Parmentier - The Man Who Brought the Potato to French Menus

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

Potatoes
Photograph courtesy of Michelle Grewe
www.flickr.com/photos/gabbysol/22939014776/

While Columbus brought chocolate, chilies, maize (corn), avocado pears, pineapples and many more fruits and vegetables back to Spain, he did not bring the potato. The Spanish would have to wait another 40 years until the first potato arrived in Spain. The potato comes from the area now called Peru, and in 1532 Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire and claimed the region for Spain. 

Despite its importance as a food among the Incas, the Spanish ignored the potato.  It was the Basques, in Northern Spain, who were the first mainland Europeans to plant the potato for food, and that was another 50 years later.  Potatoes were also grown about the same time in England, Ireland, and the American colonies, but Spain and France considered the potato poisonous. The French government in the 1700’s even passed a law making it illegal to eat potatoes. 
   
 
Do not eat the potato plant and its leaves.
It is true that green potatoes and the plant itself are poisonous.
Photograph courtesy of cygnus921
www.flickr.com/photos/cygnus921/2531982303/
  
  
Then came Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (1737–1813).  Parmentier was a pharmacist and is remembered as the man who made the potato an important food source for humans in France and throughout Europe.  In convincing the French to eat potatoes, he saved tens of thousands from starvation during the European famines of the 1700’s.

Dishes named after Parmentier on French menus:

Hachis Parmentier – Ground beef and chopped onions fried in butter; flavored with nutmeg and a light touch of garlic.  When the beef and onions are ready, they are placed in a casserole that has been prepared with mashed potatoes on the bottom. Finally, all will be covered with more mashed potatoes and breadcrumbs or Gruyere cheese will be sprinkled on top. The dish is placed under the grill and when the top turns a golden brown the dish is ready to be served. Hachis Parmentier may not have been the earliest recipes named after Antoine Parmentier, but it was already on French restaurant menus by the 1830’s.  The same dish made with lamb is Hachis Parmentier d'Agneau.
   
Hachis Parmentier with a cheese topping
  
In the UK you may see the traditional British dish cottage pie made with ground beef covered with mashed potatoes. When ground lamb or mutton replaces the ground beef, the dish becomes a shepherd’s pie. These dishes appeared on British menus only in the 20th century. That was 50 years after the first English tourists began visiting France and enjoying Hachis Parmentier. In the UK, the British shepherd's pie and cottage pie will be made without the garlic or the grilled cheese on top and with Worcester sauce. 

Cottage pie.
www.flickr.com/photos/rudiriet/2343873390/
  
  
Hachis Parmentier Façon Grand-Mère indicates a Hachis Parmentier prepared as Grandma did. Foods made like grand-mère made them are French comfort foods. 

Parmentier de Poisson - Hachis Parmentier with the beef replaced by fish, and Parmentier de Canard is Hachis Parmentier with the beef replaced by duck.

Pommes Parmentier - Potatoes cuts into small cubes about  1cm x 1cm x 1cm  and fried in butter and olive oil.
  
Pommes Parmentier

 Potage Parmentier  - A pureed leek and potato soup. The same ingredients served cold would later inspire the French Chef Louis Diat who created Vichyssoise. Diat created Vichyssoise in 1917 when he was chef de cuisine at the Ritz Carlton in New York.
   
Parmentier also worked on extracting sugar from sugar beet. That was at a time when (as usual) the French and the British were at war.  Then the English sea blockade prevented the import of sugar from France's sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean.  Parmentier oversaw some of the first factories producing sugar from beets.
 
More importantly, though even less well known was Parmentier's responsibility for the first French Government smallpox vaccination campaign.  Then in 1805, under Napoleon I, Parmentier was Inspector-General of France’s Health Services.

