The Cavaillon Melon. The Best Melon in France.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

     
The Cavaillon Melon
When it is a Cavaillon Melon, it says so!

The Melon du Cavaillon is a unique melon; not just a sweet melon or a pleasant melon. This melon has a taste and fragrance that is different and you will remember your first Melon de Cavaillon when another is offered years later.  Inside a ripe Cavaillon melon, the flesh is an orange color and the taste is sweet but far from sugary. The small French town of Cavaillon in Provence around which this melon is grown has played many roles in French history.
   

Inside the Cavaillon melon
https://www.flickr.com/photos/inra_dist/23649229036/
   
The Cavaillon melons are nearly round, with yellow-green skins, and uniform dark green stripes. In season, from mid-June through September, the air in an open market where they are selling these melons can be quite heady
  
Cavaillon is charming, and even without the melon is well worth a visit. The town has just a lover 20,000 inhabitants and is in the department of Vaucluse in the region of Provence, Alpes de Sud.  If you are traveling in the area Cavaillon is just 25 km (16 miles) from Avignon, 28 km (18 miles) from Carpentras and 20 km (13 miles) from Saint-Remy-de-Provence. 
  
The English language website for the area of Luberon in Provence which includes Cavaillon is:


              
The Cavaillon Melon on French menus:

Melon de Cavaillon au Jambon de Bayonne– Cavaillon melon served with cured Bayonne ham. Melon and cured ham is a traditional entrée, the French first course. Bayonne ham comes from the France Basque country on the border with Spain, the Pays de Basque, it is the most popular cured ham in France. The city of Bayonne is the capital of the Pays Basque.
   

Slices of the Cavaillon melon and Bayonne ham.
 
Melon de Cavaillon au Magret de Canard Fumé – Cavaillon melon served with smoked duck breast.

Melon de Cavaillon Nature – A Cavaillon melon served without any additions. Cavaillon melon served as it should be.
 
Melon de Cavaillon Rôti, Glace aux Calissons et Coulis de Melon au Muscat De Beaumes De Venise A roasted Cavaillon melon glazed with almond paste and crystallized melon calisson cookies served with a melon puree flavored with the glorious, sweet Muscat De Beaumes De Venise wine.   (Calissons were originally sold as part of celebrations welcoming the end of the Black Plague. The last outbreak of plague in France was the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720, and then the disease killed over 100,000).
Méli mélo de Jambon Serrano et Filet Mignon de Porc Fumé, Copeaux de ParmesanMeli Melo is a contrast in tastes and colors; here it is provided by Cavaillon melon, cured Serrano ham, smoked pork fillet, and shavings of Parmesan cheese. (The smoked pork fillet mignon offered here, is cut from the pork fillet, the US tenderloin).

Soupe Froide de Melon Cavaillon – Cold Cavaillon melon soup.
  
Melon soup.
   
Tranche de Pastèque et de Melon de Cavaillon au Jambon Cru San Leo – A slice of watermelon and Cavaillon melon served with the cured ham of San Leo. San Leo is close to Rimini on Italy's Adriatic coast.
 
Comparing the Cavaillon Melon with other French melons.
                
A restaurant with melon on the menu may be serving great fruit, but if it was a Cavaillon melon, you may be sure its name would be on the menu.  Equally, when the markets and supermarkets are selling the real thing every Cavaillon melon will be labeled.  Other melons may be delicious; but, the Cavaillon melon holds one grade above excellent.  Cavaillon claims that their land, their terroir, makes this a unique melon.  Their seeds grown elsewhere will produce delicious melons, but it will not be a Cavaillon melon. The Cavaillon melon has that je ne sais quoi, that something the others do not.

The Confrérie and the Cavaillon melon.
           
Protecting the Cavaillon melon from cheap imports is the Confrérie des Chevaliers de l'Ordre du Melon de Cavaillon, the Brother, and Sisterhood of the Knights of the Order of the Cavaillon melon.  These brave knights work to advance the cause of the Cavaillon melon, identify the competition and explain the differences.  Notwithstanding their work, long before this confrérie came into being the Cavaillon melon had already attracted the attention of French gourmets, and that was over 150 years ago.
   
It's great fun to dress up in would be ancient costumes
 and then march through town promoting a melon.

