Showing posts with label salmon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salmon. 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
on
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.
 
----------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2015, 2021, 2024.

 
 
--------------------
 
 
Connected Posts:
 
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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.
   
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Clafoutis and Flagnardes, Flaugnardes or Flognardes on French Menus.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

  
Cherry Clafoutis
www.flickr.com/photos/ipalatin/7326966018/

Clafoutis began as tarts made with a thick crêpe-like batter cooked together with sour cherries. They became so popular outside the old region of Limousin where they originated that when cherries were not in season chefs added other fresh fruits.  Following on that success, the Clafoutis expanded their territory.  Now we have breakfast Clafoutis with button mushrooms and tomatoes, light lunch Clafoutis with salmon or cheese and the main course at lunch or dinner may include a vegetable Clafoutis offered as a garnish.  Oh, and you can still have a Clafoutis with cherries or other fruits as a dessert. (The old region of Limousin included the departments of Corrèz, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne).

On 1-1-2016 the administrative region of Limousin was joined together with the regions of Aquitaine, and Poitou-Charentes in the new super-region of Nouvelle Aquitaine. The old regions' names will remain linked to the foods and wines that are named after them, but their borders will disappear from most maps. 
     
N.B. The word Clafoutis is pronounced kla-fou-tee, the “s” is silent, and it’s the same word whether you order one or ten Clafoutis.
  
  
Depending on the ingredients Clafoutis may be served hot, warm, or cold.  For a single diner, a Clafoutis will usually be made in a single serving dish with a large Clafoutis also being seen when a whole table or a number of patrons make the same order.  Some travel guides refer to a Clafoutis as a flan or pie. However, since the French own the product; and they call Clafoutis a tarte, they are a tart in English.
    
A Cherry Clafoutis
www.flickr.com/photos/70253321@N00/2560568707/
   
Clafoutis on French menus:
  
Clafoutis au Reblochon de Savoie et aux Quetsches - A Clafoutis prepared with quetsche plums and France’s Reblochon AOP cow’s milk cheese from the Savoie. The quetsche plum is a mauve to almost black plum that has a fragrant and sweet yellow flesh; it is oval shaped with nearly pointed ends. The quetsche’s nearest UK relation is the damson plum which is not as sweet.

Clafoutis aux Abricots   A Clafoutis with apricots;    

Clafoutis aux Griottes–  A Clafoutis with France’s griottes, sour cherries; the original recipe.  
        
A black raspberry clafoutis with ice-cream.
(Black raspberries are a North American rasberry family member)
www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/14591610822
      
Clafoutis aux Tomates et aux Fromages de Chèvre – A Clafoutis with tomatoes and goat’s cheese.

Clafoutis aux Pommes, Servi Tiède et Glace au Calvados –  A Clafoutis made with apples and served warm with ice cream flavored with Calvados.  Calvados and there are three distinct types, is Normandy’s famous Calvados AOC Apple brandy.     

Clafoutis de Saumon Salade Mêlée - A Clafoutis made with salmon and served with a mixed salad.  Salmon in France is the Atlantic salmon.
  

A Clafoutis with plums and almonds
www.flickr.com/photos/12699042@N00/7984229072/
      
Clafoutis de Chèvre et Olives et sa Frisée aux Petits Lardons – A Clafoutis served with a warmed goat’s cheese and olives accompanied by a small salad made with the crispy curly endive flavored with small bacon pieces.  The Frisée or Chicorée or Endive Frisée is the curly endive.  It looks like a lettuce with outer green leaves that curl and in a salad, it adds a slight crunch with a pleasant but slightly bitter taste.  The lighter-colored inner leaves are milder and are considered the best for salads.

Now that Clafoutis are on menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that creates problems with Limousine’s other famous tart, the flangnarde also called the flognarde or flaugnarde.  (The name used depends on tradition, and are pronounced with the letter g silent, so flaugnarde is pronounced flo-nyard). 

In the Occitan language, the word Flaugnards is said to come from the word fleunhe meaning soft, and that will describe the texture of a Flaugnard and a Clafouti.  (Occitan is the language that lost out to French when the country looked for a single unifying language).

Flaugnardes and Flognardes on French menus:

Flaugnarde Pomme-Poire à la Fève Tonka – A Flaugnard with apples and pears flavored with the Tonka bean.  The Tonka bean is a plant of South American origins with a strong aroma and used as a spice. I have never had the opportunity to smell or taste the Tonka bean on its own but the aroma is said to resemble vanilla with a touch of almonds and cinnamon and it is mostly used in aniseed-flavored drinks like pastis.
   
  
Flaugnarde de Nèfles aux Pommes –  A Flaugnarde with loquats and apples. When cooked apples are on the menu it is nearly always Granny Smith’s.

Flognarde Pomme et Cannelle – An apple Flognarde flavored with cinnamon.
  
   
Flognarde aux Pommes, Glace Vanille -  A Flognarde with apples and vanilla ice cream.
  
Flognarde aux Mirabelles – A Flognarde made with the Mirabelle plum; a small, yellow to reddish plum that is France’s favorite plum for confitures, jams, and conserves.  The Mirabelle developed locally in the old region of the Lorraine in Northern France most probably from trees that were imported by the Romans, who imported cherries, apricots, and peaches, or it may have been other traders.  The origins of the plum are to the north-east of modern Turkey and the adjacent Caucasus,
    

Still, the world center for the modern Mirabelle is the Lorraine and while not everyone has heard of the Mirabelle plum or even the Lorraine everyone has heard of the Quiche Lorraine.  Since 1-1-2016 the region of Lorraine together with the regions of Alsace, famous for its cuisine and wines, and the Champagne-Ardenne, famous for Champagne, have become parts of the new French super-region of the Grande Est, the Great East. 


Limousin will, however, remain on the culinary map of France. As you drive around the Limousin breed of cattle is recognizable by their chestnut red coloring.  Their name may not be on many menus, but nearly every restaurant offering steaks, roasts or daubs without an AOC/AOP, a Label Rouge or a named source will be offering Limousin beef.
  
Limousin bull.
www.flickr.com/photos/simmysphotos/7436357324/

Restaurant cheese trays on Limousin will include French AOP cheeses as well as first-rate Limousin cheeses that only rarely make it to fromageries, cheese shops, outside the area.  The best local cheeses include the Geuille du Limousin, the Leconet and Saint Pierre goat’s milk cheeses and the Gouzon and Millevaches cow’s milk cheeses.

All around the old region of Limousin are places where the weather, soil are high altitude are said to be especially good for apples.  Here grown France’s only AOP apple the Pomme du Limousin AOC, the Golden Delicious apple of Limousin.  Like other regions with particular routes for wines or cheeses the Limousin has a Route de Pommes, an apple road, You can take that and enjoy apples and cider along with cheeses and stop off for lunch or dinner at restaurants offering Limousin Beef.  All local Tourist Information Offices offer directions.

For something other than culinary enjoyment in Limousin visit the City of Limoges, This is capital the capital of the department of  Haute-Vienne and the home of Limoges porcelain The Museum Adrien Dubouché with its unique porcelain collection has an English language website:


Limoge town hall.
www.flickr.com/photos/boklm/34708725122/
  
Then visit the small town of Aubusson in the department of Creuze so famous for the Aubusson tapestry.  The Departmental Museum of Tapestry has an astonishing collection but their website is in French only but easily understood using the Google or Bing Translate apps:

A place to sit down and rest in the Tapestry Museum Aubusson


--------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2013, 2018, 2019
 
--------------------------------

Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?
 
you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google, Bing, or another browser.  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.


      
Connected Posts:
   




   
    
  
      

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