Grondin Rouge - Red Gurnard. The Red Gunard in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


The Red Gunard.
www.flickr.com/photos/barnoid/2347475633/

The Grondin Rouge, the Red Gunard is a tasty fish with firm white to white ivory meat. It will be fresh on nearly all of France's fish restaurant menus, and they are also popular in the home as they are easily and quickly cooked. The fish are almost always bought and served as filets because most fish are too large for a single diner. The small fish are very bony but are sought after for the flavor they bring to fish soups..
  
The Red Gunard is a member of the scorpionfish family, and it does have a little poison in some spikes on their gils and on their dorsal fins (back fins).   Worry not they will have been removed before being sold in the supermarket or offered by a restaurant.
The red gunard and close family members will be on menus all over France as they are caught both in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic; they will be offered grilled, fried, poached, or baked. 

Red Gunard
Print from 1763-1764
www.flickr.com/photos/fdctsevilla/22166394736/


 The Red Gunard on French Menus:
 
Filet de Grondin Rouge Sauce Saint Jacques au Crémant - Red Gunard served with a sauce made from the king scallop meat with a Crémant sparkling wine. (Since this menu  listing came from a menu  in Burgundy it  would have been the Crémant de Bourgogne).


Grondin Rouge Provencal.
   
Filet de Grondin Rouge, Soufflé de Homard, Sauce Champagne – A filet of red gunard served with a soufflé made from the two-clawed European lobster and a Champagne accented Sauce.

Grondin Rouge, Caviar d'Aubergine, Légumes de Printemps Braisés, Jus Charcuterie - Red Gunard served with eggplant caviar and braised spring vegetables. Eggplant caviar has many variations though the most well-known is Papetond'Aubergine.  I imagine that this is the recipe used here or it will be very close.  The sauce, a Jus Charcuterie is a meat sauce; here it will have been made with the addition of white wine and flavored with herbs. (Charcutiers originally only sold cured or uncooked meat products but now are usually joined together with Traiteurs who originally only sold cooked foods.  Many of these combined Charcuterie- Traiteurs are incredible, fabulous delis).
  
Charcuterie – Traiteur.
  
Grondin Rouge et Ratatouille Citronnée, Sauce Vierge – Red Gunard served with lemon accented Ratatouille and a Sauce Vierge.  Sauce Vierge - A virgin sauce with the name coming from the use of virgin olive oil. Sauce Vierge will most usually be on your menu with fish dishes.  With the virgin olive oil will be fresh tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, basil, red wine vinegar, salt, and black pepper. The sauce will be served slightly warm but not cooked as olive oil loses all of its flavors when cooked. The sauce will be poured on the fish just before it is served. The inclusion of  Ratatouille and a Sauce Vierge allows me to place this dish in the City of Nice on the Meditteranean or certainly in Provence. 
    
Ratatouille
www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/42677986/
    
Grondin Rouge, Juste Cuit / Courgette Fleur Farcie / Vierge Acidulée   –   Red gunard perfectly and lightly cooked served with stuffed courgette (USA zucchini)  flowers with a slightly acidic virgin sauce.  (For more about Virgin Sauce see the menu listing above).

Pan-fried cod filet with sauce vierge.
www.flickr.com/photos/foodista/8451017061/

Grondin Rouge Juste Rôt i, Jeunes Poireaux et Shimeji – A red gunard perfectly roasted and served with young leeks and Shimeji mushrooms. -  Shimeji is the Japanese name and the adopted French name for an Asian mushroom now farmed in France. (A close family member does grow wild in Northern Europe).  The variety called the buna-shimeji is the one most likely to be on this French menu. This particular mushroom is admired because it passes on to the foods cooked with it the taste of UMAMI.  (The Latin name of  buna-shimeji  is hypsizygus marmoreus or hypsizygus tessellatus). 


Red Gunard
 
 This fish is rarely seen on UK menus as the Brits demand their favorites, Cod, Salmon, Tuna, and Shrimp, none of which are caught locally.   Despite being headlined by celebrity chefs, the gunard family members rarely make UK menus.  British fishermen and women consider this a bycatch:  they happily unload their unwelcomed catches onto French boats where it will be sold in France as a very tasty and relatively inexpensive fish. The red gunard and its family members are flown to the USA chilled or frozen from as far away as New Zealand.

Red gurnard with cockles and vegetables.
www.flickr.com/photos/thecssdiv/5491001335/

The Grondin Gallinette, the Sapphirine Gurnard , tub gurnards or Common Searobin is another member of the scorpionfish family. Sapphirine gurnard and the Red Gunard are both highly valued for their taste and one or another of these two very similar fish will be an essential part of an authentic Bouillabaisse or Bouillabaisse Marseille and in the North of France in the different tasting Bouillabaisse de Nord.

The Grondin Rouge, the Red Gunard in the languages of France's neighbors:

(Catalan -  iluerna roja), (Dutch -engelse poon), (German -seekuckuck), (Italian - capone coccio), (Spanish - peona), (Latin  - aspitrigla cuculus)

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Copyright 2010, 2019
 
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