If you
have not tasted freshly grilled sardines,
you have
not really tasted sardines.
Sardine, Sardine
Commune, Sardine d'Europe
The names for the
sardine in France.
Fresh sardines taste nothing like canned sardines, nothing at all,
so begin your entry into the world of fresh sardines with a sardine entrée, the
French first course. Order fresh grilled sardines, that's Sardines Fraîches
Grillées, or marinated sardines, Sardines Fraiche Marinées. Afterward, you will
be licking your lips every time you think about them.
A
grapefruit, fennel, and sardine salad.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/
The fresh sardines served in France are quite a bit larger than
those we see in a can. A portion for a French entrée, the starter, will be
three or four fish. The fishermen and fisherwomen will sell small sardines,
along with similar-looking small fish to the canning industry; if they are
tiny, they may appear on the menu as a Friture de Poissons a tasty fish fry.
Where did the
sardine get its name?
Your French menu may offer:
Filets de Sardines Fraîches Marinées au Citron Vert et Feuilles de Coriandre - Filets of fresh sardines marinated in lime and coriander leaves.
Sardines Fraîches Grillées – Grilled fresh sardines.
Sardines Fumées - Smoked sardines; a unique treat.
Rillettes de Sardines Fraîches à la Ciboulette - Fresh sardines grilled, boned and then mashed and flavored with chives; they make a tasty spread on toast. Rillettes are more often on menus when made with goose, duck or pork, but definitely should not be ignored when made with fresh sardines.
A
sardine fishing boat
Gulls
and others have a free lunch
They
catching any fish they can reach when the net is reeled in.
www.flickr.com/photos/ag_gilmore/8169949194/
Une Fougasse de Sardines Fraiches, Huile d'Olive au Basilic et Vinaigrette de Tomate – A fougasse with fresh sardines, basil flavored olive oil and a tomato vinaigrette. The fougasse was originally a crusty Provencal bread. It is made of baguette dough brushed with olive oil and flavored with orange zest, and that is still the tradition. However, Fougasse bread has changed beyond recognition. Now Fougasse comes with a wide variety of shapes and flavorings or fillings. For more about the different types of French bread click here.
Visiting
France’s fishing ports and their celebrations.
When traveling to France, there is more than just restaurants to dine in and chateaus and museums to visit. Call or mail the French Government Tourist office in your home country and ask for information on fetes in the area where you will be staying. There are fetes for breads, cheeses, fruits, beef, sausages, wines, fish and even sardines; that’s apart from fetes and festivals for music, art, and antiques, etc.
Spaghettis aux sardines, sauce tomate.
Spaghetti
with sardines and a tomato sauce.
This
spaghetti dish has a sauce made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and, of course, flavored just before serving
with one of France’s AOP olive oils.
If you have already arrived in France when you read
this, walk into the local tourist information office. There are over 1,600
Tourist Information Offices scattered around France, and one will be near you
with someone who speaks English. The adverts for these fetes are mostly in
French, but there will invariably be music, attractions for the kids, and food
and wines fetes that will be tastings and cooking instructions with more
options than you can think of. Entrance is always free, and overseas visitors
are always welcome.
Soupe des Sardines - Sardine soup.
Fêtes de la Sardine de
La Turballe
Consider, as an example, the Sardine Fete held in the beautiful small town, (pop 5,000) of La Turballe. La Turballe is in the department of the Loire-Atlantique, in the région of the Pays de la Loire. The Prefecture, the departmental capital of Loire-Atlantique, is the lovely city of Nantes, just 80 km (54 miles) away. They have two Fêtes de la Sardine, the first on the third Saturday in July and the second on the third Saturday in August. N.B. Always always check the dates of celebrations with the nearest Tourist Information Office or in the case of La Turballe on their English language website:
You may visit La Turballe’s fête from 11:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night. There you will be offered tastings of grilled sardines, sardine based fish soups, sardine tartare, and many other tempting dishes as well as other local products. The organizers claim that during fete a ton of sardines is consumed! All the sardines you can eat may be accompanied by the extensive choice of the wines of the Pay de la Loire.
The
fishing port of La Turballe.
At other times stop at La Turballe for lunch even
when there are no sardines. All year round, there will be fresh sole, mackerel, skate, St Peter's fish, monkfish, and many
other fish and seafood options in the local restaurants. Take time to visit the
town's museum, La Maison de la Pêche, their fishing museum. The museum's
website is in French, but using Google or Bing translate, you will be able to
understand it very well:
When you have eaten enough sardines or other fish for
lunch, take a short drive, about 10 km (6 miles), to La Turballe's beaches.
There you may rent an umbrella and a beach chair and relax and watch the world
go by. If you are traveling in the area, note that Guérande, so famous for
its Fleur de Sel, is
only 7 km (4 miles) away.
There are food and wine festivals in nearly every French City town and village. Do not miss out on France's wine roads, cheese trails, and fetes for everything from sardines to figs.
Sardines in the languages of France’s neighbors:
(Catalan - sardina),(Dutch –
pelser, sardien),(German – sardine, pilchard), (Italian - sardine, sarda,
sardella, sardina comune), (Spanish - sardine commune), (sardina pilchardus).
--------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2014, 2020
--------------------------------
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Greatest Tomato, the Tomate de Marmande AOC. The Tomato in French Cuisine.
