Behind the French Menu

Cresson, Cresson de Fontaine - Watercress in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Cresson de Fontaine or Cresson – Watercress.

For the French cress is Cresson de Fontaine, watercress; when the diner sees cresson on a menu listing, he or she always expects watercress. Other cress varieties are rarely on French menus and when they do occasionally appear they will have their full name.

The watercress on your menu will have been farmed, and so it will not be as sharp as wild watercress. As children, my brother and I collected wild watercress in the slow running corners of streams in the English Lake District, and that watercress was really spicy. When dining in France’s countryside the local mushroom and herb gatherers, the "ramasseurs de champignons et herbes" may be supplying the restaurant with wild watercress; then you are in for a treat. Watercress was one of the herbs which Charlemagne ordered to be grown in Imperial gardens.

Watercress soup with fresh goat’s cheese.

Photograph courtesy of Jlhopgood

www.flickr.com/photos/jlhopgood/7113444783/

Your menu may offer:

Dés de Saumon en Gravelax, Crémeux de Cresson et Œufs de Saumon – A thick cut of gravlax made with Atlantic salmon served with a creamy watercress sauce and salmon eggs. Gravlax is a wonderful dish of Scandinavian origin made with whole filets of salmon, cured in a nearly, but not quite, freezing mixture of salt, sugar, pepper, and dill; it is served thinly sliced.

Les Langoustines Côtières au Vert de Cresson, Céleri et Radis - Dublin Bay prawns, scampi, caught in our coastal waters, flavored with the juice of watercress, and served with celery and radishes.

Noix de Saint Jacques Grillées, Blancs de Poireaux à la Crème, Coulis de Cresson – Grilled King scallop meat served with creamed leeks and a puree of watercress.

Watercress soup with fresh goat’s cheese.

Photograph courtesy of Jlhopgood

www.flickr.com/photos/jlhopgood/7113444783/

Salade de Pommes de Terre au Haddock et Cresson – A potato salad served with smoked haddock and watercress.

Watercress flowers

Photograph courtesy of John Tann

www.flickr.com/photos/31031835@N08/6243115793/

Velouté de Cresson de Méréville - A velvety watercress soup, made with the watercress grown in Méréville.

A French chef told me, and I have checked, watercress is good for you. It has plenty of vitamins A and C and even a small amount of calcium. And, believe it or not, but all cresses are members of the cabbage family.

Garden cress, rather than watercress, is the most popular cress in Britain and called cressonnette or alénois cressonnette in French. Garden cress is appreciated in France, but will not enough to be on many restaurant many menus.

Garden cress.

Photograph courtesy of Mycatkins.

www.flickr.com/photos/bigmikeyeah/5751406027/

The famed watercress of Méréville

Cresson de Méréville is the most highly rated cultivated watercress in France. It is grown around the town of Méréville in the department of Essonne in the region of Ile-de-France. By car, Méréville is an hour and a quarter from Paris, 74 km (45 miles). They have been cultivating watercress in Méréville for over one-hundred years.

Visit a French watercress fair.

If you are really into watercress, then visit the Foire Annuelle au Cresson de Méréville, the annual watercress fair in Méréville. The fair is held from Saturday through Monday on the Easter weekend. Easter is a national and not a religious holiday in France though some 10% of the population does go to church. At the watercress fair some sixty exhibitors will have set up shop outside city hall, and they will be selling everything from wine, cheeses, herbs, lessons in cooking with watercress alongside bundles of watercress. Nevertheless, check the dates on the French language website of the Méréville town hall under March, Mars, and or April, Avril, as Easter dates move around every year:

Cultivating watercress in Méréville.

Photograph courtesy of Le Comptoir Local

The famous, Jardin de Méréville, the garden of Méréville, was a splendid and unique Anglo-Chinese garden when it was built in 1787. The garden was designed by the architect Bellanger and the painter Hubert Robert. Now it is being restored to its former glory. Tickets to tour the garden may be reserved before arrival. If the garden is closed on the day you intend to be in the area, worry not; travel in any direction from Méréville, and you will find chateaux, castles, and gardens by the score. The town of Méréville, if you remember, plays an important part in Les Misérables.

The Garden of Mereville.

Photograph courtesy of Garden Travel hub

Traveling to Méréville

The Tourist Information Office of Beauce-Méréville has a French-only website; however, with the Google and Bing translate apps you will have all of the information you need.

Office de Tourisme de la région Beauce-Méréville.

To arrange for a visit to the gardens and other places in the area send an email to:

oot.beauce-mereville@orange.fr.

