Behind the French Menu

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Limpets on a rock.

www.flickr.com/photos/8647344@N04/5726693617/

Bernique, Brennig, Patelle or Patelle de l'Atlantique – The Common European limpet. Limpets may not be on too many UK or North American menus, but they will be on many French seafood restaurant menus. Especially seafood restaurants along France’s Atlantic coast.

The limpet comes from the same family as the coque, cockles; bulots, whelks; and bigorneau, winkles or periwinkles. Whelks and winkles were a traditional British seaside dish, but have been low in the popularity stakes for a long time. In their place have come their higher priced more distant cousins, including mussels and oysters. Despite that, whelks, winkles, and limpets are still very popular with the French seafood cognoscenti and are also popular in Japanese cuisine.

Adriatic Limpets

On your menu in Italy?

Photograph courtesy of « R☼Wεnα »

www.flickr.com/photos/rubber_slippers_in_italy/240330903/

A limpet’s shell is a light grey to white color, and the flesh inside is usually a light orange. The limpets on your seafood platter are not farmed; they will have been collected daily from the rocks along the shore. Those who collect limpets for the seafood markets are professionals. If a limpet's shell or the rock close to it is tapped, the limpet will clutch the rock with its foot and teeth and practically cannot be removed. The professionals, who use special tools, can feel this and go on to the next limpet who will be removed in a single movement. N.B. When taking limpets off the rocks give no advance warning!

Limpet teeth are the strongest natural material known to man. Limpet teeth have displaced spider silk as the strongest natural material in the world, according to new research from the University of Portsmouth:

www.independent.co.uk/news/science/limpet-teeth-just-how-strong-is-it-10054520.html).

Limpets on French menus:

Bernique en Escabèche – A limpet escabeche. An escabèche is a marinated fish and shellfish dish of South American, probably Peruvian origin and served cold. Here the limpets will have been marinated in wine vinegar with herbs and spices used for added flavor. Raw limpets are slightly chewy, but the marinating will have reduced that.

Limpets and spinach

Photograph courtesy of Shirley's Luxury Haven.

Fricassée de Berniques – A limpet stew. The original fricassées were only made with chicken; however, that was originally. Cooked limpets can be very chewy unless they have been very well cooked and so this is the time to ask the waiter how they are prepared.

Patelles au Beurre Aillé – Limpets served with a garlic butter sauce. Limpets may be fried or grilled for under one minute and then served. Any longer and they will need to be cooked for over an hour.

Limpets with garlic butter sauce.

Photograph courtesy of ming.com

Patelles Grillées – Very lightly grilled limpets. They will be flavored with herbs.

Terrine de Berniques – A limpet pate. Here the limpets will be flavored with wine and herbs will have been “nuked” in a blender. This dish is usually served with a sliced baguette or country bread and salted butter on the side.

Canned limpets

Photograph courtesy of HonestBee

The limpet does move around underwater when it looks for its food, algae, but it always returns to the same place. Limpets can live for up to 20 years, and after their death, their shell becomes part of the rock.

Limpets in the languages of France’s neighbors:
(Catalan - pegellida), (Dutch - puntkokkel or napslak ), (German - gemeine napfschnecke), (Italian - patella), (Spanish – lapa).

Connected Posts:

Bulots, Bourgets or Buccins - Whelks. Whelks are Very Tasty Sea Snails and They Will be on the Menu in France .

Coques - Cockles.They are close cousins of the clam family. Cockles on Your French Seafood Menu.

France's Butter Sauces I. The Three Most Popular Butter Sauces on French Menus.

Moules - Mussels. Moules Frites and Much More. Mussels on French Menus.

Huitres. Oysters in France 1. Ordering, Eating, and Enjoying Oysters. Huitres on French Menus.

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

Vinegar, Vinaigrette and Verjus in French Cuisine.

Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 400 articles that include over 2,500 French dishes with English translations and explanations. Just add the word, words or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google or Bing.

Behind the French Menu

by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2017, 2023.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

A tastevin for sale on Amazon.

Photograph courtesy of Amazon Italia.

The tastevin

The tastevin is a cup made in silver and traditionally worn on a silver chain by many a restaurant’s sommelier, its wine steward. A tastevin may look like a silver ashtray, but its design was created to reflect light when looking at wine in dark caves lit only by candles. The concave indentations in the traditional tastevin allow the cellar master to see if the wine was clear and to note the contrast and the depth of the wine’s color; all by the light of a candle. Only then would the cellar master sniff and taste the wine. Today the tastevin is worn by the professional sommeliers who know a great deal about wines, and especially the wines of Burgundy.

The sommelier

Wines are a very very important part of France’s gastronomic universe. Hardly any Frenchman or woman would consider sitting down to dinner without a wine or other alcoholic beverage accompanying the meal. The choice of wines on a restaurant’s wine list is the job of the sommelier.

Viewing the clarity and color of the wine.

Photograph courtesy of Emiliano De Laurentiis

www.flickr.com/photos/isante/4817028323/

The sommelier has not just risen within the restaurant’s rankings though he or she will undoubtedly have worked as a server at some time. Along the way, the sommelier will have spent from three to five years studying the wines of France and the world. Then, after a few years, as another’s sommelier’s deputy, he or she will be given the responsibility for approving and managing a restaurant’s wine stock.

