Behind the French Menu: Boudin Noir

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Bistros - French Bistro Menus. The History of the French Bistro.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Bistro on Rue Lepic, Montmartre, Paris.

Photograph courtesy of Frank Black Noir

www.flickr.com/photos/frankblacknoir/4579308613/

The History of Bistros

With the advent, of the French revolution in 1789 and the breakup of the large estates owned by aristocrats, the staff, including all the kitchen staff were out of work. They went back to their homes in France’s villages, or they went to poorer parts of the cities and towns; this was a very hard time to find work. Nevertheless, some of these graduates of aristocratic kitchens had learned a great deal and had saved a few Francs; they opened France’s first small bar/restaurants. (Brasseries have a different history and different menus).

Parisian Bistro.

Photograph courtesy of Amy Glaze

www.flickr.com/photos/msglaze/2198386877/

The menus of the first bistros.

These first bar/restaurants would have a menu of maybe five to six dishes. Everything that was offered would be well prepared and inexpensive. Acceptable, low-priced, wines were offered, and they came from barrels, not bottles. Most of these nameless bar/restaurants would later be called Bistros while a few would go on to be really excellent full-service restaurants.

Braised Short Ribs of Beef mashed potatoes, roasted beets.

Photograph courtesy of Larry Miller

www.flickr.com/photos/grassvalleylarry/9465705849/

In 1815 came the soldiers of the Royal Houses of Europe.

The soldiers came from Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, and Portugal and they defeated and exiled Napoleon I for the second time. However, this time the armies occupied France, mainly in the cities, and many NCOs and lower level officers were quartered in private homes.

NCOs and lower level officers do not have the time to sit down for a three, or a possibly four or five-hour meal like their commanders, and at that point, four hours was the norm for a full multi-course dinner at the few high-class restaurants that existed. In all of Paris, in 1815, there were less than 50 full-service restaurants. Today, in Paris, there are over 20,000 full-service restaurants.

The meaning of the word.

These soldiers demanded a whole, well-cooked, meal that could be served in less than an hour and a half at a price they could afford. The Russian soldiers were among those who shouted the loudest, and when they entered these small restaurants, they shouted, быстро “Bistro,” which means “quickly” in Russian. Within a few weeks all the soldiers from the different armies had one word in common and on entering a restaurant they would call out Bistro and dinner would be cooked and served in less than an hour and a half.

Boudin noir et gambas grilles,

Black pudding sausage and large shrimps, bistro style.

Photograph courtesy of puce576

www.flickr.com/photos/puce576/17184975237/

Bistros were France's first fast-food restaurants.

With high quality and low prices, these new restaurants also drew in skilled workers from the area around about, those who could pay for an inexpensive lunch. This took business away from the carts in the streets that sold stews; the first French fast food restaurants had arrived! In a Bistro today expect dinner for four still to take about one and a half hours.

From then on, and for the next one hundred and fifty years Bistros were a uniquely French mixture of bar, cafe and restaurant with even the smallest village having one or more. Many are or were family-owned with Monsieur cooking while Madame runs the dining room and keeps an eye on the cash register. The reverse is also seen.

The words Bystro, Bistro and Bistrot first appeared in French dictionaries in 1884. That tells us that from the time that the foreign soldiers had left France in 1818 the Bistro had remained popular. Bystro, Bistro, and Bistrot had become part of the French language and are part of France’s culinary history.

Steak Frites with Sauce Bearnaise.

Photograph courtesy of Mike_fleming

www.flickr.com/photos/flem007_uk/3625173675/

Today's Bistros today offer France's favorite comfort foods

Then came WWII and the economic turn down after the war; that and the move to the cities closed tens of thousands of small Bistros all over France. The Bistros that remain (not the contemporary bistro variety), still offer local comfort foods along with national bistro favorites such as Andouillettes and other sausages, snails, frog’s legs, roast chicken and steak frites. Organ meats (calf's liver, pig's feet, sweetbreads, etc.) are also essential to the bistro menu, as is such homey fare as pâtés and terrines and more. Apart from towns where tourists are valuable customers Bistros depend on their regular clientele, and these are locals who demand their timeless favorites served in pleasant and moderately comfortable, but not hi-tech surroundings. The traditional bistro is small, intimate and low-key.

