from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
Duck will be on far more menus in France than those
in North America or the UK. The recipes that include duck are also far more
interesting than most of those you may see at home. When visiting France, be
ready to include their excellent duck dishes in your plans.
This post includes many of the most popular
farm-raised ducks on French menus and a few of the most popular duck dishes. However,
with the significant place that ducks hold in French cuisine, there is too much
for a single post in a food blog. Consequently, there are separate posts
for canard sauvage, wild duck, for foie gras, fattened duck's liver, and magret de canard, duck's breast.
Farm-raised ducks on French menus:
Canard
à l'Orange or Canard à la Bigarade –
Roasted, farm-raised duck, cooked in an orange sauce. This is one of the most
famous duck dishes. The sauce is usually made with the mildly bitter Bigarade or Seville oranges; the
sauce's recipe will include a liquor or a dry white wine.
Duck in orange sauce.
Photograph courtesy of Geoff Peters
www.flickr.com/photos/gpeters/3286633081/
Magret de Canard aux Figues Fraîches – Duck breast prepared with fresh figs.
Salade
d'Aiguillettes De Canard et Foie Poêlé – A
salad of slices of duck served with lightly fried duck liver.
Confit De Canard, Sauce aux Prune – Duck confit served with a plum sauce. Confits began long before
modern refrigeration and were made by cooking the meat in its own fat and
juices. After cooking, the meat would be preserved under a layer of its own
natural fat in a glazed pottery container and kept in a cool place for the
winter. A confit would not have been invented today; everyone has
refrigerators. However, the unique taste that a confit creates keeps the recipe
popular. When Confit de Canard is on the menu, do not pass it by, all the fat
will have been removed before serving, and the taste is unforgettable. NB: In
French, a prune means plum, and a prune is a pruneau, pronounced prune-oh.
The other duck confit
The dish above is the traditional
confit. Other confits will be on the menu, and modern duck confit would be on a
French menu as a Canard Confit (not a Confit de Canard as
in the menu listing above). Canard Confit indicates a duck very slowly cooked,
usually roasted on a low heat over several hours, until the flavors set and the
meat practically falls off the bone.
Duck confit with roasted peaches and cherries.
Photograph courtesy of Ann Larie Valentine
www.flickr.com/photos/sanfranannie/3863540423/
Emincé
de Canard Réduction au Miel et Jus de Viande - Slices of duck served with a sauce made
from honey and the meat's natural cooking juices.
The French connection and the English kitchen
Emincé in French means sliced, not minced.
Emincé, like many other words used in the English kitchen, came to England with
cooks of William the Conqueror, and his barons invaded England from Norman
France in 1066. All the French cooks employed English workers and taught them
hundreds of words that have become part of the English language, even if their
original meaning has slightly changed. Dictionary.com has the origins of the
French word emincer meaning to "make into small pieces." For more
about the French connection and the English kitchen, click here.
Magret de Canard du Sud-Ouest, Sauce à l'Orange et Kumquat, Pommes Façon Anna aux Herbes - Duck breast from France's South-West served with a sauce made
with oranges and kumquats, accompanied
by herb-flavored Anna potatoes. The kumquat or Chinese orange is a very small
orange family member and used for its intense flavor. France's southwest
includes the department of Dordogne in Nouvelle Aquitaine and continues further
south. The southwest is famous for its ducks and geese and its many other
contributions to France's cuisine; the department of Dordogne is renowned for
its Cuisine Périgourdine.
Kumquats
Photograph courtesy of gianna elena
www.flickr.com/photos/8318671@N07/46963180084/
Anna Potatoes
Anna potatoes are thinly sliced
potatoes baked in butter in a casserole. This dish was created by Adolphe
Dugléré, a pupil of the most famous chef from the era of Haute Cuisine Antonin Carême. Adolphe Dugléré was the Chef de Cuisine at the
famous 19th-century Parisian restaurant, the Café Anglais, where an important
customer was Anna Deslions. Anna was one of Paris's most famous courtesans. She
entertained her wealthy customers in one of the restaurant's upstairs rooms and
brought in so many customers that she had a dish named after her.
Pommes Anna - Anna potatoes.
Photograph courtesy of
Meilleur du Chef.
Salade Du Canard (Gésiers, Mesclun, Magret Fumé, Vinaigrette Au Vin Rouge) - A
duck salad with duck gizzards confit, a salad mesclun, and smoked duck breast served with a red wine vinaigrette. This is about as close as you may get to a Salade Périgourdine without
calling it one. It is considered a poor sign of a chef's abilities if his or
her salad uses only one or two types of lettuce or salad greens. A salade
mesclun initially indicated a green salad with at least five different salad
greens. A salade mesclun may also indicate a mixed salad with five or more
ingredients, though not all need be salad greens. Included may be Haricot Vert, France's popular green
beans; mache, lamb's lettuce or corn salad;
and two or three different varieties of lettuce, as well as rocket or another
herb chosen for color, texture, and taste. In season a chef may add asperge, asparagus.
