Showing posts with label Common Dab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Common Dab. Show all posts

Cardine and Limande - Megrim and Dab, the Fish. Cardine and Limande in French Cuisine.

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

Megrim
www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/10574403693/
 
Cardine, Cardine Franche – Megrim in the UK and the Limande – the Dab or Common Dab.  Both of these are flat fish with close family members in the turbot family and flounder families. Their exact names are often confused in the markets and restaurants, but no one will suffer.  These are firm white-fleshed fish that will be prepared with a sauce and they are the equal of many of their larger and more expensive cousins. These are the smaller members of their families and most of those that I have seen were no longer than 25cm (12”).  

In the UK these fish are part of the 40% bi-catch that UK fishermen and women return to the Atlantic as they would be taking up room reserved for the money spinners.  The most popular fish in the UK with 50% of the market, salmon, tuna, and cod are mostly imports with all the salmon farmed. (BTW it takes three kilos of wild fish to feed and produce one kilo of farmed salmon).

Where they can the UK crews sell the Megrims and Dabs to the French and the Spanish where these fish are genuinely appreciated; if they don’t manage to sell them, most will be thrown back into the sea already dead, so they can claim they did not exceed their fishing limits. The French public is much more adventurous and happy to see these fish on the menu or in the market at a lower price than brill, plaice or sole.  Both these fish are easily deboned and served as filets with smaller fish served for one. (Confusion can arrive when Sole Limande, Lemon Sole, is on the menu, this is Lemon Sole and another, larger member of the flounder family.

Megrim on French menus:

Filet de Cardine En Croute de Noisette et Café, Poêlée de Salicorne au Beurre Salé et Echalote A  filet of Megrim prepared in a covering of hazelnuts and coffee accompanied by Salicornia (Samphire) pan-fried in salted butter with shallots. (Salted Butter - Beurre Salé, has between 3%- 5% salt and is popular with the morning tartine beurrée. Salicornia or samphire is often called an edible seaweed; it is not.  Salicornia, of which there are many family members, grows in salt marshes and along the coast but not in the sea.


Megrim Meunière
www.flickr.com/photos/herry/6661370951/
  
Limande Meunière Pommes Vapeur – Megrim prepared in a Sauce Meunier and accompanied by steamed potatoes. Sauce Meunière is a classic butter sauce made with lemon juice and parsley added to melted clarified butter.
  
Limande Poêlée Entière, Sauce Vierge -  A whole pan-fried Dab served with a Sauce Vierge. As its name suggests, Sauce Vierge, virgin sauce, includes virgin olive oil and fresh tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, basil, red wine vinegar, salt, and black pepper. The sauce will be served slightly warm, but not cooked as virgin olive oil loses its flavor when cooked. The sauce will be poured on the fish just before it is served.

Megrim with Caper Butter
www.flickr.com/photos/beckayork/5083548184/

Cardine Farcie aux Huîtres Gillardeau, Oseille, Beurre Blanc au Champagne – Megrim stuffed with Gillardeau oysters flavored with sorrel and served with Champagne and white butter sauce. Gillardeau oysters come from the family-owned Gillardeau oyster farm that has been farming oysters in the famous oyster fattening grounds of Marennes-Oléron for over 100 years;  Marennes-Oléron is on the Atlantic coast of the department of Charente Maritime now part of the new super-region of Nouvelle Aquitaine. These Label Rouge, Red Label, oysters are raised on the island of Oleron, opposite to where the town of Marennes on the mainland leads to the bridge that connects them.
  
Gillardeau  oysters No 3.
www.flickr.com/photos/claveirole/30295929204/

Suprême de Cardine aux Coques et Crémeux Passion  - A filet of Megrim prepared with cockles and a creamy passion fruit sauce.
  
Coques - Cockles
  

Dab on French menus:

Tronçons de Limande, Asperge Blanche et Carottes Nouvelles, Béarnaise à la Framboise – A filet of  Dab accompanied by white asparagus, young carrots, and Sauce Bearnaise flavored with raspberries. (Tronçon is the original name used for filets from flatfish, though, despite its origins tronçon is now used for a cut of meat also).
   
White asparagus
www.flickr.com/photos/sunfox/3594612291/

Megrim and Dab are rarely seen in UK fish counters and their cousins caught close to North America are equally sparse though those who live close to the coast and know where the fresh fish markets are will see them fairly often.

