from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Seville Oranges
www.flickr.com/photos/pikerslanefarm/23766632933/
The Seville
(Bigarade) orange in the kitchen.
The Seville orange arrived in Spain with
the Moors, who crossed the straits from North Africa to Spain, 711 CE. They
defeated the Visigoths whose intermixed cultures of Visigoths and Romans controlled
Spain (Hispania) after the Romans armies had left; by 712 the Moors had
conquered Seville (Isbiliah). The Moors had come to stay, and they brought
vegetables, herbs, and fruits from home and those included the Seville orange
Orange trees in Seville
The Bigarade
(Seville) orange in the kitchen.
There are a number of bitter oranges
available, but most French chefs choose the Seville orange for sauces when they
need an orange with a controllable and contrasting but not too bitter, taste. So,
when a bitter orange sauce is on a French menu, it will, nine times out of ten,
be the Seville Orange (also called the Bigarade orange).
The orange's second name Bigarade comes
from the Occitan language which competed with modern French for a single
language to unite the country. Occitan is still spoken in parts of Frances, and
its dialects are behind other local languages including Provencal and
Nicoise. According to Dictionary.com,
the word Bigarade comes from the Occitan word "bigarrar," which means
to change, to add color. For more about French in the English kitchen click here:
Sauce Bigarade
Sauce Bigarade is the sauce behind many bitter orange recipes and is always behind Canard a la Orange, duck in orange sauce. Sauce Bigarade is simply made. The recipe uses just the juice of the Seville orange, along with some of the natural cooking juices from the dish with which it will be served. Some of the orange zest and or peel and a small amount of sugar may be added to control the taste. Sauce Bigarade is often associated with duck, but it is also used with other poultry, meat, and game.
Just as the Bigarade orange, the Seville
orange is behind Dundee, Scottish marmalade and other bitter marmalades made
elsewhere. For these, the Seville orange is the only orange in contention.
Seville sunshine bottled
Dundee Marmalade ready for labeling.
www.flickr.com/photos/francesspencerphotography/32206639084/
Your menu in France may offer:
.
Carré de Cerf Rôti aux Baies des Champs, Sauce Bigarade – A cut from a rib of venison roasted with berries from the fields. Venison
may be any member of the deer family, and in France, three types of deer are
farm raised. Wild deer may only be hunted, along with other wild game, during a limited season, and
then they will, usually, be on a special hunting season menu. On
a regular menu, wild deer would be listed as cerf sauvage, wild deer, or Cerf
de la Chasse, deer from the hunt. Baies des Champs means wild berries
and for game that will undoubtedly include juniper berries.
Filet de Dindonneau aux
Clémentines Sauce Bigarade – A slice of young turkey breast prepared with clementines and
served with a sauce bigarade.
Duck with Sauce
Bigarade
With Pommes
Parisienne and Spaghetti Squash
www.flickr.com/photos/sushi_kato/4589863682/
Magret de Canard aux Fruits Rouges et sa Pomme Anna, Sauce
Bigarade – Duck breast cooked in with red fruits, and
accompanied by Anna potatoes and a Sauce Bigarade. Red fruits on
French menus change with the season and will include berries, plums, strawberries, cherries etc.,
Pommes de Terre Anna are thinly sliced potatoes baked in butter in
a casserole and the potato dish with an indiscreet the past. The dish was
created by Adolphe Dugléré a pupil of the famous Antonin and the Chef de
Cuisine at the Café Anglais in the middle of the 19th Century. An important customer was Anna Deslions, who
entertained her wealthy customers in one of the decorated and comfortable
upstairs rooms of the restaurant. Anna Deslions
was one of Paris’s most famous courtesans.
From the early part of the 19th Century through the early 20th
Century discreet private rooms were available for secret meetings of all types;
they were an important part of the better restaurants’ business.
Goat Cheese with Bitter
Orange Marmalade
Rôti de Veau Sauce Bigarade – Roast veal served with a Sauce Bigarade.
Suprême de Pintadeau Sauce
Bigarade aux Fraises -Breast of Guinea hen served with a Sauce Bigarade
and strawberries,
Duck leg with orange sauce.
www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/2970777195/
When I visited
Seville
I visited Seville, Spain, at the height
of the orange season and much of the town has Seville orange trees as
decoration. The trees were heavy with ripe fruit; however, not
surprisingly, no one takes the fruit, not only because it is prohibited, but
because they are too bitter. Only someone making a bigarade sauce or marmalade
at home might be tempted to break the law and steal oranges.
Plaza de Naranjas
The Seville orange
tree courtyard in the Seville Cathedral, Spain.
The Catedral de Santa María de la Sede.
The Catedral de Santa María de la Sede.
Dundee marmalade.
The Seville orange makes the best orange
marmalade with the most famous being Dundee Marmalade. How the Seville orange
arrived in Dundee, Scotland is much disputed. What is not disputed is the fact
that Dundee has been producing excellent orange marmalade for over 200
years.
There are other oranges amère, bitter
oranges, available in French markets, and each has its own group of aficionados
and particular uses. Among the other
well-known bitter oranges are:
Other bitter oranges.
The Bergamot Orange
The Bergamot Orange is a sub-species of the
Seville/Bigarade orange and is famous for its scent, not its juice. The
Bergamot orange is the scent behind Earl Grey tea and the Bergamot orange’s zest, very
rarely will the Bergamot Orange be in the French kitchen, and then it used for
its zest, its aroma. The oils in the
skin of the Bergamot orange are also used for essential oils in aromatherapy
and in skin creams.
The Bergamot Orange.
Photograph courtesy
of BGN100
The Maltese blood orange
The Orange Maltaise or Maltaise Sanguine,
the Maltese blood orange, was the orange behind the original Sauce
Maltaise. Sauce Maltaise is Sauce Hollandaise with the juice, and the zest of the
Maltese blood orange added. Today when Sauce Maltaise is on the menu, the
Seville orange will usually have replaced the Maltese orange.
Oranges originated in the area of today’s
China and Vietnam, and there are now hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties
and crosses that have developed in tens of countries. Where the Seville orange
developed is disputed, but as they grew very well in the region of Seville,
Spain, that is now their most popular name.
The Maltese Blood
Oranges.
-----------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010,
2014, 2017, 2019.
---------------------------
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Connected posts:
Baie de Genièvre- Juniper berries on the
French Menu. Berries in France I.
Canard – Duck. Duck on French Menus.
Canard – Duck. Duck on French Menus.
Cerises, Bigarreaux and Griottes - The Cherries of France. Cherries on French Menus.
Gibier – Wild game. Wild game in French Cuisine. Wild Game on French Menus.
Pintade,a Guinea Hen, may be on Your
Menu. A Pleasant Change From Chicken.
Ris de Veau (d'Agneau) - Sweetbreads on French Menus. When sweetbreads are on the menu in France do not pass them by.
Ris de Veau (d'Agneau) - Sweetbreads on French Menus. When sweetbreads are on the menu in France do not pass them by.