If you have a French speaker around you may call the Tourist Information Office at +33-1-64 95-18-00

Watercress in the languages of France's neighbors:

(Catalan - créixecs, morritort d’aigua ), (Dutch - waterkers), (German – brunnenkresse), (Italian – crescione d’acqua), (Spanish - berro di agua, crenchas),

Watercress in other languages:

(Arabic - نبات البقلة)– (Chinese -豆瓣, Dòubàn), (Danish – brøndkarse) (Dutch- waterkers), (Filipino - kangkong) , (Greek – κάρδαμο, kárdamo), , (Korean –물냉이, mulnaeng-i), (Hebrew – rashad, shakhalayim tarbutiyim ראשד, רשד, שחלים תרבותיים ראשד, רשד),(Indonesian - seladri air),(Japanese -クレソン, Kureson), (Malay - selada air),(Russian- кресс водяной, kress vodyanoy),(Serbian – поточарка, potočarka), (Swedish – vattenkrasse), Turkish - su teresi), (Ukrainian - крес водяний, kres vodyanyy). (Latin - nasturtium officinale). Thanks to Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages for most of these translations.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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Cantal AOP and Salers AOP. Two of France’s Best Cow’s Milk Cheeses.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Wheels of the Salers AOP and Cantal AOP Cheeses.

Also called the Fourme de Salers AOP and the Fourme de Cantal AOP

Each wheel weighs between 35 to 45 kilos (77 to 100 lbs).

Photograph courtesy of Ferme De Labouygues Earl Caldayroux

Cantal AOP and Salers AOP.

The French word fourme, part of the name of many other French cheeses, comes from the Latin word for the shape. Fourme was also the old French word for cheese before fromage became accepted; the Italian word for cheese, Formaggio, has the same Latin origin.

The Cantal and Salers cheeses are both 30% fat, yellow, semi-hard, cows' milk cheeses, made with milk from the Salers breed of cattle. Both cheeses are produced in Cantal, one of the four departments in the Auvergne region that since 1-1-2016 is part of the super region called the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Both cheeses claim origins that go back 2,000 years to when the Romans occupied much of France. The cheeses' true origins may not go back to the Roman Empire, but certainly, they go back a few hundred years, and coming from the milk of a single breed of cows indicates that they developed together.

Cantal AOP

The Cantal cheese has two versions, a farm produced version called a Cantal Fermier made with unpasteurized milk, and a dairy produced version called a Cantal Laitier made with pasteurized milk. Cantal AOP, in both farm and dairy versions, comes in three age groups.

Wheels of Cantal AOP at their three ages.

Photograph courtesy of Cantal AOP

Jeune or Doux – Young and mild. The youngest cheese and it will have been matured from one to three months; it has an ivory color and a mild, slightly nutty flavor.

Entre Deux – Between the two. A cheese matured for 3 to 6 months, now turning yellow and tasting somewhat like a mild cheddar.

Vieux – Old. The Vieux Cantal will have been matured for at least six months. It begins with a taste somewhat similar to the taste of mature cheddar, and after nine months to a year or even older, it will be very different with a texture somewhat similar to Parmesan but with a much stronger taste.

Cantal Vieux

Photograph courtesy of Julien FOUR

www.flickr.com/photos/julienfour/26280943128/

The Salers AOP is one of only two French cheeses that for their AOP label that not only must come from free grazing in the high pastures, but the cheese itself must be made there. When the cows that produce the Salers AOP cheese are brought down from their mountain pastures, their milk cannot be used for the Salers AOP cheese.

Salers AOP

Photograph courtesy of Salers AOP

Taking Cantal AOP and Salers AOP home.

Buy your Cantal AOP in a Fromagerie, a specialist cheese shop. If they have regular customers who buy Cantal, they will offer at least two options. Then, if you look like a serious customer, you may be offered a sliver of each; if you are lucky, you may be offered a sliver from a Salers AOP to compare. However, from my experience, Salers AOP is not always available, and at times you may have to check a number of cheese shops until you find some.

Taking home a kilo or two of a Cantal AOP or Salers AOP cheese is a worthwhile expense. Buy a wedge of freshly cut cheese and have it wrapped and then vacuum wrapped. Semi-hard cheeses travel for two or three days if kept out of direct heat. When you arrive home, keep the cheese in the refrigerator, not the freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap. Treat Cantal and Salers like cheddar or another semi-hard cheese. When you want to eat some of the cheese, cut off a wedge and wait an hour or so before eating. The rest wrap in plastic wrap and return to its closed box in the refrigerator. Cantal and Salers will keep well for one or two months, or at least until you have finished eating it. For the link to Buying Cheese in France and taking it home, click here.

Taking a whole Cantal AOP and Salers AOP cheese home will not be easy; both cheeses come in wheels that weigh between 35 to 45 kilos (77 to 100 lbs). There are smaller wheels of the Cantal AOP cheese, but will still create problems as EasyJet carry-ons. The smallest Cantal AOP wheel, called a Cantalet, weighs about 8- 10 kil0s (18 to 22 pounds), and the medium size, called the Petit Cantal, weighs between 16-20 kilos (34 to 24 lbs).

