Week 17, Day 2: Provincial French 1

For our first class on provincial French cooking, we covered the northwestern provinces of Normandy and Brittany. As Chef C explained, the ‘big 3′ items that define the cuisine of Normandy are dairy products, apples and seafood. The dairy products that come from Normandy are of a very high quality…milk, cream and creme fraiche are regarded as some of the best in France…and often have a higher percentage of fat than counterparts from other parts of the world. Perhaps it is the combination of that and the fact that unsalted butter is the dominant cooking fat used in the region’s cuisine that have given traction to the idea that French food is ‘heavy’ and rich. Camembert cheese was first produced in Normandy and is the most important and well known cheese to come from the region. Normandy is also very well known for its apples, many of which are processed and turned into cider and calvados, an kind of apple brandy. Interestingly, Normandy produces very little wine in comparison with the rest of the country. The Normandy and the New England regions sit relatively close to each other on the same latitude line on opposite sides of the Atlantic ocean, meaning that the same type of seafood found in Maine can also be found in Normandy…so items like lobster, clams and oysters are common in that part of France. Brittany’s features, in the words of Chef C, are an “exotic, savage and rocky coast and very fertile interior”. The region’s rustic cuisine is a direct reflection of the dominant sea that surrounds the rural interior portion of the region. Common ingredients include seafood, dairy products and fresh produce.

Huitres aux Amandes:

Huitres is the french word for oyster and these oysters were topped with a compound butter containing finely ground almonds before baking. Very nice.

La Cotriade (aka Breton Chowder):

This is a pretty typical dish from the region. It is nothing more than onions and potatoes, cooked in a little bit of fat rendered out of some salt pork. Boiling water is added and the potatoes are cooked until tender. Then small chunks of any white-fleshed fish are added and the soup is served in a dish that has been lined with lightly toasted french bread. Additionally, a white wine vinegar/black peppercorn mixture is served as an accompaniment.

Potage Au Deux Haricots (Two Bean Soup):

This soup also begins with salt pork, in addition to leeks and onion. White beans and chicken stock are added and when the beans are tender, the soup is pureed, then garnished with blanched green beans and bacon-flavored whipped cream. Sounds simple but this was so good.

Roti de Porc Au Pruneaux:

Pork loin stuffed with prunes and roasted. The roasting pan was deglazed with calvados and used as a basis for the sauce. The dish was served with buckwheat crepes that were filled with a mixture of apples and onions.

Le Floron Bread:

This bread benefited from the addition of rye flour and buckwheat flour (in addition to all-purpose flour) and we served it with some slightly warmed camembert cheese.

Kouigh Amann:

This is known as the traditional butter cake of Brittany and having personally made it, I can tell you that it contains a ton of butter…1 cup to be exact…to just a bit over 2 cups of flour. The method for making the cake is similar to making puff pastry, except slightly less fussy, in part because this dough relies on yeast as a leavening agent. The dough also calls for the inclusion of almost a cup of sugar, so with all of that fat and sweetness, you’re pretty much guaranteed that the final product will be rich and moist. I was still surprised at how much butter was in the cake and how greasy my fingers were after I had a piece of it.

I will say that I enjoyed it a lot.

Gateau Breton Aux Abricots:

Another traditional cake from Brittany, this one filled with an apricot paste. This cake was also good…it wasn’t as buttery as the kouigh amman and the apricot paste filling was a nice touch.

So far I’m enjoying the French unit, though I will say that all of the French vocabulary will present quite a challenge when it comes to exam time. In this week alone, I’d guess that there were about 50 French vocabulary terms that we are required to become intimately familiar with. I expect that in the next few weeks my brain will be at capacity as far as obscure foreign cooking terminology goes, but I’ll deal with all that when the time comes.