CROISSANTS are to Paris as....

 HALLIE EPHRON: I’m just back from Paris where I spent a wondrous week teaching a class on writing mystery and suspense for WICE Paris (Where Internationals Connect in English.) My daughters came along and we filled our free time with (pause… suspense… what would we have spent our free time doing?) EATING.

I had forgotten what a croissant is supposed to taste like. The aroma. The tissue-thin layers of yummy. And available freshly baked every morning at any of the half-dozen cafes and bakeries within walking distance of our AIRBNB. 

Paris is to croissants what New York City is to bagels. What Los Angeles is to... What Chicago is to...

What’s your favorite (and at its best only truly available in one place) goody, what makes it so special, and where’s the one place you’re guaranteed to get it perfectly prepared?

RHYS BOWEN: The one thing you should add about croissants in France is that they only cost a Euro, not five as they do here.

In September I’ll be going to John’s sister in Cornwall, something we have done every year. It’s a different world, slower pace, lovely people.

Oh, and I stay in a manor house! And eat.., cream teas with the best clotted cream ever, fish and chips and Cornish Pasties.

The first thing we do when we arrive is to eat a pastie.

We have our favorite bakeries in several villages. And for those who don’t know pasties are pie crust around meat and vegetables. They were made originally for the miners to take their lunch down the mine. Thus they have a rim of pastry around one side so the miners could hold them with dirty hands and not spoil their meal.

Simple but delicious served hot!

LUCY BURDETTE: I know I can be a food snob, but I won’t eat a croissant unless it’s in France. I went to La Maison d’Isabelle a couple of years ago in Paris–they won best croissant in France in 2018–and I still dream about those flaky, buttery layers.

But if I have to move on from pastry, I would say Key West pink shrimp. They are caught near the islands so are perfectly fresh and gorgeous. They are heads and tails more delicious than frozen or imported. Yes, more expensive too, but a good treat once in a while!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I think part of the answer has to do with pizza.

I can’t really quite articulate it, but there’s a certain kind of pizza that tastes like real pizza, and then there are a whole raft of different categories that are not necessarily terrible, but not real pizza.

There’s like, yuppie pizza, with things like prosciutto and balsamic vinegar, which is delicious! But it’s not really pizza. Real pizza has thin crust, and tangy tomato sauce, and chewy cheese that strings out when you try to cut pizza and oregano.

And oil on the top? Somehow? It just tastes like good old street pizza. It probably has pepperoni. I also think it has to do with the brick ovens.

I don’t really connect with New York, although I bet that’s what it is. Anyone have any ideas?

And if you have a Margarita made in Mexico, it’s beyond wonderful.

JENN McKINLAY: Hallie, I love the scene in Hacks when Deborah tells Ava that you haven’t eaten bread until you’ve visited a boulangerie in France. So true.

I ate my body weight in bread while I was there!

And, Rhys, I love pasties. Of course, I haven’t been to Cornwall (yet) and have only the local Cornish Pasty Co in Old Town Scottsdale to judge by – although, I did have a pasty in Victoria Station once that was very tasty.

Anyway, all that to say, there is no pizza like New Haven, CT pizza – which I’ve mentioned before and Roberta will back me up. I’ll be there this weekend and am already anticipating a white clam pie!

As for home, in AZ there is nothing like a Sonoran hot dog (it beats the Chicago dog, sorry not sorry). It’s wrapped in bacon, served on a bolillo roll and loaded with pinto beans, jalapenos, tomatoes, onions, and mayo. Best dog ever!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: You are all killing me! Jenn, I want that hot dog! And so many other things!

I do love pasties. I remember the revelation of first eating one in Cornwall on my first solo trip to England years ago.

Hallie, you've reminded me that our bakery just down the street makes fabulous croissants, but I don't usually buy them. (Probably a good thing, especially as I like to slather them with butter and orange marmalade…)

But what I would really love is a PROPER scone, loaded with strawberry jam and then clotted cream. (Yes, jam first, so that you can get on more cream.) What are usually called scones in the US are sometimes good (see local bakery, above) but they bear no relation to a real English scone. Even in places–sometimes even chef-y places) that claim to offer a real afternoon tea, the scones are not the same. Maybe Rhys can tell us why.

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I live in Maine, on of those places where we do have our own, iconic, it'll never taste as good as when you have it here food, and of course, it's lobster. Part of the reason is because you'll never get it as fresh as you can when you're near the coast of Maine - the crustacean you're enjoying for dinner will have been landed that morning.

Lobsters are kept alive until they reach their ultimate destination, but the other seafood you can pick up at the fishmongers or order at one of our award-winning restaurants is also, if local, fresh out of the ocean, so do try some!