Duck Leg Confit and Slow Cooked Duck Breast with Cabbage.

Photograph courtesy of Alpha

www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/2460429343/

Some bistros have remained much as they were with plain tables and simple glasses and cutlery; others have linen tablecloths and serviettes. Neither format will tell you much about the food being served though you will notice a difference in the prices on the menu. Nevertheless, since the traditional Bistro has a limited and recurrent menu both will produce well-prepared food day after day.

Contemporary Bistros, Gastro Bistros and more.

Contemporary bistros are something else. It seems to me that many excellent French chefs, after achieving success while working for a restaurateur in a Michelin guide restaurant with one or more stars will go back to their childhood dream and opens a bistro they own themselves. However, these are chefs with lots of knowledge will be constrained by the traditional bistro’s menu; their Bistro will become a “contemporary bistro”. Alongside Contemporary Bistros are Gastro Bistros, Néo-Bistrots and other versions of Bistros with upgraded menus; some are now owned by celebrity chefs. When you visit France first try the traditional Bistro first and only then branch out; in Contemporary Bistros expect unique dishes not usually seen.

The Bouchons of Lyon

In addition to bistros, there are the Bouchons of Lyons. Bouchons were formerly coaching inns where passengers could eat and rest while the horses from their carriages were changed. When coaching inns were no longer required many became a unique Lyonnais restaurant that served local comforts foods. Unfortunately, few remain, there are maybe 20 Bouchons in all of Lyon.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Chaussons - A popular pie made with puff pastry. Chaussons will be on menus all over France.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Chaussons
Photograph courtesy of Kurman Communications, Inc.
www.flickr.com/photos/kurmanphotos/15360387498/

Your breakfast menu may offer Chausson aux Pommes, a warm or hot, apple pie and a light lunch menu may be a Chausson au Jambon et Fromage, a hot ham and cheese pie. The dessert menu may offer a Chausson aux Poires, a pear pie. A bistro dinner menu may suggest a Chausson aux Pommes et au Boudin Noir, a Chausson with apple and black pudding.

N.B. Chausson in French also means slippers, the ones you may wear at home, or possibly to a ballet class, so be careful where and when you ask for Chaussons.

Chaussons = Slippers.
Be careful what you order
Photograph courtesy of ruurmo
www.flickr.com/photos/rufino_uribe/182618037/

A Chausson is much more than what some guidebook translations call a turnover. Turnovers are usually made with phyllo or filo pastry. To begin with and a Chausson is not made with phyllo pastry. A chausson will be made with the flaky French puff pastry called pâte choux or with pâte feuilletée. The pastry used depends on the filling. In any case, the difference between the pastry used for a Chausson and phyllo pastry is not in the outside appearance; the difference is in the amount of butter used, the taste, and the texture.

A few of the many Chaussons that may be on your menu:

Chaussons aux Cerises – Chaussons filled with cherries

Chausson aux Champignons – Chaussons filled with button mushrooms

Chaussons au Fromage et Lardons – A chausson filled with cheese and bacon pieces.

Chausson au Jambon - A Chausson filled with ham; usually, this is the ham used in ham sandwiches. This ham is called Jambon Blanc, white ham, or Jambon de Paris, in France. If Cured ham, Jambon Sec, is used, it will undoubtedly be noted on the menu. Cured hams are called dry-cured hams in the UK and country hams in North America.

Chaussons au Magret de Canard – Chaussons filled with sliced duck breast.

Chaussons au Poulet – Chaussons filled with chicken.

Chausson de Poires au Chocolat - A chausson with pears, served with a chocolate sauce.

