Parmentier du canard

It was the last night in Paris. I was very tired and just a bit sad. I could see the Eiffle Tower right outside the Cafe de l'homme at Trocadero. And I could already feel my nice soft bed at home.

I ordered parmentier du canard, not having the faintest idea what it was, except it was duck, which I love. And what arrived was a lovely sort of shepard's pie, only with duck. Beautiful mashed potatoes on top with an incised pattern and popped under the broiler for a bit so it was browned in spots and light in others.

It was wonderful. So, canard = duck. Got it.

Parmentier? Here is the translated page from France:

French pharmacist. He is especially known to have given his letters of nobility to potato. In 1772, the academy of Besancon melts a price in the intention discovering plants of replacement for the human consumption. Parmentier contributes and proposes several starch-based plants, of which the potato. He already cultivated several varieties of them and made the chemical examination of it. It is the potato which is chosen by the academy in 1773. In addition to to have popularized this vegetable, Parmentier reformed flour-milling and bakery It is him which made adopt antivariolar vaccination in the army of Bonaparte. It was also interested in the pharmacy, which was its first trade, with hygiene, the food and even with arts.

Isn't that a hoot? Don't you just love this translation software. We should start a contest for the silliest translation via computer.

Anyway, the gentleman enobled in brass is the statue here was the man who popularized the potatoe in France. Three years before the American Revolution. My mother wold have loved him. And Pierre Guiet, who told me long age that "only peasants eat potatoes," was wrong.

And if you look in Epicurious, you'll see this definition for our foodie friends:

parmentier
[par-mawn , -TYAY]
A descriptor for a dish garnished or made with potatoes.

Et voilá!

BTW: it was delicious.