Showing posts with label Clams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clams. Show all posts

Coques - Cockles.They are close cousins of the clam family. Cockles on Your French Seafood Menu.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

      
    Cockles in France.
     
    For those new to cockles, they are a member of the clam family and will be on the menu in nearly every seafood restaurant.  On a fresh seafood platter, they may be served raw like clams or oysters and when cooked, they may be fried with garlic, served with pasta, cooked in white wine or grilled on skewers. Cooked cockles may also be cut up and served cold in salads, cooked with fish or other shellfish or served on their own with fresh mayonnaise.
   

   One word of warning: in French, the word coque also means shell.  So, on French menus, the word coque may also be used for œuf à la coque, boiled eggs or crabe préparé en coque, crab prepared in its shell, etc. With many references to shells on  French menus read carefully.

    For those who know old British and Irish pub songs the coques on your French menu are the same cockles that Sweet Molly Malone sang about in the street of Dublin's fair city. On French menus coques is the accepted name; however, local names such as Henon or Maillot may make the menu in fishing villages along France's Atlantic coast.
   
Cockles and Mussels
The song about Molly Malone has become a sort of unofficial anthem of the Dublin City, Ireland
This statue is a landmark at the corner of Grafton Street and Suffolk Street, Dublin.
 
The color and shape of the cockle’s shell.
  
   When the cockles are on your table as part of a dish’s decoration the shells will vary from white to dark ivory, sometimes brown. They are somewhat triangular with pronounced ribs.

  
    
Cockle Shells
www.flickr.com/photos/treegrow/38470250434/  
         
Cockles on French Menus:

Fricassée Marinière de Coques Bretonnes aux Pâtes Fraiches- Cockles from Brittany stewed in white wine and served with fresh pasta.


A nice plate of cockles
Photograph courtesy of stu_spivack
www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/4373648607/

  
  
Petite Salade d’Épinards aux Coques et Vinaigrette à la Noix – A small spinach salad served with cockles and flavored with a vinaigrette sauce made with walnut oil.
  
Risotto de Coquillages
This risotto included mussels, cockles and clams
www.flickr.com/photos/marsupilami92/33584640984/
  
Filet de Saint Pierre à la Plancha et Crémeux de Coques - Filet of John Dory; the fish. Cooked on a plancha, and served with a creamy cockle sauce. A plancha or planxa is a very thick iron plate much used in Basque and southwestern French cooking.
    

Cockle diggers

       

 The cockles on your plate or plates are not sea-farmed from birth like France’s oysters and mussels.  Cockles are gathered when fully grown, or gathered wild when young, and then re-sown in areas where there is plenty of their favorite food, plankton.
  
Where do the cockles on your plate come from?                      

France has its own cockles but not enough to meet even half the local demand. Nearly 50% of the local requirements are imported, a large part from the UK.  The most famous cockle growing area in the UK is Penclawdd in Wales on the Burry Estuary. From there the young cockles that will be re-sown, may only be gathered by hand to insure a sustainable source. \

Cockles in the UK.
  
    For over 100 years in the UK and Ireland, cockles were traditional pub fare as well as being a seaside favorite,  The usual recipe only required boiling in water with salt and pepper. When ready the cockles were sprinkled with vinegar and then eaten hot or cold. With or without with bread and butter.  Not any longer as cockles are returning to the British menu with celebrity chefs,  Now, like in France, cockles will be boiled, but that will probably be in an herb-based bouillon and the recipes leave salt, pepper, and vinegar behind.

       


Cockles are still on English seaside menus.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/
www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/16712796531/sizes/

  
Cockles in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan – escopinya), (Dutch -  hartschelpen), (German - herzmuschel), (Italian - cuore edule or vuori di mare), (Spanish - berberecho or croque).

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

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

-------------------------- 

Copyright 2010, 2017, 2019,2023

For information on the unpublished book behind this blog, write to Bryan Newman
at
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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

Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
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 or Bing,  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.


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

Connected Posts:

 
  
    


Chaudrée – Chowder. Ordering Chowder in France.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Clam Chowder
     
Chowder was created in France, not Boston and then it was a fisherman's and fisherwoman's stew made with any unsold or unpopular shellfish; unsold sea fish would usually be taken home for the family.  At the end of a 12 hour plus work day, this would have been the fishermen’s and fisherwomen’s’ first meal.  Today chowder, in a French seafood restaurant will be made with the very best seafood and or sea fish.
    
A shrimp and corn chowder

Chaudrée or Chaudière - Fish and seafood chowders are rich, velvety soups or thick stews. Nearly all French chowders include white wine, garlic, potatoes, and herbs, and many include crème fraîche and or butter.
   
Chowder on the French menus:
   
Chaudrée de Moules au Vin Blanc et Fleur d'Ail –  A mussel chowder made with white wine and flavored with the crushed stems and buds of garlic flowers. (Garlic flowers are, as a rule, much lighter tasting than regular garlic; but I was warned that while the wild garlic flower is beautiful do not bring them into the house for decoration!).
           
Chaudrée de Palourdes et Croûtons à l'Ail. – Clam chowder with garlic flavored croutons. When clam chowder is on the menu, it is rare that you will see the name of a particular clam, and most modern French clam chowders also include mussels.  French clam chowders may also include the North American Quahog, called the Cherry Stone Clam in the USA. The original American Indian name for the Cherry Stone Clam was quahogs, and these clams were introduced accidentally into Europe some 80 years ago from the USA. This clam is added for its texture with other clams providing the taste. The cherry stone clam in France is called the Palourde Américaine or  Palourde Quahog Nordique, or Le Clam. This is a relatively large clam, from 5 -10 cm (2" - 4") across.
  
