Confréries – The Brother and Sisterhoods that Promote and Defend the Foods and Wines of France.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

 
The escutcheon of the Confrérie de Saint-Etienne d’Alsace.
    
Confréries – Brother and Sisterhoods.
   
The newer French confréries, brotherhoods and sisterhoods, those established in the last 100 years, along with a few more ancient are dedicated to the promotion and enjoyment of food and wine.  France once had hundreds of confréries with ancient religious or secret craft backgrounds; a few of those are still around and often still limited to men only; shades of the Da Vinci Code.  However, confréries that do not concern themselves with food and wine do not interest me and are so they are left out of this post.
  
The devotions of food and wine confréries.
  
 In France there are hundreds of food and wine confréries that devote themselves to wines, brandies, liquors, cheeses, cakes, garlic, blood sausages, cattle, sardines, snails, fruits, and vegetables, etc.. All these confréries are determined to promote, enhance and protect their chosen object of devotion. 
    
Confrérie de l'Ail Rose de Lautrec
The confrérie of the pink garlic of Lautrec
Photograph courtesy of Lautrec Tourisme
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22228190@N02/3104153373/
   
Many also use their organizations for charitable events; despite that, however sincere they are they mostly fun and marketing organizations. There can be great enjoyment in organizing a parade to march through the town with all the members in would be ancient costumes, including clogs and floppy hats. Confréries may take to the streets to defend the original Tarte Tatin, the local crop of asparagus or an already famous wine;  that publicizes the product and keeps it in the public eye.  Confréries also creates friends, and in France, quite a number of confréries have done wonders for the economy and social framework of small towns and villages.
   
Confrerie de l'Andouille de Guemene-sur-Scorff
The andouille is one of France's famous sausages.
www.flickr.com/photos/rhian/3848315069/
   
Some confréries have choirs, and others have literary and artistic pretensions.  Not all are in France, and so you will find confréries in Belgium, Switzerland and elsewhere. In a few cases, like the Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, they are international with members in many countries.

Here is a short introduction to seven of France’s many hundreds of food and wine Confréries:

Confrérie de la Cagouille:

Confrérie de la Cagouille - The Brother and Sisterhood of the Petit Gris Snail. The petit gris snail is the smaller of the two snails that may be on your menu; the other is the Burgundy snail. If you are visiting the departments of Charente-Maritime, then consider their annual celebration of this snail on the fourth Sunday in August.  The Fête de la Cagouille et des Traditions, the Feast of the Petit-Gris snail and traditions, is held in the small town of Saint Sauveur d'Aunis in the department of Charente-Maritime in the new super region of Nouvelle Aquitaine. You may check the exact dates with the French Government Tourist Office before leaving home or look with Google or Bing translate at their French language website below. Everyone has a good time eating and cooking snails and as they say in their invitations: the opportunity to enjoy the harmony of flavors and the culinary combinations offered by a good dish of the local snails”. You may also register for their annual lunch on the internet, but during the lunch be ready for long speeches in French.
  
The French-language website of the Confrérie de la Cagouille:

    
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kinlane/8292370304/

La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs

La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs - This Confrérie, mostly just known as La Chaîne, is an international gastronomic society. It is based in Paris and devoted to promoting fine dining along with the camaraderie and pleasures of the table.  La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs is not, as some seem to believe an award to a great restaurant. The Chaîne was built upon the traditions of a historic confrérie and was re-created in 1950 by five early twentieth-century foodies including that French Prince of Gourmets, author and food critic Curnonsky.  Today La Chaîne still brings together professionals and non-professionals from the world of fine cuisine and has many thousands of members. 

For their International list of La Chaîne websites use these links:


Or visit website of La Chaîne International and French headquarters:


   
Confrerie des Amis du Brie de Meaux,
the brotherhood of the friends of the Brie de Meaux, visiting the Coulommiers fair. Checking on the competition?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9308488@N05

Confrérie de la Truffe de Bou rgogne

Confrérie de la Truffe de Bourgogne - The Brother and Sisterhood of the Burgundy truffle. This Confrérie was organized to market and defend the Burgundy truffle.  They know their major competitor is the more famous and more expensive truffle, the Black Diamond, the Périgord truffle.  To show that they are politically correct this confrérie vows to harvest truffles solely with the help of specially trained dogs; no pigs are digging with this group!  Do not worry; tradition lives on; the truffle pigs are not on the dole or being turned into hams; the truffle of Périgord has its own confrérie, and they permit the use of pigs. 