Apple chaussons.
Photograph courtesy of fugzu
www.flickr.com/photos/70253321@N00/8631650608/

Chaussons au Thon – Chaussons with tuna.

Chaussons aux Pommes – Chaussons with apples.

Chaussons on sale in a patisserie.
Photograph courtesy of Jean-Pierre
www.flickr.com/photos/cjp24/5965450395/

Chausson Camembert-Bacon – A Chausson filled with Camembert cheese wrapped in bacon and cooked together. In France, the word bacon and the word lard both mean bacon. Lard does not mean pig fat in French; that would be saindoux.

Chaussons stuffed with ground beef and gruyere cheese.
Photograph courtesy of Notre Famille enfant .com

Chausson de Reblochon sur Lit de Salade - A chausson filled with Reblochon cheese and served on a bed of salad greens.

Chausson Feuilleté de Courgette et Jambon – A chausson made with interleaved slices of courgettes and boiled ham. (The courgette is called by the same name in the UK while in the USA it is a zucchini).

Le Barbajuan.

Le Barbajuan - A small Chausson, claimed as their own by both Nice, Monaco, and Menton. They call them a small Chausson, but they are mostly seen when deep-fried. I enjoyed one in Monte Carlo, and it was delicious but very different. Since this is deep-fried in the rest of France, it would usually be called a Beignet, not a Chausson.

Barbajuans
Left to right: Swiss chard, squash (pumpkin), leeks and courgettes (USA Zucchini), goat’s cheese and chorizo sausages.
Photogragh courtesy of Riviera City Guide

The puff-pastry used to make chaussons will usually be Pâte Choux but occasionally Pâte Levée Feuilletée may be used.

Pâte Choux– One of France’s most popular puff pastries and it is the puff pastry used for éclairs, chou à la crème, chaussons and profiteroles, etc.

Pâte Levée Feuilletée or Pâte à Croissants – The yeast-based dough made for croissants. The difference between Pâte Levée Feuilletée and Pâte Feuilletée is the yeast used. Frozen pastry for croissants is available in the supermarkets; however, you will enjoy your croissant much more if you buy them already made where a trained pastry chef will make their own pâte levée feuilletée, and that will contain over 40% - 50% butter by weight!

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Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
a French menu?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google. Behind the French Menu’s links, include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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Bryan G. Newman

The Valençay Cheese.

Photograph courtesy of Frédérique Voisin-Demery

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Choucroute and Choucroute Garnie. Choucroute from the Alsace in French Cuisine

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Choucroute Garnie for eight.

Photograph courtesy of Pierre LANNES

www.flickr.com/photos/titounet/8727500919/

The Alsace, the home of Choucroute.

The Alsace, the historic French region, includes the departments of Bas Rhin and Haut Rhin that border Germany to the North and Switzerland to the east. (Since 1-1-2016 along with the Alsace the old regions of Lorraine and the Champagne Ardennes have been joined together in the new super region of the Grand Est). Dining in the Alsace offers the finest of French cuisine and traditional Alsatian dishes prepared by some of France’s outstanding chefs. Two of the most well-known traditional dishes are Choucroute, a pickled cabbage similar to the German Sauerkraut and Choucroute Garnie a humungous dish of meats and sausages served at family celebrations served on a bed of choucroute.

The story of choucroute

Choucroute, the pickled cabbage of the Alsace, like most pickled foods dates back to the days before refrigeration. Throughout the Old World pickling vegetables for winter was one of the few ways to have a guaranteed supply of green vegetables in winter. It is made with either the familiar white cabbage seen everywhere or preferably with Alsace’s own strain of giant white cabbages the Choux Quintal d'Alsace.

The Quintal d’Alsace cabbage can reach 7 kilos (14 lbs).

Photograph courtesy of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Choucroute and Sauerkraute.

