12 Made-in-France Kitchen Essentials for Francophiles Everywhere - Remodelista
French kitchens are filled with ideas worth stealing. A staple of French cafes and restaurants, Duralex Petit Picardie Glasses, shown here in a Paris kitchen designed by Marianne Evennou... ...have a shape inspired by 18th-century French crystal. A set of six Petite Picardie Glasses, 5.4 oz each, is $20 at Quitokeeto. A classic Cast-Iron Críªpe Pan, 12 inches in diameter, is €54.30 (US $69.80) at Paris’s best cookware shop, E. Dehillerin. The ultimate of its kind, the Peugeot Chocolate Paris Peppermill stands 18 inches tall and has been made in France since 1855; $185 at March, in San Francisco. For formal weekend grocery shopping, there is, of course, the woven market basket–the panier. For a list of our favorites, see 10 Parisian-Style Net Bags. Photograph by Aurélie Lécuyer of Le Dans La. The secret to French sauces? The Chinois, a household standard, is a conical sieve used with a wooden pestle. Photograph by Alexa Hotz from Posh Japanese Workwear, by Way of France. Our favorite iteration of fine French china is Astier de Villatte’s black terracotta with a glossy whitewash of glaze. Available at Sue Fisher King, John Derian, and ABC Home in the US, and directly at Astier de Villatte in France. Founded in 1890 by an enterprising 18-year-old in the Savoie region, Opinel has been synonymous with French knives ever since. From Objects of Use, in London, the French Vinegar Pot of salt-glazed stoneware is made for fermenting and dispensing wine vinegars. Ingredients for a good poached egg? Water, loads of salt, white vinegar, and a Tin Egg Poacher like this one from Merci, in Paris, with a dark gray chrome finish; €7 (US $8.99). Top-of-the-line cookware can be sourced from at least three longstanding French companies: Staub, founded in Alsace in the 1970s by Frances Staub (its 5.5-Quart Round Cocotte, shown here, is $284.99 at Zwilling J. A. Henckels); Le Creuset, which began as a collaboration between two craftsmen in Fresnoy-le-Grand, France in 1925; and De Buyer, which has been manufacturing steel cookware in France since 1830. Two great all-purpose beechwood spoons made in France: Soil-Dipped Wooden Spoons, shown here, are $29 for a set of three at Provisions, and natural wood Large-Handle Beechwood Spoons are $6.95 each at Sur la Table. A collection of go-to tart pans in various shapes and sizes is essential. In the French kitchen, linen tea towels are dual purpose: They’re used for drying hands and spills, and for wrapping day-old bread for freshness.