The other reason lobster never tastes quite as good as it does when you're visiting my state is because of where you're eating it. An overstuffed lobster roll at a clam shack, sitting outside on a weather-beaten picnic table watching the water and the blue sky overhead. A perfectly steamed whole lobster on the deck of an ocean-side restaurant, with boats coming in and out of the harbor and the seagulls wheeling overhead.    

Hey, tourist season has barely begun, and we're a lot closer than France and England. We also have 180 independent breweries and four James Beard Award restaurants to tempt you...

 

 

 

HALLIE: So, if we were coming to YOUR neighborhood, what would be the A-1 MOST FABULOUS LOCAL AND FOUND NOWHERE ELSE THIS GOOD thing the rest of us should seek out to savor?? Fried chicken?? Cherry pie?? Barbecued ribs??? I'm getting very hungry...

Favorite English Recipes

 RHYS BOWEN:  So I am now in Cornwall, staying at John's sister's house--or rather on SIL's estate as it's rather grand. 

One of the things I do in Cornwall is to eat favorite foods I've been craving in the US.

Cornish pasties! We have to go to our favorite Oggi Oggi bakery on our first day and have a pasty.

Fish and Chips--fresh from the ocean. Yum

And of course in Cornwall: Clotted Cream.  This is cream from Jersey cows who give particularly rich milk. The cream is par-boiled until it becomes as thick and rich as butter. And a lovely yellow color. Then it is spread on warm scones with homemade strawberry jam.  Result: heaven.

Here is the scone recipe I use. (My publicist sent out copies to all the influencers)

I'll post a photo when I've had my first cream tea!

Tea Party--Lori Rader Day

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  It is always an enormous treat to have award-winning author Lori Rader-Day visit us on Jungle Red (except for the fact that I think Lori was trying to torture me to death with this post!) And TREAT is the operative word here, as you will see. (You might want to prepare yourself by making a cuppa, because otherwise you will have to get up and make a pot or two once you start reading--and drooling over these photos...)

 

It’s tea time somewhere

By Lori Rader-Day

 

In 1997 I went innocently to England to visit a friend, packing my soda addiction and bringing back a tea habit. Tea for breakfast. Tea in the afternoon. Tea for a pick-me-up, a nice cuppa tea when I arrived back home from errands or at any new stage of the day, really, always served “white” with milk.

 

Do you know how much easier it is to get Dr. Pepper in England than it is to get a proper brew, English breakfast, with milk, once I was back in America? Even at, say, a mystery conference? But sometimes it’s difficult to get a good cup of tea even in England. Even at, say, Agatha Christie’s house.

Researching my new novel Death at Greenway, I was able to visit Christie’s beloved holiday home Greenway twice, once staying three nights in the house as the guest of the National Trust, thanks to a connection made by Sophie Hannah. (Was it wonderful? Oh, yes, and absolutely essential for the book’s verisimilitude.) But we had no access to kitchen or kettle. England gave me a tea jones and then wouldn’t provide it until 10 a.m. when my husband and I were the first customers at the café when the staff and volunteers opened up. We made our breakfast from the cream tea menu. “Cream tea” means scones and is less a meal than an excuse to have a conveyance of clotted cream and jam to one’s mouth. Pure decadence.

 

I love tea: just “builder’s” black tea. Not green. Not cinnamon. Not mint. Not herbal, which is just flowers floating in water, or Earl Grey, which tastes like a sweater. Researching an English story in England, I had the chance to have every variation of the tea meals served there: a “bad” cup of tea that was still refreshing in Paignton, weary from travel. A wonderful cream tea in Soar to make up for backtracking to retrieve coats left behind at the inn where the sea crashed against the coast, a place that also worked itself into the book.

 

  

I have had tea up and down the countryside of England in the name of research, from South Devon down near Dartmouth and the Channel where Greenway is situated to the famous Bettys Teashop when I attended Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Festival, colloquially known as “Harrogate” for the town in the north where it takes place each year.

 

 

But can I get posh for a moment? What I truly love is afternoon tea.

 

Afternoon tea is the one you’re thinking of, ladies in hats. Perhaps you have called it high tea before and now never will again, OK? High tea is supper, fish and chips and such in a pub, not fancy at all, not necessarily featuring tea, the drink. It is called that perhaps because one eats high tea up at the table, while afternoon tea is taken in comfortable, low chairs in the room where visitors linger. (You can learn more about the socioeconomic history of the differences here.)

Afternoon tea is a delight, a special occasion. We have no real American equivalent to afternoon tea. A snack? Is there any precision, any pomp or history to a snack?

Shall I be mother and serve you the three tiers of afternoon tea?