Above are members of the Confrérie de Chevaliers du Melon de Cavillon.
Photograph courtesy of Véronique Pagnier

The Count of Monte Christo and the Cavaillon melon
           
The author of the Count of Monte Christo and the Three Musketeers was Alexandre Dumas, Père. Dumas was internationally renowned for his over 400 works and in France was equally respected as a gourmet, and he loved Cavaillon melons.  Dumas Père loved Cavaillon melons so much that he offered the municipal library of Cavaillon a copy of every one of his published works; at that time that was over 300 separate works, in exchange for 12 Cavaillon melons a year for life.  The council accepted the offer, but Dumas Père felt he had the best part of the agreement. Dumas also wrote two books on French cuisine, the larger of the two is Dumas’s Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine, The Great Dictionary of Cuisine. Dumas’s Grand Dictionnaire has been translated into English in an excellent, concise version called Dumas on Food by Alan and Jane Davidson, printed by Oxford University Press.
     


Alexandre Dumas, Père.

Cavaillon is situated on the edge of the Parc Naturel Régional du Luberon, the Luberon Regional Nature Park. The park has a French language website but is easily understood using the Google or Microsoft translate apps:
  
   
If you are in Provence in early July do not miss their Fête du Melon, their melon fete held on the Friday and Saturday preceding the 14th of July, Bastille Day, Le Quatorze Juillet, check the dates. Bastille Day, Le Quatorze Juillet in French is the most important of all French National Holidays.
  
The Fête de Melon, Cavaillon
Photograph courtesy of La Cuisine du Marché
 
The town of Cavaillon has a long history, and as the Romans were here, maybe they brought the first melons. Many Cantaloupe type melons are linked to their origins in Italy where they developed from fruits, introduced by the Romans, that came from Armenia and Persia.  Exploring the town, you will find a 1st-century Roman arch
  
Remains of the 1st Century Roman Arch
                         
Explore more, and you will find the remains of a 12th-century Cathedral including a Cloister.
Remains of the 12th-century Cathedral.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28413104@N06/sets/72157606127028464/

The whole area was, from 1229 to 1791, a separate Papal State called Comtat Venaissin. From 1309 to 1377  the Popes ruled the Roman Catholic world from Avignon.
  

Map of the Comtat Venaissin
Photograph courtesy of ChrisO.
                                  
As opposed to much of the rest of Europe the Jews of this area were protected by the Popes who ruled the Comtat Venaissin, Look around some more, and you will find a reconstructed 18th-century synagogue, now a museum,  the Musée Juif Comtadin, the museum of the history of the Jews of Comtadin.
   
The reconstruction of an 18th-century synagogue.
Photograph by courtesy of Shoshanah.
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoshanah/19046174/
    
Connected Posts:
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  

  
  
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?


Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google. Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 400 articles that include over 3,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.
   

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2017.


Chaudrée – Chowder. Ordering Chowder in France.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Clam Chowder
     
Chowder was created in France, not Boston and then it was a fisherman's and fisherwoman's stew made with any unsold or unpopular shellfish; unsold sea fish would usually be taken home for the family.  At the end of a 12 hour plus work day, this would have been the fishermen’s and fisherwomen’s’ first meal.  Today chowder, in a French seafood restaurant will be made with the very best seafood and or sea fish.
    
A shrimp and corn chowder

Chaudrée or Chaudière - Fish and seafood chowders are rich, velvety soups or thick stews. Nearly all French chowders include white wine, garlic, potatoes, and herbs, and many include crème fraîche and or butter.
   
Chowder on the French menus:
   
Chaudrée de Moules au Vin Blanc et Fleur d'Ail –  A mussel chowder made with white wine and flavored with the crushed stems and buds of garlic flowers. (Garlic flowers are, as a rule, much lighter tasting than regular garlic; but I was warned that while the wild garlic flower is beautiful do not bring them into the house for decoration!).
           
Chaudrée de Palourdes et Croûtons à l'Ail. – Clam chowder with garlic flavored croutons. When clam chowder is on the menu, it is rare that you will see the name of a particular clam, and most modern French clam chowders also include mussels.  French clam chowders may also include the North American Quahog, called the Cherry Stone Clam in the USA. The original American Indian name for the Cherry Stone Clam was quahogs, and these clams were introduced accidentally into Europe some 80 years ago from the USA. This clam is added for its texture with other clams providing the taste. The cherry stone clam in France is called the Palourde Américaine or  Palourde Quahog Nordique, or Le Clam. This is a relatively large clam, from 5 -10 cm (2" - 4") across.
  
