from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
An oyster celebration with white wine
This post includes France's three
separate oyster weight tables. The first is for the smooth shelled huître
plates, also called the huître vert, the European oyster. The second is for the crinkly shelled oval
Huîtres Creuses or Huîtres Japonais, the Pacific or Japanese Oyster, the third
includes some rarely seen very large oysters. This post together with Huitres.
Oysters in France 1. Ordering, Eating and Enjoying Oysters. Huitres on French
Menus will make your choices clear.
Oysters by weight
When walking into a seafood restaurant
with oysters in mind, a French diner's foremost concern is certainly not the
number of individual oysters. For oyster
lovers, the type of oyster, its edible weight along with its origins and the
way it was fattened are much more important than quantity. of shells. For taste an oyster
is very much what it eats and the larger it is tells the diner that it has
eaten very well.
Fortunately, French law and practice
require fresh oysters to be offered by their average net weight without the
shell, a method, which is rarely, if ever, is seen outside of France. Frenchmen and women consume more oysters per
capita than any other country, and so they know that the weight will affect
their wallets and their flavor buds. Oysters are not reserved for the wealthy;
there are options that make them part of life for everyone. The two lists below
indicate the size codes and the average net weight of each oyster offered in the
supermarket or on the menu. These,
together with the oyster's origin and fattening time and place will seriously
affect how much you pay,
European flat
oysters.
Huître Plate, Huître Vert
The weight table for the smooth shelled European Oyster.
The menu will
indicate (by law) the average weight of the oysters served.
The European oyster in the languages of
France’s neighbors:
(Catalan - ostra
comuna ), (Dutch - platte oester), (German – Europäische auster), (Italian -
ostrica comune,), (Spanish – ostra europea), (Latin - ostrea edulis).
European oysters
The second table is
for the crinkly shelled Japanese oyster,
The Pacific Oyster,
Japanese Oyster, or Miyagi oyster
Huîtres Creuses,
Huître Creuse du Pacifique, Huître Creuse Japonaise
Latin - magallana
gigas or crassostrea gigas,
The Japanese oyster in the languages of
France’s neighbors:
(Catalan - ostra japonesa), (Dutch - Japanse oester ),
(German – Pazifische auster), (Italian -
ostrica concava del Pacifico, ostrica giapponese), (Spanish – ostión or ostra
japonesa ), (Latin - crassostrea gigas or magallana gigas).
Crinkly Pacific or Japanese or oysters
Photograph courtesy of Charlotta Wasteson
www.flickr.com/photos/wastes/5505112189/
For many of the famous oyster names along
with the grades that reflect the method and time given to them see my
post: Ordering, Eating,
and Enjoying Oysters in France I.
Oysters in the market.
Photograph courtesy of Laurent
www.flickr.com/photos/loloieg/223576897/
More about the
European oyster, the Huître plat, or vert.
Number 5 - These are the smallest oysters sold, however, when they come from a famous
growing area they will be called papillons, butterflies, and then they will be on
seafood restaurant menus. Oysters sold as papillons lay claim to
intense tastes while oysters of a similar size but with less unique histories
are only sold for home consumption.
Number 4 - On the menu in small restaurants or in the supermarket.
Number 3 - The smallest size offered in most seafood restaurants.
Number 2 - This size along
with size 3 will be in offered in most seafood restaurants.
Number 1 - The largest size
offered in most seafood restaurants, and they will not be inexpensive.
An oyster farm in Cap Ferret 10 km from Nice and Monaco.
A menu listings with 6 European oysters maybe like this one:
6 Plates de Belon N°2 Cadoret – 6 Plates, European oysters, from Belon in Brittany
size N 2, from the farm Cadoret. That’s
about 360 grams (13 oz) of oysters and a good portion for one. Cadoret is the name of the farm. The cognoscenti will know and take the name
of the farm and size into consideration when ordering and considering the
price. Cadoret being one of the most highly rated oyster farms among the
many in the area. Only occasionally with an oyster farm be mentioned by name.
N.B. Oysters are one of the most easily
digested foods and this will be a portion of 320 to 400 grams and considered an
entrée, an appetizer.
More about the crinkly
shelled Pacific or Japanese oyster,
The Huître Creuse
Japonais
A plate of Japanese oysters
Number 5 - 30 - 45 grams; available at the fish monger's for home
consumption.
Number 4 - 46 - 65 grams; this is the smallest size seen on most seafood restaurant menus.
Number 3 - 66 -85; the most popular
size seen on most seafood restaurant menus.
Number 2 - 86 - 110 grams.
Number 1 -111 - 149
grams.
Number: 0 - Over 150 grams. These oyster giants may well exist, though I have
yet to see a restaurant where they were on the menu.
A menu offering the crinkly shelled
Japanese oysters may read:
6 Huîtres Creuses Fine Claire No 2
Marennes-Oléron - The crinkly
shelled Japanese oysters. The words fine claire indicates that the
oysters were fattened for at least one month and the size 2 Japanese oysters
have a net weight of 86 – 110 grams each; the serving offered here is about 600
grams, 1.2lbs. The oysters noted above come from the highly-rated Marennes-Oléron fattening
grounds in the region of Poitou-Charente.
