy mess, like a supermarket baguette. Obviously, the cook put the baguettes too close together on the cooking sheet, as you can see in the other photo. And they don't even realize it because they choose to have it photographed. Forgetaboutit New Yorkers. Not only is it not easy to replicate at home according to the owner, but also, they need to learn how to bake their baguettes properly. If my husband brought that thing home from the bakery, it would go straight into the freezer as emergency bread for hard times.
Edit: To give Jolui hope that all is not lost: we have a real bakery at our corner, a cooperative, and my husband brings home whatever has just come out of the oven, sometimes a tradition sometimes a compagne, sometimes a festive....

PS: sorry to go off on your article, Steven. I appreciate you sharing.

Thanks for sharing this. Looking forward to trying these places!

No apology necessary, Bets . that's why I called them counterfeit substitutes . I've never had anything here that even came close .

Love this steven “baguettes here are a counterfeit substitute”…. You are so right.

Bets,

I don't have too much hope for New Yorkers, but for my part it's not going too badly, I buy my bread in a provincial bakery ranked 2nd best bakery in France some time ago and I have a pig farmer not far from here.
The hardest part is finding the butter and the pickles :))
It's true that the photos of the so-called "baguette" are weird, they all seem soft, without crust.

As for the 85% percent butterfat which seems to be a must, it's roughly the minimum percentage in France for it to be called butter.
Otherwise I don't know what it could be, milk cream extract?

I'm really too naughty. I stop :))

Ouf Jolui. From what you first wrote, I feared you were surrounded by only Carrefour and Auchan.

To be honest, the crispness wears off any sandwich made ahead of time and sitting in a bakery case for a few hours, even at our best bakeries. As for the chains, Paul and Brioche Dorée and etc., ... I'll stop.