Cherry Stone Clams

                        
Chaudrée de Pétoncles au Maïs Rôti  - Scallop chowder prepared with roast corn, that’s roast maize in the USA.
                       
Chaudrée de Poissons  - Fish Chowder. When this is all the information on the menu it is time to ask which fish is in the chowder!
 
Chaudrée de Poissons et Fruits de Mer, Pommes de Terre Salardaises. A fish and seafood chowder served with a side dish of Pommes de Terre Salardaise. Pommes de Terre Salardaise are potatoes baked in duck fat and flavored with garlic and parsley; a traditional recipe from the Dordogne.
  
A seafood chowder.
   
Chaudrée de Saumon et de Crevettes aux Pommes De Terre – A salmon and shrimp chowder served with potatoes.
   
Chaudrée Vendéenne  -  A traditional fish and seafood chowder from the department of Vendée in the region of the Pays de la Loire; in fact, this is really a stew. A Chaudrée Vendéenne will include anguille, eel; congre, conger eel; seiche, cuttlefish; white wine, butter, onions, shallots, garlic, and fennel.
                   
Chowder served in a bread bowl.
A classic and attractive way to serve a chowder.
   
It is easy to see how the French word Chaudrée, became chowder in English; with the 1066 invasion of England by William the Conqueror, many French words entered the English kitchen. Another French word occasionally used for chowder is Choudiere; a Choudiere was the pot or cauldron in which the fisherman would cook their chowder at the end of a long work day.  Today’s chefs do not fish for a living and they will be using far better fish and seafood than those who originally cooked with a Choudiere.
            
With a few notable exceptions, most of the mainland French clam offerings are only seen on the French side of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean. On a seafood restaurant menu, quite a number of words may be used to indicate clams; the most usual and correct name is Palourde; however, the menu may also use traditional names including, but not only: Clam, Praires, Venus, Vernis, and Clovis. With a few exceptions, the clams from North America's Atlantic coast are not seen in Europe.                              
              
Abalone, the Ormeau or Oreille-de-Mer.
                         
In clam chowders, in France as elsewhere around the world, chefs may include the meat of the abalone, also called the sea ear; and that despite the abalone not being a clam. Nevertheless, clams and abalones are closely related with similar textures. The abalone is large to very large sea snail with good meat and a slightly sweet taste and a texture that blends in well.   While the abalone may be found in many French restaurant kitchens, it will rarely be noted by name on the menu.  Nevertheless, Abalone meat is often part of shellfish salads; in French, the abalone is the Ormeau or Oreille-de-mer.
           
The shell of an Abalone.
Abalone shells have attractive colors and are often used in jewelry.
   
Connected Posts:
     
 
 
 
   
 
   
 
 
 
                 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2011, 2016
    

Chateaubriand Steak and Chateaubriand the Man. Ordering a Chateaubriand steak in France.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


  
    
A Chateaubriand steak.
Traditionally Chateaubriand is prepared as a roast for two people as seen here.
It is separated into two steaks just before serving.
www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/463034245/
                          
Chateaubriand, the man:

François-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, (1768-1848): Writer, hereditary aristocrat, gourmand, and politician. There will be more about the man later, but first, Chateaubriand the steak.
   
The Chateaubriand steak.
  

Many diners are puzzled when they arrive in France and find that the Chateaubriand on the menu is a dish for two diners.  The reason behind this is the size of a real Chateaubriand. A real Chateaubriand is a roast, not a grilled or fried steak and that is far too much for a single diner. A true Chateaubriand may weigh close to one kilo (2.2lbs) and is at least 8 - 10 cms (3" - 4") high. Half a Chateaubriand, which is the single serving, should be, at the very least, 350 grams (12.5 ounces)  with most even bigger. The cut comes from the best and thickest part of the US Filet, the tenderloin, the UK fillet, and the French Filet de Boeuf. The Tournedos, the cut used for the  Tournedos Rossini also comes from the same cut but is half as thick and maybe fried or grilled.
   
Another well-prepared Chateaubriand
Photograph courtesy of Ben Stiefel
  
A Chateaubriand is barded and then roasted. Barding means attaching fat around the exterior of the steak. Without barding, a thick steak like a Chateaubriand, which has no exterior fat, would dry out, even if the fillet itself was perfectly marbled internally.
  

