French copper pots cook the best food. Every good kitchen needs one. Not only elegant and beautiful, they hold a steady heat and build a dish’s depth and character.  So I went to France to collect one.

St. Amand De Coly is a quaint, picture perfect, tiny village in the upper Dordogne region of France. Home of the humble, non-English speaking Dinandier, Alain Lagorsse. He is an “Artisan of Art,” or  a brazier who makes functional and decorative objects out of copper and tin. My guy. I reseached him before we left, and didn’t really expect to make it all happen. I wasn’t really going just for the copper pot.

Because it was within an hour’s drive North of Sarlat, and much more fun to meet the atisan in person instead of buying a piece from the reputably arrogant Parisian sellers of stellar chef ware, Dehillerin, we were determined to go.  We started our day wandering the narrow, cobbled streets of Sarlat, the swashbuckling town of the almost 1000 year old Saturday Market. Do you need more of a reason to go? The food was outstanding-everything you could ever want in season, and then all the cheeses, olives, meats, the famed foie gras…and so it goes in Sarlat. But that’s the background story. I was talking about Alain, the Dinandier. I digress, but worth so much more conversation.. read more »