Marmelade – Marmalade in French cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


 
 
Marmelade d'Oranges Amères
Bonne Maman, France.
  
  
Marmelade – Marmalade.
French Marmalade began in Portugal

In France, Marmalade is not always made with orange and or citrus fruit jam. The French for a jam or conserve is a confiture. The French began importing quince jams, confitures de coings, from Portugal over 200 years ago. Then the labels on the jars in Portuguese read marmalade, but in Portuguese, a quince, the fruit itself, is a marmelo, and the jam or conserves made with quince is Marmalade. The French adopted the word marmalade and used it for many other fruit jams, not just quinces.

A ripe quince looks somewhere between a yellow apple and a yellow pear. While quince jams reached France via Portugal, the Romans probably brought the first quince trees to Portugal from Turkey or Macedonia. Roman cookbooks have left us recipes for quince jams, so we know they were over 1,000 years ahead of France in using that fruit.


Quince
Photograph courtesy of madras91
www.flickr.com/photos/96579667@N05/22282176435/

Other countries, including the U.K., began making conserves with other fruits and also took the Portuguese word marmalade. The French created many excellent marmalades, including marmalade de ananas, pineapple marmalade, Marmalade de frais, strawberry Marmalade, and many more.

The European Common Market Bureaucrats step in.

In 2004 the European Union bureaucrats decided it was time to make order in the confusing world of Marmalade. Ten years later, 2014 became the last year for using the word Marmalade for any jam or jelly made with a fruit other than citrus fruits in the E.U. I'm not sure how the Portuguese feel about that as they owned the word's origins, and it means a quince conserve. Despite the E.U. legal ruling, many French chefs, with their years of schooling, had learned to make marmalades long before the European laws were made. These chefs still make marmalade d'abricot, apricot marmalades, and other fruit conserves and insists on using the word marmalade. Tradition in the French kitchen is tradition, so marmalades without citrus fruits still appear on many French menus.

Marmalade on French Menus:

Filet de Biche Sauce Grand Veneur, Marmelade de Potimarron, Citron et Airelles Sauvages – A fillet of a mature female red deer. On a menu listing like this, the deer will have been farm-raised, or the words biche sauvage would have been noted. N.B. From the French word biche comes the English word bitch. The fillet is served with a Grand Veneur Sauce; that is a traditional sauce for game and translates as the sauce of the master of the hunt. The sauce's recipe has changed over time and now is usually made with red wine vinegar, butter, fresh berries, and crème fraîche. Accompanying the fillet on this listing is a marmalade, a jam made with pumpkin, lemon, and wild European cranberries. Many animals considered gibier (game) in the wild are also farm-raised in France.


A dual serving of foie gras and quail.
Photograph courtesy of stu_spivack
www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/2439756443/

Foie Gras de Canard Marmelade de Cerises Noires – Very lightly fried fattened duck's liver served with a black cherry jam.


Pineapple Marmalade
Photograph courtesy of CDKitchen

Médaillons de Chervil et Marmelade d'Airelles –  Round or oval cuts from a farm-raised roe deer served with a European cranberry marmalade.

Tartare de Noix de Saint Jacques et sa Marmelade d'Abricot à la Vanille de Madagascar – A tartar made with the meat of the King Scallop served with an apricot jam flavored with Madagascar Vanilla. Vanilla is another New World discovery that Christopher Columbus and his conquistadors in 1502 could not pronounce with the native name. The native name was tlilxochilt, and by the time the conquistadors arrived home, this herb had become vainilla in Spanish. The vanilla the conquistadors brought home was wild vanilla, and it remained wild and expensive for 400 years. Vanilla was finally cultivated in the 19th century, but it still requires a lot of hand labor. Today the major vanilla producers are Madagascar, Indonesia, Mexico, and China.


The vanilla bean grows quickly on the vine,
but it is not ready for harvest
until maturity, and that is approximately ten months later.
Photograph courtesy of Reizigerin
www.flickr.com/photos/svostrova/4615971215/

Pavé de Saumon Marmelade d’Agrumes – A thick cut of salmon served with a grapefruit jam. In French, agrumes mean citrus fruits; however, agrumes nearly always mean grapefruits on a menu. The French word for grapefruit is Pamplemousse, but as Pamplemousse can be used in an insulting manner in French, almost all menus will note agrumes.

