Need your help! Where to get cheesecake in Paris?
 

Help! Help! Help!

I'm told that cream cheese is unavailable in Paris - at least, not the American variety.

So, if I can't make cheesecake in Paris, is there somewhere in the Magic City it can be bought? Preferably not too sweet.

Or mebbe you could suggest a French substitute for cream cheese?

TIA! :)

there are plenty of soft French cheeses, but I don't know what exactly with that texture or mild flavor.

It's not a French dessert, but it's not that hard to find it in Paris. The bakeries and delis in the Marais Jewish section have cheesecake. I think I've had it on the menu in various restaurants, also, but can't name names. It wouldn't surprise me if you couldn't just buy a frozen one in a good supermarket, like Monoprix.

Um, could this be a leeetle joke, maybe, do you think?

In all the many years I've been visiting Paris, I've never seen cheesecake in a patisserie, restaurant, gourmet store, or anywhere else. Nor have I seen American cream cheese (with almost 400 varieties of cheeses of their own, I somehow don't think they need it).
There are cheeses that are similar to cream cheese, like fromage frais or fromage blanc, but nothing I can think of that would make an American-style cheesecake.
There was a thread here some time ago about stores in Paris where you could get root beer and other American products, though - maybe you can dig that up and get some ideas.
Dare I ask why, in Paris of all places, you need American cheesecake?

A perfectly good question, St Cirq!

It's because I recently had a friend from Paris visit here in the States. We drove along almost the entire West Coast. Quite a considerable amount of time was spent trying to find "genuine" American things, like cheesecake, pumpkin pie, etc. Things that cannot be gotten in Paris.

It looks like I'll be going to Paris next year and I'd like to be able to make/buy her some American cheesecake.

Now, it looks like short of having to bring cream cheese in my luggage, there is no possible way of giving her the genuine article! Lo! (Will cream cheese be considered a "weapon"? Will it be confiscated?)

What about sour cream? To make the cheesecake less sweet, I use some sour cream to tone it down. Will my luggage be filled with sour cream as well?

This is a very serioius problem. A problem on a grand scale!

Christina: that's a good suggestion. I'll look in the Marais. Thanks very much!

If we have bagels with cream cheese here, it's logical to assume that maybe in some Jewish bakeries they would have some cream cheese around.

easytraveler, it can only be a weapon if the person it is intended for is on a diet :D
There used to be a store on the Left Bank called The General Store..on rue de Grenelle near rue de Bac.
I would suggest looking for cream cheese there .. good luck ~

...on the other hand, isn't there an American product store called "Thanksgiving" somewhere in beautiful downtown Paris? Surely they'd have cream cheese.

Otherwise... perhaps epicurious.com has a recipe for the italian version (just to get the dry/wet combination and cooking times) using their fresh farmer's cheese and creme freche. I'd try crumbled madeleins for the crust...
oh goodness...!!

quote>>>
Dare I ask why, in Paris of all places, you need American cheesecake?
>>>

i knew someone would make you explain

Just had another thought - I think there's a Real McCoy store in the 7th. They specialize in American foods that expats sometimes crave. Maybe cre3am cheese fits into that category? I know it would for me!

walkinaround: "...MAKE you explain?" How did you leap from "dare I ask" to "make you explain"?

OK, folks! This is getting really serious here!

Scarlett: I'll ask if she's on a diet! :) She's so thin, she probably needs a rreverse diet - lo!

I've checked epicurous and foodtv and neither has a good substitute recipe. Except that, on foodtv, there was one recipe that recommended using "Neufchatel (sp?) cream cheese". What the heck is that?

about.com gave me phone numbers for all three places that have been recommended: Thanksgiving, The General Store, and the Real McCoy. Thank you all for those great store suggestions! I do have one small concern - what if, on arrival in Paris, none of these stores carry cream cheese or cheesecake?

So, here's the backup question: what can I use as a French substitute? Suzie's suggestion to use madeleins in place of graham crackers is good. What French product would be the closest to American cream cheese?

I'm also in the experimental stages of making American crab cakes and finally figured out that one has to use a NON-STICK frying pan for the crab cakes not to fall apart. If there were such an easy solution for the cheesecake problem!

