from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
The cardoon plant.
Photograph courtesy of Edsel L.
www.flickr.com/photos/edsel_/15112820688/
The cardoon is a cousin of the artichoke
The cardoon is a member of the thistle family and a cousin of the artichoke. Cardoon is long leafed, and the stalk and the ribs of the leaves look somewhat like branch celery. Eat cardoon as a vegetable, and you will find that its taste is somewhere between artichoke and celery. Left-to-grow cardoons have small flowers that are also edible. The cardoon will be on menus in southern France and Spain, and Italy called the cardo.
Peeled
cardoons
www.flickr.com/photos/lablasco/4583606147/
The cardoon or cardone, in French the cardon, needs warmth to grow and in France is mainly cultivated in the south and Corsica. The edible part of this vegetable is the leaves' ribs and stems. The introduction of this plant into France, like the apricot and cherry trees and much else that makes the French table interesting, is blamed on the usual suspects, the Romans.
The cardoon on French Menus:
Gratin de
Cardon – A traditional garnish, a side dish. Buttered cardoon
stems and ribs browned in the oven with milk and cream. Before serving, grated
cheese is added, and all is then braised under the grill. A version of this
dish may also be on menus as the typically Lyonnaise dish of gratin de
cardon à la moelle. In the
Lyonnaise version of gratin de cardon, marrow bones are
added to the recipe, and they add a great deal to the flavor.
Large white cardoons in the market
alongside are smaller mauve artichoke shoots.
Photograph courtesy
of judywitts.
www.flickr.com/photos/overthetuscanstove/4335810438/
Le Porcelet, Dos Rôti Sur
Couenne Cardon à La Crème de Châtaigne en
Tartelette, Jus
Grassouillet - A thick
cut from the back of a suckling pig roasted with pork rinds and the natural
fatty cooking juices the roasting creates. Here it is served with a cardoon and a
cream of chestnut pie. Couennes are pork rinds and are called
pork scratchings or pork cracklings in the UK. Pork rinds are used in French
cuisine for flavoring, especially in winter recipes such as stews and cassoulets.
The
cardoon flower.
Photograph courtesy
of Leonora (Ellie) Enking
www.flickr.com/photos/33037982@N04/5975945286/
Les Queues de Langoustines
Poêlées, Cardon Braisé, Jus de Crustacés. The
tails of the Dublin
Bay Prawn, lightly fried and served with braised cardoon.
Dublin Bay prawns are mostly about 18 cm (7”) long with all the meat in the tail; they are neither a prawn nor a lobster. This crustacean is the real scampi, not the shrimp often called scampi on USA menus. In this recipe, the tails, where all the meat is, are lightly brazed with the juices of other crustaceans made from their shells.
Whole grilled seabass with cardoon
Photograph courtesy of Chris Chen 陳依勤
www.flickr.com/photos/cchen/60778091/
Whole grilled seabass with cardoon
Photograph courtesy of Chris Chen 陳依勤
www.flickr.com/photos/cchen/60778091/
Cardoon in the languages of Frnce’s neighbors:
(Catalan - carde, cardon), (Dutch - kardoen), (German - cardy, kardonenartischocke), (Italian - cardo), (Spanish - cardo), (Latin - cynara cardunculus).
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