The sommelier’s years of study included visiting the vineyards, the vintners, and the cellars. Then they must invest time and money in acquiring the nose and taste buds that can identify the wines along with the knowledge of how to age them. The public will have expert advice along with information on a wine’s history and its suitability for pairing with a particulate dish. The restaurant's owner will have a manager who knows how to taste and compare wines, and when to buy. The sommelier controls stock levels and ensures the storage of the wine in a manner that allows them to age gracefully.

A sommelier decanting a wine.

Older wines, from ten or more years ago, along with wine produced by traditional methods, may have sediment. The bottle will have been stood upright for at least 24 hours before serving so the sediment will settle. Then, by decanting, often through a filter, the sediment will be removed.

Photograph courtesy of Fabio Ingrosso

www.flickr.com/photos/vinofamily/3467201365/

Managing the wines.

In many restaurants, the cost of the wines that are stored is the owner’s most significant investment. The wines and liquors in the cellar may cost more than the furnishings of the restaurant and its kitchen. Aging wines is not just a matter of having a cellar with a suitable temperature it is also the manner of storage. Cellars have different temperatures at different levels, and the humidity changes slightly throughout the year. The bottles must be properly laid down and regularly turned. Wines often do not grow old gracefully on their own. Bottles that may cost hundreds of US dollars may still need to have their corks changed over the years, and that is not an inexpensive matter nor a straightforward decision.

228-liter barrels aging in a Burgundy cellar

Photograph courtesy of Karen

www.flickr.com/photos/25850415@N02/2443502546/

The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin,

France has hundreds of Confréries. These are brother and sisterhoods dedicated to enjoying and promoting the wines, cheeses, fruits, and other food products in French cuisine. The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, the brother, and sisterhood of the Knights of the Tastevin are based in Burgundy and promote the wines of Burgundy. This Confrérie owns the Château of the Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy, which has been its headquarters since 1935. The Confrérie offers its members and guests excellent food and plenty of wine at their monthly meetings.

A ceremony with the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.

Photograph courtesy of Tourisme Nuits Saint Georges

www.flickr.com/photos/tourismesurlacotedenuits/15308052238/

Here, in the Clos de Vougeot the wines of Burgundy are tasted and honored. The Confrérie also awards prizes for art honoring Burgundy and has annual charitable events. Despite its charities, its grand celebrations aim to promote the great wines of the Bourgogne, Burgundy. That, and keeping the sommeliers of France informed and happy is its real raison d’être. The Chevaliers du Tastevin is not a small confrerie. Its membership honors thousands of outstanding people from celebrated artists to Noble prize winners. They, in turn, acknowledge the charms of the wines of Burgundy and France.

Château de Clos de Vougeot

Photograph courtesy of Navin Rajagopalan

www.flickr.com/photos/navin75/15008110607/

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

http://www.tastevin-bourgogne.com/en/

View a YouTube video of the introduction of new members of the Knights of the Tastevin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti1DuKziP9Y

Watching a master sommelier.

In a beautiful French restaurant in Basel, Switzerland, six of us sat down to dine with a French colleague who was a gourmand and a knowledgeable oenophile, a lover of fine wines. Our colleague ordered a bottle of Gevrey Chambertin, one of Burgundy’s excellent reds. The bottle chosen was an eight-year-old wine that came from a vintner he knew well. After our hors-d'oeuvre and entrée, (the French first course), our host ordered a second bottle. When wine from a single vintner is aged correctly two bottles of the same vintage should taste the same. Here, the sommelier did precisely what he was supposed to do. He tasted the few teaspoonfuls of wine left in the first bottle using his tastevin. Then he tasted the wine from the second bottle. The wine passed the sommelier’s test and he poured the wine into the existing glasses. There was no need to change the glasses or to offer the wine to be tasted again.

A 2002 Gevery-Chambertin

Photograph courtesy of Ethan Prater

www.flickr.com/photos/eprater/26005156540/

The sommelier was brilliant, no overacting. Nonetheless, his whole manner showed the importance and solemnity of the occasion. The wines were his responsibility, and his face showed quiet concentration. With the taste of the wine from the new bottle came a light smile of appreciation and approval. What a superb professional. The wine was the exactly the same, as expected, but this sommelier's low keyed and self-assured performance made a great meal and a great wine genuinely memorable.

Connected Posts:

AOP, IGP and Vin de France. New Labels on French Wines.

Ami Du Chambertin; the Cheese from Burgundy.

Beaujolais - Beaujolais wines. Beaujolais Wines on French Menus.

Bœuf Charolais - The Charolais Beef. Le Bœuf Charolais du Bourbonnais AOP - The Charolais Beef is Considered Among the Best France.

Charolais AOP – One of France’s Tastiest Goat’s Cheeses. Charolais Cheese on French Menus.

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

Coq au Vin, the Traditional Version is Much More Than Just a Chicken Stewed in Wine.

Dining in Burgundy. Cuisine Bourguignonne and the Dishes … à la Bourguignonne.

Époisses (Epoisses) AOC the Premier Cheese from Burgundy (Bourgogne – Franche-Comte).

Escargots - Snails. Snails on French Menus. How to Order Snails in France.

Kir and Kir Royale the Unique French Aperitifs. The Aperitifs of Burgundy.

Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 470 posts that include over 4.000 French dishes with English translations and explanations. Just add the word, words or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google or Bing.