Jacquie’s Cookbook & Dinner Party Guide

This is not written by an expert, these are barely pages by an amateur, if the truth were known. There are numerous cookbooks available for those who are serious about learning regional French cooking. This is simply a taste for anyone who has not had the pleasure of eating galettes or sipping cider. My selection of recipes in no way typifies Breton cooking, largely because the Bretons eat a wide variety of food. Besides, the recipes I have selected are hardly a fair sampling of any culture’s cooking! So take this as a very idiosyncratic, very vague, introduction to a really scrumptious cuisine, go to serious chefs, teachers and cookbooks (or better still, come to Brittany) if you want the real thing!!

However, given that we tend to set ourselves apart from the rest of France, it is surprising that we do not have our own distinctive style of cooking. The only true Breton speciality is the pancake. Crêperies are a common sight, offering an imaginative range of savoury and sweet pancakes (galettes and crêpes, respectively). Our other regional dish is cotriade, a fish stew traditionally made from conger eel and the remains of the catch. Generally, our cuisine is simple, with little use of sauces, and features much fish and seafood. Try Palourdes Farcies (baked clams stuffed with garlic, herbs and shallots) or Pot au Feu d'homard (lobster, shrimp, scallop, mussel and oyster stew). Our young lambs, raised on the salt meadows, are also very good.

I hope you will enjoy the new layout of these pages and will use some of the recipes i have provided.

Apprécier l'expérience d'essayer de quelque chose nouveau ! !
Jacquie-Althia

SEL - SALT

This is the one indispensable ingredient to enhance any food, so keep some in your cupboard or beside you’re your cooker. Whenever possible always use pure unprocessed sea salt instead of table salt for cooking. It brings a fresh meaning to the concepts of flavour, seasoning and nutrition. Your body and palate will bless you for it as it contains less Sodium Chloride than processed salt. This entirely unrefined, natural product is gathered from the pristine Celtic seas of Guérande in Brittany using ancestral methods that have been practiced for centuries, indeed some of the salt pans in use today have been used for over a thousand years

This wonderful taste of the sea is rich in minerals, Sel de Guérande is not the refined, white “sea salt” that we see in many shops. Ask any family here, we simply know what tastes good: the salt on the table in most Breton households is “Sel Marin de Guérande ”. Even our top chefs use Sel de Guerande in their dishes, it is delicious in soups and sauces, as well as for seasoning grilled and roasted dishes.

"Fleur de Sel" (best quality unrefined salt)

Due to the eastern winds, salt crystals form in the saltpans on the surface of the water: this is what is called Fleur de Sel (the caviar of salt). A natural sea salt, unprocessed, unrefined, unadulterated, unlike anything you have ever tasted. At first pink when it is collected, it becomes white as it dries naturally in the Sun. The salt is collected using what is called a "lousse". Sprinkled sparingly on food is a refined way to “finish” the taste. I use it as a condiment at the table and find it is a fine replacement for ordinary table salt as it has a rich, sweet flavour that melts under the tongue. (About 10€ a kilo)

"Gros sel" (cooking salt)

The crystals lay at the bottom of the saltpan. Using a tool called a "las" (big rake), the "paludier" (salter) pushes the water to detach the crystals. Then he gathers together a pile of salt and hauls it up on to the "ladure". Around50 Kg of "gros sel" is gathered in each saltpan each day. (About 3€ a kilo)