Showing posts with label Lac Leman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lac Leman. Show all posts

Omble Chevalier - Alpine Char, Arctic Char on French Menus.

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


Omble Chevalier - Alpine Char
Photograph courtesy of Le Pecheur Professionnel
 
Alpine Char, Arctic Char   

Omble Chevalier, Omble Arctique - Alpine Char, Char, Arctic Char. Charr has a taste somewhere between trout and salmon, to which they are related. Char has a firm, but slightly flaky flesh, with a white to pink color; the color depends on the food that the fish has been eating.

When Char is caught in one of France’s many clear water lakes, then restaurant menus will often identify the area or name the lake where this fish was caught. When Char is caught in a river or an estuary, the menu may note Omble Chevalier Sauvage, wild char since char are also raised in fish farms. The lakes are stocked so that professional and amateur fishers can enjoy them. Large fish can weigh up to five kilos (11 lbs) and will be served as filets, while small fish will be served whole. When traveling around France, you will find lakeside restaurants, especially around Lac Léman (Lac de Genève), Lac du Bourget, and Lac Annecy will often have fresh Char on their menus.

Artic Char with Oysters,
Crunchy Salad, Bonito Broth, Bottargue
www.flickr.com/photos/scaredykat/6849471786/
    
      
Char, Alpine Char on French Menus:
 

Omble Chevalier Sauvage Cuisiné au Beurre Mousseux aux Fines Herbes  – A whole, wild, freshwater char, cooked in foaming butter and flavored with the herbs from France’s favorite herb group called Les Fines Herbes.

 

Omble Chevalier sur un Risotto à la Bisque d'Écrevisses et Gambas

Alpine char served on a risotto of shrimp and a freshwater crayfish bisque.

Photograph courtesy of Trip Advisor

 

La Meunière d'Omble Chevalier et Ecrevisses de Camargue, Beurre au Thym - A whole Alpine Char fried in a meunier butter sauce flavored with thyme; served with freshwater crayfish from the Camargue National Park on France's Mediterranean coast.

 

The Meunière sauce in the menu listing above is a simple but tasty butter sauce made by adding lemon juice and parsleto melted clarified butter. That sauce is often translated as a sauce or as a dish prepared in the manner of a miller's wife.

 

One of my correspondents on French cuisine, Michel Mass, points out that the miller’s wife story is another urban legend probably explained by the fact that Meuniere recipes often imply that the fish should be rolled in flour before cooking.  However, the word meunière was initially related to various species of freshwater fish that in the past went by the collective name of meuniers; then they included the plentiful Common Bullhead, Chabot in French, and Chub, Chevaine in French.  The mill ponds built close to water mills were a haven for these fish and, consequently, anglers.  

 

Unfortunately, today, we will rarely see Bullhead or Chubb on the menu, but you can order saltwater fish, including Dover sole, freshwater trout and char, alongside many other fish prepared à la meunière.

 

Filet d’Omble Chevalier des Cévennes Rôti au Beurre Beurre Noisette aux Noisette aux Girolles Poêlées – A filet of Alpine Char caught in one of the many beautiful lakes in the Cévennes National Park. The fish will have been roasted whole with a sauce beurre noisette and wild chanterelle girolle mushrooms. The fish will be fileted just before serving. (The Cévennes National Park covers parts of the departments of Lozère, Gard, Ardèche and Aveyron). The Lac de Villefort, in the park, is a favorite place for amateur anglers and water sports.

 

Tartare d’Omble Chevalier, Avocat, Combawa et Coriandre -  A Tatar of Alpine char prepared with avovado, kafir limes and coriander.

  

Omble Chevalier Fumé Maison, Cœur d'Artichaut, Avocat, Sauce Yogourt à l'Aneth – Alpine char smoked by the restaurant served with  artichoke heart, avocado, and a sauce of dill and yoghurt.

 


Alpine Char with Butternut Squash Ravioli in a Saffron Broth
Photograph courtesy of Chris Chen 陳依勤      
www.flickr.com/photos/cchen/61333685/ 
  
When the music stops.