The English language website of the Truffle of Burgundy:

   
Photograph courtesy of Zevillage

Confrérie des Chevaliers du Goûte Boudin

Confrérie des Chevaliers du Goûte Boudin The Brotherhood of Knights of the Black Pudding Sausage.  These knights and their confrérie are based in the town of Mortagne-au-Perche in Normandy. They organize, in the town, an annual black pudding (in French a boudin noir) competition every spring.  Its Knights, upon acceptance into the confrérie, must swear by the grill and the long pronged fork that they will eat at least one black pudding sausage every week and woe to those who do not keep the faith. Over 100 teams from around the world arrive annually and compete for the tastiest black pudding sausage in the world.

Their French language website:

   
The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Goûte Boudin
organizes the annual fair organized where black puddings are made and sold.

Confrérie des Chevaliers du Taste-Vin

Confrérie des Chevaliers du Taste-Vin  – The Brotherhood and Sisterhood of the Knights of the Tastevin. The tastevin is the silver cup that many sommeliers, the very knowledgeable wine waiters, wear on a chain around their neck. The Confrérie des Chevaliers owns the Château of the Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy, which has been its headquarters since 1935. The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Taste-Vin with much ceremony offers fine food and plenty of wine at their monthly meetings that promote Bourgogne (Burgundy) wines; it is here that the wines of Burgundy are tasted and honored.  The Confrérie also awards prizes for art honoring Burgundy and has annual charitable events. Despite its prizes and charities its grand celebrations, the promotion of the great wines of the Bourgogne, and keeping the sommeliers of France informed and happy are its real raison d’être.

The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Taste-Vin English language website:

   
A variety of tastevins on show in
the Hospice in Beaune.
  
Confrérie des Lichonneux de Tarte Tatin:
 
Confrérie des Lichonneux de Tarte Tatin The Brotherhood and Sisterhood of the Tasters of the real Tarte Tatin. These are valiant gourmets; they take upon their shoulders the responsibility to protect the genuine Tarte Tatin from inedible and cheap imitations. They do this while wearing blue smocks, red scarves, black hats, and clogs. More power to them.

Like other French language websites, the Confrérie des Lichonneux website is easily understood with the free Bing and Google apps.

   
A perfect Tarte-Tatin
https://www.flickr.com/photos/merlejajoonas/7463115956/

Confrérie Mondiale De L'Omelette Géante De Malmédy-
     
Confrérie Mondiale De L'Omelette Géante De Malmédy - The worldwide Brotherhood and Sisterhood of the Giant Omelet of Malmédy.  This Belgium confrérie began with French members and now has associated brotherhoods in the USA, Canada, and France. It has taken upon itself a large and necessary task to cook a giant omelet of at least 10,000 eggs in a pan that is 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter for thousands of people every August 14th and 15th in Malmédy, Belgium. Well, someone has to do it! The Belgians who make over 600 different beers naturally handle well a job like this.
 
The Confrérie Mondiale De L'Omelette Géante De Malmédy French language website:


Making the l'Omelette Géante de Malmedy

Connected Posts:

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

  

 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Copyright 2010, 2017.


Sucre – Sugar. Sugar on French Menus and Sugar in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com


Sugar Beets.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/7209878018/
                                                           
Sucre – Sugar.

This post includes the most popular sugars that you will find in the supermarkets in France and on French menus. There are others but I have knowingly omitted them as most French men and women do not buy them for home use, and they are rarely seen on French menu listings.

Sucre or Sucre Semoule– The names that are also used for caster sugar.

Caster, castor sugar or sucre semoule on French menus:

Fraises au Sucre, Glace au Basilic Strawberries with sugar, glazed with basil, the herb

Fromage Blanc Au Sucre – White cheese with castor sugar. On many menus, in country restaurants, a fresh white cow’s milk cheese will be served as a dessert, and it will be accompanied by sugar and often berries.
    
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eljay/3482834275/
   
Of the hundreds of fresh white cheeses that you will see in France’s markets and Supermarkets, the brand Petit Suisse is still France’s most popular fresh white cow’s milk cheese. The cheese’s consistent quality and its availability in various fat percentages beat the fruit flavored cheeses and all competitors combined. For me and many others, including many children, no other fresh white cow’s milk cheese can beat Petit Suisse.
  
Sucre de Betterave – Sugar from sugar beets.
  
Sucre de Betterave – Sugar from sugar beets; the sugar beet itself is called the betterave sucrière in French.

Foie Gras Mi- Cuit Maison, Sucré De Betterave, Jeunes Pousses Craquantes Et Toasts Tiédis Fattened duck’s liver very lightly cooked in this restaurant’s unique manner. The liver is cooked in sugar beet sugar and served with the young crunchy shoots of vegetables and accompanied by warm toast.

Tarte au Sucre du Nord –  A soft brioche type tart that uses beet sugar and is caramelized with crème fraiche, This is a traditional tart from the region of France close to Belgium.

Sucre Blanc

Sucre Blanc – Ordinary white table sugar. In French, that’s sucre de table.