Terrine de Canard aux Pistaches et Marmelade de Mirabelles - A duck pate with pistachio nuts served with France’s favorite Mirabelle plum.

Marmelade d'Oranges Amères - Bitter Orange Marmalade.

My personal preference for a French orange marmalade is La Marmelade d'Oranges Amères, bitter orange marmalade. This marmalade is made with the slightly bitter Seville oranges. The confusion over the name marmalade with the name of a quince jam was not limited to France. Scotland, not France, was the birthplace of bitter orange marmalade. The first bitter orange preserves were first made in Dundee, Scotland. There are a number of stories about how Seville oranges ended up in Dundee; unfortunately, they are all too long for this post.  


An old Scottish Dundee Marmalade jar.
Photograph courtesy of Smabs Sputzer (1956-2017)
www.flickr.com/photos/10413717@N08/5734581069/

The French diner knows what a non-citrus marmalade is and, as usual, ignores any interference by EU Bureaucrats in their diet. Dining in France, even at meals in school, is unlike dining in any other country. This is a nation that teaches children in state schools to eat correctly and slowly and also to know what they are eating. There are no sweet drinks in French schools, just water from the tap and three-course lunches consumed over half an hour to forty minutes. Twenty or more years ago, a French child may have had enjoyed in school a marmalade without citrus fruits. That man or woman today will continue to accept that and ignore the EU ruling.


Dundee Orange Marmelade
Photograph courtesy of Mackays

--------------------------------

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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Dining in the Ancient Province of Quercy. Quercy is Mostly Divided Between the Departments of Lot and Tarn-et-Garonne.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

 
The village of St-Cirq-Lapopie, Quercy.
Photograph courtesy of Tourism Lot.
 
Where is Quercy?

Two hundred years ago, during the French revolution, the province of Quercy in France's southwest was divided into the department of Lot and part of the department of Tarn-et-Garonne, with other parts reaching into neighboring departments. The Causses du Quercy overflow to the north into Corrèze, to the north-west into the Dordogne, to the west to Lot et Garonne, to the south to Tarn et Garonne, and the east to Aveyron. Since 1-1-2016, the department of Lots and Tarn-et-Garonne have been part of the administrative region of Occitanie. Despite the 200 years that have passed, Quercy's

Quercy was an ancient province in France's southwest. Much of its land is made for farming, and the green and fertile fields are still seen as a patchwork of meadows, orchards, woodlands, and valleys. Wherever you look, you will find fruit, poultry farms, livestock farms, and more. Through the Northern Causses of Quercy, there are limestone plateaus carved by the Lot and Dordogne rivers.

Quercy on French Menus:

Selle d'Agneau IGP du Quercy Rôtie – Roast saddle of Quercy lamb. The saddle is a large cut, so you will be offered slices. N.B. Lamb in France is served slightly pink, and unlike steaks, you will rarely be asked how you prefer your lamb cooked. If your preference is for well-cooked lamb, advise the server. The Quercy lambs are the Agneaux Fermier du Quercy, Label Rouge, IGP., and were the first French lambs to be awarded a red label for the consistently high quality of their meat. They spend their first 70 days raised by their mothers are free of antibiotics and growth hormones.

The Natural Regional Park, Causses du Quercy 

The famous Quercy Red Label, IGP lambs, are mostly raised on the park's limestone plateaus (it is also a UNESCO Global Geopark). Part of the park overlaps into the pastures of the National Park of the Cevennes.

https://uk.parc-causses-du-quercy.fr/

The beautiful National Park of Cevennes, where some of the lambs are raised, has its own website, and it is also a lovely place to travel through:

http://www.causses-et-cevennes.fr/en/i-discovered/natural-parks-and-large-sites/the-cevennes-national-park/


The black-eyed Agneau du Quercy lambs.
Photograph courtesy of France-Voyage

There is a fete celebrating the Quercy lambs: The Fête de l'Agneau du Quercy. The fete is held every year on the 2nd Saturday and Sunday in August. (N.B. Always check dates before traveling). The fete is held in the village of Cressensac in the north of the department of Lot. With less than 700 inhabitants Cressensac combines with other nearby villages and grows overnight to welcome the visitors in their thousands. Visitors are welcome, and the town of Rocamadour so famous for its own Quercy product, the Rocamadour goat’s cheese AOP is just 35 km (22 miles) to the south of Cressensac in the same department. Rocamadour is a fantastic place to visit and the place to stay when visiting the fete. N.B. Book a long time ahead.