Along with your actual tea, we have on the bottom tier some tiny sandwiches, perhaps egg salad or cucumber and butter? Savory bites here are welcome, as we’ll get to many sweet options soon. My friend and author Mary Anne Mohanraj hosted a tea party launch for Death at Greenway in her English garden and served all the above plus what she calls “ribbon sandwiches,” with three layers, one each of beets, carrots, and spinach. (Recipe and description here but also check out her Patreon subscriptions and cookbook.) I don’t even like beets but love ribbon sandwiches.

 

But save room because on the second tier we have scones, served with clotted cream and jam or lemon curd, and we can argue over which is applied first later. The important thing is to get your scone loaded with both cream and jam and heading toward your mouth.

 And we’re not even finished. Consider the top tier: tiny teacakes, perhaps some fondant involved, the sort of thing many contestants on Great British Bake-Off never perfect. Also biscuits, pâtisserie—there are no absolute rules to what might appear on the tray, and that’s part of the fun, to see what each host chooses to serve their guests. Like the mango trifle Mary Anne prepared for our launch party…

  

(You can find some recipes and ideas for hosting your very own afternoon tea here.)

The top tier are sweets, the likes of which makes most of us think of Paree, dessert after what has essentially been a meal of dessert. Maybe it’s too much?

Well, perhaps just one. If you insist. You’ve gone to all this trouble. It would be rude not to.

And of course we’ll finish off the pot of tea to wash it down. Afternoon tea is an event lasting as long as the tea and conversation flow. The whole point of afternoon tea is that the small bites don’t get in the way of talking. It’s a treat to be shared with friends, something special for visitors.

 

England and its people have been so generous with sharing their country, history, and pleasures with me throughout the process of researching and writing Death at Greenway and now? Well, sometimes afternoon tea is served with champagne when the occasion calls for celebration. I’m raising my glass in your direction. Thank you, my lover (as they say to good friends in Devon), and cheers!

 

 

Photos of the Serendib House Death at Greenway tea party launch were taken by John Thomas Bychowski. Poisoned portrait and tea cup stack photos were taken by Justin Barbin Photography. All other photos are courtesy of the author or her friends.

Lori Rader-Day is the Edgar Award- and Agatha Award-nominated and Anthony Award- and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of The Lucky One and Under a Dark Sky. She lives in Chicago, where she co-chairs the Midwest Mystery Conference and teaches creative writing at Northwestern University. Her newest book, Death at Greenway, is based on a little-known moment in history, when a group of London children were evacuated from the Blitz during World War II to Agatha Christie’s holiday estate. Visit her at www.LoriRaderDay.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

 

DEBS: When you've finished swooning over the goodies above, can I just add that Lori's book is delicious as well? It is so atmospheric and gripping and just creepy enough to make you want to curl up under a rug (that's British for a throw) with your very own cup of English Breakfast. Or maybe even Earl Grey. (I like Earl Grey but  Lori's description made me snort. I totally get it. And I agree about all the other tea flavors. Just no.)

READERS, tell us about your favorite afternoon tea experiences? And who has visited Greenway?
 

Stone of Scone or Scone of Stone?

Rosemary Harris: If you're Scottish you might want your stone to be the Stone of Scone (that's where the kings are crowned) but you definitely don't want your scones to be made of stone.  (I'm cracking myself up with this...I hope someone else thinks it's funny.)

Anyway, that's where Nigella Lawson comes in. This is my all-time favorite scone recipe - and I will continue call them Sc-oh-nes and not scons, just as I will continue to say Ha-why-ee and not Ha-vy-ee. But I digress.

Following is from Nigella's How to Be a Domestic Goddess cookbook. She calls them Lily's Scones and they are pretty foolproof. I sometimes throw in a handful of chocolate chips or dried cranberries. Sometimes I just slather them with jam or marmalade and have a whole mess of them for dinner.
Enjoy!

Lily's Scones

Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
4 ½ tsp cream of tartar
¼ cup cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tbs vegetable shortening, in teaspooned lumps
1 1/3 cups milk
1 large egg, beaten, for egg wash (optional)


Tools:2 ½ inch crinkle edge round cutter
1 Baking pan, lightly greased
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Sift flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar into a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, add vegetable shortening and butter until the mixture is like damp sand. Add milk all at once, mix very lightly until just blended (do not over mix). Turn out onto a floured surface and knead lightly to form the dough.

Roll out to about 1 to 1 ¼ inch thickness. Dip the cutter into some flour, then stamp out at least 10 scones. You get 12 in all from this, but you may need to re-roll of the last two. Place on the baking sheet very close together – the idea is they bulge and stick together on cooking – then brush the tops with egg wash. Put in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until risen and golden.
Always eat freshly baked, preferably still warm from the oven with butter or clotted cream and healthy dollop of jam. Makes 12


BTW In the course of looking for Nigella's recipe online (so I wouldn't have to key in!) I found a cool blog called Pearls of Style. http://pearlsofstyle.blogspot.com.au/    It's a fun combination of food and fashion! Check it out...