Showing posts with label salicornia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salicornia. Show all posts

Sandre - Zander in the USA and Pike Perch in the UK. Sandre in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

  
Zander
Photograph courtesy of Martin Hilber
  
Sandre, Perche-brochet or Doré Noir  – Zander in the USA and Pike-perch in the UK. (For this post, I will use the name Zander as this fish is rarely on UK restaurant menus). Zander is a freshwater fish that is sometimes mistaken for Pike.  Despite the occasional case of mistaken identity Zander is very much a part of the perch fish family and has a different taste and texture to Pike.   N.B. Pike, the fish, is called Brochet in French.
  
Zander has light, firm, but tender meat with few bones and a delicate taste.  In France and much of Western and Europe, Zander will be on fish restaurant menus. This is the time to try this tasty fish that may not be on many menus at home.  Zander is found in nearly all the rivers and lakes in France and is much sought after by anglers. Wild fish may be caught weighing over six kgs (13.2 lbs) or more with a few reaching three times that weight. On French menus, the chef will note if the fish was caught in the wild, otherwise, they will have come from freshwater fish farms. Zander from farms will weigh from 700 grams (1.5 lbs) to 3 kilos (6.6 lbs).
   
This is an over 10 kilo (22lb) Zander caught in a lake.
The fish was returned to be caught again another day,
Photograph courtesy of helti
   
Zander will be served grilled, fried or baked, and since even farmed fish are also quite large they are all served as filets. Zander will also be part of many freshwater fish soups and stews.  In France Zander also find their way into quenelles, fish patties made with 50% fish and 50% bread and breadcrumbs.
  
Zander on French menus:

Dos de Sandre Au Beurre Blanc Nantais - A thick cut of Zander served with a Beurre Blanc Nantaise Sauce.
     
Pavé de Sandre du Lac aux Asperges
A thick cut of zander from the lake served with asparagus.
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Ebneter
   
Filet de Sandre aux Salicornes, Beurre Blanc – A filet of zander prepared with young salicornia and served with a Beurre Blanc Sauce.  Salicornia or samphire, also called in French Perce-pierre or Criste-marine and often mistakenly described as an edible seaweed.  Salicornia grows in salt marshes and along the coast, not in the sea.    Only young salicornia plants are used, and they are gathered from April through July; they will be used in salads, sauces, soups, and they may also be pickled and used as a condiment. Their shape gives them another name, the asparagus of the sea.  However, that description refers to their look, not their taste.

Salicornia
Photograph courtesy of KH Kwon
  
Sandre Sauvage, Noix de Saint Jacques et Gambas  -  Wild Zander, not from a fish farm, the word sauvage means wild. Here, the fish is served together with the meat of the King Scallop and large shrimps. Wild fish are considered tastier as zander, like many other fish, are what they eat. I have enjoyed the Zander that comes from fish farms; nevertheless, wild Zander has a stronger taste and a different texture.
  
Zander, Cauliflower, Anchovies and Capers.
Sandre, Chou-fleur, Anchois, Capres
Photograph courtesy of Inspirational Food
   
Filet De Sandre, Sauce Matelote, Nouillettes À l'Alsacienne  - A filet of zander served with a Matelote Sauce and Alsatian type noodles.  Alsatian noodles are, in the Alsace, called Spâtzlé or Spaetzlé and look something like overweight bumpy noodles; they will be served as a garnish instead of potatoes, pasta or rice. Sauce Matelote includes red wine, butter, flour, shallots, black pepper, fish stock and often button mushrooms. N.B. On a menu with an English translation there is sometimes confusion with a freshwater fish stew called a Matelote and Sauce Matelote. Read the menu carefully!
   
Alsatian Spâtzlé
Photograph courtesy of Stefania Ricci Frabattista
     
FiIlet De Sandre Poêlé, Beurre Rouge, Nouilles Fines – Filet of Zander lightly fried and served with a Beurre Rouge Sauce, and served with thin egg noodles. (Buerre Rouge Sauce is a thick sauce made with butter, red wine and shallots).
   