Tradition gives the creation of the Chateaubriand steak to Chateaubriand's chef Montreuil. Historically, that is probably correct. Nevertheless, when searching in France, for more information on Chef Montreuil, I found none. None of the chefs or Maitre D's I asked could give me Montreuil's first name, or any of his history, beyond his creation of the Chateaubriand steak and a now almost forgotten pudding called the Diplomat's Pudding. In French culinary history like today, many of the famous chef's either wrote books or became famous as they changed employers quite often. Chef Montreuil; however, remains an enigma, and even the Larousse only notes his family name.
  
A Chateaubriand for one
Divided into three with three sauces.
www.flickr.com/photos/kurmanphotos/35358151722/
    
Ordering a Chateaubriand steak
              
If you are considering ordering a Chateaubriand steak, never, ever, ask for it well done.  Cooking this cut all the way through would produce a dry inside and a burnt exterior, a real disaster. A French chef preparing a real Chateaubriand will, in any case, refuse to carry out such a request. If you are in France, or going to France, and prefer your meat very well done then order an entrecote which usually has enough internal and external fat to sustain prolonged cooking. 
       
A good wine for a Chateaubriand would be a Bordeaux.
These barrels contain Saint Emilion from Château La Rose Brisson, Bordeaux.
A wine bottled from this barrel and aged for ten years will do nicely.
Caveat Emptor a ten-year-old Saint Emilion from a recognized chateau
will cost more than the Chateaubriand
When traveling in France make sure you have a good book on French wine.
www.flickr.com/photos/xavier33300/14122281493/
  
A Chateaubriand is always served with a sauce.
    
The Chateaubriand steak, like all cuts from the fillet, provides very tender meat, but, the tenderloin/fillet has less taste than other cuts. A Chateaubriand, in France, will always be served with a sauce.  A traditional red wine sauce may be offered, or a Béarnaise sauce, or other sauce.  It would be a brave French chef who offered a Chateaubriand without a sauce.
  
The arguments over the real Chateaubriand cut.
          
I read an article, about ten years ago, in the early 2000s  that claimed the US cut was not a real Chateaubriand. A French butcher after visiting the USA accused US butchers of selling a thick cut from a USA top sirloin as a Chateaubriand. This, he said, was an act of lèse-majesty. (Lèse-majesté means insulting the crown, or, in this case, the King of Steaks)! Remember that this was an accusation and is not proven. I also read somewhere else that the original Chateaubriand steak was not a cut from the tenderloin, the fillet; so who knows what the original cut was?  If it works and has the texture of the best fillet steak use it.
    
A USA take on the Chateaubriand, this one with veal.
Chateaubriand of March Farms Nature-Fed Veal
www.flickr.com/photos/arndog/4202805472


By the way,
the Tournedos Rossini was created to compete with the Chateaubriand.

Giacomo Rossini met with Chateaubriand in Verona, Italy, in 1822. Then, Chateaubriand was representing the French Government at the Congress of Verona, and Rossini was invited to make music and impress the politicians. Rossini was then a famous gourmand as well as a composer. He came home to Paris after dining with Chateaubriand determined to have a steak dish created for himself that would not take second place to Chateaubriand's. His first choice was Rossini's best friend, the most famous chef of the period Antonin Carême. However, at that time, Antonin was the personal chef of the British Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and based in Vienna.  The result was the Tournedos Rossini was created by another of Rossini's chef friends (and he had many), the 19th-century-star chef Casimir Moissons.  Casimir Moissons was the chef at La Maison Dorée, one of Paris's most famous 18th-century restaurants where Rossini was a frequent visitor when in Paris. 
    
Chateaubriand the man and the French revolution.
          
Chateaubriand was a rather lowly member of France's aristocracy. At 25 left France to escape the prospect of being guillotined during the revolution. Outside France Chateaubriand traveled extensively and wrote profusely; he spent over half-a-year in the USA, including the time he spent with Native Americans. Despite his background, Chateaubriand was not wealthy and when outside France he was practically penniless; his base was in England, where he lived in an attic in Holborn, London. There gave French lessons to survive; he was in self-imposed exile for nine years beginning in 1791.
   
A full-size replica of a Guillotine.
France had real traveling Guillotines that went from town to town,
Many aristocrats were dispatched with the Guillotine.
If Chateaubriand had he remained in France???
www.flickr.com/photos/127226743@N02/34581882275
    
Chateaubriand the traveler.
                
