The American wine distributor picks out a champagne sabre, a 100-year-old fish poacher and a book with “the best cake recipes”
OBJECTS
Champagne sabre »
“I had a blacksmith friend in San Francisco called Carla who really wanted a bike, so I built her one and she made me this champagne sabre. This was the first sword she ever made – she usually does railings – so the weight isn’t perfect. It’s more dramatic than pulling out the cork: you run the sabre up the side of the bottle, along the seam, and the top of the neck comes off clean – in theory at least. We sabred nearly ever champagne bottle at our wedding.” – Josh
Japanese chef’s knife »
“My friend Morgan at Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco gave me a Japanese knife for my birthday. I’m not sure what it is, there’s no brand on it, but he’s not the kind of guy to give you a bad knife.” – Josh
Ladle (and other copper utensils)
“This ladle as well as all these copper things are from my French grandmother’s kitchen. When she passed away, I kept a few.” – Catherine
Confiture pot
“This belonged to my great-grandmother. They had a big garden in Normandy where they would grow vegetables and pick fruit from the tree to make jam.” – Catherine
Fish poacher
“This is over 100 years old. When we have parties we put ice in it.” – Catherine
INGREDIENTS
Dried chillies »
“I brought a bunch of chillies back from California – some guajillos, some ancho – enough to last me several years. You can’t get these in Paris unfortunately. Anything that you don’t use in French food is hard to get here.” – Josh
German weisswurst »
“Catherine is German so we have Bavarian sausages in the freezer.”
Camargue salt »
“A very common salt to have in France.”
BOOKS
Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook, Alice Waters »
“I have all the Chez Panisse cookbooks.” – Josh
The Dean & Deluca Cookbook, David Rosengarten »
Heavyweight cookbook from the high-end American grocery store.
Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones, Kris Hoogerhyde, Anne Walker, Dabney Gough »
“I used to work at Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco. Anne, one of the owners, opened an ice-cream and cake shop and her cake recipes are the best – really the best.”
James McNair’s Favourites, James McNair »
“This is a little out-dated – 80s and 90s stuff – but it has a lot of good recipes in it.”