from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
A night photograph of the River Nive
flowing through Bayonne.
Bayonne is the capital of the French Basque
country, the Pays Basque.
Photograph courtesy of Damien Labat
www.flickr.com/photos/128861375@N02/15294903183/
À la Basquaise - In the
manner of the Basque.
A night photograph of the River Nive
flowing through Bayonne.
Bayonne is the capital of the French Basque
country, the Pays Basque.
Photograph courtesy of Damien Labat
www.flickr.com/photos/128861375@N02/15294903183/
À la Basquaise will be on your menu for many dishes that originate in the Pays Basque. The Pays Basque is in the administrative region of Nouvell Aquitaine in the department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and reaches through the Pyrenees until it meets the Basque country of Spain. The Spanish Basque country is called the País Vasco.
The AOP products of the Pays Basque.
Basque restaurants offer some of the finest products of the Pays Basque. Menu listings will include dishes with their famous Piment de Espelette AOP dried red peppers; their Jambon de Bayonne, the Bayonne cured ham AOP, (by far the most popular cured ham throughout France); and their Ossau-Iraty AOP sheep’s milk cheese. During the hunting season palombe, wild wood pigeon may also be on local menus. The unique Basque cider will be offered along with their red and white wines from their appellation of Irouléguy, pronounced iroolegi. Irouléguy is the smallest wine appellation in France with just 1000 acres for vines; that is approximately four-square kilometers (1.5 sq miles).
Basque cuisine is far from being limited to traditional and regional dishes. There are many Basque restaurants with excellent chefs at work in the kitchen creating new dishes with cutting edge techniques. Some of the chefs are considered among the leaders in innovative European Cuisine. However, this short introduction only has space for the most popular traditional Basque dishes. There is much to enjoy in the Pays Basque, in both modern and traditional Basque restaurants. All Tourist Information Offices in the region will give directions to the cider routes and gourmet routes nearby. The English language website for the Tourist Information Office in Bayonne, the capital city of the Pays Basque is:
http://www.bayonne-tourisme.com/en/
Dishes on menus in the Pays Basque:
Artichauts et Crème d’Ossau-Iraty
AOP – This is a dish of whole artichokes,
with the chokes removed, and served with a sauce made from the Ossau-Iraty
AOP sheep’s milk cheese. This is crème sauce and it will often be made with
the lightly sparkling Txakoli wine, pronounced Chacolí. Txakoli is a Spanish
Basque country, dry, white wine and on the wine lists in France’s Pays Basque. The
French and Spanish Basque countries share their specialties.
Ossau-Iraty AOP cheeses aging.
Photograph courtesy of Terre et Côte Basques
The Ossau-Iraty
AOP cheese is made with unpasteurized milk. This is a pressed, hard
cheese that is aged for at least four months before being sold. Ossau-Iraty AOP
or another sheep’s cheese paired with jam or berries is a traditional Basque
dessert; I have also seen Ossau-Iraty AOP and berries on breakfast menus.
Cabillaud Basquaise – Fresh cod prepared in the Basque manner. The cod is fried
and served with the Baque Espelette peppers, tomatoes, and tomato
sauce flavored with garlic. N.B.: The
Basque and cod, the fish, have a long interconnected history. That long
connection, according to an excellent book entitled ‘Cod’ by Mark Kurlansky,
clearly shows that Basque fishermen reached North America before Columbus
discovered South America.
Chipirons Basquaise - A particular small calamari, calmar or encornet in French, prepared in the Basque manner. It is cooked with tomatoes, onions, and the Piment d’Espelette, the spicy Basque peppers.
Chipirons
Photograph courtesy of Kent Wang
www.flickr.com/photos/kentwang/14705118359/
The famous dried red pepper from the town of Esplette.
The Piment d'Espelette AOP is a dried red chili pepper called the ezpeletakob bipera in Basque, go on, pronounce it! Like all other chili peppers, this pepper originally came from Central or South America, but after five hundred years of cross-breeding, it is unique. Espelette is a small town in the Basque country; practically on the Spanish border; just 30 km (19 miles) from Biarritz on the coast.
The red peppers of Espelette drying on a house.
