The superstar pancake
It's the main ambassador of Breton gastronomy, served in thousands of crêperies throughout France and even the world: the crêpe(krampouz in Breton) is one of the regional emblems. It's cooked on the bilig, a large circular cast-iron griddle.
In Basse-Bretagne, crêpe refers to both wheat and buckwheat pancakes, but in Haute-Bretagne, the name is reserved for the sweet version, while the buckwheat version is called galette. In the west, they are thin and crisp(kraz). In the East, they're softer and thicker. There, the galette saucisse is particularly revered, as it's the star of festivals and markets, and even has its own song: "Galette saucisse je t'aime, j'en mangeais des kilos" (I love galette sausage, I'd eat kilos of it), proclaims a famous song sung by Stade rennais supporters.
In any case, it's a simple, popular dish, a symbol of conviviality. It lends itself to all kinds of combinations, and remains a staple of everyday Breton life. Buckwheat pancakes were once considered the dish of misery: growing on poor soils, buckwheat was less taxed and less expensive than wheat or rye. Cultivated since the 15th century, buckwheat fell out of favor in the 1960s, but has been attracting renewed interest of late.
The indispensable salted butter
Another of the region's culinary hallmarks, salted butter is also an integral part of its identity. For "pure-butter Bretons", it's an everyday companion, eaten raw on bread or sublimating cooking.
But where does this particularity come from? As a major producer of both milk and salt, Brittany, once exempt from the white gold tax, has combined these two riches. A way of preserving butter for longer, in a region with no great cheese-making tradition.
Salted butter has its grand master, the Malouin Jean-Yves Bordier, whose creations (with seaweed, raspberry, etc.) are inviting guests onto the finest tables. Farmhouse butters are recommended: with its pretty ochre color and nutty taste, Froment du Léon, a local breed of cow, is a delight. Produced from butter, ribot milk is best enjoyed in a bowl, with a galette or mashed potatoes.
A rich terroir
Brittany is a major agricultural region, mainly devoted to livestock farming, but also to market gardening, and draws many of its gastronomic resources from the land. When it comes to meat, the pig takes center stage. A symbol of the Breton countryside, pigs were traditionally eaten in the form of bacon, and their slaughter was a ritual. Today, pig farming has become intensive, and the region supplies more than half of France's pork. Cochonnailles are legion: pâté breton, andouille de Guémené, made from offal arranged in concentric circles, sausages from Molène and Ouessant, smoked with goémon and motte respectively...
Among the meat specialties, lamb from the salt meadows also stands out, grazing on the covered grass at high tide in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel. This gives the meat an incomparable softness. A major poultry producer, Brittany boasts some renowned hardy breeds, such as the Coucou de Rennes hen. Once threatened with extinction, it is now a fixture on local tables. A little further south, the small town of Janzé has made poultry its specialty.
With 20% of the national surface area, Brittany is also a major vegetable-growing region. Vegetable growing is concentrated on the north coast. Cauliflower, artichokes, shallots, spinach and greenhouse tomatoes are the main crops. Organic produce is on the increase, and markets are full of market gardeners offering all kinds of tasty vegetables. Two varieties have been awarded the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label: the Roscoff pink onion, sweet and melting, and the Paimpol coconut. Grown on the Goëlo coast and harvested by hand from July to October, this tasty white bean is often found in local restaurants.
Finally, let's not forget the potato and its many early versions, the Plougastel strawberries, brought back from Chile in the early 18th century by the explorer Amédée-François Frézier, the Redon chestnut and, of course, the apple, an integral part of Breton culinary culture. There are over 600 varieties.
The nourishing sea
France's leading maritime region, Brittany and its twenty or so ports are home to a third of the country's sailors and boats. Mackerel, sardines, cod, sea bream, haddock, hake, pout... Brittany's fishing industry, mainly coastal and small-scale, supplies a wide variety of fish. Caught in the rough waters off the tip of Finistère, line-caught sea bass is undoubtedly the noblest, with its firm, delicate flesh. A typical dish of southern Brittany, cotriade is a kind of bouillabaisse, which sailors used to concoct with their share of the catch.