The names Cantal and Salers

The name Cantal is the name of a department in the Auvergne comes from the Monts du Cantal, the Cantal mountains, These mountains are set around an enormous extinct volcano in the center of the department. The village of Salers is at an altitude of 950 meters in the center of Cantal; it was once a medieval city and now is one of the most beautiful villages in all of France.

The cheese's other names, the Fourme de Salers AOP and the Fourme de Cantal AOP, are part of cheese history. French word fourme, which is part of the name of many other French cheeses, comes from the Latin word for the word shape. Fourme was also the old French word for cheese before fromage became accepted, and the Italian word for cheese, Formaggio, has the same Latin origin.

Visiting Cantal by train may take you over the Garabit Viaduct.

The viaduct spans the River Truyère, near Ruynes-en-Margeride in the department of Cantal; it was built by.Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame.

Photograph courtesy of INRA DIST

www.flickr.com/photos/inra_dist/39045791381/

Cantal AOP and Salers AOP on French menus.

The Salers AOP is rarely seen on menus and then usually at the centerpiece of a cheese plate. In Auvergne restaurants, your menu may offer:

Clafoutis Moelleux aux Cantal AOP – A soft clafoutis made with a crepe-like batter and Cantal AOP cheese. Whether a clafoutis should be considered a tart, flan or pie is much disputed.

Filet de Veau Cuit en Base Température, Jus de Moutarde, Croquette de Pomme de Terre au Cantal - A fillet veal of cooked slowly at a low temperature, served with a gravy made from the natural cooking juices and mustard, accompanied by potato croquettes made with Cantal cheese.

La Truffade du Cantal – The truffade of Cantal is a traditional dish from the Auvergne. The truffade du Cantal is made of sliced potatoes cooked with Cantal cheese, flavored with bacon and garlic; all are cooked together and served like a cake. Occasionally this dish may be on the menu with Salers AOP.

A view of the village of Salers.

Photograph courtesy of Pom'

www.flickr.com/photos/pom-angers/32305918088/

Aligot d'Auvergne Saucisse et Salade de Printemps – Auvergne Aligot served with an Auvergne sausage and a spring salad. Aligot is one of the Auvergne's most popular dishes. The Auvergne Aligot is a young Cantal AOP or Tomme cheese blended with mashed potatoes garlic, crème fraîche, and milk and butter and olive oil. From personal experience on a cold winter's evening, after forty minutes in the freezing cold, while looking for a taxi and no time for lunch, the smell alone can be mistaken for the ambrosia of the gods. (The traditional Auvergne sausage is a small salami type sausage, about 100 grams, made with pork, pork fat, and beef; when served with Aligot, it is usually grilled. When this sausage is not served with Aligot, it may then be eaten uncooked like any salami type sausage). The spring salad accompanying the Aligot and sausage on the menu will include uncooked young vegetables, sprouts, and young vegetable shoots.

Traveling in Cantal and the Auvergne

Nearly all Frenchmen and women will have tried Cantal AOP and or the Salers AOP cheeses; however, few will have visited the beautiful department of Cantal. Cantal has a population of fewer than 150,000; that's just about 26 people per square km.

To find Cantal on a map of France, take a pin and point it at France's geographic center; that is the old region of Auvergne with the department of Cantal in the Auvergne's South-West; since 1-1-2016 is part of the new super-region of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Apart from these two AOP cheeses, Cantal has a third the Bleu d'Auvergne AOP apart from many other excellent local cheeses.

The Auvergne on the map of France.

Cantal is department number 15.

Photograph courtesy of Carte de France

Apart from a very large extinct volcanic massif in the center of the department of Cantal everywhere, there are green pastures, clean running rivers, and beautiful lakes. Those green pastures serve as grazing pastures for the Salers cows that produce the milk for the Cantal and Salers cheeses, but they become skiing centers in the winter. Those skiing areas reach high to the massif reaching over 1,800 meters. Cantal, like much of the region of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, is one of the most unspoiled parts of France.

Skiing in Cantal in winter.

Photograph courtesy of Mikel Ortega

www.flickr.com/photos/mikelo/3141958582/

If you are visiting the Auvergne, consider taking their Route de Fromage, their cheese road; it includes the five AOP cheeses of the region. However, if you are near the town of Ambert, the home of the Bleu d'Auvergne in the department of Puy-de-Dôme, then stop by and visit the town's Maison de la Fourme d'Ambert et de Fromages d'Auvergne. There, for a small contribution to the local economy, you may taste all five of the Auvergne's AOP cheeses.

Bleu d'Auvergne AOP,

Cantal AOP

Fourme d'Ambert AOP

Salers AOP

Saint Nectaire AOP

While in the department of Cantal or anywhere else in Auvergne for that matter, try their Coq au Vin de Chanturgue – The original Coq au Vin, most chefs agree, that it was prepared with the Chanturgue AOC/AOP red wine of the Auvergne. For more about the original Coq au Vin, see the post: Coq au Vin, the Traditional Version is Much More Than Just a Chicken Stewed in Wine.

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