I enjoyed a memorable meal with a magnificent, whole, freshwater char as the star in a restaurant on the banks of Lac Léman, (Lac de Genève), France. The setting, the restaurant, and the fish were magnificent. The fish was incredibly fresh as if it had been landed five minutes before. It was served lightly fried in a Sauce Meunier …heaven. 

I went back to the same restaurant a few years later; the taste was still so fresh in my mind that I could hardly wait for the fish to arrive. Then disaster struck. I was served a recently unfrozen trout filet! The disappointment was unimaginable, never will I return; bell, book, and candle for that restaurant! However, since then, I have found other restaurants on the banks of Lac Leman that sell the genuine article. Caveat Emptor: ask to see the fish before it is cooked.   

 


The Freshwater Char is above and the trout is below
Photograph courtesy of the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Unsere SuÌ,6Ã8wasserfische
Leipzig :Quelle & Meyer,1913.
biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10028049
www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/6103144706/
 
Freshwater char is not necessarily a freshwater fish.

Most French citizens assume that char is only a local freshwater fish; that is an error. Char, given a chance, would spend much of their lives at sea, primarily in Arctic waters. However, over thousands of years, char have been released into European lakes, and there they spend their whole lives. Others are raised in freshwater fish farms.   

Char in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Dutch - beekridde,  riddervis )(German - saibling, seesaibling),  (Italian – salmerino, salmerino alpino), (Spanish –salvelino), (Latin - salvelinus alpinus).

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Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
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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
Copyright 2010, 2015, 2021, 2024.

 
 
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Connected Posts:
 
Aneth – Dill. The spice with a very light aniseed flavor and a favorite in the French kitchen.
 
Artichaut - Artichoke. Artichokes in French Cuisine.
 
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Bisques and Seafood Bisques on French Menus
 
Boutargue or Poutargue – Mediterranean Caviar? Boutargue on French Menus.
 
Crevettes and Gambas - Shrimps and Prawns. Shrimps in French Cuisine.
 
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Huitres. Oysters in France 1. Ordering, Eating, and Enjoying Oysters. Huitres on French Menus.
 
Salades - Salads. Forty of the Most Popular (and Simply Made) French Salads. Salads in France.
 
Salmon, Atlantic Salmon – Saumon on French Menus.
 
Sole Française - Dover Sole in French Cuisine.
 
Tartare - Tartar on French Menus. Steak Tartar, Fish Tartar and Vegetable Tartar.
 
The Camargue, France. The Land, its People and its Own Unique Cuisine.
 
The Écrivisse - The Crayfish, Crawdad or Crawfish. The Freshwater Crayfish may be Among the Crustaceans on Your French Menu. Crustaceans III.
   
The Fine Herbs; Les Fine Herbes; the Most Important Herb Group in French Cuisine.
 
Thon - Tuna, the Fish. Tuna in French Cuisine.
 
Thyme in France. Thyme, Serpolet, Farigoule and Thym Citron, Lemon Thyme in France. Thyme. One of the most important herbs in French cuisine.
  
Truite – Trout on French Menus.
   
 

Perche, Perche Commune. Perch: Fresh Water Perch. Freshwater Perch in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

   

Freshwater perch
www.flickr.com/photos/dirks_images/4143429023/
  
Freshwater perch will always be on sale and on the menu as filets.
   
In France perch are among the top ten most popular freshwater fish ordered in restaurants and whether small and large they will be served as filets as the skin of freshwater perch is exceptionally tough.  Perch bought for dinner at home will only come from shops or markets where the fishmonger does all the hard work and sells filets.
  
Restaurants close to the rivers and lakes where the wild fish are caught often put on displays demonstrating the fileting of freshly caught perch.  Most fish are very much what they eat, and when grilled a wild freshwater perch will have more taste than a farmed cousin. From my experience in France, freshwater perch, wild or farmed, are often served with a sauce; however, I believe these fish are at their best when just lightly fried and served with butter. The wild fish caught by professional fishermen and women are usually the larger fish caught in lakes, and they weigh around 250 grams (10 grams); the amateurs catch the smaller sizes.
  
