Showing posts with label Conches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conches. Show all posts

Bigorneaux - Perwinkles (Winkles). Periwinkles are a Treasured Part of a French Seafood Platter. Winkles in French Cuisine.

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

   
Bigorneaux - Winkle (periwinkles).

The French love seafood and eat more oysters than any other nation in the world; however, a large seafood assortment at home involves an enormous amount of work. That makes seafood platters a popular choice in fish and seafood restaurants.  Bulots, whelks, and bigorneaux, the periwinkle, France's ever-popular sea snails will be on all but the smallest renditions.
  
Periwinkles on France’s Atlantic coast.

Apart from the large restaurants along France’s Atlantic coast, there are hundreds of small seafood restaurants with seasonal menus made up of whatever came off the boat that morning. In these restaurants crabs, especially the crab tourteau, the edible brown crab is always the star, but whelks and winkles are just as popular.  All will be boiled in separate herb and wine flavored broths, allowed to cool and then served cold with all the requisite tools for removing their shells. Crab meat is firm and flavorsome and whelks and periwinkles are tasty and slightly chewy but not tough. Fresh mayonnaise and French fries, chips, will usually be the only accompaniments.  A bottle of white, rose, or red wine will round out a meal that with a coffee will cost less than 10 Euros.  Heaven by the sea. Explanations on removing the shells will be offered, with a smile, for first-time visitors. Caveat Emptor: In a seafood restaurant in town with well-dressed waiters expect to pay double.
  
Periwinkles, winkles, ready to dip in melted butter.

If you have been to the Caribbean and enjoyed conches and abalone then whelks and winkles should not be strange, they are close relatives as are escargot, France's ever popular edible land snails. The texture is similar, and 80% of their enjoyment is the texture.  By the way; the English expression “to winkle something out” is taken from the work required to remove the winkle from its shell; the only tool you need for a winkle is a toothpick.
   
Fried conch, the periwinkle’s cousin, with French fries.
www.flickr.com/photos/davidberkowitz/8250890078/

Periwinkles are found in in the sand near the coast in France, Spain, and the UK and until the 1950’s periwinkles were a favorite UK seaside snack,  There they were offered, served cold, with vinegar, salt, pepper, or lemon juice.  Today, along England’s coastline in ports like Folkestone where ferries for France leave there are still stands and restaurants that serve periwinkles. N.B.: They will be on the menus as winkles.

Periwinkles, winkles, on French Menus:
 
Assiette de Fruits de Mer: 5 Crevettes Roses, 5 Huîtres, 3 Langoustines, Bulots (150g), Bigorneaux (40g), Crevettes Grises (40g) – A seafood platter of 5 pink shrimps, 5 oysters, 3 Dublin Bay prawns, 150 grams of unshelled whelks, 40 grams of  unshelled winkles and 40 grams of sand shrimps.   The fresh seafood on this menu will be very lightly cooked, only the oysters on the half-shell will be raw.  From the size and variety of offerings, this platter will be plenty for two or three.  Seafood platters are a great way for visitors to try seafood delicacies that are not on the menu at home.  They also provide an opportunity to taste seafood that may be on the menu at home but will always have had their real taste and texture hidden by a sauce.  The same menu that offers a platter like this will also list the individual items by the dozen or half dozen.  
   
A plateaux de fruits de mer
www.flickr.com/photos/bdom/29799132862/

Bigorneaux au Vin Blanc Accompagnées de Pain et Beurre  – Winkles prepared in white wine and served with French bread and butter.
  
Periwinkles in a hard cider sauce with chives
  
Bigorneaux Poêlés à l'Ail Winkles lightly fried with garlic. This will be a French entrée, the first course.

Plateau de Fruits de Mer:  1 Crabe, 5 Langoustines, 6 Huîtres Creuses n°3,  6 Crevettes Roses, 6 à 8 bulots, une Poignée de Bigorneaux  –  A seafood platter including 1  brown crab (the crabe torteau), 5 Dublin Bay prawns, 6 Japanese (Pacific) oysters size 3, 6 pink shrimps, 6-8 whelks, and a handful of winkles.  This is a large platter and even a small crab will offer close to 200 grams of white meat without the shell.  The Japanese, Pacific, creuse oysters noted here by size (size 3), indicate an unshelled weight of 66 - 85 grams each. The offering on this menu listing is enough for four or five diners and it may be served on a three-tiered platter. The whelks and winkles on this listing are served in their shells. The visitor might not know for how many diners a listing like this is suitable. Ask.
   
