Showing posts with label crayfish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crayfish. Show all posts

Cuisses de Grenouilles. Frogs' Legs in French Cuisine.

Cuisses de Grenouilles. Frogs' Legs in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

     

Cuisses de Grenouille a la Provençale.
Pan-seared with garlic, parsley and olive oil
Photograph courtesy of NwongPR
    
Cuisses de Grenouilles – Frogs’ legs.

Until thirty or so years ago, Italian deep-fried calamari, deep-fried squid, was a strange dish. Then about twenty-five years ago along came Japanese sushi and sashimi. They made many different fish and seafood dishes widely available on our menus. Around the same time, travelers brought back a taste for conches and goats they had discovered in the Caribbean while others told us about the reindeer steaks they enjoyed in Scandinavia. Our exposure to different meats, disparate fish, diverse cheeses, offbeat fruits, and different wines also prepared us to enjoy frog's legs.


Stir-fried frog’s legs.,
www.flickr.com/photos/ruocaled/6330547866/
 
The taste of frog’s legs?

Frog’s legs have their own mild taste. The nearest taste comparison, not the texture, I would give to the tails of freshwater crayfish. Crayfish are no more visually attractive than frogs, but their tails are as equally tasty as frog’s legs.  Like many other foods, including fish, beef, chicken, and crayfish the final taste is directly related to the manner of cooking and the sauces used.  While enjoying your frog’s legs remember they are also good for you as they have plenty of Omega 3.

What about the texture of frog's legs?
   
Frog’s legs have a texture somewhat similar to the meat on chicken wings; however, that is the texture, not the taste. They have thin bones, and the meat may be served on or off the bone.  NB: Frog’s legs and their meat are not at all greasy; if you are served fatty frog’s legs, that is the fault of the chef cooking them in too much oil or butter, so send them back.
      

Frog Legs with capers in tomato sauce
www.flickr.com/photos/danielchownet/30851669241/
   
When you see Frog’s legs on the menus in France, do not pass them by.

Frog’s legs have a texture somewhat similar to the meat on chicken wings; however, that is the texture, not the taste. They have thin bones, and the meat may be served on or off the bone.  NB: Frog’s legs and their meat are not at all greasy; if you are served fatty frog’s legs, that is the fault of the chef cooking them in too much oil or butter, so send them back.
     
Frog's legs on French menus:

Cuisses de Grenouilles Frites au Citron et à l'Ail – Deep-fried frog’s legs flavored with lemon and garlic.

Cuisses de Grenouilles à la Provençale - Frog’s legs cooked in tomatoes, white wine, shallots and flavored with garlic and parsley.


Frog legs, salsa negra, scallion, lime.
www.flickr.com/photos/68147320@N02/39076909505/

Cuisses de Grenouille Sautées aux Ananas – Frog’s legs lightly fried with pineapple.

Ravioles de Grenouilles aux Morilles et Vin Jaune – Raviolis stuffed with frog’s leg meat and morel mushrooms and served in a yellow Jura wine sauce. The wine used with this dish is the Vin Jaune, the yellow wine made famous in the French department of Jura in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. This is a very aromatic dessert wine with a taste somewhat like a dry fino sherry.
  
Quiche aux Épinards et Cuisses de Grenouilles – A spinach and frog’s legs quiche.
   


Deep Fried Frogs' Legs


Frog’s legs used to be on every bistro’s menu as a  traditional low-priced dish. Then highly-trained French chefs who had grown up enjoying frog’s legs at home or in a local bistro began applying their knowledge. Now they have created recipes that adorn the menus of the most elegant restaurants. You will be offered frog’s legs meat served with pasta, frog’s legs meat in pies, frog’s legs with wild mushrooms and excellent wines as well as frog’s legs pizza. 

Nevertheless, like many other food products, the rise in the standard of living, along with the popularity of frogs’ legs, has created a shortage of domestic frogs raised in frog farms.  Today, over half of France’s requirements are imported from the Far-East.  Domestic French frog farming is trying to catch up, but it has a long way to go before it can meet the local demand.

Where else can you enjoy frogs’ legs in Europe.

Frog’s legs popularity is not unique to France. Frog's legs will be on the menus in Spain, Germany, Italy and other Western Europe countries. The USA, Canada, and the UK all have their own frog farms to supply part of their domestic demand.