Zander with tomatoes and button mushrooms.
Photograph courtesy of Seph Swain
                                                                                                                               
Quenelles de Sandre et Médaillons de Homard Européen, Sauce Homardine – Quennels of Zander served with oval or round cuts of the European two-clawed lobster all served with a Homardine Sauce.  Quenelles are dumplings made with the fish, breadcrumbs and egg used for binding and Sauce Homardin translates as a lobster sauce. The chef will use lobster leftovers including the shell; however, for the color, many chefs also add a Béchamel Sauce flavoured with shellfish, shellfish shells and tomatoes.
Quenelles were originally created for Pike; some may be large and considered a main course while others may be smaller and served as side dish.
   
 Quenelles
Photograph courtesy of stu_spivack
   
Zander (Pike –Perch) were brought into the UK as another fish for amateur fishermen and women in the early 20th century. Despite that, in the UK they are now considered a threat to native species as they swim everywhere and eat everything.
   
This Great Crested Grebe also likes Zander.
Photograph courtesy of Don Sutherland
    
Sandre – Zander in the language of France’s neighbors:
    
(Catalan – lucioperca), (Dutch – snoekbaars), (German –zander), (Italian- sandra, lucioperca), (Spanish -  lucioperca).
  
Connected Posts:
 
Anchovies on the Menu in France. Visiting the Fishing Village of Collioure. Enjoying Anchoyade and Tapenade, France’s Great Anchovy Spreads.
 
Asperges en La Cuisine Française – Asparagus in French cuisine. The Artists who painted Asparagus or Lived Near Argenteuil.
 
Butter in France. French Butter in French Cuisine.

Échalotes - Shallots. One of the Most Important Herbs in the French Kitchen
  
Flour. The flour in your French bread, crepes, and other delights.
 
France's Butter Sauces I. The Three Most Popular Butter Sauces on French Menus.
  
Homard - Lobster on French Menus. The Two-Clawed European Lobster; also Called, in France, the Homard Bleu and Homard Breton.
   
Pike, the Fish. Brochet on French Menus.
   
Poivre - Peppercorns. Peppercorns in French cuisine and on French Menus. For hundred of years pepper was the most important spice in the world.
   
Sauce Béchamel, Sauce Bechamel. One of the Five Mother sauces in French Cuisine.
   
Shrimps and Prawns, Crevettes, Among the Many Tasty Crustaceans on Your French Menu.
   
The Button Mushroom. Mushrooms in France I. The Champignon de Paris
   
The King Scallop and the Queen Scallop. On French Menus the Saint-Jacque, the Coquilles Saint-Jacques and the Vanneaux or Pétoncle.
  

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

.    
Copyright 2010, 2016.
 
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Algue or Algue de Mer - Seaweed. Edible Seaweeds on French Menus.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 
 
Seaweed
Photograph courtesy of bookfinch
www.flickr.com/photos/mamsy/22325687481/
 
Seaweed in France

There are over 100 edible seaweeds, but French chefs rely on products grown close to home and are readily available.   Today France grows seaweed commercially, and the export of seaweed is big business. After Japan, China, and Ireland, France is the largest commercial producer of farmed seaweed.

One or more seaweeds may well be flavoring your fish soup or seafood and saltwater fish dishes; seaweed may also be seasoning meats or be part of a mixed seaweed salad or served along with regular salad greens.

France’s use of seaweed in the kitchen has a history as long as that of Japan. French recipes for seaweed are found in late 15th-century cookbooks and more are added today

Seaweed on French menus:

Dos de Skrei au Beurre d'Algues – A thick cut from the back of rehydrated and desalted cod, served with seaweed butter. Rehydrated and desalted cod was one of the fish that could keep until needed and was the only sea fish that was regularly seen inland in France and on long sea voyages; it has hundreds of recipes and is very popular. The butter will be a compound butter; that means the butter was warmed, mixed with seaweed, cooled, and served as a condiment. It will be added when the dish is served; then it will slowly melt and flavor the fish.

