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Regional cooking

 

"Of all the provinces, Picardy is perhaps the one that has preserved the most,
the ancient recipes and its popular dishes." Austin de Croze.

 

The regional cuisine draws inspiration from more or less well-known local products. Authentic products prepared healthily give the best possible result.

Local specialties include "Ficelles Picardes," thin crepes filled with ham and mushrooms. The leek pie, cooked under the flame at the origin, gives it the name "Flamiche" for this tasty specialty. Among the exceptional dishes, we have the famous "pâté en croûte" of Amiens, a meat pie, and salt-meadow lamb from the Somme Bay.

About cheese, we find the heart-shaped Rollot and the Tomme de Picardie. For desserts, there are apple pies, plum pies, and rabotte, which is an apple wrapped in puff pastry. Then there is the traditional "Gâteau battu", which is a kind of brioche. The eggs for this beaten cake should be beaten for a long time. The essential Chantilly cream-whipped cream was created at the castle of the same name.

Regional products are mainly honey, mustard, Amiens macaroons, and chocolate tiles. Several beers are made in craft breweries, and cider has been around in the region since the 16th century. Several products have been awarded at the agricultural show in Paris. This is only a quick overview; many specialties are to be discovered on-site.

Auguste Parmentier, a local native, was a military pharmacist. He had promoted the potato, which was wrongly considered harmful to health in France and Europe. He had consumed it while he was a military prisoner in Prussia during the Seven Years' War.

The names of regional varieties are the following:

- “Bintje” is the most common variety in the North of France as well as in Europe,
- “Vitelotte” has a violet color and is not widespread.
- “Pompadour” a name inspired by the Marchioness of Pompadour,
- “Ratte du Touquet” from the town of Le Touquet on the coast.
- “Juliette des sables” like Juliette of the sands.

 

"Gâteau battu" like whisked cake, is a brioche cake.