Merlan – Whiting, European Whiting. Whiting the Fish on French Menus

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


Whiting
Merlan, Lécaud, Nasellu, Varlet – Whiting; English Whiting; European Whiting; Golden Cutlet; Spelding.  Most of the whiting on French menus are caught off France's Atlantic coast or come from fish farms; only rarely is European whiting caught in the Mediterranean. Whiting is a tasty fish with a delicate flesh; the smaller fish may be grilled whole while larger fish will be prepared as filets served with a sauce and poached, sautéed or baked. Whiting, silver hake and blue whiting all tend to get mixed up on menus; these fish are also very similar when cooked, so just eat and enjoy.  Whiting will be on menus fresh, and smoked, and frozen filets are in all the supermarkets.
    
Whiting, European Whiting, on French Menus:
    
Filet de Merlan Mi-cuit, Compotée de Tomates à la Vanille de Sambava et sa Purée – Filet of whiting, very, very lightly cooked; served with a thickened puree of tomatoes flavored with the highly rated Black Bourbon Vanilla pods from around the town of Sambava in Madagascar.  The dish is accompanied by pureed potatoes.
   
Whiting, red mullet and shrimps.
  
Merlan de Ligne Poêlé aux Girolles et au Coulis de Poivrons Grillés -  Whiting caught at sea, on a rod a line,  not, from a fish farm. Here the fish is lightly fried together with girolle chanterelle mushrooms and served with a puree of grilled sweet peppers. When fish are caught at sea the chef will often emphasize the fact, even if they are caught in a net. Fish are very much what they eat.
   
Whiting

Merlan aux Herbes, Petit-Épeautre – Whiting cooked with herbs and served with small spelt. Small spelt is an ancient grain and today, in France, small spelt is only grown commercially in Provence in France. On some traditional Provencal dishes, small spelt may take the place of rice.
   
Rillettes de Merlan, Sauce Rouille, Vinaigrette à l'Anis Vert. - Rillettes served with a spicy rouilles and an aniseed-flavored vinaigrette. Rillettes may be made with fish, duck, goose or pork and are on the menu as an hors d’œuvre and sometimes as an entrée. Here the fish rillettes will have been slowly cooked in fat until the fish’s, meat can be made into a paste to spread on toast or bread. The Sauce Rouille is a thick, spicy sauce, made of peppers, tomatoes, garlic, saffron and olive oil all worked into bread or occasionally a potato base. Sauce Rouille is traditionally served alongside bouillabaisse and other fish soups. The diner adds the spicy sauce at his or her discretion to spice the soup or spread on toasted bread with grated cheese and soak in the soup. 
    
Competition for the catch of the day. 
Terrine Maison de Merlan aux Crevettes Roses et Laitue de Mer  - The chef's pate of whiting with pink shrimps and sea lettuce.
   
Filets de Merlan
   
Merlan Poché à l'Huile de Cameline, Asperges - Whiting poached with camelina oil and asparagus.  Camelina oil comes from is a flowering plant in also known in English as gold-of-pleasure, or false flax, and German Sesame. This is an ancient plant that was already cultivated by the Celts as for its edible oil.  Other vegetables with higher oil production saw Camelina out of the market; however, today the high content of Omega 3 in Camelina has brought the oil back into popularity.  Camelina is popular in organic farming as it is resistant to many pests and disease. Use as a seasoning for salads and crudités or after cooking for your vegetables and grains and then camelina oil should not be heated. The whiting is accompanied by asparagus.
   
The camelina plant.
   
 Years ago whiting was not considered a fish to serve in fine restaurants; in fact, it was a  very cheap fish.  Today's popularity of the whiting and its close family members show that times, prices and tastes change. Whiting will be starring in the finest restaurants. Whiting caught at sea will be larger and mostly served as filets. Whiting from fish farms will be smaller and may be served whole for a single diner.

European Whiting in the languages of France’s neighbors:
 
(Catalan - merlà),(Dutch - wijting), (German – wittling or merlan ),  (Italian – molo or merlano), (Spanish – liba, merla or merlán).

Merlan Bleu, Merlan de Paris, Merlus– Blue Whiting.  When blue whiting and whiting are cooked and served it will be difficult for an amateur like me to see the difference.  The taste will be similar and the occasional confusion on a menu will not be serious. Blue whiting is at home in the Mediterranean while the European whiting is not. In Provence, the merlan, the European whiting, on your menu may well be merlan bleu, blue whiting.

Blue Whiting in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan – Melu), (Dutch - blauwe wijting), (German - blauer wittling), (Italian – melu or potassolo) (Spanish- bacalá).
    
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Rouget Barbet and Rougets de Roche, Red Mullet and Striped Red Mullet, the Fish on French Menus.

