Behind the French Menu: Mediterranean

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Dorade, Daurade Royale, or Dorade Royale. Gilthead or Gilthead Sea Bream. Gilthead Seabream on French Menus.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Gilthead seabream.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/5729989321/

Gilthead is a firm, tasty fish with a silver colored skin; they will be on French menus sautéed, grilled or baked. The names dorade or daurade are used interchangeably. Larger fish, certainly all those over one kilo, are caught in the Mediterranean while most of the smaller fish will have come from sea-water fish-farms. If it is my choice I will choose a filet from a larger fish as I prefer fish caught at sea; in the sea, all fish have a wider selection of food, and with fish, you very much are what you eat. Despite that caveat, the smaller farmed fish are tasty fish, and they will be on more menus.

Gilthead on ice

Photograph courtesy of Duncan Hull

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/7095715239/

When ordering gilthead, or for that matter, any other fish on French menus, read the translations from the French carefully. Do not confuse the dorade or daurade royale, the gilthead seabream, with the daurade rose, the bluespotted seabream. The bluespotted seabream is an excellent fish; however, its cousin the gilthead is the juicier choice.

The gold band between the eyes gave the gilthead its name.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Verch

www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/44270727142/

Gilthead seabream on French menus:

Dos de Filet de Daurade Royale de Ligne Poêlé à l'Huile d'Olive – A thick cut from a large gilthead caught with rod and line lightly fried in olive oil. When a French menu notes “caught with a rod and line” that indicate that the fish was caught at sea and did not come from a sea farm. Whether it was trapped in a net or with a rod and line is another story. Dos de filet indicates a thick cut and that cannot come from small farm-raised fish. On this menu listing the oil used for frying is noted; French diners know the benefits of olive oil and chefs will make sure that is on the menu, especially if it is French olive oil.

Whole fried gilthead.

Photograph courtesy of Oliver Hallmann

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohallmann/6789236480/

Filet de Daurade Royale Grillé au Safran - Grilled filet of gilthead flavored with saffron, the herb. Saffron is the most expensive herb in the world, and despite it requiring hand harvesting it is still grown in France; however, here as the origin of the saffron used is not noted this may well be an import.

Gilthead roasted with rosemary butter.

Photograph courtesy of Peter Smith

https://www.flickr.com/photos/purpaboo/4499071875/

Dorade Royale Enrobée d'une Bisque d'Oursin – Gilthead served covered by a creamy bisque made from sea urchin roe. Bisques are traditionally made from seafood, and the only edible part of a sea urchin is its roe.

Grilled gilthead seabream

Photograph courtesy of T.Tseng

www.flickr.com/photos/68147320@N02/36588411451/

La Dorade Royale Grillée Pour 2 Personnes - A large gilthead grilled that will be served for a minimum of two diners. When you see a French menu listing like this ask your waiter for more information; a simply grilled gilthead is an excellent way to enjoy this fish as the fish’s natural taste is preserved. Despite that there may be other options available; a gilthead grilled with France’s much-loved herb group Les Fine Herbes adds an enjoyable light herb flavor.

Dos de Filet de Daurade Royale Poêlé à l'Huile d'Olive, Risotto de Blé Vert au Lait de Soja et Jeunes Pousses de Roquette au Parmesan - A thick filet cut from a large gilthead, lightly fried in olive oil; served with a risotto made from green wheat, soya milk and young shoots of rocket and flavored with Parmesan cheese. Note once again the chef indicates the oil used; even small French restaurants usually will include the oil used in their menu listing. Blé Vert, green wheat, more often called frik or freekeh, is a basic ingredient in North African cuisine; alongside bulgur wheat, it is very much in fashion. Green wheat with its different texture and taste creates a new take on risotto; the wheat itself is simply made by toasting and cracking wheat seeds that are still soft.

Gilthead seabream

Photograph courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library

https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/20850853616/

The gilthead seabream in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan – orada), (Dutch – goudbrasem), (German – goldbrasse), (Italian – orata), (Spanish – dorada), (Latin - sparus aurata).

