Cream
The one thing that prompted me to write "Settling In France - A Household Guide and Cookery Book", was the subject of cream, and the question that comes up time and time again, "where can you buy double cream in France?". The first thing I learnt when I asked the same question is that to all intents and purposes it does not exist in France unless you are lucky to live near a proper Cremerie, and even then you may well not get any. The normal answer was to buy some "Fleurette" and mix it 50 / 50 with Mascarpone. The Fleurette in question is ‘ Crème Fleurette de Normandie Entière’ ., which has about 30% m.g. This does work so long as you keep everything cold, very cold, whilst whipping and later when the creation you have made might be sitting on a table for an hours or so. Addition of a proprietary product "Chantifix" is said to make it hold better if you don't mind the extra sweetening. For those of us who love double cream - which is ...