Tarte Tiède au Sucre Blanc, Glace Vanille Bourbon - A warm tart with white sugar glazed with Bourbon vanilla.

Crème Brulée au Sucre Blanc – A Crème Brulée prepared with ordinary white beet sugar

Sucre de Canne - Cane sugar.

Sucre de Canne - Cane sugar. Cane sugar is still an important part of the economy in France’s Caribbean and Indian Ocean departments and, of course, the source of France’s famous rum.  The history of sugar cane in the French economy includes much of France’s sorry involvement in the slave trade.

Cane Sugar on French Menus:

Crème Brûlée Au Sucre De Canne Roux Et Parfumée À La Mandarine Rhum  -  A Crème Brûlée flavored with a brown cane sugar and perfumed with a mandarin (tangerine) flavored rum.

Crêpes Beurre, Sucre de Canne, Cannelle  -  Buttered crepes flavored with cane sugar and cinnamon.
Sugar cane
 
Sucre Cassonade
Brown cane sugar also called in the UK, Demerara sugar.

Sucre Cassonade is brown sugar produced from sugar cane separately to the sugar that will become white sugar. N.B. Today much of the so-called cassonade sold in stores is white cane sugar flavored and colored with molasses, so when buying the best brown sugar read the label well and choose the sugar with no additions. The sugar used to make French rum uses the real cassonade, and it accounts, in part, for the color of the rum.

Brown cane sugar on French Menus:

Saumon Confit au Sel et Sucre Cassonade et Pomme Granny Smith, Crémeux au Yuzu, Quelques Points de Wasabi -  Atlantic salmon slowly cooked in salt and brown cane sugar with Granny Smith apples accompanied by a creamy Yuzu sauce dotted with wasabi.
   
The Yuzu

Yuzu is a member of the citrus family that originated in China; it has a taste somewhere between that of a grapefruit and an orange. In the Japanese kitchen, its rind is popular as it adds lots of flavor.  The number of French chefs who adopt this fruit for its unique and different taste is growing exponentially. N.B. Wasabi is Japanese horseradish, a very distant relation to the European horseradish but its taste serves the same purpose.

Sucre de Datte – Date sugar is made from finely cut sweet dates.  When date sugar is in a dish on your menu it will have been used for its taste and texture, and will not disappear like refined sugar; small pieces of date will still be seen in the dish. Date sugar is rarely processed; its attraction is in its taste and texture and the way it is used.

Date sugar on French Menus:

Barres De Granola Au Chocolat et Sucre de Datte Chocolate coated granola bars flavored with date sugar.
   
Date sugar

Sucre de Palme – Palm sugar; the name used for sugar produced from the sap of a number of palms including the coconut palm. This light to dark brown sugar was initially only seen in Thai and other Asian cuisines but now reaches French menus in fusion recipes.

Palm sugar on French Menus:

Beignets De Poissons Farcis Aux Oeufs, Sauce Sucre De Palme Et Vinaigre De Riz – Deep fried fish balls stuffed with eggs and served with a sauce made from palm sugar and rice vinegar.

Tarte au Chocolat, Figues Fraîches, Glace à la Figue et Sucre de Palme du Cambodge - A chocolate tart made with fresh figs glazed with palm sugar from Cambodia.

Grillade de Côtes de Porc Marinées au Sucre de Palme et à l'Huile de Sésame  -Grilled pork chops that have been marinated in palm sugar and sesame oil
   
Palm sugar
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/313570329/


Sucre d'Orge - Barley sugar.

Barley sugar sweets, candies, from Moret sur Loing in the department of Seine et Marne was created by the Benedictine Monks in 1638, and its recipe was passed along to the Nuns of Moret sur Loing. The nuns stopped making the product in 1972 but sold the recipe and the name to a private company. There is now a brother and sisterhood called the Confrérie du Sucre d'Orge des Religieuses de Moret sur Loing, and they promote the sugar; they do this while wearing would be ancient costumes and work to create interest in the product; nevertheless, they are not a religious order. Since 1-1-2016 they commune of Moret sur Loing has merged with another commune and become Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne

Their Confrérie claims that the original recipe is still used and this consists of boiling down refined cane sugar with barley water and cream of tartar. In the town of More sur Loing, there is a Musée du Sucre d'Orge in the town, the Barley Sugar Museum

Soufflé à la Pomme  et Sucre d'Orge des Religieuses De Moret Sur Loing A soufflé with apples and the barley sugar from Moret sur Loing.
  
Brochettes De Fruits De Saisons Grillées, Glace À L'orange, Caramel Et Sucre D'orge. – Skewers of the season's fresh fruits grilled and the glazed with oranges, caramel, and barley sugar

Crème Brûlée au Sucre D'orge Crème Brûlée flavored with barley sugar.
   

Barley sugar sweets (candies).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/accidentalhedonist/4766025411/

Sucre en Morceaux – Sugar cubes.
 
