Behind the French Menu

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

The Haricot de Soissons

The Haricot de Soissons is one of France’s largest dried white beans and very popular. When this bean is included in a dish, then its name will be on the menu. In restaurants in and around the town of Soissons, the local organization promoting this bean is the Confrérie du Haricot de Soissons. The men and women members of the confrerie and will visit all the local restaurants and make sure that cheap imports are not on the menu. (The members of the Confrérie du Haricot de Soissons are also very involved in promoting the local language called Picard so the younger generations will not lose the writings and history of the area. Picard is an early forerunner of modern French.).

Haricot de Soissons on French Menus:

Cassoulet au Confit de Canard et Haricots de Soissons – A slowly cooked stew of duck confit prepared with the large dried white beans from Soissons. This cassoulet is one of the few that does not come from the south of France.

Civet de Chevreuil aux Haricots de Soissons et Petits Légumes - A civet, a traditional French stew, here made with roe deer and the Soisson’s beans and young vegetables.

Pintadeau Sauce au Vin Blanc et Haricots de Soissons.

Guinea fowl with a white wine sauce and the beans of Soissons.

Photograph courtesy of Le village Certi'Ferme

Haricot de Soissons qui Accompagne des Jarretons de Porc – Slowly cooked, probably braised, pork shanks cut across the bone and cooked with the white beans of Soissons.

Haricots de Soissons Mijotés, Saucisses au Piment d’Espelette -

The beans from Soissons slowly cooked and served with sausages with the Espelette pepper.

Rillettes de Truite Fumée et ses Toasts, Salade de Haricots de Soissons – Smoked trout made into a fish paste and served with toast accompanied by a salad with the beans from Soissons. (Rillets, may be made with fish, duck, goose, and pork are not to be confused with rillons or rillots which use a very different method of cooking).

Velouté de Haricots de Soissons au Chorizo, Œuf Poché. – A velvety soup made with the Soissons beans served with chorizo sausage and a poached egg.

Gibraltar made Soissons Famous.

Soissons was internationally famous before the first bean was grown in the region; then, in 1729, an international conference was held there. The conference aimed to end a number of international problems but mainly the Anglo-Spanish War. At that conference among various agreements Spain agreed to Great Britain’s sovereignty over Gibraltar; Spain has regretted that treaty ever since. Eating the Soissons beans probably creates digestion problems for Spaniards.

Where is Soissons

Soissons is a town and commune (a commune includes an administrative and commercial area around a town or village); the town is in the department of Aisne in Hauts-de-France in northern France located on the Aisne River. (Aisne was previously in the region of Picardy but on 1-1-2016 became part of the super region of Hauts de France, The Heights of France was created when the regions of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy were joined). Soissons is about 108 km (68 miles) northeast of Paris, one hour and ten minutes by a TGV fast train. Soissons is also one of the longest inhabited settlements in France from before the Romans and Julius Caesar who arrived in C.E. 47.

Visiting Soissons?

Fête du Haricot de Soissons

The fete of the Soissons bean led by the members of the Confrérie du Haricot de Soissons and their children. Bean counters are at the back of the parade.

The fete is held over three days beginning on the fourth Friday in September. N.B. Always check the dates with the Tourist Information Office.

Photograph courtesy of alrishalesyeuxdemavie.com

The Soissons Tourist Information Office has a French language website; nevertheless, using the Bing or Google translate apps make the website understandable and useful.

http://www.tourisme-soissons.fr/

The Soissons Cathedral, correctly called the Cathédrale Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais was begun in the mid-1100’s and completed in the latter part of the 13th century. Some of the stained glass windows date from the 13th century.

Soissons Cathedral

Photograph courtesy of Matthew Chambers

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129696581@N03/16435222008/

Connected Posts:

Canard – Duck. Duck on French Menus.

Cassoles, Cassolettes, and Cassoulets. Along with Four of the Most Famous Cassoulets on French Menus.

Civet – A traditional French stew associated with small wild game. Civet on French Menus.

Confit? All About That Confit on Your French Menu. Confit in French Cuisine.

