Maille: The famous mustard brand has its own store, or flavor lab; with so many flavors of mustard the small store can be overwhelming. You have the possibility to sample some fresh mustard on tap and see how far the range of mustard tastes can go. We could not decide between all the options, so we just got the sampler pack. The Maille brand can be found all over the world so the reason for visiting this shop is to see all the different recipes that they try.

Maison de Truffle: One of my major areas for improvement in my foodie development program is to learn more about truffles. With this said Maison de Truffle was like a super intensive crash course which really proved that we were really out of our element in this restaurant / shop. We had no idea what to buy… and everything was really dear. Nevertheless we persevered, we simply talked to the shopkeeper who was happy help us decide.  Don’t be intimidated they will steer you in the right direction, but be ready for some sticker shock.  We paid €20 for a mini-jar with a few slivers that we mixed with some linguine.  The taste of a truffle is like the tenderloin of a super dense earthy mushroom.  It was good but we will have to do some more research before trying this again.  Even if you just drop in to see how expensive truffles are you will not be wasting your time, they should charge just for the delicious smell that permeates throughout this shop.

Ile Saint Louis Butcher: This shop was featured in the show, and it must be popular locally as there was a long line when we arrived. That said any small butchery would be fine. We purchased some prepared meat cuts that were featured on the show including head cheese, which is not as disgusing as the name implies but it won’t be making it to the top of our tasty treats list either.

Fromager Laurent Dubois, Cheese Finisher Extraordinaire : Since Bizarre Foods tipped us off about this shop we have become obsessed with their cheeses. We appreciate and we feel that we have a sliver of knowledge about cheese, but after a visit to this shop- there are two in Paris- we learned that we have a lot to learn.  We look forward to our upcoming lessons. Andrew Zimmern explains that the owner, Laurent Dubois, is an award winning ‘finisher’ meaning that he buys the cheese from the makers and then ages/finishes each individual piece to its perfection. The shop workers here know their stuff, yes Laurent was also there, so ask for suggestions. Bizarre Foods featured an aged compte that was every bit as complex and delicious as Andrew described, although a bit expensive but not nearly in the truffle league price tag.

Rabbit Liver: The idea of liver always disgusts me, with no real reasoning. I like the flavor but on the whole I just don’t like the idea. We prepared it with some almost caramelized onions and served on bread. A little goes a long way (we purchased 3 but only needed 1). If you can get over eating bunny liver than give this a try.

Sea Urchin: This spiny little ball seems a bit creepy, but it was fun to prepare and tasty eat. We had to watch a Youtube video to learn how to cut out the edibles, which we found unique and interesting. It tasted like the essence of the sea, salty and fishy, yet very subtle.

Black radish: This strange looking vegetable had intrigued me for a while. We prepared it simply by grating it and then preparing a mustard vinaigrette.

Boudin (blood sausage): We already knew we liked blood sausage so it was not something new but having it was the first time prepared that we prepared it at home. We purchased a black blood sausage and simply sauteed. It was tasty, but not that different of a flavor for us.

That's right! Bacon & Egg ice-cream.

Bacon and eggs ice cream: Based on a recipe by pastry chef David Lebovitz who spent market day with Andrew, the recipe is as it sounds. Custard based ice cream with sugar coated and caramelized bacon pieces. Making this seemed challenging because we had never made ice cream and with no ice cream maker we were unsure of success, but it was surprisingly easy.  The recipe and guidance that David provides on the website was really easy to follow; he even Tweeted us with instructions on how to make the ice-cream even without a machine.  Thanks David.  Obviously, bacon, eggs and cream is a cholesterol bomb but it was really tasty.   David’s recipe is easy to follow and our only tip is to insure that the bacon is a thicker cut so it stands up in the preparation.