Periwinkles with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves

Salade de Bigorneaux et Citron Confit -  A salad served with winkles and pickled lemons. As part of a salad, the winkles in this menu listing will not be in their shells. The word confit may confuse as it has many meaning on French menus, and how a fruit confit is prepared depends on the chef.  Fruit and vegetable confits may be slowly cooked with wine, wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar, sometimes added brown sugar and offered as a sweet jam, condiment or garnish. The taste of a fruit confit intentionally contrasts with the main dish. Other vegetable or fruit confits, when served like the one above will not be sweetened but lightly pickled in salt.  (Confit de Fruits are completely different, they are a candy, a sweet, where the water has been replaced by sugar, and they may be stored unrefrigerated for months).
    
Periwinkles with Vermouth and Shallots

Winkles are always cooked before being eaten, and they may be served hot or cold.  Only half the winkles on French menus are locally caught, none are farmed, and nearly half of France's needs are met by imports, mostly from the UK where they plentiful but not no longer in demand in local markets. The French are worried about their supplies when Britain leave the common market.  There are many other edible sea snails out there but winkles and whelks are still found in quantity, and not yet threatened by overfishing.

Pied a Peche – Fishing on foot

On France coasts “pied a peche” (fishing by feet) is popular with seaside visitors in sandy areas.  At low tide, the holidaymakers will learn how to spot the breathing holes of sea snails and clams in the sand; then,  as long as they are prepared to spend an hour or two they may collect winkles and clams (palourdes) on rocks and in the sand by the bucket full. They will take them back to the self-catering apartments beloved by French on their four to six-week annual vacation. With a bottle of wine, fresh bread and butter, they will be part of an inexpensive and tasty dinner.
   
Pêche à pied -  fishing on foot.
www.flickr.com/photos/rhian/36291882871/
   
Bigorneaux in the languages of France’s neighbors:
(German - gemeine strandschnecke), (Italian-  lumaca di mare), (Spanish – bigaro),
 
 
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Bulots, Bourgets or Buccins - Whelks. Whelks are Very Tasty Sea Snails and They Will be on the Menu in France .

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


The common whelk.
Photograph courtesy Akuppa John Wigham
   
Bulot or Bourget or Buccin – A whelk; a tasty sea snail.  If you enjoy bigorneau, winkles; coques, cockles; conuque, conch; or  palourdes, clams, then whelks should not seem strange. They are all a part of the same family, and their taste and texture are very similar. 
 
Whelks, and sometimes winkles, a British favorite, are an important part of most French seafood platters. In France, whelks may be inside the ravioli or part of a salad or another dish.

Fifty years ago British seaside holidays on the Atlantic coast were never without a cup of winkles and whelks to eat on the spot; a few places continue that tradition. The winkles and whelks in the UK were eaten cold with salt, pepper, and vinegar. They would have been previously boiled in water with vinegar, usually malt vinegar. The best way to eat them was cold with more vinegar while accompanied by bread and butter.
  

Cooked bulots, whelks, in a French market.
Take them home, make some fresh mayonnaise, and then serve them with French fries or add to another seafood dish.
Photograph courtesy Susan (NYC),
  
In London, a Jewish immigrant Joseph Malin, a descendant of a  Marano family expelled from Portugal in 1496, opened a shop in London’s east end. He was selling the  Marono specialty of fried fish to which he added a Belgian import, French fries, chips.  Success was instantaneous, and soon there were tens of shops and then tens of thousands of shops selling fish and chips. In short order added to the menu were winkles, whelks, cockles, mussels, shrimp, jellied and smoked eels and more. Then this was good and inexpensive food for the poor and lower classes. These were not just sold from shops, but from wheeled barrows that visited the pubs.  From that came the UK tradition of selling seafood by the pint. In the pubs and on the barrows there were no scales, so a pint glass was the standard.  Until twenty years ago many fishmongers still offered to sell shrimps and seafood in pints if they were asked. N.B.: Fried fish as a Jewish specialty was recognized already in a book written in 1774 by Hannah Glasse, “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy”. It includes the earliest reference on Jewish recipes for fish: “The Jews’ way of preserving salmon, and all sorts of fish”. I bought the facsimile version of the book that was available for $8.00 from Abes Books.
 