Cherry Stone Clams

                        
Chaudrée de Pétoncles au Maïs Rôti  - Scallop chowder prepared with roast corn, that’s roast maize in the USA.
                       
Chaudrée de Poissons  - Fish Chowder. When this is all the information on the menu it is time to ask which fish is in the chowder!
 
Chaudrée de Poissons et Fruits de Mer, Pommes de Terre Salardaises. A fish and seafood chowder served with a side dish of Pommes de Terre Salardaise. Pommes de Terre Salardaise are potatoes baked in duck fat and flavored with garlic and parsley; a traditional recipe from the Dordogne.
  
A seafood chowder.
   
Chaudrée de Saumon et de Crevettes aux Pommes De Terre – A salmon and shrimp chowder served with potatoes.
   
Chaudrée Vendéenne  -  A traditional fish and seafood chowder from the department of Vendée in the region of the Pays de la Loire; in fact, this is really a stew. A Chaudrée Vendéenne will include anguille, eel; congre, conger eel; seiche, cuttlefish; white wine, butter, onions, shallots, garlic, and fennel.
                   
Chowder served in a bread bowl.
A classic and attractive way to serve a chowder.
   
It is easy to see how the French word Chaudrée, became chowder in English; with the 1066 invasion of England by William the Conqueror, many French words entered the English kitchen. Another French word occasionally used for chowder is Choudiere; a Choudiere was the pot or cauldron in which the fisherman would cook their chowder at the end of a long work day.  Today’s chefs do not fish for a living and they will be using far better fish and seafood than those who originally cooked with a Choudiere.
            
With a few notable exceptions, most of the mainland French clam offerings are only seen on the French side of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean. On a seafood restaurant menu, quite a number of words may be used to indicate clams; the most usual and correct name is Palourde; however, the menu may also use traditional names including, but not only: Clam, Praires, Venus, Vernis, and Clovis. With a few exceptions, the clams from North America's Atlantic coast are not seen in Europe.                              
              
Abalone, the Ormeau or Oreille-de-Mer.
                         
In clam chowders, in France as elsewhere around the world, chefs may include the meat of the abalone, also called the sea ear; and that despite the abalone not being a clam. Nevertheless, clams and abalones are closely related with similar textures. The abalone is large to very large sea snail with good meat and a slightly sweet taste and a texture that blends in well.   While the abalone may be found in many French restaurant kitchens, it will rarely be noted by name on the menu.  Nevertheless, Abalone meat is often part of shellfish salads; in French, the abalone is the Ormeau or Oreille-de-mer.
           
The shell of an Abalone.
Abalone shells have attractive colors and are often used in jewelry.
   
Connected Posts:
     
 
 
 
   
 
   
 
 
 
                 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2011, 2016
    

Amande de Mer. The Sea Almond or Dog Cockle. A Tasty Clam on French Menus.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 



The sea almond shell.
              
Amande de Mer, Amande Marbrée or Amande - The sea almond or dog cockle. This clam is often part of a French fresh seafood platters. They are on most French seafood restaurant menus as “amandes” which can cause some confusion for visitors with only a French - English pocket dictionary for translations as outside of seafood restaurants amandes translates as almonds. 
           
When dog cockles are on the menu on their own, they are often lightly fried with garlic, and parsley butter or stuffed with tomatoes and herbs. This is a tasty clam and does not need to be buried in a sauce.
  

Dog cockles stuffed with tomatoes and herbs.
 
Dog cockles on French Menus:
          
Amandes de Mer Farcies au Fromage –  Dog cockles stuffed with cheese and lightly baked.

Assiette de Fruits de Mer (crevettes roses et grises, bulots, amandes, langoustines, huîtres bretonnes) – A platter of seafood: pink and gray shrimps, whelks, dog cockles, Dublin Bay Prawns and oysters from Brittany
  
Cannelloni d'Amandes de Mer et St-Jacques, Sauce Vierge – Cannelloni, the tube-shaped pasta; here filled with the meat of the sea almond and the King scallop and served with a sauce vierge.  A sauce vierge is made with virgin olive oil, herbs, and wine vinegar.
   

Fresh dog cockles
   
Duo de Moules et Amandes de Mer Farcies au Beurre d'Épinard et Parmesan – A matched serving of mussels and dog cockles prepared with buttered spinach and Parmesan cheese.
   
The sea almond is not the most popular clam in France since it is a little tougher than others, but it is a delicious clam and has its own fan base. This clam is also considered a prime candidate for an escabeche.
      

Dog cockles, sea almonds, on sale in a French market.
www.flickr.com/photos/gigile/6557132747/
                       
The sea almond shell is easily recognized; it has ridges, but the shell itself is relatively smooth. These clams can be up to 6 cm (2.3”) across and usually are colored a pale brown to yellow-brown with clear markings.
    

Cockel boat at Leigh on Sea, UK.
www.flickr.com/photos/donaldjudge/22085012719/
               
Remember, if an amande or amandes are on a regular menu, then they will be indicating the nut, the almond, not the clam, but on a seafood menu amandes are seafood restaurant shorthand for the amande de mer. Make sure what you are ordering!

The Sea Almond or Dog Cockle in the languages of France's neighbors:
  
(Catalan – ràbia), (Dutch - gewone marmerschelp), (German- meermandel, gemeine samtmusche), (Italian - pie' d'asino), (Spanish - almendra de mer).   

Connected Posts:  
  











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

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" 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 400 articles that include over 3,500 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010,2012, 2016, 2018.

Responsive ad