TIA again!

I definitely wouldn't use plain old Neufchatel - that's like a Camembert. "Neufchatel cream cheese" I've never heard of.
Why not send an email to Fromage.com Customer Service and ask what would be a good substitute. You can reach them at [email protected]

Kraft cream cheese is easily available especially at large supermarkets but that's not what your are looking for?>

Neufchatel cream cheese is sold in San Francisco where the regular cream cheese is sold - check your local Cala Foods! StCirq, it may be a USA invention :)

I would def. try the Marais, I wasn't just speculating, I know the bakeries over there sell cheesecake, as I've seen it. Now whether some of the delis sell just the cream cheese, I don't know, but it's worth a try. They sell cheesecake at the bakery near Chez Marianne's restaurant, for one place (as a Google search found).

They also serve it at the tea salon L'Heure Gourmande on passage Dauphine in the 6th, and the NY outpost of Joe Allen's restaurant in Les Halles.

Neufchatel cheese is sold in American super markets in the cream cheese area and has been for many years now(which is why that book said "Neufchatel cream cheese" -- it's what they call low-fat cream cheese on the label (Neufchatel will be in small print), although it's not exactly like what you'll buy in France. I use it myself at times to cut down on calories. I think it could work, although it is not as creamy and thus not as good for cheesecake. Neufchatel is made from whole milk, not cream. Even in France, it is a soft, spreadable cheese, and I would not judge it as hard as camembert or of that musky flavor. I think Neufchatel is a name that can be applied to a variety of cheeses in France (it's from Normandy). I would not use that to make a cheesecake, it won't be very rich (although you could experiment with some if you have time). I think that recipe was thinking of the Neufchatel-style cheese you find in US supermarkets.

One can make very nice cheesecakes with ricotta. They won't be as rich as full-fat creamcheese cakes, obviously. I presume ricotta is available in Paris.

Wow! This is really great! Fodors strikes again! What a wonderful plethora of options!

OK, this is what I am going to do:
1) Send my friend to the Marais and the other places mentioned by Christina and have HER see if there is any cheesecake sold in Paris that she likes. After all, she lives there - lo!

2) I'll try to make some cheesecake with ricotta and see how it turns out. Any specific brand of ricotta?

3) Thanks to all for the clarification on Neufchatel cream cheese. It sounded like a French cream cheese. Whew! That was a great puzzle! :)

4) I WAS going to try a triple creme brie that's in my refrigerator. Would you recommend even trying the brie at this stage?

I've had cheesecake many times at A Priori The in the Galerie Vivienne in the second arrond. It's a tea salon owned by an American woman, a New Yorker I believe, and the cheesecake is pretty good. Usually a lemon cheesecake.

I do not think brie is a good idea.
The Marais is a brilliant idea. They sell nova and bagels and cream cheese..

I have to add that I have found Philadelphia brand cream cheese in many Belgian supermarkets (virtually every large supermarket carries it) and also in several French hypermarches, although I've never made a point of looking for it in Paris. Easytraveler, if your friend ever gets up to Brussels, tell him/her to look for cream cheese in any Delhaize or GB supermarket. They'll have it.

Rose Bakery in the 9th sells cheesecake.

as well as Finkelsztajan's in the Marais.

Easytraveler, you can check out this thread for the Thanksgiving info:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34536670

Thanksgiving is located in the Marais. They provide all the fixings for Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner as well as providing the full catered meal at &euro;29/person. In ADDITION, they sell New-York-style cheesecake (<i>le vrai cheesecake newyorkais</i>) so I'm sure they'd sell the ingredients to make it. You can e-mail them here:
[email protected]

StCirq, I've used neufch&acirc;tel cream cheese to make a lower-fat version of cheesecake. It's sold in rectangular blocks just like cream cheese but I'm not sure if it's comparable to the neufch&acirc;tel you'd find in Europe.