  
  

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010,  2016, 2018.




Laguiole AOP Cheese. One of France's finest cheeses.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


Aged Laguiole cheese.
Photograph courtesy of Céline MOSNIER
www.flickr.com/photos/hirondellecanada/3073174098/

Laguiole AOP is a 45% fat (30.5% dry weight), hard, unpasteurized, cow's milk cheese; it has a light golden color with a pleasant smell and a light, slightly fruity taste. The cheese is aged from 4 to 24 months. From a blind tasting of a six-month and an 18-month Laguiole AOP, the younger cheese was excellent, while the 18-month-old cheese was more like an aged cheddar with a slight bite.


The Aubrac cow.
Photograph courtesy of Olivier Bacquet
www.flickr.com/photos/olibac/6008729138/

The Laguiole AOP cheese may only be made with milk from the Simmental and Aubrac cows. The cows graze freely for seven months a year on the Aubrac high basalt plateau between 800 and 1400 meters for close to seven months a year. In the winter, the cows are brought into barns and fed on the grasses and wild herbs collected from the Aubrac plateau during the summer. Milk production and refining of cheese must be carried out in the geographical area of the Aubrac, where less than 80 farms in the departments of Aveyron, Cantal, and Lozère are authorized to provide milk for this cheese. The cheese is named after the village of Laguiole. (The village and the cheese's name Laguiole AOP is pronounced is lay-ole, do not pronounce the g). 

There are another eight AOP cheeses linked to the Aubrac Plateau, and they have their own French language websites. These unique cheeses are Laguiole, Salers, CantalFourme d'Ambert, Pélardon, Rocamadour, Saint-Nectaire, and Bleu d'Auvergne).


The village of Laguiole.
Photograph courtesy of lns1122
www.flickr.com/photos/minijoegreen/21512662653/

Buying Laguiole Cheese

Should you decide to take a whole Laguiole AOC cheese home from France, you may encounter some difficulties; the smallest cheese weighs 20 kilos, and others weigh up to 50 kilos. I imagine all airlines would appreciate the extra income when you bring one of these cheeses as excess baggage. To avoid problems, buy a large wedge, maybe one kilo, and pack it well in a plastic bag. Where possible, buy from a professional fromager, a cheese shop, since most offer packaging in vacuum bags and may well provide a taste of a mature cheese as well. However, as this is not a soft cheese, it will travel well even if the bag is not vacuumed. Once home, keep this and all hard-yellow cheeses wrapped in plastic wrap in a refrigerator, but not in the freezer. When you open your cheese and cut a wedge, an hour before serving, rewrap your cheese and return it to the fridge; it should keep well for 8 -10 weeks if you let it last that long. Laguiole, the village, is in the department of Aveyron in the administrative region of Occitanie. For more about buying cheese in France and taking it home, click here.


Aligot.
Photograph courtesy of Tavallai
www.flickr.com/photos/tavallai/5850019237/

One of the most popular dishes made with Laguiole is Aligot, a traditional, very tasty, potato, and a cheese-based dish made in Aveyron with a young Lagouille cheese or an unsalted Tome (Tomme) Fraîche d'Aubrac. For Aligot, the cheese is mixed into mashed potatoes along with garliccrème fraiche, milk, and butter. This combination is carefully stirred until long threads of cheese and potato may be drawn from the pot. The Aligot will usually be served with a small, pork, salami type sausage. In an upscale restaurant, the Aligot may have slices of beef added. (The original Aligot recipe is claimed as their own by two neighboring departments, Hérault and Lozère, and the cheese differs in each of the departments).


The ski station in Lagouile
Photograph courtesy of Tourism Aveyron.

There is more to Aveyron and Laguiole than excellent cheeses.

The Aveyron department is a beautiful place for fishermen and women as it has five major rivers plus hundreds of streams and tens of lakes. Aveyron will be on many menus throughout France including their Bœuf Fermier d'Aubrac, Label Rouge, their mostly free-range red label Aubrac beef-cattle. Also look-out for their Label Rouge, red label, Agneau Laiton de l'Aveyron, lambs between 70-140 days; that and Aveyron's famous veal, their Label Rouge, red label, Veau d'Aveyron et du Ségala I.G.P.  

The cutlery of Laguiole

Laguiole's village is also famous for "La Maison du Laguiole," the Laguiole knife's creators. Their knives, other cutlery, kitchen equipment, and their very individual corkscrews are appreciated worldwide. If you are in the area, worry not, they do have a factory outlet shop for visitors! Many French sommeliers, wine stewards, pride themselves on only using Laguiole corkscrews; this is the Rolls Royce of the limonadier type of corkscrew. The French for a corkscrew is Tire-Bouchon, the most famous of these French corkscrews in the "Limonadier," also called the Couteau Sommelier.


