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So we\u2019re in Paris and feeling peckish. Don\u2019t worry, there’s no better place on the planet than being in France, and even better the capital if you\u2019re in need of some top nosh, or even posh grub. Because as we all know France is synonymous with fine dining – I mean, they invented Haut cuisine, Nouvelle cuisine and the Michelin star. And with over 9000 restaurants in the city of Paris alone, you\u2019ll be able to get some French Cuisine such as Foie gras, Confit de canard, Poulet Basquaise, Boeuf Bourguignon<\/em> and even something sweet like Cr\u00e8me Br\u00fbl\u00e9e<\/em>, to name but a few specialities. Sounds delicious, and we know it will all be prepared to perfection and the presentation will be fantastique<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, whilst we rightly applaud the French for their obvious culinary capabilities, I\u2019d like to highlight a quite different facet of the cooking ability of the Parisians, namely their resourcefulness and imagination. Which, when it comes to cuisine, they are second to none, as I\u2019ve just found whilst researching the featured \u2018Boule de Moulins<\/em>\u2019 1871 cover, which was part of the David Feldman Rarity auction in the 2013 (lot 20049).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the flare shown in the kitchen during the late 1870 and start of 1871 can not be said of the Parisian Post Office capabilities at the time, which admittedly was during the Franco-Prussian war, and in their defence, hampered by the Siege of Paris.<\/strong> Basically, this siege prevented anyone or anything going in or out. The postal service obviously interrupted, and as you might expect food – or more importantly if you\u2019re French; \u2018ingredients\u2019 – began to run out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So what did the resourceful Parisians do? They looked around them and began to use what was available. Dogs, cats, and rats for starters. And for the main course too! And to demonstrate their imaginative skills, here\u2019s some snippets from a Paris menu in November 1870; Leg of dog flanked by raccoons with a pepper sauce, sliced \u200b\u200bcat maple with mayo sauce<\/em>, and to give you an even better flavor of it; salamis de rats with sauce Robert<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I didn\u2019t even bother mentioning the; Plum-pudding au rhum et \u00e0 la Moelle de Cheval<\/em>. Horse pudding. The latter meat we know is on the menu even today, but it makes you stop and think, just how bad things must have got to dish-up cats and dogs, let alone rats. And as I discovered it got even worse! More on that in a moment, but were the Parisians as imaginative with their interrupted postal service?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well, I can confirm they were, albeit one has to confess that it might not be as successful as the dog liver skewers. Their first idea was to utilise balloons to take mail over enemy lines – known locally as Ballon Mont\u00e9<\/em>, and in principle this sounded good but the reality is it was a bit of a dog’s dinner, and didn\u2019t go down too well,<\/strong> or more accurately kept going down, but not always on the right side of the fence. The German soldiers gladly intercepted wayward balloons.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″ column_structure=\u00a0\u00bb1_3,2_3″][et_pb_column _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″ type=\u00a0\u00bb1_3″][et_pb_image src=\u00a0\u00bbhttps:\/\/www.davidfeldman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Boule_de_Moulin.jpg\u00a0\u00bb _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″ title_text=\u00a0\u00bbBoule_de_Moulin\u00a0\u00bb hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″ type=\u00a0\u00bb2_3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″ hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″]<\/p>\n So a couple of bright sparks cooked up a quite different solution, which was to put mail in watertight zinc canisters and float them up the river Seine from Moulins, the natural current taking them to the outskirts of Paris, where they would quite literally be fished out – poisson du jour.<\/strong> Sadly, despite the creativity of this scheme fish wasn\u2019t seen on any menus, and none of these zinc canisters – and there were over 50 sent up river – were actually caught by the Parisians during the siege, and it has only been in subsequent years that some of this mail has been recovered and served up and put on the table so to speak.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″][et_pb_column _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″ type=\u00a0\u00bb4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.4.4″ hover_enabled=\u00a0\u00bb0″]<\/p>\n So if the question is \u201chow do you like your cover sir? Rare?<\/em>\u201d Well, you are in luck, because these Boule De Moulins covers are all rare, and our featured one is what any decent restaurateur would describe as \u2018Blue\u2019<\/em>, because having a GB franking on the outside going into Paris, via Boule de Moulins, is extremely \u2018Rare\u2019<\/em>, but what makes this especially tasty, is what\u2019s on the inside of cover. The filling – or \u2018contents\u2019 to non foodies – which confirms that the writer (in French) was responding to a letter \u2018received\u2019 via the fated Ballon Mont\u00e9<\/em> (balloon mail) and if seconds is your thing then you get a double portion because more interestingly it says: \u201cthis letter is sent by a new secret way<\/em>\u201d, which we all know \u2018now\u2019 <\/em>was the rather fishy up the river Seine recipe. Which tells us the intended recipient never got to savour the rather succulent innards, albeit we are feasting upon them now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n