Shellfish, the jewel in the crown of Breton gastronomy, is best enjoyed fresh, simply accompanied by butter bread or mayonnaise. Enjoyed on a terrace in a small fishing port, a seafood platter is one of the best memories of your vacation. Fine, special, flat or hollow, oysters are cultivated all along the coastline, where they benefit from incomparable water quality, constantly stirred by currents that gorge them with the plankton essential to their growth. There are twelve different crus, each with its own specific qualities. At the end of 2019, Cancale oysters will become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The succulent bouchot mussels, cultivated since the 1950s on the north coast, can be enjoyed from June to October in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, and from July to January in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel.
Emblematic of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, the scallop is an exceptional product that lends itself to a wide range of preparations, from the simplest (sautéed in butter or pan-fried) to the most elaborate. Fishing is highly regulated, from October to mid-May. Even more protected, the abalone is a luxury mollusc, prized for its white flesh.
Among crustaceans, there is of course the Breton lobster, with its black shell and bluish tints. Renowned for its finesse, it can be enjoyed grilled, flambéed or with cream. Nicknamed the "Demoiselles de Loctudy" for their delicate flesh, langoustines are fished off the southern coast.
Brittany produces almost all of France's seaweed, which is becoming increasingly popular in cooking. The north coast is particularly rich in seaweed, with its rocky shores. Here you'll find dulse, kelp and bladderwrack.
Sweets... with salted butter..
Breton delicacies (known as "lichouseries") smell of salted butter. Among them, the famous kouign-amann ("butter cake", in Breton), born in Douarnenez in the 19th century, is made from a sourdough dough, into which butter and sugar are skilfully folded to create a rich, melting, caramelized cake.
Salted butter, which produces a delicious caramel, is very present in gâteau breton, a speciality from Lorient that resembles a large shortbread, with or without a prune cream filling. It also forms one of the quarters of the famous Breton pound cake, and leaves its mark on many Breton cookies, galettes and palets. Among the best known are Crêpes Dentelle Gavottes® from Dinan and Galettes de Pont-Aven® Traou Mad®. In fact, at the Pont-Aven boutique, you can meet the master pastry chefs in the production workshop.
Among the great classics, Far Breton is a flan to which prunes have been added. Born in 1946, Niniche de Quiberon is a very hard cylindrical lollipop with caramel or fruit. Craquelin, a speciality of the Malouine region, is a very light, sugar-free scalded cookie, which is best enjoyed spread... with salted butter, of course!
A variety of alcohols
Like Normandy, Brittany is a land of cider. It's the traditional drink of the countryside, once prepared by everyone for personal consumption. Today, the region boasts a large number of producers - industrial, artisanal and farmhouse - offering remarkable ciders. Some have IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) status, and Cornouaille cider is the only one to have been awarded PDO status. Indissociable from crêpes and galettes, cider goes well with all kinds of dishes, and is becoming an increasingly popular choice for even the most prestigious tables.
Cider is distilled to produce a brandy, known colloquially as goutte or gnôle, marketed under the name Lambig or Fine Bretagne. Highly alcoholic (around 40 degrees), aged in oak barrels for at least two years, this digestif, used in cooking, has a slightly amber color and a fruity aroma. Lambig, to which two-thirds of apple must has been added and aged in oak barrels, makes Pommeau de Bretagne, a fine amber aperitif with a PDO label. As for the famous chouchen, this is a very ancient beverage, inherited from the Celts. This golden, moderately alcoholic beverage is made by fermenting honey (mead) and adding apples.
Brittany has also embraced the beer craze, and is one of the most dynamic regions in the world. Following in the footsteps of pioneers Coreff (born in 1985) and Lancelot (in 1990), a host of microbreweries have sprung up: there are around a hundred of them, all vying for talent and willing to play the local card in terms of names and ingredients.
Thanks to global warming and more flexible European regulations, a number of small vineyards have sprung up in recent years, often under the impetus of enthusiasts. The banks of the Rance, the Rhuys peninsula and the Redon region have all revived their winegrowing past. Vines are also growing on the island of Groix and in Quimper. A number of companies, such as the pioneering Warenghem distillery in Lannion, have also made a name for themselves in the whisky sector.