Chateaubriand could be called an early backpacker as he traveled outside England whenever he had saved enough for another trip. This period was the late 18th century, and travel was cheap at the time.  Nevertheless,  it meant traveling on barely seaworthy wooden ships that came with bad captains, shipboard diseases, along with bad and inadequate food. On his travels, the ships Chateaubriand sailed on were attacked by pirates and privateers. When he moved on land, there were highway robbers and kidnappers to be avoided. From France, there was only bad news, and in 1794 his brother was guillotined and his mother and sisters imprisoned. Despite everything Chateaubriand survived.
    
Portrait of Chateaubriand by Guerin.
Photograph courtesy of Art Gallery ErgsArt - by ErgSap
    
Chateaubriand the author.
           
When Chateaubriand was traveling, whatever the circumstances, he was writing, and when he was not traveling, he was also writing. In 1797 he wrote he wrote a travelogue: l'Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem, the Itinerary from Paris to Jerusalem. He also wrote several other books which sold well in France even in his absence; when he returned they sold even better. Chateaubriand is considered the founder of the French Romantic School, and when he came back to France in 1800, he continued writing successfully. Chateaubriand then developed into an influential politician and was also able to afford a personal chef.

Memoirs, from Beyond the Tomb.

Chateaubriand's bestselling book was entitled Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe, memoirs from beyond the tomb. This book has had selected sections translated into English by Robert Baldick, Penguin 2014 edition.

Chateaubriand, the diplomat.
  
Back home in France Chateaubriand served Napoléon I as a diplomat. That is until Napoléon I had Louis de Bourbon, the Duke of Enghien, a claimant to the throne of France kidnapped and shot. Kidnapping and murder do not fit well into my book on French cuisine, and so I will not go deeper into that story. It is enough to say that Chateaubriand resigned Napoléon's diplomatic service and became an anti-Bonapartist.
      
Statue of Chateaubriand in St Malo, Brittany, France

      
Napoléon I was exiled for the second time in 1815 after his defeat at Waterloo. Under the restored monarchy of King Louis XVIII (1755- 1824), Chateaubriand re-entered the French diplomatic service becoming foreign minister from 1823 to 1824.
  

Chateaubriand ended his political career in 1830 after the then king, Charles X (1757 – 1836), abdicated. He did not approve of the way the new King Louis XVIII was chosen, and refused to take the oath of office. Chateaubriand left politics and retired to private life and writing; he died, age 80, in 1848.
          
Chateaubriand’s grave on the island of Grand Bé at St Malo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wikimediacommons/16508046876/
                    
Chateaubriand was careful in all things, and he carefully chose the site for his burial. That was the tiny deserted island on France's Atlantic coast of Brittany called the Grand Bé. Grand Bé is just off the shore from the town of Saint-Malo. It is only 70 km (43 miles) from where Chateaubriand was born in the village of Bon-Secours. When Chateaubriand died, St Malo was still a small town. Now its year-round population is over 50,000, and with its suburbs, the year-round population is over 100,000. In July and August when France closes down for the summer vacations the population triples! A good photographer and family members have told me that despite the crowds in the summer, the fish and seafood restaurants of St Malo are second to none.
                        
The plaque close to Chateaubriand's Tomb on St Be.

www.flickr.com/photos/objectifnantes/11909861835/

The plaque reads:
                                                                                                                                           
Un grand écrivain français a voulu reposer ici pour n'entendre que la mer et le vent.
Passant
Respecte sa dernière volonté.

A great French writer wanted to rest here to hear only the sea and wind.
Passerby, respect his last wish.

Visiting Chateaubriand’s grave.
     
Admirers of Chateaubriand steaks or Chateaubriand's writings may visit the island and view his last resting place.   At low tide, you may walk to Grand Bé from the beach of Bon-Secours.  At high tide, in the summer season, you may sometimes rent a boat from the nearby small fishing port. When you visit his tomb remember that Chateaubriand's bestselling book is entitled Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb; its contents are riveting!
             
Whenever you do enjoy a Chateaubriand or go to St Malo for lunch or dinner, then raise a glass to the memory of François-René Chateaubriand, and do not forget the dish’s creator the chef Montreuil.
   
Even today the time that Chateaubriand spent in the USA is not ignored; France offers a Chateaubriand Fellowship for doctoral students enrolled in American universities. It pays for them to conduct research in France for up to 10 months.  The French Embassy in the USA handles the inquiries.
 
Connected Posts:
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tournedos Rossini, after 150 years still the most famous of all steak dishes.

Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 400 articles that include over 2,500 French dishes with English translations and explanations.  Just add the word, words or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google or Bing.
     

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2012, 2016, 2017
  

             

Responsive ad