Duo de Crèmes Brûlées au Safran du Quercy et Lavande - A duo of crème-brules. One is flavored with the famous Quercy saffron,(L’Or Rouge de Quercy, Quercy’s red gold), and the other with lavender. Quercy is one of the few remaining places in France where saffron, the herb, is still grown. A mechanical harvester cannot pick saffron; saffron must have its deep red stigmas picked by hand, which is both a backbreaking and expensive job.

Saffron remains the most expensive spice in the world. In Quercy, a farmer with a whole acre planted with saffron in a good year will have, at most, two kilos of saffron stigma. The farmers only begin to make a profit when they receive over $1,000 for 100 grams.


Half a gram of Saffran
Photograph courtesy of Miss Meister
www.flickr.com/photos/miss_meister/2458311069/

Grosses Crevettes Marinées au Safran du Quercy, Gaufre de Pomme de Terre et Fenouil Croquant Large shrimps marinated in Quercy's saffron and served with potato gaufres and crisply cooked fennel, the herb. Potato gaufres are potato wafers that look like very thin Belgian waffles. Fennel is a member of the same licorice-flavored family as dill, with a slightly more robust flavor. Despite that caveat, the taste of the fennel plant is mild and appreciated by French chefs who use it in many fish and shellfish dishes. 

La Salade Endives aux Betteraves et Cerneaux de Noix de Périgord AOP  - A salad of endives and beetroot served with the locally grown Périgord Walnuts AOP. The department of Perigord-Dordogne borders Lot, and many of Périgord's famous walnuts are grown inside Lot's borders. 

Endives, goat's cheese, and walnuts
www.flickr.com/photos/29183526@N06/5336795456/ 

The endive is the Belgian endive, witloof or whiteleaf, and called chicons in Belgium. Endive leaves are mostly white with yellow to slightly light-green tips and are firm and crunchy; they have a nutty and slightly bitter flavor.

Melon du Quercy, Avec de Fines Tranches de Jambon Sec – The much appreciated Quercy melon served with thin slices of cured dried ham. These melons are claimed to be descendants of melon seeds brought in the 15th century from Naples. Italy. The Quercy melon is a round, light-green melon with thin, dark green stripes. It has a sweet, orange-colored, beautifully scented flesh. The locally cured hams offered here may be cured in a variety of ways and have many different tastes. Here, the cured ham will complement the melon's sweetness.


The Quercy melon.
Photograph courtesy of Thomas.
www.flickr.com/photos/charros/17110768538/

Blanc de Volaille Fermières de Quercy et Segala Label Rouge au Vinaigre de Xérès et Gambas Chicken breast from the Quercy and Segala Red Label poultry prepared with sherry vinegar and served with large shrimps. Segala is a unique agricultural area in the Occitanie region, and together Quercy and Ségala are an agricultural region that straddles the border between the departments of Aveyron and Tarn. Quercy and Ségala jointly raised France’s first red label poultry. Their poultry, including turkeys, ducks and Guinea fowl, are all raised free-range in grassy fields. The poultry are antibiotics and growth hormone free.  N.B. Segala Label Rouge veal is considered among the best in France, and it will be on many Quercy menus.

The English language website of Aveyron and Segala is:

http://www.aveyron-segala-tourisme.com/index-en.php

The French language website for tourism in Lot will introduce you to many Quercy events, food products, and more. The website can be easily understood with the Bing or Google translate apps.

http://www.tourisme-lot.com/pratique/brochures

Magret de Canard de Quercy Sauce au Vin de Cahors Duck breast from the highly-rated Quercy ducks prepared with a sauce made from Quercy’s famous Cahors red wine.

