Aiguillat, Saumonette, and Rousette; Rock Salmon in the UK. Small Sharks on French Menus.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

The Aiguillate or Saumonette
The Piked Dogfish or Rock Salmon
www.flickr.com/photos/94373487@N02/8592042952/
 
The Aigullat or Saumonette
The Piked Dogfish or Spiny Dogfish in North America and Rock Salmon, Darwen Salmon or Dogfish in the UK.
 
and its close cousin
 
The Rousette.
Bull Huss in North America, and Dogfish  or Greater Spotted Dogfish in the UK.
(When you see Rousette  on French menus do not to be confused with wines such as the Roussette de Savoie AOP). 

The two fish in this post are occasionally confused on a menu, but that is not a terrible error. They taste much the same and when served with a sauce will be indistinguishable. French chefs take these fish with their white lean, firm, tasty, flaky, meat and prepare them as filets baked, grilled, or fried where they will be served with a sauce. They may also be smoked or served as a fish stew.

These fish are popular and tasty members of the shark family; they are true sharks though they only reach 4 to 6 feet in length. Worry not, these small sharks and a number of similar tasting cousins will be keeping well away from you when you are swimming and they are completely safe when they reach your menu. These fish are native to the British Isles, North Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Aiguillat, Saumonette and Rousette on French Menus:

 

Aiguillat  Fumé aux Petits Légumes -  Aiguillat smoked and served with young vegetables. From this menu listing, the fish served here is hot smoked. Hot smoking cooks the fish as well as adding a light smoky flavor.  Cold smoking cures, but does not cook, the fish.

   

Meslcun a l’Aiguillat Fumé

A mesclun salad, a green salad, traditionally made

with at least five different salad greens.

Here the mesclun salad is served with smoked Aigulilat.

Photograph courtesy of 750

 

Darne  d’Aiguillat Grillées au Vinaigre Balsamic - A thick slice or steak from an Aigullate, grilled and served  with Balsamic vinegar. The word darne indicates  a thick cut.

  

 

Fresh filets of Rock Salmon

http://www.quaysidefish.co.uk/

 

Dos de Saumonette, Sauce Grenobloise - A cut from the back of the fish, the meatiest part, served with a Sauce Grenobloise.  Sauce Grenobloise is a butter sauce  prepared in the manner of the city of Grenoble in South Eastern France. This is a clarified butter sauce with lemon and capers and almost always used for fish. Chefs may slightly change the recipe with some adding parsley or other herbs.

 

Saumonette Roulée aux Épices Saveurs Safran en Filament

Salmonette rolled in spices and threads of saffron

Photograph and recipe courtesy of Passion Froid.

   

Saumonette Sauce Aurore –  Saumonette served with a Sauce Aurore. Sauce Aurore is a Sauce  Béchamel tinted pink by the addition of a touch of tomato puree, with so little tomato you may hardly taste it; it is the color that is important. Sauce Aurore is called a child of Sauce Bechamel, one of the five mother sauces in French cuisine. (For more about mother sauces click here for the most prolific: Sauce Hollandaise. 

  

Saumonette/Aiguilatte

Photograph courtesy of ARC AS Norway

    

Blanquette de Rousette et Petits Légumes au Piment d'Espelette – A blanquette is a traditional French stew that includes, white wine, mushrooms, and crème fraiche. Here the rousette stew is prepared with young vegetables and those unique Basque Red Peppers from around the town of Espelette in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

 

Chartreuse de Rousette au Beurre Blanc - Rousette prepared on a bed of cabbage and served with a Beurre Blanc Sauce. Chartreuse, the liquor, took its name from the color, and so dishes with chartreuse in their title will generally include cabbage and no liquor.

   

Roussette à la Crème et Moutarde à l'Ancienne.

Rousette with crème and old-fashioned mustard sauce.

Photograph and recipe courtesy of Recettes du Chef

  

Roussette à la Vapeur de Citron -  Rousette steamed with lemon

Rock Salmon in the UK

The French have not yet adopted the British culinary art of the fish and chip shop where these small sharks are deep-fried in batter. Obviously, when in France, I tell no one about my tastes which include British fish and chip shops. Nevertheless, when visiting the UK I always stop at a favorite fish and chip shop for beer batter deep-fried fish accompanied by chips along with malt vinegar, pickled onions, and pickled cucumbers.


Fish and Chips.
Photograph courtesy of Alpha
www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/3469714129/
 
These small sharks are endangered.

