Today, Maison Poilane is headed by Lionel Poilane’s daughter, Appollonia
who, along with Michelin-three-star chef, Olivier Roellinger, known for his extraordinary talent with spices, created a new bread, Pain Poivre, a loaf that’s a little rustic, a little refined and shot through with just enough of Chef Roellinger’s special pepper mix to make it the perfect accompaniment to fish, eggs, grilled vegetables and anything that would be happy to have a pinch of pick-me-up.
The bread was introduced Tuesday night to chefs and restaurateurs – for now, the bread is only being made to be served in restaurants – in one of the city’s most romantic settings, the Palais Royale. And, just to add more drama to the equisite backdrop, the Palais’ arcades were lit by candelabras crafted from bread.
The serving tables were set up in front of the garden gates
and, along with Champagne, guests nibbled Pain Poivre with soft boiled eggs (the egg holders were rounds of bread that had been baked with egg-sized holes in the center, and the bread was cut into fingers, toasted and spread with butter); mackerel rillettes (a recipe from Jane Roellinger); club sandwiches with Culatello jam, arugula, avocado, grilled eggplant, Parmesan and olive oil; goat cheese; and, because no party would be a party without dessert, chocolate ganache spread over still-warm slices of toast.
Each guest left with some bread
and, I’m sure, some ideas of what they were going to do with it the next day. I had bread and chocolate in my mind, but the following morning, I had bread and Jean-Yves Bordier‘s butter in my tummy – and so did Michael and The Kid. I’d meant to save a slice, but …