Showing posts with label Gillardeau oysters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gillardeau oysters. Show all posts

Cardine and Limande - Megrim and Dab, the Fish. Cardine and Limande in French Cuisine.

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

Megrim
www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/10574403693/
 
Cardine, Cardine Franche – Megrim in the UK and the Limande – the Dab or Common Dab.  Both of these are flat fish with close family members in the turbot family and flounder families. Their exact names are often confused in the markets and restaurants, but no one will suffer.  These are firm white-fleshed fish that will be prepared with a sauce and they are the equal of many of their larger and more expensive cousins. These are the smaller members of their families and most of those that I have seen were no longer than 25cm (12”).  

In the UK these fish are part of the 40% bi-catch that UK fishermen and women return to the Atlantic as they would be taking up room reserved for the money spinners.  The most popular fish in the UK with 50% of the market, salmon, tuna, and cod are mostly imports with all the salmon farmed. (BTW it takes three kilos of wild fish to feed and produce one kilo of farmed salmon).

Where they can the UK crews sell the Megrims and Dabs to the French and the Spanish where these fish are genuinely appreciated; if they don’t manage to sell them, most will be thrown back into the sea already dead, so they can claim they did not exceed their fishing limits. The French public is much more adventurous and happy to see these fish on the menu or in the market at a lower price than brill, plaice or sole.  Both these fish are easily deboned and served as filets with smaller fish served for one. (Confusion can arrive when Sole Limande, Lemon Sole, is on the menu, this is Lemon Sole and another, larger member of the flounder family.

Megrim on French menus:

Filet de Cardine En Croute de Noisette et Café, Poêlée de Salicorne au Beurre Salé et Echalote A  filet of Megrim prepared in a covering of hazelnuts and coffee accompanied by Salicornia (Samphire) pan-fried in salted butter with shallots. (Salted Butter - Beurre Salé, has between 3%- 5% salt and is popular with the morning tartine beurrée. Salicornia or samphire is often called an edible seaweed; it is not.  Salicornia, of which there are many family members, grows in salt marshes and along the coast but not in the sea.


Megrim Meunière
www.flickr.com/photos/herry/6661370951/
  
Limande Meunière Pommes Vapeur – Megrim prepared in a Sauce Meunier and accompanied by steamed potatoes. Sauce Meunière is a classic butter sauce made with lemon juice and parsley added to melted clarified butter.
  
Limande Poêlée Entière, Sauce Vierge -  A whole pan-fried Dab served with a Sauce Vierge. As its name suggests, Sauce Vierge, virgin sauce, includes virgin olive oil and fresh tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, basil, red wine vinegar, salt, and black pepper. The sauce will be served slightly warm, but not cooked as virgin olive oil loses its flavor when cooked. The sauce will be poured on the fish just before it is served.

Megrim with Caper Butter
www.flickr.com/photos/beckayork/5083548184/

Cardine Farcie aux Huîtres Gillardeau, Oseille, Beurre Blanc au Champagne – Megrim stuffed with Gillardeau oysters flavored with sorrel and served with Champagne and white butter sauce. Gillardeau oysters come from the family-owned Gillardeau oyster farm that has been farming oysters in the famous oyster fattening grounds of Marennes-Oléron for over 100 years;  Marennes-Oléron is on the Atlantic coast of the department of Charente Maritime now part of the new super-region of Nouvelle Aquitaine. These Label Rouge, Red Label, oysters are raised on the island of Oleron, opposite to where the town of Marennes on the mainland leads to the bridge that connects them.
  
Gillardeau  oysters No 3.
www.flickr.com/photos/claveirole/30295929204/

Suprême de Cardine aux Coques et Crémeux Passion  - A filet of Megrim prepared with cockles and a creamy passion fruit sauce.
  
Coques - Cockles
  

Dab on French menus:

Tronçons de Limande, Asperge Blanche et Carottes Nouvelles, Béarnaise à la Framboise – A filet of  Dab accompanied by white asparagus, young carrots, and Sauce Bearnaise flavored with raspberries. (Tronçon is the original name used for filets from flatfish, though, despite its origins tronçon is now used for a cut of meat also).
   
White asparagus
www.flickr.com/photos/sunfox/3594612291/

Megrim and Dab are rarely seen in UK fish counters and their cousins caught close to North America are equally sparse though those who live close to the coast and know where the fresh fish markets are will see them fairly often.

Cardin - Megrim in the Languages of France’s neighbors:
Catalan - bruixa), (Dutch - scharretong), (German - scheefschnut), (Italian -rombo giallo), (Spanish  - ojito  ), (Latin - lepidorhombus whiffiagonis).

Limande – Dab in the languages of France’s neighbors:
(Catalan - limanada), (Dutch - schar), (German - kliesche), (Italian - limanda), (Spanish  - limanda),  (Latin – limanda limanda).
 
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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman 
Copyright 2010, 2019, 2023.
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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