Behind the French Menu

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Grenadier

www.naturalhistorymag.com

The Grenadier family members seen on French menus includes the Grenadier gris or Grenadier Berglax and the Grenadier de Roche. (On most French menus only the word Grenadier will be used). These two members of the larger Grenadier fish family compete for space on some beautiful French tables. Nevertheless, you and I are unlikely to tell the difference between either of these two fish. On the menu, only a filet will be offered.

Steamed Black grenadier

prepared with coconut milk and a light touch of curry

Photograph courtesy of Pavillon France

These two family members come from the deep waters of the North Atlantic, and they provide very firm sweet white meat. Chefs consider it them superior to pollack or whiting and they will be offered as filets pan fried or baked. They are large fish reaching up to a meter in length; however, the head takes up to 25 of the length and the long thin tail even more. All that is brought back to France is the filet.

The Grenadier fish on French menus:

Filet de Grenadier à la Concassée de Tomates et Basilic – A filet of grenadine prepared with coarsely chopped tomatoes flavored with basil. I imagine that the filet being offered here is pan-fried.

Grenadier Piccata with Zucchini Noodles.

In the UK the zucchini is called a courgette.

Piccata means sliced, sautéed, and served in a sauce containing lemon, butter, and spices. In this photograph, we can see chives and parsley. Piccata is usually a fish or meat dish.

Photograph courtesy of Real Good Fish.com

Grenadier Cuit au Four, Concassée de Tomates, Beurre de Sydre

"Les Argelettes" - Grenadine, the fish, baked in the oven with coarsely chopped tomatoes cooked in a cider butter prepared with cider from Les Argeletts.

When a chef has a duck, chicken, wine or cheese that he or she believes is very special then the name of the farm or the producer may well be on the menu. Here the menu notes the brand name of a cider used for the cider butter in the dish mentioned above. I looked into Les Argelettes and found that this is the private brand of cider. It is produced by a boutique cidriculteur, a boutique cider maker. In this case, the cider is made by an ex-three star Michelin Guide sommelier, Eric Bordelet. Eric gave up the world of wine to return to his family’s roots as a cider maker.

Pan fried Roughhead Grenadier

with fresh prawns and bok choy in crayfish sauce.

Photograph courtesy of Ingrum.

Filet de Grenadier aux Épinards Sauce Citron – A filet of grenadine prepared with spinach and served with a lemon sauce.

There are quite a number of other grenadier family members and no doubt some of them may grace the occasional French menu, but I have yet to encounter them. As you travel, you may meet the Pacific Grenadier on a menu on the USA’s West Coast and the Blue Grenadier in Australia or New Zealand.

Grenadier Gris

attached to the back of this fish is a parasitic copod.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/noaaphotolib/14318884118/

Photograph courtesy of NOAA Photo Library

https://www.flickr.com/photos/noaaphotolib/14318884118/

The Grenadier fish in the languages of France's neighbors:

The Grenadier Gris or Grenadier Berglax: - The Grenadier, the Roughhead grenadier or Onion-eye grenadier. (Dutch - noordelĳke grenadier),(German- grenadier, grenadierfisch or rauhköpfiger grenadierfisch), (Spanish - grenadero de roca).

The Grenadier, Grenadien, Grenadier de Roche – The Roundnose grenadier, Black grenadier, Rock Grenadier. (Dutch - grenadier ), (German –- grenadier, grenadierfisch), (Spanish – granadino).

Connected Posts:

Basil, Common Basil or Sweet Basil. Basilic or Herbe Royal; Herbs and Spices in the French Kitchen II.

Beurre - Butter in French. Butter in French Cuisine.

Céleri - Celery. The Joys of Celery on French Menus.

Ciboulette – Chives, the herb, in French Cuisine.

Cidre - Cider in France. France's Fabulous Ciders, Sparkling Ciders and Basque Cider.

Citron – The lemon; the fruit behind many of France’s culinary successes. Also the Citron Vert - Lime, the Cedrat – the Citron, the Combava – the kaffir lime and the Chadec - the Pomelo.

Crevettes - Shrimps and Prawns on French Menus. Shrimps and Prawns are Some of the Many Tasty Crustaceans seen in French Cuisine.

Écrivisse - Crayfish, Crawdad, or Crawfish. The Écrivisse is the Freshwater Crayfish and may be Among the Crustaceans on Your French Menu. Crustaceans III.

Persil - Parsley in French Cuisine. Parsley on French menus.

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

The black chanterelle mushroom

Photograph courtesy of the Biodiversity Heritage Library

https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/8510515768/

In France, this tasty trumpet-shaped, hollow, mushroom has a pleasant smell with a creamy and woody taste. Fresh horn of plenty mushrooms will be on many menus in France from August through November. This fungus loves France as there are many oak and chestnut forests where after the rains they may appear in significant numbers.

The family of Chanterelle mushrooms

The black trumpet mushroom belongs to the family of Chanterelle mushrooms; there are about 70 species of Chanterelle mushrooms around the world, and of the nearly ten family members found in Europe all are edible. The black trumpet mushroom will be found in black, black and white, dark brown or blue-gray and has the shape of a hollow trumpet or horn.

The horn of plenty mushrooms in the woods.