The gilthead seabream in other languages:

(Basque – urraburua), (Corse – laurata or orata), (Hebrew – דניס, denis and chipura ), (Greek – τσιπούρα, tsipoúra ), (Latin - sparus aurata), (Lebanese Arabic – ajâj), (Occitan –aurada),

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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Les Fine Herbes; the Most Important Herb Group in French Cuisine. Les Fine Herbes on French Menus.

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Safran – Saffron. Saffron, the Most Expensive Spice in the World. Saffron on French Menus.

Dining in Nice on 'La Côte d'Azur'. The Cuisine of Nice, Cuisine Niçoise.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Salade Niçoise

Photograph courtesy of Katrin Gilger

www.flickr.com/photos/diekatrin/4520629896/

Nice and the Comté de Nice, the area around the city, was part of Italy until 1860, and quite a bit of Italian influence remains. To that add Nice's unique mixture of cultures, languages, and cuisines; that include traditional Provençal specialties and, Nice's own Niçoise Cuisine, its Cuisine Nissarde and language. N.B. Even if your French is excellent, you will not understand the locals' private conversations as they will often be speaking Nice’s Provençal dialect called Nissarde or Nicoise Provencal.

You will find excellent restaurants in Nice serving the very best of French cuisine, but if you want to taste the traditional cuisine of Nice, look for restaurants serving Cuisine Nissarde.

The restaurants that show this "Cuisine Nissarde" symbol offer at least three authentic Niçoise/Nissarde dishes.

Nissarde specialties:

Ravioli à la Niçoise – Raviolis stuffed with chopped meat from a daube de bœuf. A daube is traditional Provencal beef stew prepared with red wine. The daube stuffing in the ravioli will, in season, include Swiss chard. The sauce for this ravioli dish was traditionally the gravy from the daube, but, today, some changes may be offered, and they will be available with grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese.

Spaghettis à la Niçoise - Spaghetti in the manner of Nice. This spaghetti dish has a sauce made with tomatoes, Nice’s AOC black olives, sweet red peppers, anchovies, garlic, herbs, and, of course, flavored just before serving with Nice's own AOC olive oil the Huile d'Olive de Nice AOC.

Spaghettis à la Niçoise

Photograph courtesy of Gerald Yuvallos

www.flickr.com/photos/gyuvallos/79194815/

Filet de Dorade à la Niçoise - A filet of gilthead sea bream baked, in the oven with tomatoes, the Niçoise AOC olive, green peppers, and onions.

Salade Niçoise - When in Nice you are never allowed to forget that this is the home of Salade Niçoise, probably France’s most famous salad. With few exceptions, most chefs from Nice agree that the recipe will include canned tuna or anchovies, but not both. To the tuna or anchovies will be added tomatoes, the black Niçoise AOC olives, fava beans, cooked baby artichokes, sweet peppers, herbs, especially basil, and a vinaigrette dressing with the oil from Nice’s own AOC /AOP olive oil the, Huile d'Olive de Nice and red wine vinegar.

Ratatouille – The classic recipe is eggplants, (aubergines in the UK), zucchinis, (courgettes in the UK), onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, garlic, herbs, and olive oil. To those ingredients, chefs may add, mushrooms, lardons which are fried or lardons, smoked bacon bits, and occasionally eggs. Some of the vegetables will vary with the seasons, and quite a number of chefs present their Ratatouille with Gruyère cheese browned on top or grated and placed on the side for the diner to add to his or her taste.

Ratatouille, the ingredients.

Photograph courtesy of Tom Dixon.

www.flickr.com/photos/twd3lr/7841981338/

Pissaladiere Nicoise - Caramelized onions, olives, garlic, and anchovies served on a bread dough. The Pissaladiere is now often served as an entrée (the French first course) in restaurants while traditionally it was a street food.

Pissaladiere Nicoise

Photograph courtesy of Emily Cavalier

www.flickr.com/photos/603to212/7630671006/

Socca or Socca Niçoise - A hot and crispy chickpea pancake made with farine de pois chiche, chickpea flour. It is the quintessential street food of Nice, baked over hot coals on steel platters and best eaten when still hot. In Nice socca pancakes are more than a local recipe, they are a tradition, and socca pancakes began as a street-side specialty; they are intended to be eaten as they come out of the oven. Niçoise traditionalists accompany their early morning socca, that many locals still buy on the way to work, with a small glass of wine. The Nice socca pancakes are made with chick-pea flour, water, olive oil and salt along with every socca cook’s secret herbs.

