Some people like dinnerware - even antique dinnerware -- but they live in fear that it will break, chip and crack, that it will fall apart. Amazingly enough, Limoges porcelain is high-fired and sturdy, is difficult to chip, and beautiful. 

Earlier this autumn, I drove up to my friend Matthew Zwissler's house, to have him cook dishes that would show off two different Limoges services. Little did I know that Matthew's ability to cook and to plate dishes is amazing. 

Limoges is France's Porcelain City, a place where manufacturing skills were so high that some finer objects are confused with Sevres. Starting in 1840, David Haviland of New York City moved to Limoges, where he became an enormously successful businessman. Haviland's key business was buying undecorated porcelain, and having it painted to order for Americans. 

The quenelles here are stuffed with ham, they were fabulous and they look amazing on a dish dating to the 19th Century that can actually be used. 

Don't be afraid to use old china, that's what it was made for. And thank you, Matthew Zwissler for your great cookery - quenelles will never be the same. 

 

Written by Jill Fenichell