Limits on the sizes and area of catches of these fish have been made by most European countries.  The females give birth to live fish, between two to fifteen fish.  However, the females only reach sexual maturity at about 12 years of age and their gestation period, a record for vertebrates, lasts between 22 and 24 months. For the fishing industry, these fish need a very long time to recover their numbers.

The Aiguillat  in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan – agullat), (Dutch - doornhaai ), (German – dornfisch, dornhai),  (Italian - spinarola, spinarola brun, raccolte gattuccio),  (Spanish – agullat, mielga)(Latin - squalus acanthias),

The Rousette in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan – gat vairy), (Dutch –kathaai), (German – pantherhai), ( Italian -  gattopardo), (Spanish -gata), (Latin - scyliorhinus canicula).

With thanks to Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2015. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (04/2015) for help with the non-English names and some of the background.

-----------
 
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
a French menu?
 
Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google.  Behind the French Menu’s links, include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.
 
----------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2015, 2021
 
--------------------
  
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Congre - Conger Eels. The Conger Eel in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com


A conger eel looking out of its cave.
Photograph courtesy of La Cote Bleu
Photograph by C.Coudre

Congre or Anguille de Mer
The Conger eel or the European Conger Eel.

The conger eel is the biggest and the heaviest member of the eel family. They have a firm, tasty flesh, and apart from their important place in French fish soups and stews, they will be served on their own as filets or as fried or grilled steaks. The conger eel is a sea animal, treated like a fish, and from the same family as the European freshwater eel which is also much appreciated in French cuisine. The European conger eel is caught in the Mediterranean, where it is an important ingredient in the Marseilles Bouillabaisse, and in the Atlantic where it is essential for an authentic Basque Ttoro fish stew. Apart from France, you will find conger eel on many Japanese and South American menus.


Conger eels on sale at an open-air market.
The Conger eels are at the back.
To the right are Dover sole and to the front are Plaice.
Photograph courtesy of Graeme Churchard
www.flickr.com/photos/graeme/43308883494/

You may have seen a National Geographic Magazine or a National Geographic Channel clip with conger eels over 2.5m (8 feet) long. However, that most French fishers usually catch smaller sizes, but they are not so small either. Most French-caught conger eels will be around 0.8 meters (2.5 feet). The conger eel prefers living in caves, and then they are caught by a rod and line offering them a tasty morsel. Only rarely do conger eels end up in fishing nets.

 


Another conger eel waiting for lunch to pass its cave,
Photograph courtesy of gordon.milligan
www.flickr.com/photos/el-milligano/11715500795/

Conger eels on French Menus:


Congre au Beurre - Conger eel steaks lightly fried in butter. 

 

Bouillabaisse.

Photograph courtesy of Cyclone Bill.

www.flickr.com/photos/cyclonebill/2855022887/

 

Congre Grillée  à l'Ail et au Persil – A grilled conger eel steak flavored with garlic and parsley.

              

Daube de Congre – A conger eel stew. A conger eel version of a Provençal dish that began as a beef daube, itself traditionally made with red wine. Following that daube tradition, the meaty flesh of the conger eel will be cooked in red wine. The recipe for this daube will often include shrimp, mussels, and some small fish added for flavor and decoration,

   

 

Congre à la bretonne

Conger eel in the manner of Brittany.

Photograph of courtesy of Cuisine AZ

       

Matelote de Congre au Vin Rouge  A matelote fish stew made with the conger eel and red wine. All matelotes are fish stews, some will be made with freshwater fish, and others like this menu listing are made with sea fish. Here the conger eel is the star. (See Bouillabaisse and Ttoro).

 

Matelote De Congre Au Vin Rouge

Photograph courtesy of Pavillon France

 

Soupe d´Araignée de Mer et de Congre Légèrement Piquant – A mildy spicey soup made with the European spider crab and the conger eel.  The spider crab is considered the tastiest of France’s local crabs.

The Conger eel in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan – congre), (Dutch - zeepaling), (German – conger meerale or  meeraale), (Italian - grongo),  (Spanish – congre, conger safio, congrio), (Latin -  conger conger).

With thanks to Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2015. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (04/2015) for help with the names on conger eels in a number of languages.
 
-----------
 
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
a French menu?
 
Just add the words, names, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google.  Behind the French Menu’s links, include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.
 
----------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2015, 2021
 
--------------------
 
Connected Posts:
 
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