I’ve encountered three kinds of expats in Paris: those who shed virtually all traces of their former lives and adapt seamlessly to the local lifestyle, right down to vestimentary choices; those who embrace a je-m’en-foutiste attitude, proudly carry their origins and resolve to stay just the same; and those who manage to fall somewhere in the middle and merge styles, habits and values from both cultures. Ellise Pierce, Texas-bred author of Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking with a French Accent, embodies this mix beautifully.
A freelance writer and ardent cook, Ellise packed up her life and moved to France from Texas to follow love but wasn’t prepared for the challenge that awaited. Faced with relationship troubles, financial instability and cloying homesickness, the thought of jumping ship loomed large. Fortunately, Ellise turned to the kitchen, her happy place, lifted her spirits and turned things around. What emerged shortly after was Cowgirl Chef, a blog where she documents her cooking adventures and shares recipes, Cowgirl Tacos, a Tex-Mex catering company, a newspaper column, and now a wonderful book brimming with heartfelt, humorous stories, and Franco-Texan recipes (a unique, “Cowgirl” style of cooking). Of her newfound sense of self, Ellise recently explained in an interview, “Cowgirl Chef, I realized, is who I’d always been. I just had to move to Paris to find her”.
You’ll never find her without her vintage cowboy boots, a gorgeous French scarf or a tote for the market. Ellise is 100% cowgirl with a French twist! Here, she talks food and expat life.
Describe what you love about France in three words.
Champagne, chèvre, chocolate.
Most underrated and overrated spots in Paris?
It took me awhile to come around to Picard, the frozen foods store that no one likes to admit that they buy stuff from, but I now proudly carry my handy tangerine cloth roll-up Picard bag in my purse wherever I go. I love their frozen blueberries and mangos, which I make smoothies with every day, and I’ve recently discovered how nice their blocks of pâte feuilletée roll into breadsticks. That said, I’d probably not cater a Christmas à la Picard, as some people do (to protect the guilty, I will not name names), but I’ve been known to eat their frozen pizza in a pinch. There. I said it.
Instead of naming one overrated spot, I’d like to talk coffee, perhaps the most overrated beverage in Paris. The coffee at almost every grand brasserie or café is more jus des chaussettes than that rich, heady French roast that you expect (and get at most Starbucks). Yet people think this is a coffee town. That the coffee in Paris must be wonderful, because it’s Paris, right, and how could they get something so important — and so basic — so wrong? But the truth is, they fail miserably in coffee-making, and other than a few places, all of which are new on the scene and some of which roast their own beans – Merce and the Muse, Kooka Boora, CoutumeCafé, Le Bal Café, and La Caféothèque**– the coffee in this town sucks. (**and Télescope!)
Go-to spot for traditional French fare?
I love the confit de canard at Au Petit Chavignolin the 17th, an old-school, family-run neighborhood bistro where everything’s made fresh, from the sauces to the desserts, each day. The owner, Bernard Roque-Bouges, makes the rounds and introduces himself to make sure everything’s okay, which is how I learned that the beef here – some of the best that I’ve tasted in Paris – comes from his brother’s cattle ranch in the Languedoc, as do most of the wines here. There’s nothing fancy or pretentious about this place, the prices are reasonable, and I always feel well taken care of. Bernard shared his recipe for sauce Roquefort with me one afternoon and showed me how to make it, step-by-step, which is in the book.
Favorite aspect of expat life?
Feeling like an outsider is probably the hardest thing to get used to at first, but after you realize you’ll never speak French without an American accent and no matter how well you think you’ve learned to tie a scarf, you still look like a foreigner, this sense of living in Paris as a non-Parisienne becomes a bonus. You finally do acclimate, and you figure out where stuff is at the grocery store and how to get from here to there on the metro. But what I love most is how I can walk down any street that I’ve walked down every day for the last five years and see something new – an architectural detail that I missed before, a tiny passage, something. Paris is filled with so many layers of history and beauty, and I’m always imagining the past…who walked here, or marched through these streets, or went to this very same market and bought vegetables from the same family of farmers. It’s buzzy and feels very alive. And so do I, living here. I’m inspired every single day.
Most amusing or frustrating thing about the French?
It’s still hard to understand how the city’s most famous ice cream maker, Berthillon, closes for the month of August, the biggest tourist month of the year. As an American you think, how is this possible? They could make so much money! This would never happen in the U.S. – and it probably wouldn’t. But this tells you everything a foreigner needs to know about French culture: business and making money aren’t the most important things in life.
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Merci, Ellise! CowgirlChef: Texas Cooking with a French Accent is a must-have companion in everyone’s kitchen. Running Press has kindly given me a copy to offer one lucky reader! To enter, leave a comment below with the recipe or dish that you turn to when you’re blue. The winner will be selected at random and announced at the bottom of this post on May 24. (Please check back to see if you won so I can get in touch with you! If I haven’t heard from you within 3 days, a different winner will be selected.)
For more of Ellise:
Update: Congrats Rachelnibbe, you’ve won a copy of “Cowgirl Chef” by Ellise Pierce! Please email me with your mailing address. Thanks for playing, everyone!