6 Huîtres Creuses N°3 – 6 Japanese oysters weighing 66 -85 grams each; this serving will be about 450 grams, 16 ounces. The oysters noted here are sold without
their origin being noted on the menu; to me, that indicates they are quite possibility Bouzigue oysters
from the Mediterranean. The Bouzigues are much appreciated
in the South of France, but traditional North-South French rivalries often keep
their origin off the menus when they are served in the North of France.
A Christmas celebration in Brittany.
Oysters and crabs
fill the table.
If you were ordering
these oysters in Brittany there is no need order Champagne or
a Chablis or Muscadet white
wine, though if ordered any of those wines will do their part extremely well.
Consider trying Brittany’s oysters with one of the finest ciders in France a sparkling, brut, dry,
cider. A Bretagne Bouche
AOC cider which will come in a Champagne-style bottle.
Tasting platters
For the enjoyment
of their customers, many seafood restaurants offer a tasting platter that
include both types of French oysters with different sizes, growing areas and
fattening times:
Le Plateau des Abers: 3 Creuses Fines
n°3, 3 Creuses Spéciales n°2, 3 Plates n°4, 3
plates n°2.
A platter of
oysters from the area of Aber in Brittany.
3 Japanese
oysters, Fines size 3, each weighing 66-85 grams, the qualification fine is
the lowest fattening grade;
3 Japanese
oysters, Spéciales size 2, each weighing 86 - 110 grams, The
qualification spéciale indicates the second fattening grade;
3 European
Oysters size 4, each weighing 46-55 grams, these are the smallest size European
oysters seen in a restaurant;
3 European
oysters, size 2, each weighing 66 -75 grams.
This is an entrée,
the French first course for two approximately 890 grams (32 ounces, 2lbs.)
Some menus offer
seafood platters that include a variety of oysters and seafood.
2 Spéciales “ Tarbouriech ” n°2,
2 Spéciales “ Gillardeau ” n°3,
2 Huîtres Fines “ P.M Barrau ” n°2,
1 langoustine,
2 grosses crevettes
roses, palourdes,
amandes,
crevettes
grises, bigorneaux.
2
Tarbouriech Japonaise oysters from the unique oyster farm owned by Florent
Tarbouriech and located in the Etang de Thau lagoon on the Mediterranean coast
near the fishing port of Sète. These
oysters are raised above the water almost daily thereby mimicking the tides
which are considered a decisive factor in the taste of Atlantic oysters. In the
Mediterranean tides are practically illusory. Florent Tarbouriech patented his system using solar panels to
power the motors that raise the oysters. The classification spéciales indicates
oysters of the second fattening rating;
2 Spéciale
Gillardeau oysters, the Gillardeau oysters come from the family
owned Gillardeau oyster farm that has been farming oysters in the
famous fattening grounds of Marennes-Oléron for over 100
years;
2 Fine P.M.
Barrau oysters come from the family farm of Barrau and like
the Gillardeau oyster farm is based in the Marennes-Oléron fattening
grounds.
This platter also
comes with 1
Dublin Bay Prawn, the crustacean that is the real scampi; 2 large pink
shrimps; French
clams; sea
almonds; sand
shrimps and whelks.
Really a large entrée, the starter for 1.
The third (and
heavyweight class) classification table
This is for the
largest, and rarely seen, and most expensive Huîtres Plate, the European
Oysters.
Number 0 - A platter of 6 of
these are over 500 grams 1.1lbs.
Number 00 - This size is used
to impress, for example, at an official banquet for visiting Presidents.
Number 000 - These oysters make it to only a few menus, and when they do they
are usually sold by the piece.
Number 0000 - This is the last
number on this list; however, I think that is all there is to it. I have never
seen these heavyweights on any menu.
Huître
Plate N° 000 de la Baie de Cancale - La pièce. These large European oysters come from
the Bay of Canacle, a bay that is itself within the Bay of Mont Saint
Michel is set across the border of Normandy and Brittany. The
many large size oysters grown in the farms of the Bay of Canacle are put down
to its unusually high tides. These tides bring in large amounts of
plankton upon which the oysters feed, and also expose the growing oysters to
the sun every day. These oysters will have been raised for 3 to 4
years and have a net weight of approximately 110 grams, 4 ounces,
each; so it is not surprising that they are sold by
the piece.
Mont Saint Michel is also known for
its special small mussels, the Mont
St Michel Moule de Bouchot AOP. These mussels are the only French farmed
seafood of any kind to be awarded an AOC/AOP.
Mont Saint Michel is also famed for their Agneau
de Pré- Salé AOP -The uniquely tasty lamb from the salt meadows along
France's Atlantic coast.
When the party is over.
--------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2011,
2013, 2015, 2019.
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