What to Eat in Deux Charentes? | EUROtoday

From the freshest of seafood to hearty meat stews and dishes, the 'two Charentes' in western France can provide guests a tasty feast, all washed down with the native apéritif drinks.

It all begins with the seafood, naturally. And eventually, you're going to search out your self shucking an oyster. These bivalves are the star gastronomic attraction on this portion of the Atlantic coast, however essentially the most well-known of all are the Marennes-Oléron oysters which spend the latter phases of their lives in brackish water, giving them their distinctive nutty taste. The mussels right here, a lot of them grown on ropes curled round lengthy wood poles, or bouchots are slightly particular too.

For a little bit of turf with their surf, some Charentais eat backyard snails in a dish referred to as Charentaise-style cagouilles snails cooked in white wine, carrots, garlic, onion, thyme, bay leaves, tomato and a splash of cognac.

There's additionally loads of meals that doesn't are available in a shell: strive Charentais crickets (a pork dish), Chalais veal, Barbezieux rooster, saintongeaise fashion rabbit (rabbit casserole) or potatoes from the Île de Ré. The greatest identified native cheeses are Manslois and Joncheé. For dessert, there's Galette Charentaise (a sponge cake), kroumir (marzipan dipped in sugar), pichote (marzipan dipped in chocolate) or the well-known Charentais melon.

Cognac is the apparent liquid to clean all this down, double-distilled and aged in oak casks to offer it its distinctive taste. You'll additionally quaff a number of pineau des Charentes, a preferred aperitif constructed from a mix of calmly fermented grape should and cognac.

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