Behind the French Menu

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Gigot d'Agneau – Roast leg of lamb.
Photograph courtesy of Femme Actuelle

Gigot, Gigotin and Gigolette.

Gigot, Gigolette, and Gigotins were created around a roasted leg of lamb, pig, or goat, Over time, the original meanings of these words have changed, but this post should make most of today’s usages clear.

Gigot

A gigot will still indicate a leg of lamb, or a young goat, though today it may sometimes the monkfish's meaty tail.

Gigot on French menus:

Gigot d'Agneau Rôti aux Herbes de Provence – Roasted leg of lamb, flavored with the Herbs of Provence. A gigot of lamb always refers to a rear leg, the front leg, and the shoulder of lamb is the Épaule d'Agneau.

N.B. When ordering lamb in France, you will rarely be asked how you would like it cooked, unlike when you order a steak. The French prefer their lamb rosé, pink. If you prefer your lamb medium or well-done, advise the server.

Gigot d’Agneau on an ardoise.
An ardoise is the slate, a blackboard, or a whiteboard that shows the daily specials inside and outside French restaurants.
Photograph courtesy of Fredrik Rubensson.
www.flickr.com/photos/froderik/8282863027/

Gigot de Chevreau Rôti au Thym et Légumes – The leg of a young male goat, roasted with thyme and vegetables. Goats are raised for their milk, with some of France’s best cheeses being made with goat’s milk. However, young males will not grow up to provide milk, and so one of them will be the young goat on the menu.

Gigot de Chevreau aux Haricots Verts - A leg of goat with green beans.
Photograph courtesy of Recettes Simples.

Gigot de Lotte Rôti au Thym Citronné, Poêlée de Fèves aux Échalotes – Monkfish tail flavored with lemon thyme and served with lightly-fried fava beans and shallots. While monkfish is called lotte in most of France, in the south it is often called baudroie. The tasty monkfish tail has very firm flesh, and so a whole tail may be served roasted.

Roast Monkfish tail
SaltWater Fish Company, UK.

Gigot Rôti d'Agneau de Pré-salé – Roasted leg of pre-sale lamb. Pré-sale lambs will reach the market when between 4 - 9 months old. Their mothers raise these lambs until they are weaned and then they graze in the salt meadows close to France's Northern Atlantic sea coast for two to six months. The grazing in the salt meadows provides the lambs' unique taste, which, by the way, is in no way salty.

Brochette de Gigot d'Agneau – Attractively cut cubes of meat from a leg of lamb prepared on a skewer and grilled.

Agneau de Pre-salé AOP from the Mont-Saint-Michel,
Haute Normandy.
Photograph, courtesy of the Comité du Tourisme Haute-Bretagne Ille-et-Vilaine.

Gigot de Porcelet Farci aux Cèpes - The roast leg of a piglet stuffed with cèpes, the French porcini mushrooms.

Rouelle de Gigot d’Agneau – A loin chop. made from a cut across the rear leg. In this cut the bone is left in and is usually prepared grilled like a lamb chop or steak though the bone is in the center.

Gigolette

Gigolette was initially a cooking term used for dishes that included a leg or legs of small animals, including chickens, ducks, rabbits, frogs, etc. While gigolette is still used with its original meaning, it is now also used for many other cuts. A small cut across a lamb bone may be a gigolette d’agneau, a gigolette of lamb; another cut may be a gigolette de veau, veal. You will need to ask for more information on some of the dishes when gigolette is on the menu. However, as a French friend and foodie pointed out many lamb gigolettes will have been boned; so don’t be alarmed if your order arrives without the bone.

My online French-English dictionary definitions for gigolette include a nymph, damsel, and prostitute? I have, however, so far failed to uncover the secrets of the chefs who gave out the names for these dishes they created!

Gigolette on French menus:

Gigolette de Canard au Ris de Veau - A duck’s leg, most probably roasted, accompanied by veal sweetbreads. Veal sweetbreads are an inside cut and one of the tastiest. If you have not yet tried sweetbreads, France is the place to do so.

Gigolette de Lapin aux Champignons et Lardons
Photograph courtesy of Recettes Simples.

Gigolette de Pintade aux Champignons – Leg of Guinea fowl with button mushrooms.

Gigolette de Volaille Farcie aux Morilles – A leg of chicken stuffed with morel mushrooms.

Gigolette de Lapin Parfumé au Romarin – A leg of rabbit flavored with rosemary.

Gigotin

On a menu, gigotin will usually indicate a small leg of a lamb, kid, or piglet. Occasionally chefs get carried away with the poetry they create for their menus. As an example, consider how the word gigotin began to be used for fish dishes. Most fish gigotins will be filets that have been rolled, filled, and wrapped before cooking.