 


Wakame
Photograph courtesy of Sante-Globale

Filet de Bœuf Aubrac, Algues, Huitres, Écrasée de Ratte- A cut from the fillet of France's Aubrac cattle served with seaweed, oysters, and crushed/mashed ratte potatoes. (The potato called ratte in French has an odd shape and was considered to look like a small rat. Despite the name, the tasty ratte potato is among the most popular potatoes in France). 

The beef fillet comes from the Bœuf Fermier d'Aubrac, Label Rouge, red label rated, farm-raised beef cattle of Aubrac. The L'Aubrac plateau where these cattle graze for seven or eight months of the year reaches from the south of the Massif Central and through parts of three departments, including Lozère and Aveyron in Occitanie, and Cantal in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.


Green asparagus poached in kombu.
Photograph courtesy of City Foodsters
www.flickr.com/photos/cityfoodsters/18665201943/

Gaufre aux Algues, Caviar d'Aquitaine Impérial Baeri – Waffles or wafers made with seaweed that accompanies caviar Baeri. The “Imperial Baeri” comes from farmed Siberian Sturgeon. Here the caviar comes from the region of Nouvelle Aquitaine, and that indicates one of the sturgeon farms on the Gironde or Garonne rivers near to Bordeaux.

Le Roulé de Saumon à la Ricotta et sa Feuille d'Algue Nori - Salmon prepared with ricotta cheese and then rolled inside leaves of Nori/porphyre seaweed.  


Salade d’Haricots de Mer à la Roquette
Photograph courtesy of Crusine d'Asie

Le Carpaccio d'Espadon et sa Petite Salade de Wakamé  – A swordfish carpaccio served with a small wakamé seaweed salad.


Soupe Froide de Chou Marin 
(with the recipe).
Photograph courtesy of Koppert Cress

Merlan à la Vapeur d’Algue, Légumes Sautés a Cru, Pommes Darphin - Whiting, the fish, steamed over seaweed and served with fresh vegetables very lightly sautéed and pommes darphin. Pommes darphin are grated potatoes cooked in a frying pan with seasoning; when ready, they will look somewhat like a thick pancake.


Spaghettis aux Fruits de Mer et Haricots de Mer
Photograph courtesy of La Cuisine a Quatre Mains

Tartare de Saumon aux Algues - Fresh salmon prepared as a Tartar and flavored with seaweed.

Farmed Seaweed

Farmed seaweed is part of many of the world's cuisines. Agar-Agar you may never have heard of, but along with similar seaweeds, it is grown for use as a vegetable emulsifier, a thickening agent. Agar-agar and its cousins are crucial for the canned and preserved food industry. You probably eat some agar-agar every day. If you see vegetable gelatin on a list of contents, that is probably agar-agar. Another seaweed called chondrus crispus is used as a thickener and stabilizer in milk products, including ice cream and other processed foods; in Europe, its use will be indicated on the list of contents as E407 or E407b.

Some of the most popular French seaweeds include: 

Chou Marin, Chourbe, Crambé Maritime, Chou de Mer or Crambe – Sea kale; despite its name, this particular kale does not grow in the water; it is a member of the cabbage family that likes being near the sea. Sea Kale grows along the shore; in the wild, it is a protected plant. However, it is also cultivated and so occasionally appears on a menu with its young shoots as a separate dish; older leaves may be served as a garnish. Latin - (crambe maritima).

Fougère de Mer, Wakamé - Sea mustard, wakame in Japanese, a member of the kelp family. This seaweed has a combined slightly sweet  and strong flavor and is most often seen in miso soup in Japan and salads in French dishes. (Latin - undaria pinnatifida).


Seaweed farming
Photograph courtesy of Medium.com

Kombu, Kombu Breton, Kombu Royal – Kombu, Konbu this particular seaweed has quite a number of family members, and the differences are often overlooked on the French menu where seaweed is often just called algae.  


A kelp forest
Photograph courtesy of The Conversation.com

Kombu Breton or Laminaire Digitée –( traditionally known as Fouet des Sorcières)_ -Sea Tangle. (Latin - Laminaria digitata).