After Parmentier had convinced the French to eat potatoes came the recipe for French fries, chips.  The French were undoubtedly frying potatoes by the time Benjamin Franklin attended a banquet hosted by Parmentier in 1783.  That banquet served every dish from the hors d’œuvre to the dessert made with potatoes. The Belgians are credited with the recipe for French fries, chips, though Belgium only became an independent country in 1830. 
  
www.flickr.com/photos/waferboard/5729028796/
     
Parmentier died in 1813, aged 76 he is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Paris honored Parmentier with a Metro Station in the 11th arrondissement and the Avenue Parmentier that runs through the 10th and 11th arrondissements.

Potatoes, Pomme de Terre, in the languages of France’s Neighbors: 
 (Catalan – creïllera, pataquera, patatera), (Dutch - aardappel), (German - kartoffel ), (Italian – patata, patate), (Spanish -  patata). 
  
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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman 
Copyright 2010, 2018, 2023
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Barracuda – Barracuda, the fish. The European Barracuda in French Cuisine.

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


Barracuda
Photograph courtesy of Julia Koefender
https://www.flickr.com/photos/juliakoefender/8710262248/

Barracuda, Bécune Européenne, Brochet de Mer or Spet -The European Barracuda; the Mediterranean Barracuda; the Striped Barracuda.

The European Barracuda is a tasty and firm-fleshed fish. Nevertheless, it is a slightly fatty fish and so it will be on French menus marinated or prepared as grilled or baked filets. Japanese restaurants in France will when available, offer barracuda sashimi.  If the local fishermen and women catch a school of young barracuda, they will be adding their flavor to a fish soup or stew.
   
Osprey also like barracuda for lunch.
www.flickr.com/photos/andymorffew/11212243803/

The European barracuda is not large; it weighs up to 3 kilos (6.6 lbs). The fish seen in markets are mostly around 50 cms (20”) in length, though some can reach an impressive one meter (40 inches). All barracudas look like javelins, and that spear like appearance and their fang-like teeth add to their threatening presence.  Worry not; the European barracuda never attacks swimmers.  The adult barracuda is a solitary fish and keeps close to reefs and rocks where it is a prize for spear fishermen and women. The fish’s looks account for one of its French names the Brochet de Mer, the Pike of the Sea.  (Pike, are a freshwater fish and called Brochet in French). The barracuda on the menu will usually be a bycatch and on the menu as a daily special.
   
European barracuda on French menus:

Blanquette De Barracuda – A barracuda stew. The recipes for blanquettes include mushrooms, a cream sauce and usually a white wine.

Brochet de Mer/Spet Grillé au Feu de Bois Accompagné de Carottes et Radis Variétés Anciennes – Barracuda grilled over charcoal and accompanied by heirloom carrots and radishes.
  
Baby barracuda for one.
www.flickr.com/photos/clurr/3128507419/
  
Carpaccio De Barracuda - Barracuda Carpaccio. Very thin slices of marinated barracuda prepared as a Carpaccio.

Dos de Barracuda Grillé au Beurre -– A thick cut of barracuda, grilled and flavored with butter.
  
Lightly grilled barracuda.
      
Filet de Barracuda Cuisson au Beurre Noisette – Filet of barracuda prepared in a beurre noisette.   Noisettes are hazelnuts and Beurre Noisette is butter melted until its scent, flavour and color resembles hazelnuts.
   
A school of young barracuda
www.flickr.com/photos/usoceangov/31969091783/

In France’s Caribbean and Indian Ocean departments the barracuda caught may include many different family members.  The giant barracuda, the subject of National Geographic movies, may weigh 50 kilos (110lb) but will practically never be on the menu  as many suffer from a marine toxin.
   
Barracuda
https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/
www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/20306873274/

Barracuda in the languages of France's neighbors:                                                             
(Catalan – espet), (Dutch -barracuda), (German- barrakuda), (Italian- barracuda, luccio marino, luzzo de mar), (Spanish. - barracuda, espetón).   

Connected Posts:
 

 

   
Searching for words, names or phrases on French Menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" 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 470 posts 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, 2017, 2023.

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