Sauerkraut’s creation is associated with Germany, and the Alsace and its neighbor the Lorraine do have a long association with Germany. The Alsace and the Lorraine were passed back and forth like a football between France and the various rulers of the German States and then again with a united Germany. Among the results were the addition of many German-influenced dishes to the Alsatian menu, and the use of a German dialect called Allemand Alsacien or Elsässerditsch still used alongside French. Despite these clear connections the local citizens will spend time explaining how their choucroute is far superior to German sauerkraut. They will explain that it is not only the added baies de genièvre, juniper berries, which some German recipes also use; there is much more to choucroute than just pickling cabbage for eight weeks. Choucroute is part of the Alsatian psyche.

Choucroute is a garniture, the accompanying vegetable.

Boudin Noir Sur Choucroute, Pommes Vapeurs et Légumes du Jour – Pork blood sausage, black pudding in the UK, served on a bed of Choucroute accompanied by steamed potatoes and the day’s vegetables.

Cuisse De Canard Conﬁt Sur Lit De Choucroute Braisée – Slowly cooked (confit) duck’s leg served of a bed of braised choucroute -

Duo de Sandre et Saumon Sur Choucroute, Pommes Vapeur, Sauce au Riesling – A matched serving of zander (pike-perch) and salmon that will allow the diner to enjoy the different tastes and textures of both fish flavored with an Alsatian Riesling wine served on a bed of choucroute accompanied by steamed potatoes.

Choucroute aux quatre poissons.

Choucroute with four different fish.

Photograph courtesy of Pierre LANNES

www.flickr.com/photos/titounet/16840204550/

Jarret de Porc Braisé Sur Lit de Choucroute- A braised cut from across the bone from a pig’s shank; the leg. This cut, when used for veal, is called osso buco in Italian and jarret de veau in French. This is a meaty cut with a bone marrow center that will provide a great deal of flavor while the meat is slowly cooked and then served on a bed of choucroute.

Cuisine à l'Alsacienne - Traditional Alsatian cuisine

Dining in the Alsace includes many dishes without choucroute: timbales, pies; foie gras, fattened goose and duck liver; carp dishes; tarte flambée, the dish the locals call flammen kuechen, and by others is often wrongly called Alsatian Pizza, excellent cakes, unique Alsatian honeys, Munster cheese, and much more. Today, you will rarely find a restaurant that only serves traditional Alsatian dishes, and despite that caveat, traditional accents and dishes will appear on menus along with modern French cuisine creating interesting combinations. There are many excellent chefs in the Alsace, and they are not only found in the most expensive restaurants.

Tarte tarte flambée

Photograph courtesy of janebelindasmith

www.flickr.com/photos/near_fantastica/3572534526

Choucroute Garni

Choucroute Choucroute Garnie is the Alsace’s famous humongous dish of sausages and meats that are at the heart of any local celebration. To begin with, a Choucroute Garnie includes two or more pork-based sausages including the region’s own Saucisse de Strasbourg and a local boudin noir, a pig’s blood sausage called a black pudding in the UK. The meats will be pork shoulder, smoked pork shanks, and other pork cuts. Goose, also an Alsatian favorite, may occasionally replace some of the pork or be added to it. The sausages and meats will have been simmered in the oven; each component is added one on top of the other, in accordance with the cooking time required.

Choucroute Garni

Photograph courtesy of Femme Actuelle

The main garnish for Choucroute Garnie is rather obviously the Alsace’s famous, juniper berry flavored, pickled cabbage called choucroute. While the meats and sausages were cooking in the oven, the choucroute, the dish’s essential companion, would have been cooking on the top of the stone being flavored with meat stock, gravy from the meats in the oven, goose fat, and herbs. Just before serving the choucroute will have an additional flavoring added when one of the région’s own great white wines is added; usually an Alsatian Riesling AOP.

Riesling from the Alsace.

Photograph courtesy of cave-beblenheim.

Then comes the presentation.