     
At a Sunday brunch, in France, my host who considered himself an experienced fisherman, had freshwater perch on the menu. He had solved a problem of the fish's tough skin by barbecuing them; unfortunately, few French restaurants offer barbecued perch. More to the point my host had spent three hours fishing with his two sons in a nearby stream before we arrived. While their stories of previously caught monster freshwater perch were continually referred to and that morning’s catch included at least thirty small fish; none could have weighed much over 150 grams (5 ounces).
   
The European freshwater perch
  
The French government has excellent teams that keep the freshwater fish supplies balanced in its hundreds of mainland rivers, lakes and streams. Areas popular with freshwater fishermen and women, both professional and amateurs, are re-stocked annually by the government as natural reproduction is not enough. Lac Leman, also called Lake Geneva, is one of Europe’s largest lakes, it is over 70 km (43 miles) long, and is divided between France and Switzerland. The lake is famous for its perch and also for its trout, broad whitefish, freshwater char and pike; on this lake the regulations ensuring responsible fishing are divided between France and Switzerland.  For the visitor, the majestic views, the vineyards, the forests, towns, and village around the lake are accompanied by tens of restaurants serving fresh, freshly caught fish,
     

Freshwater perch Meunier
      
Freshwater perch have a firm and white though slightly flaky meat and this tasty fish will be on many restaurant menus simply sautéed in butter. My introduction to freshwater perch was in a restaurant overlooking the lake accompanied by a dry but fruity white wine.  The fish were sautéed in butter, accompanied by boiled potatoes with a green salad on the side.  I would see that some restaurants that served fish in a butter sauce translated this melted meunière, which it isn't, though it may still be an excellent fish fried in butter.   When a restaurant serves freshwater perch with a real Sauce Meunière sauce, that means the fish is cooked in a butter sauce with added parsley and lemon juice; then it will be even better.
   

Freshwater perch ready for the chef.
 
Freshwater perch on French menus.
   
Filets de Perches du Léman, Gingembre, Verveine.  Démonstration de la Taille des Filets de Perches Devant le Restaurant - Filets of perch from Lake Geneva, prepared with ginger and lemongrass. There will be a demonstration of fileting perch in front of the restaurant.

A demonstration like that noted above will be given by the chef or a professional fisherman or woman. That may not seem, at first glance, to be a great crowd pleaser; however, in France, this will be an exhibition that French amateur fishermen or women visiting the area must attend.  Fileting freshwater perch is considered an art.  Alongside the demonstration, you may be sure that the restaurant will be offering, for a small contribution, wine, coffee and reservations for that evening.
      
Filets de Perche au Beurre Citronné, Salade Verte – Filets of perch served with a lemon butter sauce and a green salad.
     
Filets de Perche aux Fines Herbes - Filets of perch served with France’s favorite herb group Les Fine Herbes; the most important herb group in French cuisine.
  
Freshwater perch filets in a beurre citronné, a lemon butter, and white pepper sauce.
  
Filet de Perche Meunière, Mode du Patron et Asperges, Salade, Pommes Nature – A filet of fresh-water perch cooked in a Sauce Meunière prepared in the manner of the owner, and served with asparagus, a salad, and boiled potatoes. This dish sounds impressive and probably is; however since this dish is prepared in the manner of the owner ask for more information on the owner’s take on sauce meunière.
   
Perche - Freshwater perch in the languages of France’s neighbors languages:

(Dutch - baars), (German - barsch, bahrs, flussbarsch), (Italian - perca, persico, persico reale, pesce persico), (Spanish - perca, perca europea), (Latin - perca fluviatilis).

Freshwater perch in other languages:
  
(Mandarin Chinese -  (河鱸), ()), (Greek – Πρικί, xανί, kακοξύστρα, pérca chaní), (Russian -  oкунь обыкновенный, речной окунь), 
   
Help with some of the fish names in other languages shown above came from Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2013. FishBase World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (10/2013).
 
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 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.   
  

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2013, 2019

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