A Salade Mesclun.
Photograph courtesy of Jason Lam
www.flickr.com/photos/mesohungry/4527963451/
Canard
Rôtie -
Roast duck.
Canard Sauvage - Wild
duck.
Caneton
aux Cerises – A
roast male duckling, served with a cherry sauce.
Canard Colvert – The mallard duck.
Canard Colvert – The mallard duck. This duck is both farm-raised
and the most common wild duck in France. Colvert means green collar, the
identifying mark of the male duck. This is a tasty, lean duck.
A pair of Mallard ducks, the canard
colvert.
Photograph courtesy of Jean
www.flickr.com/photos/7326810@N08/1348296384/
Wild
mallard ducks may be on the menu between the end of September and the
beginning of February. The wild or farmed mallard ducks should not be confused
with the Canard Moulard.
The mallard duck in the languages of France's
neighbors:
(Catalan
- ànec collverd), (Dutch - wilde eend), (German – stockente), (Italian - germano
reale), (Spanish - añade real).
Canard de Barbarie – The Muscovy
duck.
Canard de Barbarie – The
Muscovy duck. A very large duck that originated in South America and is farmed
in France.
Suprême
de Canard de Barbarie Rôti, Coulis de Vin Rouge -
Breast of roast Muscovy duck served with a puree of cooked fruits flavored with
red wine.
The Muscovy duck in the languages of France's
neighbors.
(Catalan - ànec mut) (Dutch - muskuseend ir barbarieeend (German –
moschusente), (Italian - anatra muschiata , anatra di barberia). (Spanish - canard musqué,
canard de barbarie), (Latin - cairina moschata).
Canard de Challans – The Challans duck.
Canard de Challans or Canard Challandais Label
Rouge – The Red
Label, farm-raised ducks that come from the area around the town of Challans,
in the Pay de Loire. Challans is famous for its chickens, capons, turkeys, geese, guinea fowl, quail, and ducks. Among all these, the most admired
includes the Canard de Challans, the Challans duck. The Challans ducks are a
cross that developed from wild ducks and domesticated ducks brought from
Holland in the 17th century; now, they are part of food history and maybe on
your menu. All the Challans poultry holds the Label Rouge, the red label, for their consistent quality. For poultry, a red
label also has strict requirements on how the animals are raised; they must be
free-range for 95% of the time that they are being raised. No growth hormones
or antibiotics may be used, and neither may any animal-based feed be fed to them,
and there are also strict limits on the number of ducks in a specific area. The
rules are enforced, and without prior warning, there are spot checks made on
all the farms that raise the poultry. Red Label poultry costs 25% more than
other poultry, but in France, 20% of the population willingly pays the
difference.
Poitrine
de Canette de Challans Rôtie au Miel et
Graines de Coriandre - Breast of Challans duckling roasted
with honey and coriander seeds.
Canard Moulard – The moulard duck
Canard Moulard – The moulard duck, a cross of the Pékin duck (the Long Island duck),
and the Muscovy or Barbary duck. This is an exceptionally large duck. It is the
duck most often used for duck foie gras, fattened duck's liver.
Canard Laqué – Peking Duck
Canard Laqué or Canard Laqué au Pékin – The
French name for the Chinese dish of Peking or Beijing Duck.
The benefits of France's 19th-century
search for an Asian empire may be enjoyed in the thousands of Chinese and
Vietnamese restaurants in France. These restaurants are often owned by the
descendants of immigrants who arrived after 1857 when Napoleon III decided
France needed an Asian presence and created French Indo-China that included
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The ancestors of others came after 1898 when
France sought to have a Chinese colony similar to the British colony of Hong
Kong and signed an agreement with the Chinese for Guangzhouwan in 1898.
However, Guangzhouwan had none of the success that Hong Kong had, and the
region was returned, after WWII, to China in 1946. Guangzhouwan is now called
Zhanjiang with a population of over 10,000,000 and is a major deep-water port
and center for container ships.
This is not a post on Chinese cuisine in France;
however, I believe that a correctly cooked and decorously served Peking Duck is
both a tasty dish and excellent restaurant theater. When available in a
recommended Chinese restaurant, it certainly should be considered.
Canard Pékin – The white Pekin duck.
In North American the Long Island duck.
Canard Pékin – The white Pekin (Peking) duck, also called in North America, the
Long Island Duck is lean and tender and the most popular duck in North America.
The Long Island Duck is a distant descendant of the mallard duck from China.
