Drawing
of Haddock from 1872 by the US Fish Commission.
Haddock
Églefin or Aiglefin, Haddock – Haddock is a lean, tender white fish,
with flaky meat similar to cod. On
French menus, haddock will be offered smoked, baked, grilled, fried, or
poached. Haddock is also more popular in France than it is in the UK or North
America and that should not be too surprising as the French eat more fish and
seafood per capita than North America or European countries.
Smoked haddock in France.
When smoked haddock is on a French menu,
then the English name haddock is often used; that acknowledges the tradition of
smoking haddock began in Scotland. (In Scotland Haddock mostly called Seed Haddock). However, some French chefs prefer their
menus to remain entirely French, and those menus will offer smoked haddock as
églefin fume or aiglefin fume.
Haddock on French Menus:
Cannellonis Farcis à l'Églefin Fume – Cannelloni stuffed with smoked haddock. Cannelloni; the popular tube-shaped pasta, about 10 cms (4”) long by about 1.50 cms (6/10”) diameter. Canneloni is enjoyed in France as much as it is in Italy.
Filet de
aiglefin – A haddock filet.
www.flickr.com/photos/marsupilami92/13741591103/
Carpaccio d'Aiglefin
Fumé, Vinaigrette de Moutarde à
l'Ancienne. - A smoked haddock Carpaccio served
with a vinaigrette sauce
made with traditional mustard.
There
are many different mustards in France, nearly all with claims to traditional
formulas, and many French chefs do make their own mustards. In-house mustards
are often made in a manner similar to the Moutarde de Meaux, the famed mustard
from the town of Meaux. That mustard has its unique taste created by mixing the
mustard seeds with water rather than crushing them. (Meaux is more famous for
its Brie AOP cheese).
Despite many chef's interests in unique mustards, the style of mustard that
originated in Dijon is still the most popular in private homes.
Églefin
Meunier -
Fresh haddock lightly fried in a meunier butter and lemon sauce. Sauce Beurre
Meunière is a simple, but tasty, butter sauce made with lemon juice and parsley
added to the melted butter.
Dishes with the word meunière are often translated into English as a
dish prepared in the manner of a miller's wife. However, watermills don't operate in the sea and so there will be few miller's wives associated with the preparation of saltwater fish. Meunière did not
originally refer to the cooking habits of the wife of a meunier, French for a
miller. This is another urban legend, probably explained by the fact that such
recipes sometimes (not always) imply the fish has been rolled in flour before
cooking; hence the confusion. The word meunière is related to a mill but
historically referred to various species of freshwater fish, then common in French
rivers, that went by the name of "meuniers." These fish were
frequently caught around water mills because there was a mill pond with
plenty of space and food for the fish. In local usage, the separate names of
each of these small fish were not then in common usage. Today, of course, you
can order sole, or trout, haddock and much other saltwater fish cooked à la meunière and they will be filleted and served ina butter, lemon, and parsley sauce.
Filet
de Haddock Poché sur Lit de Choucroute, Beurre Blanc. -
A filet of poached, smoked haddock served on a bed of choucroute with
a beurre blanc sauce. Here
the use of the English name for haddock on a French menu indicates smoked
haddock. Choucroute is a
pickled cabbage dish that originated in the old Alsace region of
north-eastern France.
Smoked haddock served with a poached egg,
The smoked haddock dish shown above is a traditional
Scottish dish made with a Finnan haddie, and there are French versions of this
dish. A Finnan haddie is a cold-smoked haddock and in the picture above the
filet is poached, sometimes in milk, and served with a poached egg on top for a
traditional Scottish breakfast.
Duo
d'Églefin et Saumon – -
A dish of haddock and salmon served
together to emphasize the different, but complementary, tastes and textures.
Filet
d'Églefin Posé sur une Mirepoix de Légumes aux Herbes et Coulis de Crustacés –
A fillet of haddock served on a bed of neatly cubed vegetables (mirepoix),
flavored with a sauce made of blended crustaceans.
Papillote de
Haddock, Courgette Craquante, Crème Ciboulette - Smoked haddock
baked inside parchment paper, or aluminum
foil to keep all the flavors and fragrances together. When the
dish is ready, the papillote, the parchment paper, or aluminum foil container
will be opened in front of the diner so he or she may appreciate the
concentrated fragrance. The haddock in this menu listing is served with a
crisply cooked courgette, the USA zucchini, and a creamy spring onion sauce.
Haddock and cod.
Salted
cod drying on racks in Iceland.
www.flickr.com/photos/quinet/3297973917/
France is not alone in having many names that confuse haddock and other members of the cod family. Young haddock are mostly called scrod or schrod in the UK while those same names are both used for young cod and pollack in North America.
The cod
and haddock family.
Natural history
of the animal kingdom for the use of young people
Brighton
:E. & J.B. Young and Co.,1889.
biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28687540
www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/5974413991/
Églefin, Aiglefin or Haddock in the
languages of France's neighbours:
(Catalan – eglefí),(Dutch – schelvis), (German
–schellfisch),((Italian – asinello, egelfino), (Spanish –
eglefino),
Églefin, Aiglefin or Haddock in other
languages:
Chinese Mandarin - 黑線鱈 )((Danish –
kuller), Greek –bakaliaros), (Hebrew – מרוון – hamor yam - חמור ים ),
(Icelandic – Ýsa), (Norwegian - hyse), (Polish - plamiak a. lupacz),
(Portugues – arnica), (Rumanian – aglefin), (Russian – Пикша, piksha),(Swedish
– kolja).
Thanks for most of these
translations to: Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2014. FishBase. World Wide
Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (04/2014)
Behind the French Menu
--------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2014, 2016, 2019
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