Risotto Carnarolli au Vieux Parmesan et à la Truffe Noire du Quercy - A risotto made with the most expensive of all risotto rices, the Carnarolli rice. Here it is prepared with aged Parmesan cheese and the black Quercy truffle. This truffle is the same as the one that comes from across the border in Périgord. The Périgord truffle, the black truffle, their black diamond is the most famous, tasty, and costly of all French truffles; however, truffles have no respect for borders. The perfect risotto must be soft, not mushy, with each grain identifiable. Ninety-nine percent of all Italian and French chefs will agree that while the Arborio and Baldo are better known, the Carnaroli rice is unbeatable where risotto is concerned.

Also from Quercy:

The Raisin Chasselas de Moissac AOP – One of the two most famous table grapes of France. These uniquely tasting grapes are virtually hand-raised, and they are only available in the markets from late August through the first week of November. The farmers who grow these grapes also sell fresh grape juice, and a bottle will cost more than many wines. If you dine in the area, you may be offered a cocktail made with this grape juice and brandy called an Emoustille.  

 

 

The Raisin Chasselas de Moissac AOP grapes.

Photograph courtesy of Jean Weber

www.flickr.com/photos/inra_dist/23592913481/

  

Rocamadour AOP  A 45% fat goat’s milk cheese made with non-pasteurized milk. The ancient city of Rocamadour is in the department of Lot. The Rocamadour AOP cheese is creamy, and when young is quite mild, then it may well be in your salad, or it may be part of another dish. When it is older, it will be on the cheese board or a cheese plate. If you are considering taking one home, you will not pay overweight; all Rocamadour AOP cheeses weigh less than 40 grams ( 1.4 oz). For more about buying cheese in France and taking it home, click here. 


The hillside town of Rocamadour
Photograph courtesy of dynamosquito
www.flickr.com/photos/dynamosquito/4643726309/

Les Bières Artisanales Lotoises – Many craft beers are produced in the department of Lot, and links to many of these Brasseries (brewers) can be reached through the Cahors Valee de Lot website.

https://www.cahorsvalleedulot.com/decouvrir/vin-et-gastronomie/les-bieres-artisanales-lotoises

Le Pastis du Quercy (not to be confused with the southern French liqueur Pastis) – The Quercy Pastis is a tourtière, a pie, made with apples marinated in a plum-based liquor. There are many stories linked to this pie’s origins, with the French language website of Cuisine à la Française offering three. The website is easily understood with the Google and Microsoft Translation apps.

https://www.tourisme-lot.com/les-incontournables-du-lot/saveurs-du-lot/produits-du-terroir/le-pastis

The Capital of Quercy.

The capital of the province of Quercy was the town of Cahors. When you look for an exceptional French red wine, the red Cahors AOC/AOP will be among those heading the list. In fact, Cahors is among the top ten red wines of France, and that is a grading that you will never hear disputed. The Cahors’ local Route de Vins, their wine road, with its wine tastings, may be visited by car or, for a refreshing change, by boat on the river Lot. Quercy has other red, white, and rose wines that are on the wine road; the Coteaux du Quercy Reds, Rosés, and White AOP wines and the Côtes Du Lot IGP.

In the town of Cahors, do not miss the Pont Valentré, the Valentré Bridge. In Occitan, the original and still used local language, the bridge is called the Pont de Balandras. This bridge is the symbol of the town and a UNESCO World Heritage site. This bridge first opened in 1378 and was rebuilt in 1879. Look for the emblem of the little devil on one of the towers. Then ask why!

 
The little devil on the Valentré bridge in Cahors
Photograph courtesy of Archeology Travel - Photograph © MathieuMD/Wikimedia 

If you are visiting the area, check for more information and places to visit with the English language website of the Cahors Tourist Information office:

http://www.holidays-cahors.co.uk/useful-info/contact-your-tourist-office

Ask for the dates of the next Fete du Vin de Cahors, the Cahors Wine Fete. The fete is held at the end of July or the beginning of August in a number of the villages close to Cahors. When talking with the locals note that the town’s name is pronounced without sounding the H; just say ka-ors. N.B. the locals call themselves Cadurciens.

Quercy and the English connection:

Those who went to school in the U.K. will have learned about the 100 years war fought between England and France. That was one war among many that were spread over 400 years! In the province of Quercy, most of these battles were fought among the towns and castles built on hilltops. Many of these castles, towers, and hilltop towns remain.

--------------------------------

 

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, 2017, 2021
 
 
--------------------

Connected Posts:
 
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