For the seated diners a well-presented platter of Choucroute Garnie can be awesome. A platter that I saw prepared and presented to a table of twelve was absolutely incredible; I think it would have sufficed for a table of twenty-four, it required two servers just to carry and display the platter. Choucroute Garnie is a dish for a crowd so its best to order Choucroute Garnie when you are at least six diners, the more, the merrier. Order an aperitif while waiting, but do not even think of ordering an hors d’oeuvre or an entrée, the French starter, you will never finish a whole Choucroute Garnie anyway. When the dish is ready, at the tinkle of a bell or with a clap of hands the server, and possibly the chef as well, will enter the dining-room bearing the platter of Choucroute Garnie. With the presentation of Choucroute Garnie so important at celebrations, the dish will be carried around the table so all the diners may enjoy the display before it is served.

Take Choucroute Garnie home with you.

Photograph courtesy of CasinoShop.fr

Always order Choucroute Garnie in an Alsatian specialty restaurant; even better, get invited to a Sunday dinner or celebration in a private home. All the components should cook together for several hours, and for that, you need someone who knows what he or she is doing; the presentation should also be a delight for the eyes. I am not a diehard Choucroute Garnie aficionado, but, when I do need my bi-annual Choucroute Garnie fix, I stay with the original, with all the bells and whistles.

How tourism has changed the Alsatian menus.

With the advent of mass tourism, the visitors with their varied tastes encouraged local restaurants to broaden their menus. Many visitors knew about the reputation of Choucroute Garnie but some did not want a dish with such a high-fat content, and some did not want all the pork that is part of the original recipe. The result will be will found in the restaurants that have upgraded the name and the recipes of Choucroute Garnie.

Your menu may offer:

Choucroute Royale - Choucroute Garnie prepared by using the Alsace’s sparkling crémant wine instead of the usual Riesling, it is added just before serving. Despite the use of this excellent crémant, from my experience, it does not make a significant change in the taste that an Alsatian Riesling provides. The Royale version of Choucroute Garnie would seem to me to be a dish originally created for the tourists with fat wallets.

Choucroute au Fruits de Mer – Choucroute served as an accompaniment to seafood. This and other similar dishes at least do not include Garnie in their title. Choucroute Garni needs meats that must be cooked for hours to create distinctive flavors; fish cannot be prepared like that. Choucroute au Fruits de Mer is what is; sea fish and seafood accompanied by choucroute. The Alsace is far from the sea, but fresh seafood arrives daily, and Alsatian chefs do wonderful things with shellfish including shrimps, Dublin Bay prawns, mussels and oysters among other options.

Choucroute au Poisson – Like the dish above, here the Alsace’s signature choucroute accompanies locally caught or locally farmed freshwater fish that will be chosen from among trout, pike, carp, Wels catfish, tilapia, freshwater perch, eels, pike-perch, and others. Usually, this dish is made with a single fish though a number offer two or even four; when the menu is not clear ask. The freshwater fish of the Alsace are excellent.7y

Choucroute de la Mer – Choucroute served with salt-water fish; the fish of choice may include gilthead seabream, red mullet, John Dory, monkfish or European sea bass.

The wines of the Alsace

The wines of the Alsace include some of the best white wines in France. Alsatian wines are also among the very few AOC wines known by the names of the grapes used. Apart from their dry and semi-dry white wines the Alsace also has some of France’s best sweet dessert wines. For choucroute try a semi-dry Gewürztraminer or a Pinot Gris d’Alsace also called or Clevner or Klevner. If it’s a celebration try a brut Crémant de Alsace. Or, try the local beer; nearly 50% of all the beers in France are produced in the Alsace and there are many microbreweries as well.

Gewurztraminer grapes in the Alsace.

Photograph courtesy of Randi Hausken

www.flickr.com/photos/randihausken/30304350585/

The Alsatians brought the brasseries to other parts of France.

Over many generations, Alsatians moved to other parts of France and some of were the owners and chefs of the originally Alsatian brewery based restaurants called brasseries. Today, a brasserie’s menu may have no connection to the Alsace while another, may give away its origins with specific Alsatian dishes on the menu.

--------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

--------------------------------

Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases

French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google, Bing, or another browser. Behind the French Menu’s links, include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

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