Socca

Photograph courtesy of Paul Downey
www.flickr.com/photos/psd/101520672/

Farcis Nicoise - Stuffed vegetables in the manner or Nice. Tomatoes, eggplant,(UK aubergine) and zucchini, (UK courgette), onions, and, in season, the fleur de courgette, the zucchini flower which is a staple of Cuisine Nissarde. The vegetables are stuffed with ground meat, ham, mushrooms, bread crumbs, and flavored with and herbs. They are baked and may be served hot or cold.

Panisses or Panisses Frit – Originally a Nice fast food that would be bought hot and eaten on the go. Now panisses have gone mainstream and will be on restaurant menus. Panisses are made with farine de pois chiche, chickpea flour, in a variety of shapes and deep fried. They were traditionally served on their own with salt, but now today an optional addition of grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese may be added. In a restaurant, a Panisse may be used as a garnish or served with a salad.

Pan Bagnat - A Nicoise sandwich made from a split round roll soaked in olive oil, and filled with sweet peppers, black Nice olives, onions, anchovies, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and flavored with garlic and basil. (Pan bagnat is Italian in origin).

Pan Bagnat

Photograph courtesy of Gunnar Grimnes

www.flickr.com/photos/gromgull/3544039328/

There are many excellent restaurants along the Nice promenade and many more inside the town. If you have the time and a car, then there are many more restaurants in the hills behind the town; however, from experience, to avoid shocks, always check the prices in Nice restaurants before sitting down. With so many good restaurants and the Mediterranean Sea to entice you it is not surprising that, after Paris, Nice is the second most visited city, by tourists, in France.

Nice and the 'La Côte d'Azur'.

Nice, more than any other city or town along the Mediterranean made the South of France famous. It was here that the French Poet Stephen Liégeard (1830 - 1925) gave the whole Mediterranean coast the name to his book 'La Côte d'Azur' in 1887. In the 1860's the first English tourists arrived, and they fell in love with Nice's cuisine and weather and, unknowingly, founded the local tourism industry.

Part of the Promenade des Anglais.

Photograph courtesy of Richard Whitaker

www.flickr.com/photos/richardwhitaker/18794583782/

The English tourists would walk up and down the seafront, and that parade where they could see and be seen that street would become the Promenade des Anglais, the English Promenade. Then from three words, 'La Côte d'Azur,' the whole of the Mediterranean coast got a considerable boost. From that magical name, "the blue coast," the poet Stephen Liégeard created a whole new industry that welcomed the millions of tourists who came to see. Stephen Liégeard got a street or rather an avenue, in Nice, named after him for that.

A view of the Beach from the Promenade des Anglais.

Photograph courtesy of Dhinal Chheda

www.flickr.com/photos/dhinalchheda/4748603689/

The Carnaval de Nice

The Carnaval de Nice made its first public show in 1876 and has grown in extravagance ever since. The celebrations are repeated nearly every day over a two-week period, mostly in February; the central attraction of the Carnaval de Nice, is the Bataille de Fleurs, the battle of the flowers. You may reserve a seat to watch by ordering online.

The English language website of the Carnaval de Nice is:

http://www.nicecarnaval.com/en/index.php

There is much to keep you occupied outside of the restaurants and beaches along with celebrations on all French National Holidays. Nice has many museums, and below I have noted just two, there are many more. However, this post is part of Behind the French Menu and with too much time spent in museums, the food will get cold.

For more information look at the Nice Tourist Information Office English language website:

http://www.nice-tourism.com/en/tourist-information-offices-in-nice.html

Inside the Matisse Museum.

Photograph by courtesy of Selena N. B. H

www.flickr.com/photos/moonlightbulb/8260305598/

Inside the Musée Marc Chagall

Photograph courtesy of the historical couple

www.flickr.com/photos/historicalcouple/23612710998/

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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 3,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations. Add the word, words or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google or Bing.

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