Sucre Glace - Icing sugar.
 
Icing sugar on French menus:
 
Tarte Fine Individuelle aux Pommes, Sucre Glace avec une Boule De Glace -  Individual flat puff pastry tarts served with apples and icing sugar and one scoop, in France that’s usually a ball, of  ice-cream,

Baba au Rhum Arrosé, Crème Battue au Sucre Glace – A Rum Baba basted with whipped cream and sprinkled with icing sugar.
 
Sucre Pâtissier -   Baker’s sugar

Sucre Pâtissier -   Confectioner's sugar, also called powdered sugar. Confectioner's sugar is finer than castor sugar and used by bakers for decorating and glazing as well as for some recipes.  
  
Sucre Perle - Pearl sugar.  Crunchy pieces of sugar made in Belgium to be able to withstand short baking times and used in France to decorate some pastries especially chouquettes.
  
Sucre Roux – Brown sugar.
  
Sucre Roux – Brown sugar.  Brown sugar comes from both sugar cane and sugar beets; the while the two products are named differently they do have different tastes, but the caloric value is the same. On menus, the name sucre roux will often be used for either of the two brown sugars.

Brown Sugar on French Menus

Ananas Rôti et Flambé au Cointreau et Sucre Roux Bananas roasted and then flambéed in Cointreau and brown sugar,

Crème Brulée à la Vanille et Sucre Roux Crème Brulée flavored with vanilla and brown sugar.
   
Brown sugar crystals
   
Sucre Semoule – Caster, or castor sugar.
 
Sucre Vergeoise or Vergeoise
  
Sucre Vergeoise or Vergeoise –  The brown sugar produced from beet sugar by reheating the sugar a second or third time.  Vergeoise may also be flavored and colored with molasses; molasses are a byproduct of the refined sugar whether from sugar cane or sugar beets.  Read the label.

Poitrine de Porc Laquée à la Moutarde et Sucre Vergeoise, Choucroute et Datte Farcies Pork belly lacquered with mustard and brown beet sugar and served with choucroute and stuffed dates.

Figues de Solliès Rôties au Sucre Vergeoise, Touche Praliné, Sorbet Yaourt et Thym The AOC figs from the town of Solliès in the department of Var in the region of  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.  Here they are prepared with brown beet sugar and a touch of praline chocolates accompanied by a sorbet of yogurt and thyme. N.B. French pralines are different to most of those made in Belgium or the USA and are almost always flavored with almonds or hazelnuts.
 
Sucré - Sweetened.
 
Sucrier – A sugar-Bowl.

A short history of the Sugar Cane and Sugar Beet Industry

Sugar cane originated in New Guinea or India, the origin is disputed. Both Papua New Guinea and India were cultivating sugar cane over 4,000 years ago with India developing the manufacturing of sugar crystals around 200 or 300 CE.

Darius, the Persian Emperor, invaded part of India in 510 B.C.E. as he already considered the sugar cane a valuable treasure. Two hundred years later Alexander the Great also pursued sugar cane in India but he was fighting in the North, and sugar cane was grown in the south!  
   
Alexander the Great on horseback.
Bronze of the Roman period (1st century CE)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/70125105@N06/33318412435/

The Arabs brought sugar cane from Persia and India probably as early as the 7th or 8th-century CE:  however, it was not until the Crusades in the 11th century that the Europeans were introduced to sugar cane. Then from the 14th century, the Spanish began developing a sugar cane industry on their Island of Madeira; later the French began developing sugar cane production in the Caribbean Islands. 

Beets of many types had long been grown in Europe; the Greeks and Romans brought beets to France, mostly for use as animal fodder; at that time and for 1,600 years afterward no one knew that some beets contained sugar.

In the 17th century a German botanist, Andreas Margraff, showed that one of the beets produced the same sucrose crystals as sugar cane; nevertheless, it still took another 70 years before sugar beet became a real industry. Then, during one of the Napoleonic wars,  with England, the English cut off France’s supply of imported cane sugar from its Caribbean islands. In response Napoléon I ordered the planting of sugar beets and erection of factories to produce refined sugar.  Voila, Europe now had its own supply of sugar and sugar finally became cheaper than honey in France.
  
Napoleon I while still a General.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/beinecke_library/5166413889/
  
Today, after many ups and downs most European sugar comes from European sugar beet. Nevertheless, France still imports sugar made from cane in its overseas Caribbean and Indian Ocean Island regions and at the same time is a great European sugar beet producer and exports a great deal.. The USA also grows some sugar beets, but most USA sugar comes from sugar cane with Hawaii and Brazil the largest suppliers.

Connected Posts:
 
 
 
    


 
 
 
 
 
 
   

 
 
 
 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Copyright 2010, 2017.
  

Responsive ad