The Froggies.

Eating frog's legs shocked British soldiers in WWI when they found out that the French ate them!  Eating frogs’ legs earned the French soldiers the British nickname “ Froggies!”

Frog’s legs in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan - anques de granota), (Dutch - kikkerbenen), (German - froschschenkel), (Italian- cosce di rane), (Spanish - muslos de ranas).

Frogs legs and the inventor Luigi Galvani's who changed our lives.

Luigi Galvani's work with frog’s legs made him famous. Galvani’s name is associated with the Galvanic cell, the Galvanometer, and Galvanization. That fame began with this medical doctor’s early experiments using frog’s legs to show the effects of electricity on nerves. Galvani's probably enjoyed eating frog's legs, but his scientific tests were not in the kitchen. I have included Galvani in this post as he is an interesting subject for discussion while dining on frog's legs.
   

Statue of Luigi Galvani (1737 – 1798) in Bologna, Italy.
www.flickr.com/photos/127226743@N02/26655411816/

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

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2014, 2018, 2020


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Écrivisse (L') - The Freshwater Crayfish. Crayfish in French Cuisine. Crustaceans III.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Crayfish.
Photograph courtesy of Cuisine à la Française.

Crayfish are tasty freshwater crustaceans, (called crawfish and crawdads in the USA).  They look like miniature lobsters, which they are not; they have not been related to the two-clawed lobster family for the last 100 million years or so. Despite their freshwater origins crayfish are served in French seafood restaurants or at least their tails are.

Depending on the type of crayfish in France they range in size from 10 cm (4”) to 15 cm (6”) in length, sometimes a little larger. A whole crayfish weighs between 60grams  (2.10oz) to 180 grams (6.30oz) from head to tail with the average crayfish weighing 100 grams (3.50oz). Only crayfish tails have any real meat, and that’s about one-third of the total, albeit a delicious 30 grams (1 oz). There is a small amount of meat in the claws of the larger crayfish, but getting that out is hardly worth the effort.
  
A  crayfish entrée.
www.flickr.com/photos/erieffusion/2850080764/
  
When part of a seafood platter or salad crayfish, or their shelled tails, will be served cold. To aid the diner when crayfish are served whole, the restaurant will make cuts along the back of the tail that makes extracting the meat straightforward; If there are no cuts in the tail send them back.  For cooked dishes, the crayfish carapace, the shell, adds a great deal to the flavor, but it is only the shelled tails that will be part of the final dish.

  
   
Ready to serve.
In the wild crayfish colors vary from red to black,
and like other crustaceans, they mostly turn red when cooked.
www.flickr.com/photos/feenart/7343886390/

Most of the crayfish served in France are farmed or imported with the best considered to be the pattes rouges, the noble crayfish, followed by the pattes blanches, the white-clawed crayfish. The least expensive crayfish is the écrevisse à pattes grêles, the Danube crayfish and since it’s the cheapest, it is rarely noted by name on menus.

   The Écrevisse à Pattes Blanches
The white-clawed crayfish

In France, this crayfish is both farmed and caught in the wild, though many parts of France have banned catching them in the wild due to over-fishing.

The white-clawed crayfish on French menus:
    
Ris de Veau Braisé aux Écrevisses Pattes Blanches, Méli-mélo de Légumes Croquants – Braised veal sweetbreads and the white-clawed crayfish accompanied by crispy vegetables. (Méli-mélo means matching, but not contrasting  for both taste and colors).
   
Filet de Sandre aux Écrevisses à Pattes Blanches et Asperges Vertes – Filet of pike-perch and the white-clawed crayfish accompanied by green asparagus.
   
Salmon and crayfish  salad
www.flickr.com/photos/goforchris/7983143578/
  
The white-clawed crayfish in the languages of France’s neighbors:
 
(Catalan - cranc de riu de potes blanques), Dutch - zoetwaterkreeft ), (German –dohlenkrebs), (Italian - gambero dai piedi bianchi, gambero di fiume europeo), (Spanish -  cangrejo de río europeo, cangrejo de patas blancas), (Latin - austropotamobius pallipes)
  
Écrevisse à Pattes Grêles or  Écrevisse de Turquie –

The Danube Crayfish, the slender-legged crayfish, the Turkish Crayfish, or Galician Crayfish.
   