Kombu Royal - Sugar kelp, Sea Belt. (Japanese - karafuto-kombu), (Latin - saccharina latissimi).

Kombu Algue Brune - (Japanese - mitsuishi-kombu, dashi-kombu, mizu-kombu, hidaka kombu), (Latin - laminaria angustata),.


Kelp
Photograph courtesy of star5112
www.flickr.com/photos/johnjoh/283891405/

 Laitue de Mer - Lettuce of the sea. Laitue de Mer – Sea lettuce. While this seaweed can be eaten fresh or cooked it is mostly seen in seaweed salads. (Latin - ulva lactuca).


Organic sea lettuce
Photograph courtesy of Algae World News

Porphyre – Pyropia, Laver, Nori in Japanese, and the seaweed traditionally used to wrap sushi and onigiri and now grown in France. In the UK this is the most well-known edible seaweed under the name laver.  To my surprise this seaweed doesn’t only come in green, there are red and purple varieties as well. Laver seaweed is a traditional Welsh dish called bara lawr,  laverbread.  With added oatmeal, laverbread is often eaten with bacon and cockles for a real Welsh breakfast.


Seabass with Greens and Laverbread Sauce
Photograph courtesy of Gourmet Wales.

Laver is also used in soups and sauces for lamb, crab, monkfish and other seafood products. Other parts of Britain and Ireland  also have traditional dishes made with laver.  (Latin -  pyropia  yezoensis and pyropia  tenera).  


Laver - Nori
Photograph courtesy of Monterey Bay Seaweeds

Spaghetti de Mer, Haricot de Mer -  Sea spaghetti, thong weed, sea thong that resembles green tagliatelle.  Once harvested, sea spaghetti is dried, at low temperatures to lock in the vitamins. Sea Spaghetti cooks like pasta and keeps an al dente bite and a firm bite like well-prepared tagliatelle. (Latin - Hhimanthalia elongate).


Spaghetti de Mer - Sea Spaghetti.
Photograph courtesy of Provenance.org and Atlantic Kitchen

Salicorne, Perce-pierre, Criste-marine– Salicornia or samphire is not a seaweed, but since it grows in rocky areas very close to the sea, it is often used like a seaweed. Young salicornia plants are gathered from April through July and then will be used in salads, sauces, soups; they may also be pickled and then used as a condiment. Their shape gives them another name, the asparagus of the sea; however, that refers to their look, not their taste. (Latin - salicornia europaea).

Varech, Lessonie Brunâtre – Kelp, Brown Rib-Weed, Babberlocks - Kelp grows in underwater forests. Two hundred years ago kelp was already an important crop as it could be burned to obtain soda ash used to manufacture of glass, detergents and soaps, chemicals and other industrial products.  Today, kelp is mostly seen in the food industry as soda ash mostly comes from other sources. (The ancient Egyptians, 5,000 years ago, used soda ash from kelp for glass manufacture and the Romans used it in baking bread. Baking Soda comes from soda ash). (Latin - alaria esculenta).

North European Kelp - Laminaria hyperborean

More about the seaweeds on French menus. 

French menus with seaweed in their listings only rarely indicate a specific seaweed.  It appears that two or more seaweeds are often used in combination and listing them all would take away from the main part of the dish. Seaweed is a real sea vegetable and has calcium, magnesium, and iron, iodine, zinc along with vitamins A and C.

Learning about seaweed in foods and cosmetics.

If you're in Brittany, France, near Roscoff, famous both for its AOP onions and its important ferry terminal and port it is also home to a commercial center for the investigation, discovery and research into seaweed.  Thalado – Centre de Découverte des Algues, Rue Victor Hugo, 29680, Roscoff Cedex; https://www.thalado.fr/en/-pxl-62.html.  At the center you can learn about cooking with seaweed, with lectures, slideshows, videos and cooking demonstrations.  The center has a retail outlet and online sales for  many types of products made with seaweed.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


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