Maison du Laguiole “Limonadier”
Photograph courtesy of La Maison du Laguiole

The name Limonadier comes from its original users' trade, for whom this particular corkscrew was created, they were soft drink vendors. Three hundred years ago, most wines were not sold in bottles; they were sold in barrels, though soft drinks were sold in bottles, and sealed with a cork. When this corkscrew was created, only a few fine wines were corked, and 99% of the population never saw them. The Limonadier is the corkscrew with a lever to assist in pulling the cork out. The name came from the shops, also called Limonadiers, which were early 17th-century soft drink shops and also the name of the profession of those who sold soft drinks. These stores opened the bottles of the non-alcoholic beverages they sold with the corkscrew called the Limonadier. Three-hundred years later, The French national association representing café owners is still called the Syndicat National des Limonadiers. 


A Laguiole bread knife.
Photograph courtesy of La Maison du Laguiole

If you are visiting Aveyron

The local Aveyron Tourist Information Offices will give you a list of over 100 wineries, farms, dairies, and other local producers in the department who open their farms and wineries to visitors. N.B. When visiting most farms and wineries, a small contribution to the local economy is expected. You may also have the list sent to you long before you leave home and plan your visits.

The Aveyron Tourist Information English language website is:

http://www.tourisme-aveyron.com/index_en.php

I have intentionally avoided recommending restaurants, as chefs and menus change; however, in the case of the village of Laguiole, I have made an exception. If your credit card is in good shape, consider the two-star Michelin Guide restaurant, Le Suquet, above the village. Le Suquet is owned and run by one of France's true master-chefs, Michel Bras, and his son Sébastien who, since 2009, is in charge. Fifty years with the same chef and all those Michelin Stars is long enough to consider making a recommendation. In 2017 Sébastien Bras turned down their three Michelin stars saying he no longer wished to be included in the Red Michelin Guide and "wanted to give a new meaning to my life." Nevertheless, in 2019 Michelin returned two stars, Le Suquet is simply too good.

The Le Suquet English language website is:

http://www.bras.fr/en/

Wine in Aveyron

When ordering wine, consider the Marcillac AOP, the most famous red wine of Aveyron, and try the local IGP Aveyron (previously the Aveyron Vin de Pays). These wines include whites, roses, and red.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright, 2010, 2016, 2020 

--------------------------------

Are you searching for 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 470 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

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Kale (Borecole) and its Family Members in French Cuisine. Bok Choy, Cauliflower, Chinese Cabbage, Kale or Borecole, Kolrabi and Romanesco Broccoli on French Menus.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Four colors of cauliflower,  choose yours.
(The picture was taken in a Canadian Market)
  
Chou-fleur - Cauliflower.
The French name chou-fleur translates as cabbage flower, and cabbage is a descendant of kale. The English name ‘koli-flower” indicates the kale flower. This post includes a few of the most popular kale family members seen on French menus, and the cauliflower is one of the earliest  family members; certainly the Greeks cultivated it in the 6th-century b.c.e. 
  
Cauliflower on French Menus:
    
Colin d’Alaska aux Poivrons et à la Purée de Chou-fleur Alaskan Pollack, the fish, with bell peppers, and a cauliflower puree. (See the appendix Fish: Colin),

Cuisses de Grenouilles et Purée de Chou-fleur aux Amandes et Jus de Persil Frog’s legs served with a cauliflower puree, flavored with almonds and parsley juice.  (see the appendix Herbs and Spices, Mushrooms and Truffles: Persil).

Royale de Chou-fleur aux Crevettes, Tartine d'Encornets en Chermoula Cauliflower with shrimps served with as an open sandwich with small calamari prepared with chermoula. Chermoula is a North African marinade; it is mainly seen on menus with seafood and fish; but occasionally vegetable and meat dishes are made with chermoula. The primary flavors are garlic and coriander and will also include olive oil, cumin.
  
  
A different shaped cauliflower.
The name Royale de Chou-fleur for the regular Chou-fleur, cauliflower, will be on quite a number of menus.  Royal was added to its name by Alexander Dumas (Père).  Alexander Dumas (Père) was the author of the Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Christo and hundreds of other books;  he was also a recognized gourmand and an excellent cook who truly appreciated and loved cauliflower. The Royal status Alexander Dumas (Père) gave to cauliflower is a tradition that many French chefs continue today. Alexander Dumas Père apart from all his novels and plays authored two books on food for gourmands including The Grand Dictionary of Cuisine; it was published posthumously.The book is available in an excellent edited English translation entitled Dumas on Food: (Selections from Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine by Alexandre Dumas (Père). Translated and edited by Alan Davison (Author).
    