This is the least expensive as well as being the crayfish most often seen on French menus though then just called an écrevisse. These farmed crayfish are the smallest crayfish on French menus and rarely reach 100 grams (3.5 oz), that means, possibly 30 grams (1 oz) of meat. When crayfish tails are part of cooked dishes, these crayfish will have been the suppliers. This crayfish was introduced into local waters in the 1960s, and today they are also farmed. 
   
The Danube Crayfish on French menus:
    
Filets de Rougets et Queues d'ÉcrevissesRed mullet served with crayfish tails.
   
Ravioles aux Écrevisses et Pointes d'Asperges – Crayfish ravioli served with asparagus tips.
    
Écrevisse à Pattes Grêles à la Crème de Radis Rose – The Danube crayfish served with a creamy, red radish sauce.

Velouté d'Ecrevisse au Piment d'Éspelette A velvety crayfish soup flavored with the peppers from around the town of Éspelett in France’s Basque country.

The Danube crayfish in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(German – Galizische sumpfkrebs), (Italian - gambero di fiume Turco, gambero di Galizia), (Spanish - cangrejo de patas punteadas, cangrejo Turco), (Latin - astacus leptodactylus)
   
Salad of deep-fried crayfish tails.
www.flickr.com/photos/brownpau/11504413913/

     
Écrevisse à Pattes Rouges
The Noble crayfish, the European crayfish, or Noble crayfish;


This is considered the best of the French crayfish and only found in the north of France. When American crayfish were introduced into the wild in France, this species suffered heavily from crayfish diseases brought in. When this crayfish is on the menu nearly all will come from farms.
     
The Noble Crayfish on French menus:

Morilles Fraîches aux Queues d'Écrevisses "Pattes Rouges" – Fresh morel mushrooms prepared with the tails of the noble crayfish.
    
Quenelles de Brochet de la Maison aux Écrevisses 'Pattes Rouges' du LémanPike dumplings served with the Noble Crayfish from Lac Leman, Lake Geneva. (Pike are  France's favorite freshwater fish, and pike dumplings are a popular and traditional part of French cuisine).
  
Écrevisse à Pattes Rouges - The Noble Crayfish
www.flickr.com/photos/nickpix2008/5044264406/

The Noble Crayfish in the languages of France’s neighbors : 

(Dutch -Europese rivierkreeft), (German  - edelkrebs), (Italian - Gambero dai piedi rossi), (Spanish - cangrejo noble, cangrejo de patas rojas. cangrejo de río autóctono), (Latin - astacus astacus).

The Écrevisse Américaine
The American crayfish
   
This crayfish was imported into Europe and released in the wild in the 1980s where it has established itself well, though often to the detriment of local species. It is rarely seen on restaurant menus, but it is popular with amateur fishermen and women and with its natural population growth that may change.
  
The American crayfish in the language of France’s neighbors:

(Dutch - gevlekte rivierkreeft), (German - kamberkrebs), (Italian - gambero di fiume americano, gambero americano), (Spanish - cangrejo rojo, cangrejo de río), (Latin - orconectes limosus)
   
Grande Plateau d'Ecrevisses
A large platter of crayfish.
  
The most famous French dish with crayfish is Poulet Marengo,
  
Poulet Marengo, Chicken Marengo with crayfish was originally and uniquely prepared for Napoleon I, (though at the time, he was still a general). The dish is named after the Battle of Marengo, where Napoléon won, for France, one of his many battles with the Austrians in Italy.  The Battle of Marengo, in the Italian region of Piedmonte, was fought on 14 June 1800. That was when battles lasted a day, and by the evening there was a winner and a loser.

 Tradition required a celebratory feast for the commanding general, but Napoleon's cook had nothing to celebrate with. A search for ingredients produced chickens from a nearby village, wild crayfish, and local white wine that were turned into a feast good enough for the future emperor of France.  The region of Piedmont is home to some of Italy's best wines, including the white Moscato d'Asti. In France, the wine most often recommended for crayfish is Chablis; the same wine that is often recommended to accompany oysters.

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

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010,2013, 2018

----------------------
  
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
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