Photograph
courtesy of veronique gresse
www.flickr.com/photos/138027960@N02/49265886708/
Espelette is famous not only for its peppers but also for its houses which are decorated with dried or drying red peppers. If this pepper is one of your culinary delights, then visit their annual Fête du Piment à Espelette. The fair is held on the last Saturday and Sunday in October; then you may sample their peppers and Basque cuisine. If you cannot be there for the festival, all is not lost as every Wednesday morning is market day in the town. There you may buy these AOP peppers to take home. Esplette’s Tourist Information office English language website is:
http://espelette-basquecountry.jimdo.com/
The Planxa in Basque and a Plancha in the rest of France.
Magret de Canard à la planxa - Duck breast cooked on the planxa. Here the duck breast is cooked on a planxa or plancha which is a very thick iron sheet. It is at least two centimeters (6/8”) thick and claimed as their own by the Basques, the French, and the Spanish. This traditional and very even method of cooking is done with very little oil and results in a taste somewhere between frying and grilling. N.B. In France when ordering duck, you will usually not be asked how you would like it cooked. The French and Basque preference is slightly rosé, pink, and that is how I have learned to enjoy it. However, if you want your duck well done tell the waiter “bien cuit,” pronounced bien kwee.
Tuna and smoked eel cigarillos on a plancha
Photograph
courtesy of Alpha
www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/4711219073
Melon au Jambon de Bayonne – This is an entrée, the French first course, of melon
and Bayonne Ham AOP. Bayonne ham is the most popular cured ham in France.
Jambon de Bayonne, the Bayonne cured ham.
Photograph courtesy of louis-ospital
Thon Rouge à la Basquaise - The Northern Bluefin Tuna prepared in the Basque manner. This is a Basque tuna casserole with fresh tuna cooked with tomatoes, onions, white wine, and herbs. The Northern Bluefin Tuna is the largest and fattest tuna; they are caught in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The principal buyers are the Japanese; they are willing to pay the highest prices. The fishing town of Saint Jean de Luz has an annual tuna festival on the second Saturday in July. When visiting at any other time, try the excellent seafood and fish restaurants around the fishing port. Saint Jean de Luz also has fantastic beaches just outside the town. St Jean de Luz is just 28 km (17 miles) from Bayonne. The English language website for Saint Jean de Luz is:
http://www.saintjeandeluz.co.uk/en
Pavé de Merlu de Ligne Grillé au Chorizo et Piperade Basquaise – A large cut of wild whiting, the fish, grilled with sliced chorizo sausage and the Basque Piperade. Chorizos are cured, smoked sausages, but some use fresh pork and are cooked before being served. The prized Basque chorizo has a red color from the dried smoked, Espelette peppers. Chorizos are often added as a flavoring ingredient in other dishes.
Sauce Piperade.
Piperade or Sauce Pipérade began in the Pays Basque as a simple sauce made with olive oil, lightly fried onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and the red peppers from Espelette. Then it was added or served by the side of the main dish. Now piperades are made all over France with changes made for local tastes.
Piperade d'Escargots à l'Ail – Snails cooked and served in a garlic-flavored piperade.
Calamari with a piperade sauce.
www.flickr.com/photos/londonexpat/51221912707/
Ttoro Maison Croutons à l’Ail –
Ttoro, pronounced tioro, is the Pay Basques’ most famous fish stew. In this
menu listing the stew is prepared to the restaurant’s special recipe and served
with garlic-flavored croutons. There are endless variations on the original
ttoro. The fish in the original recipe comprises merlu, hake; lotte, monkfish; congre, the European conger eel; and grondin, gunard (a member of the very tasty sea-robin family). The seafood
will include moules, mussels; crevettes, shrimp; and the langoustine, the Dublin Bay Prawn. Each of these ingredients is cooked separately before being added
to the stew. The base of the stew is fish stock with tomatoes, the season’s
vegetables, potatoes, lots of parsley, and other
herbs. The origin of this stew is the fishing villages and towns along the Pay
Basque’s Atlantic coast. Despite the many recipe variations, the fish are
rarely changed. When ordering ttoro ask about the fish and seafood in your
restaurant's version of this dish.
Ttoro.
Photograph courtesy of France-Voyage
Traditional Basque cuisine has many more dishes, old and new. When visiting the area, you will find enough of the Basque heritage and traditions alongside the new creations to keep you busy and interested in the region and its products. Add to that the Basque’s unique language which is unrelated to other European languages. Their language is called Euskara in Basque, and its origins are a real mystery. The linguists among you may chew over Basque language conundrum while dining.
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