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

Piment d’Espelette - The Pepper from Espelette in the Basque Country. Pimenete d'Esplette is Most Popular Chili Pepper in France.

Pintade - Guinea Fowl. Guinea Fowl on French Menus.

Regions - France’s Mainland Regions and Their Borders Have Changed. Keep This List With Your GPS and Map.

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.

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Salmis

.Photograph courtesy of Digo Paul.

Salmis originated as a recipe for leftover game birds that had already been roasted. Roasted game birds that were the leftovers would be stewed in a red or white wine or an Armagnac based sauce. Then the salmis would be served with mushrooms and other vegetables Still today most salmis dishes will still be on menus during the various hunting seasons; however, the bird or other animals will not be yesterday’s leftovers. Salmis, with some changes in the dish’s preparation for the modern French kitchen, are popular menu listings.

Salmis on French Menus:

Garbure Béarnaise et Salmis de Sanglier – The garbure is heavy winter soup famous in the old province of Béarn and the area around Béarn. In this menu listing to this ginormous meal the Salmis of farmed wild boar has been added. If the boar had been real wild boar the menu would have read Sanglier Sauvage. Béarn had its capital in the town of Pau and Pau is now the departmental capital of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques in the new region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The super region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine was created on 1-1-2016 and includes the regions of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes. With Bordeaux as its capital, the new region includes the Pay Basque is the largest administrative region in France.

Tartine of Squab en Salmis

A squab is a young pigeon that has not yet flown and the word tartine is often used to describe an open sandwich

Photograph courtesy of D’Artagnan.

Royale de Pigeon de Bresse en Salmis, Fondue de Chou Vert - The highly rated farmed pigeon from Bresse prepared with green cabbage cooked to a pulp.

Salmis de Faisan

Pheasant Salmis

Photograph courtesy of Le Monde Cuisinier with Chef Simon

Salmis de Canard Sauvage – A salmis made with wild duck. As the type of wild duck is not named this will be the most prominent wild duck in France and elsewhere; this is the Canard Colvert, the Mallard Duck. The male Mallard duck is easily recognised with its green collar; in French, a green collar is a colvert.

You don't have time to make a Salmis?

You can always buy this jar salmis of woodpigeon on the web.

.Photograph courtesy of Pascal MASSONDE

Salmis de Sanglier au Patrimonie – This was an aristocratic Corsican dish that had the meat of a wild boar marinated for 48 hours and then roasted. In Corsica, this Salmis would be accompanied by a great red Corsican wine like an aged red Ajaccio. Ajaccio is an AOC/AOP appellation for white, red and rosé wines from Corsica.

Ajaccio and The Napoleon I Museum

Ajaccio is the capital city of Corsica and the prefecture, the departmental capital of Corse-du-Sud. Ajaccio is 351 km (220 miles) by sea from Marseille. Ajaccio is famous as the birthplace of the French Emperor Napoleon I. Napoleon’s home is now a museum, the Musée National de la Maison Bonaparte; it is located on the Rue Saint-Charles in Ajaccio.

Napoleon’s home.

As it would have looked when he was a child.

Photograph courtesy of The National Napoleon Museum.

The Napoleon Museum Has an English language website:

http://en.musees-nationaux-malmaison.fr/musee-maisonbonaparte/

Chefs stretch good recipes and traditions, and other game meats are now prepared in the same manner and may be on the menu. Outside of the hunting season farm-raised wild boar and farmed game birds may be on the menu.

Connected Posts:

French Bread - Different Types of French Bread. (Bread in French is Spelled Pain and Pronounced as Pan).

Canard – Duck. Duck on French Menus

Faisan - Pheasant. Wild and Farm-Raised Pheasant on French Menus.

Gibier – Wild game. Wild game in French Cuisine. Wild Game on French Menus.

Pigeons and Squabs on French Menus.

Regions - France’s Mainland Regions and Their Borders Have Changed. Keep This List With Your GPS and Map.

Sanglier - Wild Boar on French Menus?

Soupe - Soup. Soup on French Menus. A lexicon of French soups.