Photograph courtesy of Björn S...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40948266@N04/29072509564/

The post on France’s Chanterelle mushrooms:

I have written a post on the three chanterelle mushrooms most often seen on French menus. In that post I did not include this mushroom, the black chanterelle, the horn of plenty; black trumpet mushroom, it deserved a separate link.

The other family members most often seen on French menus include:

The Chanterelle Girolle, the chanterelle; the Chanterelle Gris, the trumpet chanterelle; and the Chanterelle à Pied Jaune, the yellow foot chanterelle. To follow the link to that post click here.

The Corne d’Abondance, Craterelles or Trompette des Morts mushroom on French Menus:

Suprême Poulet Poché, Sauce Veloutée aux Craterelles et sa Boule de Riz - Poached chicken breast served with a velvety black trumpet mushroom sauce and a bowl of rice.

Filet Mignon au Pinot Noir et Craterelles - Pork fillet, a cut from the tenderloin, in a pinot noir wine sauce served with theblack trumpet mushroom.

Le Suprême de Pintadeau et ses Légumes Cuisinés à la Crème de Craterelles – Breast of Guinea fowl and vegetables cooked in a creamy sauce from the black trumpet mushroom.

Guinea fowl with horn of plenty mushrooms.

Photograph courtesy of patrick janicek

https://www.flickr.com/photos/marsupilami92/6927629344/

Terrine de Sanglier aux Trompettes des Morts – A pate of farm-raised wild boar prepared with the black trumpet mushrooms.

Filet de Bœuf, Jus aux Trompettes de la Mort et Salsifis – A fillet of beef, (a cut from the tenderloin), served with its natural cooking juices and accompanied by the black trumpet mushroom and salsify, the oyster plant.

Filet de Truite au Beurre de Trompette de Mort, Sauce Riesling – A filet of trout, this will be the Arc-en-Ciel, the rainbow trout, prepared in a compound butter with a black trumpet mushrooms and serve with a Riesling wine sauce.

Petit Risotto Crémeux de Trompettes des Morts – A small creamy risotto made with the black trumpet mushrooms.

Horn of plenty mushroom risotto,

Photograph courtesy of SITS Girls

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sitsgirls/6320280072/

The origin of the name the Corne d'Abonance, the Horn of Plenty.

The Corne d'Abondance, the horn of plenty, is the mythical horn of plenty, the Cornucopia from Greek mythology. The story of the Cornucopia is one of the most popular myths linked to Zeus the King of the Greek gods. As the story goes the baby Zeus was hidden in a cave on the Island of Crete, and there he was fed by a goddess Amalthea who appeared as a goat and fed Zeus her milk. The baby Zeus already had magical powers, and when he broke Amalthea‘s horn, he gave her, in repentance, the gift of the horn of plenty. The Cornucopia is a horn that would always be overflowing with fruits, meats, vegetables and wine at the owner's desire. The shape of the cornucopia has become an international symbol of plenty and part of the flag of a number of nations.

A Cornucopia

Photograph courtesy of morano.vincent

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30326710@N02/2867405986/

Checking the wild mushrooms, you have found while in France

Every town and village in France have a trained mycologist, a volunteer mushroom expert, and local pharmacists have these expert’s addresses. Regular mushroom gatherers may easily spot the difference as look-alike mushrooms are poisonous and can make you very very sick! In the kitchens of France’s restaurant's wild mushrooms, of all types, may be on the menu and chefs only buy wild mushrooms that have been clearly identified by their ramasseurs de champignons, their professional mushroom gatherers.

NB. If you gather wild mushrooms when in France, do not eat any that have not been checked!!!

Horn of plenty mushrooms may be dried and retain much of their flavor, however, fresh they should be eaten or dried within 24 hours of being collected.

One of the mushroom’s French names is the Trompette des Morts, and that, unfortunately, translates into English as the “Trumpet of the Dead” though this mushroom is not poisonous. It second and third French names sound much better: Corne d’Abondance means Horn of Plenty, and Craterelle is a link to its Latin name craterellus cornucopioides’ take your pick; it is mostly called the black trumpet mushroom in English.

Black Chanterelle mushrooms, radicchio,

and Talegio Italian cheese

Photograph courtesy of the Tasting Table

The black trumpet mushroom in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan – trompeta or trompeta de la mort ), (Dutch –doodstrompet, hoorn van overvloed), (German – totentrompete, herbsttrompete), (Italian - trombetta dei morti, orno dell'abondanza), (Spanish - cuerno de la abundancia; trompeta de los muertos).

(Latin - craterellus cornucopioides)

Connected Posts:

Chanterelle or Chantarelle Girolle - The Chantarelle Mushroom on French Menus. Three of the Four Chanterelle Girolle Mushrooms in French Cuisine. The Mushrooms of France IV.

Filet Mignon on French Menus and Filet de Bœuf in French Cuisine.

Pates and Terrines. An introduction to the meat, fish, vegetable and fruit pates on French menus.

Pintade - Guinea Fowl. Guinea Fowl on French Menus.

Radicchio or Chicorée Italienne on French Menus

Salsifis – The Salsify or Oyster Plant on French Menus. The Salsifis in French Cuisine.

Sanglier - Wild Boar on French Menus?

Truite - Trout, the Fish. Trout on French Menus

Velouté Soupe and Sauce Velouté - A Veloute Soup and a Veloute Sauce. - A Velouté is One of France's "Mother" Sauces and one of the Many Styles of Soups and Sauces on French Menus.