French and Italian market gardeners have done all sorts of amazing things with cauliflowers.  They began by growing miniature cauliflowers called mini chou-fleur that look beautiful and taste the same as their larger forbears.  The Italians have gone on to colored variations, the chou-fleur pourpre and others.
   
The Royale de Chou-fleur
Choux Chinois  - Chinese cabbage.
Chinese cabbage is the one Chinese cabbage that usually gets its French- English translation on French-Asian restaurant menus correct. French-Asian restaurants  use many other Asian cabbages, and there the many Chinese cabbage names become confused. Trade brought kale to China and the Chinese developed many hybrids.

Chinese Cabbage

Boeuf Émincé Sauté aux Choux Chinois – Slices of beef sautéed with Chinese cabbage.
 
Chou Chinois Farci au Porc, Crabe et Champignons Chinese cabbage stuffed with pork, crab and mushrooms.
   
Chou Frisé – Kale or Borecole
Chou Frisé, Chou d'Aigrette – Kale or Borecole; this is the most popular edible kale. It is the relatively strong tasting and is one of the founders of the cabbage family. It will be on more menus in Italy than in France but is also popular in French areas close to the Italian border.  Chou Frisé will be served as a garnish or prepared and stuffed in a manner similar to stuffed cabbage.
  
  Kale
     
Filet de Morue en Croûte de Parmesan, Servi Avec Purée de Pommes de Terre, Chou Frisé et Mini-Carottes Braisés- A filet of redydrated and desalted cod prepared in  a covering of Parmesan cheese, served with pureed potatoes, kale and braised baby carrots.
  
Faisan Rôti au Four, Embeurré de Chou Frisé au Lard Oven roasted pheasant accompanied by buttered kale and bacon.
      
Kale or Borecole
Kale is at the top of this photograph, on the left, from Peter Henderson and Co's seed catalog. NY: 1872.
   
Chou Pak Choi, Bok Choy -  Bok Choy:
Chou Pak Choi, Bok Choy or Pak Choi -  Bok Choy, Pak Choi or Spoon Cabbage; Bei Cai in Mandarin.  From my own rankings that I took arbitrarily in French-Asian restaurants this seems to be the most popular variety of Chinese cabbage; it has long green leaves and white stalks which end with a round spoon looking attachment to the root. It is considered the sweetest of the Chinese cabbages.

Baby Bok Choy
     
Joues de  Boeuf Braisées, Choux Pak Choi, Panisse a Romarin et Poivre  du Paradis – Braised beef cheeks, bok choy, parsnips, rosemary and Guinea (Melegueta). pepper
  
Raviolis de Porc et Bok Choy Vapeur ou Grillé – Pork ravioli and Bok Choy steamed or grilled.
       
Bok choy sautéed with garlic
     
Chou Rave – Kolrabi.
Chou Rave or Kohlrabi – Kohlrabi. Also called the German turnip or turnip cabbage. Kohlrabi is a variety of cabbage, and there are white, purple and light green varieties, inside the root it is white.  Kohlrabi is usually served cooked; it can be part of a vegetable soup, steamed, boiled or roasted. Kohlrabi may be served cold and the kohlrabi root is often served raw in a salad.
    
  Kohlrabi
   
Le Filet Mignon de Veau de Notre Pays en Chou Rave et Sauce Périgourdine –  Local supplied beef has veal fillet, in the USA the tenderloin, for this dish; it is served with kohlrabi and Sauce Perigdordine. (see the appendix Sauces: Sauce Perigourdine).In France the term Filet Mignon is only rarely used, as in the menu listing,  for beef or veal, however, it is used for pork.
 
Poitrine de Faisane Doree Accompagnee de sa Raviole de Chou Rave aux Figues - Gilded Breast of pheasant accompanied by ravioli of kohlrabi and figs.
     
Violet Kohlrabi
     
Chou Romanesco – Romanesco Broccoli
Chou Romanesco – Romanesco Broccoli or Romanesco cabbage.  No one seems to be sure if this exquisite vegetable is closer to broccoli or cauliflower.  In any case, they are related, and I think the taste and texture are closer to broccoli.
This new mixture of broccoli and or cabbage was an Italian creation; from my experience, it is now seen on as many French menus as Italian.
    
Romanesco Broccoli
   
Sommités de Chou Romanesco à l'Huile d'Argan The pointed florets of Romanesco broccoli served with Argan oil. The word sommités means summits or peaks in French and is used, in this menu, to glamorize the attractively pointed florets.(See Oils: Argan).

Filet de Cabillaud Poêlé,Choux Romanesco,Topinmambour, Emulsion de Vin Blanc Filet of lightly fried fresh cod, served with Romaneco Broccoli, Jerusalem Artichokes and a sauce made with the natural cooking juices and white wine,
 

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010,2016.


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