Besides ricotta, Easytraveler, you could also try mascarpone cheese (the Italian soft cream cheese used in tiramisu). I'm not sure if it's sold in Paris but it's worth looking for. I think you might want to use an additional egg when you use the mascarpone to get the firm texture for the cheesecake. You could also use a tablespoon of flour but I'm sure many would think that it would not then be true, traditional cheesecake, so best to use that extra egg! :)

Hi there easytraveler. Neufchatel cheese is often used as a base for commercial savoury dips here in Australia, but I think the consistency is a bit runnier than cream cheese.
Just as a suggestion, why not contact Kraft who manufacture Philly and see if they can advise you of any stockists in Paris. www.kraft.com

My thanks to all the wonderful new suggestions and places that have been mentioned! I am emailing her all the relevant information today and hope that she can find cheesecake heaven right at home in Paris!

Sorry for the late response. My palate got so jaded on different versions of crab cakes yesterday that I had to take some to a friend's house to be &quot;test driven&quot; last night.

Again, thanks to all for taking an interest in my out-in-left-field question and for your stimulating responses! :)

BTilke said : .. Philadelphia brand cream cheese ..

That's the cream cheese that I mentioned by Kraft.

I've seen Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese occassionally in bigger &quot;hypermarch&eacute;s&quot; in and around Paris.. and it's definitely available in Belgium

Since I can't find it here in Provence, I use &quot;St Moret&quot;, called &quot;un specialit&eacute;
fromag&egrave;re&quot; which comes in a package almost identical to the Philly cream cheese package. It's found in just about every store in France. I actually like the taste of it better than American cream cheese, and it makes a good cheesecake.

Patricia

See? I KNEW there would be a satisfactory answer. Otherwise, one of the big NY firms would probably mail you one to your hotel. &lt;GRIN&gt;
I mentioned the italian recipes that do in fact use ricotta ...
they're delicious. But everyone has a favorite style of cheesecake, dense, sweet, cheesy, light as a feather...

As to your crabcakes...make sure they are really well chilled before you try to fry them. (My family is from the Eastern Shore of Maryland...)

PBProvence is right. St.Moret, and Kiri which are the type &quot;fromage cremeux&quot; are like Philadelphia cream cheese.

Bake it, freeze it, let it thaw out on the flight.

LOL clevelandbrown, then eat it in the taxi on the way to the hotel ~
(that would probably be me)

The choices that are offered at the moment are:

1) buy cheesecake in Paris, assuming that it may taste like cheesecake in the States

2) make cheesecake in Paris, assuming that same/like ingredients are available

3) make cheesecake in the States, freeze, and carry to Paris. This is plausible, but not possible. With my luck, the cheesecake will be two ounces overweight and the airline would insist that it travel as checked luggage. It will arrive, defrosted, melted, and all sloshed and crushed together. :)

Suzie: I'm exhausted from all the crab cake experiments. They are still coming out a bit bland. I've placed the crab mix in the frig overnight even.

My ingredients so far: parsley, shallots, scallions, chives, parsley, fennel, dill, garlic - all finely chopped and cooked together in olive oil and butter. This mixture is then stirred in together with buttered mashed potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper and with canned crab. The mixture is chilled, then made into patties and fried in butter and olive oil.

I've tried adding thyme, rosemary, more salt, more pepper, and sambal oelek (a South Asian hot pepper mix). Except for the sambal which was so hot it sent me flying through the roof, the rest have not worked.

Maybe the secret is to cook the crab with the herb mixture and then mix in the mashed potatoes? Seemingly the potatoes and the canned crab are two overwhelmingly bland ingredients and their combined blandness have to be overcome somehow.

BTW, if Philadelphian cream cheese is available in Paris, then my problems are 90% solved! Thanks all!

fennel? Mashed potatos? Canned Crab? YIKES, my dear sainted grandmother is rolling around whereever it is she ended up... hoot of a woman! But I digress, no wonder its bland!

Email me for some recipes...
[email protected]

easytraveler, it seems to me that you need something else to keep the crabcakes together; some egg probably.
www.epicurious.com has great recipes, in case you're stuck (and a food forum too).

The Philadelphia is available in large supermarkets, so no problem there. If you want the cake with a crust, graham crackers, which seem a feature of many American cakes, are not that easy to find.