Whelks may not be as popular today in the UK, but that is now being addressed by many of the best chefs. They are creating new dishes where whelks star. In France, whelks have never been out of fashion and to satisfy its local market 50% of the whelks must be imported.  The UK is a very important source of whelks for export to France.
  
English whelks from Weymouth ready for export to France.
Photograph courtesy of Stephen and Helen Jones
    
Seafood on sale along the coast in the UK.
Photograph courtesy of Laura Mary
   
Whelks include a whole family of cousins that will be on menus in North America, Japan and elsewhere. In Japan, whelks will be served as sashimi and sushi.
Whelks on the French menu:

 Whelks served with fresh mayonnaise. These are generally served with a plate of French fries, chips and fresh mayonnaise on the side. If the fries and mayonnaise are not included, then order them separately to make this dish perfect. Accompany this dish with a dry (brut) sparkling crémant wine, or in Normandy and Brittany accompany the dish with a dry sparkling cider. 

Assiette de Bulots et Crevettes  - A plate of whelks and shrimps with fresh mayonnaise.

Bulots Mayonnaise- Whelks served with fresh mayonnaise.
Photograph courtesy of Sébastien Barré
   
Bulots à l'Aïoli – Whelks served with Provence's famous garlicky mayonnaise.
     
Toasted ravioli stuffed with whelks and served with a sweet and spicy sauce.
Photograph courtesy of jayne vidheecharoen
        
Plateau de Fruits de Mer  (crevettes rouge, bulots, moules, huîtres). A serving plate with seafood. In this case the  Northern pink shrimp, whelks, mussels and oysters.  In France plateaus de fruits de mer can be amazing creations. Some come with two or three stories overflowing with the wonders of the sea.
    
Le Plateau de Fruits de Mer
(crevettes rouge, bulots, huîtres).
A plate of fresh seafood, Northern pink shrimp.  whelks, oysters.
Photograph courtesy HS Seidelin,
      
 Salade de Bulots Ravigote – A salad made with whelks and served with a sauce ravigote. Ravigote is a thick vinaigrette/mayonnaise sauce made with mustard, eggs, olive oil and herbs. The sauce is a favorite with fish and shellfish, poultry and veal tongue.
   
Cassolette de Fruits de Mer, Coquillages, and Buccins de Normandie -  A cassolette is a small cooking bowl. French menus often include the name of the bowl or pan used in the preparation of a dish. Here shellfish and whelks from Normandy have been cooked together. Coquillages is one of the French words for seafood. Cassolletes are not to be confused with cassoulets. Cassoulets are an extensive group of tasty and heavy winter stews that mostly originated in the historical province of Languedoc.
   
Salade d'Escargots de Mer « buccin » -  A salad of sea-snails, whelks.
  
Spicy shrimp and whelk stew.
Photograph courtesy of su-lin.
    
Whelks, in France, are very popular, so much so that France only manages to supply 50% from her own resources. France imports over 20% of the whelks they consume from the UK, the others come from other sources.
  
Whelks ready for the pots.
Photograph courtesy of P.Gikaa

   
The pinkish meat of the whelk tends to be chewier than that of smaller whelks. So it is often prepared in a recipe that calls for conch; for example salads, and chowders.
Whelks in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan - botzina), (Dutch – wulk), (Italian - buccino, lumache di mare,scungilli), (German -Wellhornschnecke ), (Spanish –bocina), (Latin - littorina littorea).
   
Connected Posts:

 
  
Shrimps and Prawns Among the Many Tasty Crustaceans on Your French Menu.

Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 400 articles that include over 2,500 French dishes with English translations and explanations.  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
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2015, 2017.

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