Cardin - Megrim in the Languages of France’s neighbors:
Catalan - bruixa), (Dutch - scharretong), (German - scheefschnut), (Italian -rombo giallo), (Spanish  - ojito  ), (Latin - lepidorhombus whiffiagonis).

Limande – Dab in the languages of France’s neighbors:
(Catalan - limanada), (Dutch - schar), (German - kliesche), (Italian - limanda), (Spanish  - limanda),  (Latin – limanda limanda).
 
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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman 
Copyright 2010, 2019, 2023.
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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Sole Limande - Lemon Sole on French Menus .

 

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


Lemon Sole Meunier.
Lemon sole prepared with a Meunière sauce. See below.
Photograph courtesy of Herry Lawford

Sole Limande in France.
   
Sole Limande - Lemon Sole or Lemon Dab. A member of the flounder family with a fine texture.  Tasty they may be; nevertheless, they take second place to the European Dover sole, the common sole; on the other hand lemon sole is less expensive than Dover sole. Smaller fish will be grilled or fried in individual portions and the larger fish baked or fileted and fried.  Lemon sole will often be offered with recipes originally created for Dover Sole.
  
Lemon Sole on French Menus:
   
Papillote de Sole Limande et Julienne de Poireaux AniséeLemon sole cooked in baking parchment paper, (grease-proof paper in the UK), or aluminum foil.  The fish is prepared together with finely cut leeks, using a cut that is called Julienne in France and lightly flavored with aniseed.  When the fish is ready it be opened in front of the diners so that they may savor the aromas of the fish and the herbs.
   

Lemon Sole on sale in the UK.
 
Sole de Limande Meunière – Lemon sole prepared with a Meunière sauce. This is simple but tasty butter sauce, my favorite for Dover Sole. It is made with lemon juice and parsley added to melted butter. (in a restaurant that will be clarified butter).  Meunière is a miller wife and the sauce is served with dishes a la meunière, sole prepared in the manner of a miller’s wife
   
Sole Limande au Beurre d'Orange et Amandes, Tomates et Confit de Fenouil – Lemon sole made with orange flavoured butter and almonds and served with tomatoes confit flavored with fennel. Vegetable confits and or a confit de fruit are vegetables or fruits slowly cooked with wine, wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar and sometimes added brown sugar.  The fruits and vegetables do not need to be stored to achieve unique flavors; they will be offered as sweet jams, condiments or garnishes.
    

Join these early morning amateur fishermen.
In France on the Atlantic coast in the winter with the temperatures between 1-3° C. you may catch lemon sole close to the shore.
Photograph courtesy of quelquepartsurlaterre
https://www.flickr.com/photos/quelquepartsurlaterre/2117764456/
                                                                                                                                   
Tartare de Limande Sole aux Algues et Citron Confit – Lemon Sole Tartar prepared with seaweed and a lemon confit, practically a lemon jam.  
 
Sole Limande Entière, Citron Confit et Beurre Noisette. Here a small lemon sole, for a single person will be fried, or grilled.  A brown butter sauce, noisette is a hazelnut, and that is the color achieved by cooking butter to a light brown. The dish is served with a citron confit.

Lemon Sole is not to be confused with:

Limande, (not Limande Sole) on French menus. This is a small flounder called Common Dab in the UK and Dab in the USA.

or the

Limande à Queue Jaune.  This is another smaller flounder called the Yellowtail Flounder in the USA and Mud Dab in the UK. These two smaller flounders with their confusing names are mostly smaller than the Lemon Sole and they may be daily specials on some menus.
   
Lemon Sole in the languages of France’s neighbors:
 
(Catalan - palaia groga), (Dutch – tongschar),    (German - limande), (Italian - sogliola limanda ), (Spanish - mendo limón).
 
Lemon Sole in other languages:

(Chinese (Mandarin)- 头油鲽), (Danish - rødtunge), (Estonian - harilik väikesuulest),(Finnish - pikkupääkampela), (Hebrew - לימון בלעדי), (Icelandic - Þykkvalúra),(Norwegian – lombe),(Polish - zlocica europejska), (Portugues - solha-limao),(Russian - камбала малоротая, malorotaja kambala),(Swedish –Bergskädda), (Latin  - microstomus kitt).

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2016.

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