The name Canard Pékin creates confusion for English speaking visitors with the
French Canard Laqué au Pékin (Peking or Beijing Duck).
Long Island ducks in the languages of France's
neighbors:
(Catalan - ànec xerraire),
(German – hausente), (Italian - anatra domestiche, pechino), (Spanish - pato
blanco doméstico, pato Pekín blanco), (Latin - anas platyrhynchos).
Caneton Rouennais – The Rouen
duckling.
Canard à la Pressé or Canard à la Rouennaise – Pressed duck; still made using its
over 120-year-old recipe.
The duck used for Canard à la Pressé or Canard à la
Rouennaise is the Canard de Rouen, a farm-raised cross with the mallard duck
that together with the recipe originated in the capital of Normandy, the city
of Rouen. The recipe for Canard à la Rouennaise calls for a duck to be
partially roasted, then its legs and breast are separated. The rest of the
duck, bones, and all, are then are placed in a special press that crushes the
carcass to make a sauce from all the juices. The duck breasts will be served,
as is usual in France, rosé, lightly pink, while the legs will be grilled. The
breast and legs will be served covered with the duck sauce. Part of the
preparation and serving of Canard à la Pressé is wonderful restaurant theater,
much as it was when the dish was created over 120 years ago.
As far as possible, I have kept away from naming
restaurants and chefs; there are too many changes over the short term within
restaurant kitchens, chefs leave, and menus change. For up to date
recommendations on restaurants, there are many magazines and newspaper articles
available. However, Canard à la Rouennaise is a unique dish that is still made
and served as it was in 1890 at the Parisian restaurant La Tour d'Argent,
Paris. I think that over one hundred and twenty years is about long enough to
be sure they will not make sudden changes in the recipe when a new chef
arrives! The dish was created when in 1890, Frederic Delair bought the
restaurant La Tour d'Argent and introduced the dish called Canard à la
Rouennaise as his particular contribution. In 1911, the Terrail family
purchased the restaurant after the death of Delair in 1910. They have kept much
of Delair's original menu, including Canard à la Rouennaise. The grandson of
the original Andre Terrail, who bought the restaurant in 1911, is the owner in
residence today. The restaurant's wine cellar is said to include part of the
wine cellar from the original wine cellar in the legendary Café Anglais, a
wedding gift to Andre Terrail's grandparents for their wedding. The Café
d'Anglais closed in 1913; who knows if any fabulous wines from the 1800s
remain? If you cannot reserve a table at La Tour d'Argent, many other restaurants
offer their authentic versions of Canard à la Rouennaise.
The special presses used to make Canard à la
Rouennaise are sometimes seen as decoration in restaurants outside France. In
the early twentieth century, many restaurants had copied this recipe and
offered the dish accompanied by the requisite theater; unfortunately, that is
no longer true. Canard à la Rouennaise requires a team of very well-trained
waiters for each table, apart from the chef in the kitchen, and that is not
inexpensive.
Long before McDonald's were numbering the number of
hamburgers they had sold, La Tour d'Argent was delivering your half of a
Rouennaise duck along with a certificate. The certificate indicates the exact
number of your half-duck. If you order Canard à la Rouennaise in the Tour
d'Argent today, you will know the precise number of yours in a long line of
these half-ducks served since 1890.
To protect and enhance this part of the French
gastronomic heritage, along with other recipes for the Rouennaise duck, there
exists L'Ordre des Canardières. Freely translated, that is the "The Order
of Duck Lovers." L'Ordre is similar to other confréries, brotherhoods, and
sisterhoods that promote their particular culinary preferences.
Today L'Ordre has over 2,000 members, and they come from all parts of France
and from all over the world. L'Ordres members all proclaim their love for
recipes made with the Rouennaise duckling. At their annual dinners, they award
their highest decoration, the Canardières d'Honneur, to its most outstanding
members. If you wish to defend the honor of this exceptional duckling, you too
could be a member.
Cane – A
female duck; the male is a canard.
Canette – A
female duckling.
Caneton – A
male duckling, less than two months old; the female duckling is a canette.
French menus that offer duck do not usually distinguish between a canard, a
male duck, and a cane, a female duck. However, I have met a gourmet who claimed
to be able to taste the difference.
Canard Roti aux Clementines
Duck roasted with clementines.
While citrus fruits originated in
China or its immediate area, the clémentine is a hybrid that developed in
Algeria. The accepted story has a local monk, Clement Rodier (1829-1904), as
the clementine's creator. Clement either accidentally discovered or was
personally responsible for crossing a regular orange and a mandarin in the
garden of an orphanage he ran in Algeria.
Photograph
courtesy of Marie Claire, Cusine et Vins de France.
--------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
Copyright 2010, 2015, 2017, 2020.
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