Gigotin d'Agneau au Thym Frais, Tian de Légumes, Gratin Dauphin – A small leg of lamb, roasted with fresh thyme and served with a tian of vegetables and Gratin Dauphin. A tian was originally a specific cooking dish; however, today, the original tian's particular shape is no longer required. When the word tian is on the menu, it usually indicates the vegetables cooked in a particular dish will be served in it. Gratin Dauphinoise, Gratin Dauphin, or Pommes de Terre Dauphinoise are all the same dish made with sliced baked potatoes cooked with olive oil and garlic and layered with cream and milk. Some versions include onions, and to nearly all are added grated cheese browned (gratinee) under the grill before serving,

Gigotin de Saint-Pierre Farci aux Langoustines, Ragoût d'Artichauts Violets – The John Dory fish fileted and wrapped around Dublin Bay prawns and served with a ragoût a traditional French stew. Here the ragoût is made with small violet artichokes.

Gigotin de Poulet Farci aux Cèpes – A chicken leg by any other name will taste the same. Here the chicken leg, the gigotin, is stuffed with cèpes, the French porcini mushrooms.

French cèpes - Porcini mushrooms.
Photograph courtesy of Cristina Sanvito.
www.flickr.com/photos/40385177@N07/3973873841/

Gigotin d'Agneau, Jus à l'Ail doux, Gratin Dauphinois - A small leg of lamb prepared with the juice of sweet garlic and served with potatoes gratin dauphinoise.

Gigotin de Daurade et Risotto au Safran – Gilthead sea bream served with a saffron-flavored risotto. While I admit to not knowing how gilthead sea bream arrived on menus as a gigotin, I do know that gilthead is a firm, tasty fish. Larger giltheads, over one kilo, are mostly caught in the Mediterranean, while smaller fish may come from seawater fish-farms.

Gilthead Sea Bream.
Photograph courtesy of Dunk.
www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/7095715239/

Gibelotte

A gibelotte began as a rabbit stew flavored with bacon, onions, mushrooms, and white wine. Gibelotte was and is a popular dish, and over time many different dishes have been added with gibelotte as part of their name. Do not be surprised to see, on a menu, a gibelotte with beef or game and red wine.

Gibelotte de Lapin.
Photograph courtesy of Cuisine Actuelle.

Gibelotte de Lapin au Cidre et Calvados – This is the traditional gibelotte rabbit stew with the white wine replaced by cider and Calvados. Cider instead of wine will be seen in Normandy, famous for its cider, and other apple products, especially its Calvados apple and pear brandies. The rabbits and hares on French menus are farm-raised unless clearly marked otherwise.

Gibelotte de Pintade Farcie au Foie Gras – A gibelotte stew of guinea fowl stuffed with fattened duck's liver.

Gigue or Cuissot

Gigue (de) or Cuissot – A haunch. The terms are generally only used for game. (The French word for a small animal’s legs is cuisse and used for the legs of poultry, rabbits, frogs, and piglets, etc).

Cuissot de Sanglier au Four et aux Herbes de Provence – A haunch of wild boar roasted in the oven and flavored with the Herbs of Provence.

Gigue de Chevreuil Rôti au Four en Sauce Poivrade – A leg of roe deer roasted and served with a sauce poivrade. Sauce poivrade is based on a meat stock, white or red wine, black pepper with thyme and bay leaves as the main herbs.

Gigue de Chevreuil Grand Veneur – The haunch of a roe deer, served with the sauce of a Master of the Hunt. Worry not; you will receive slices, not the whole haunch. Grande veneur is a traditional sauce created to serve with game and the word veneur means hunter. The recipe has changed over time and now is usually made with red wine vinegar, berries, butter, and herbs. The roe deer on this menu listing is farm-raised; if this roe deer had been hunted in the wild, the listing would have noted chevreuil sauvage.

Gigue de Chevreuil Rôti au Four en Sauce Poivrade – A leg of roe deer roasted and served with a sauce poivrade. Sauce poivrade is based on a meat stock, white or red wine, pepper, and juniper berries.

Gigue de Sanglier Sauce St Hubert - The haunch, the rear leg, of a wild boar, served with Sauce St Hubert. This is a sweet and sour, slightly spicy red wine and vinegar sauce with juniper berries and often served with game. When you see dishes with the name Saint Hubert on the menu, they will be recipes initially created for wild game. Saint Hubert is the patron of Saint of the Belgian Ardennes region and the Belgian hunters’ patron saint. The same or similar wild game dishes are, in season, on the menus over the border in the French department of Ardennes. However, this menu listing is not for real wild boar, unless it was on a “Menu de Chasse,” a hunting season menu. A real wild boar would be on the menu as a sanglier sauvage. France farms wild boar raising them in large open areas of forests; there, they do not know they are being farmed. Within these areas, these farmed wild boar are well fed, and so they have much tenderer meat than their really wild cousins.

My French foodie friend pointed out that despite the veneration shown here by the Belgians Saint Hubert was actually born in Toulouse, France. So the French consider it a little amusing to see the Saint Hubert portrayed as a Belgian icon, even though he is buried in Belgium.

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