The Breton coast and its shellfish

Brittany forms the western peninsula of France, thrusting into the Atlantic with the Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its coastline is long, deeply indented and rocky, cut by rias and estuaries, and the sea has shaped the table of the province more than the land behind it. Anne Willan, in French Regional Cooking, treats the Breton kitchen as one governed by the water that surrounds it on three sides.

The waters of Brittany are cold, clear and strongly tidal, with some of the greatest tidal ranges in Europe along the Channel shore. Such conditions favour shellfish of firm flesh and clean, saline flavour. The flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, known as the belon when it comes from the river of that name in southern Finistère, and the cupped oyster, Crassostrea gigas, are raised in the sheltered inlets and estuaries, while the rocky shore yields the spider crab, Maja squinado (araignée de mer), the brown crab, Cancer pagurus (tourteau), and the European lobster, Homarus gammarus (homard bleu). Mussels, Mytilus edulis, are cultivated on poles in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, a method that gives the moules de bouchot their small size and tender flesh. The cooking that has grown from this supply is plain by design. Shellfish are eaten raw, as with oysters opened to order, or cooked briefly in court-bouillon or sea water and served cold with bread and Breton salted butter. The salted butter is characteristic of the province, which was historically exempt from the heavy salt tax levied elsewhere in France, and it appears with shellfish as it does with the buckwheat galette and the crêpe. Cream and butter sauces, such as the sauce to accompany lobster or the preparation known as à l'armoricaine, belong to the more elaborate side of the repertoire, though the simplest service remains the most typical. The coast is also a working landscape of salt marshes, harbours and small fishing ports, where the catch is landed daily and sold close to the water. Seasonality and the tide govern what reaches the market, and the cook who follows the shore will take the shellfish of each month as it comes. The platter of fruits de mer, with its crushed ice and seaweed, is the clearest expression of this habit: a display of the coast's range, eaten with little more than lemon, rye bread and a shallot vinegar.

The flavour of Breton shellfish is marked by iodine, salt and a cool mineral edge, which varies with the estuary and the season. Oysters are taken with a little lemon or shallot vinegar, crab and lobster with mayonnaise or melted butter, and the salted butter of the province carries a sweetness that answers the brine. A dry, high-acid white wine such as Muscadet sur lie, from the neighbouring Loire estuary, is the customary companion.