Charente cuisine recipe

Charentaise cuisine, a wonderful taste discovery!

What a treat! From aperitifs to digestifs, Charente has some great surprises in store for your taste buds with delicious and generous dishes, cooked at any time of year. To find the best products, there's nothing like markets or farm sales, not to mention local grocery stores that respect the seasons and fresh produce. In Charente, the recipes are not very complicated to make, as long as you pay attention to the quantities. Beware of the cognac that often flavors Charente recipes!

The must-have dish of Charente remains the cagouilles , these "petit gris" snails cooked with parsley butter and sausage meat. As a starter to whet your mouth, or as a main course for the most gourmet, they delight the palates of visitors and Charentais. If you are not a fan of meat, the recipe can be adapted to keep the good buttery taste.

Meat is also part of Charente gastronomy with Chalais veal, Barbezieux chicken or Limousin beef and Charente foie gras . Cooked roasted, braised, stewed or just seared, it is fine and melting and can be enjoyed with the accompaniment of your choice.

Cheese is not really cooked in Charente, but rather arranged on a platter to make the connection between the main course and the dessert. Creamy and delicious, they are eaten endlessly on a slice of bread, accompanied by a good Charente wine or a slightly sweet Pineau des Charentes.

At the end of the meal, it's hard not to crack in front of a golden Charentaise galette, or a soft millas straight from the oven. It will of course be accompanied by a glass of cognac, the emblematic drink of the region.

Start the tasting, we reveal 5 typical recipes from Charente for a friendly and delicious moment in the kitchen!

Wash the snails several times with coarse salt and vinegar, before cooking them for 1 hour in salted water with the bouquet garni and fennel. Once drained, reserve the cooking broth. Peel the tomatoes, crush them, chop the shallots, garlic, and brown everything in the goose fat. Add the sausage meat, ham and pork rind, then the tomato paste. Cook for 10 minutes, add the snails, the broth and simmer for 1 hour covered. Just before serving, sprinkle with chopped parsley and season.

Wash and cut the vegetables, then cook them for 20 minutes in boiling water. Drain until all the water has been removed. Brown the bacon, peel, chop the onions and add them as well as the sorrel to melt with the bacon. Mix the chopped parsley with the drained vegetables. Beat the eggs with the flour, season, mix with the vegetables and bacon and pour into a buttered cake dish. Cook for 45 minutes at 180°C, leave to cool before serving.

Brown the meat and bacon in lard in a casserole dish, then add the chopped onion. Remove the meat, add 2 cm of water, the thyme, the bay leaf, the spices and leave to infuse. Return the meat and leave to cook for 2 hours, stirring from time to time. Drain the meat and place in a terrine dish. Cover with the cooking fat, and enjoy.

Mix the flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, yeast, softened butter and eggs by hand in a salad bowl. Salt if necessary. After a few minutes, add the angelica in pieces, work the dough. Roll it out before placing it in a pie dish. Brush with milk, make crosses and brown in the oven at 230°C for 10 minutes, leave to cool and enjoy.

Mix the flours, yeast and sugar with a third of the milk to obtain a smooth dough. Boil the rest of the milk and add to the dough. Let cool to add the eggs and softened butter. Add the cognac and orange blossom, and pour into a cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes at 180°C, and sprinkle with vanilla sugar 10 minutes before the end.