Treasure hunt in Breton
Clément likes spider crabs. Also sea snails, crabs and mussels he finds great. However, his affection, like that of many French children, is of a culinary nature. For seafood tastes wonderfully delicate and can be cracked at the table without formalities, sucked out and eaten with your fingers. And make sure you have fun finding, catching and fishing before.
Treasures of the sea
I accompany Clément and his father Jean-Michel while foot fishing. Skeptically, we are eyeing the sky, hoping its blue will conquer the storm-driven black cloud monsters that cast their shadows across the landscape. But whatever happens, we will not miss the "Grande Marée"? This exceptionally large tidal range in spring, when the sun and the moon join forces to draw in the water, exposing miles of seabed. Equipped with a safety net, shovel, rake, buckets and rubber boots we pull out, and I listen to the explanations of Jean-Michel, who is well versed here as a local. He shows me variously shaped holes that can be found everywhere in the sandy soil? they come from shells. The openings are for the supply of air, and each type of mussel has its own. For example, the breathing holes of the Swordfish look like a keyhole, stuck vertically in the sand waiting for the return of the water. To lure them up, we sprinkle salt on the breathing hole according to ancient tradition. In anticipation of the salty tide, the shell rises, where Clément quickly grasps her with both hands and pulls with all his strength out of the sand.
Especially industrious fishermen also feel algae and pebbles
Raw or slightly sautéed in olive oil, these clams taste delicious. In addition to the shell holes pile the Ringelhäufchen the sand worms. They eat through the silt, deprive it of nutrients and excrete the rest in the form of small spaghetti piecings. Many collectors appreciate the worms? but only as a fishing bait. People are at work all around us: the sandy soil is being raked and dug up for shells, every stone is turned over to catch the crabs hidden underneath, boulders are searched for oyster colonies and lobsterholes. Particularly busy fishermen feel the algae and pebbles lying around everywhere? it could indeed adhere to a marine snail.
The "pêche à pied" is for the Bretons far more than a hobby. It is a festival that unites all foot fishermen in a kind of conspiracy, in the common enthusiasm for the forces of nature, the sea, the air and the seafood. The highlight in the life of all foot fishermen is as much a grand marée as it is today, when sea levels drop by up to 15 meters over six hours. Then, even in stormy and rainy weather, the parking lots on the bank fill up and whole groups of people head towards the sea. In coastal areas on such a day is usually nowhere to find a craftsman. And in many offices, often only an emergency crew performs its normal service.
Carpet shells, also called horse studs, are very popular
Behind each boulder stands and kneels a foot fisherman who will recover his delicious treasure in two, three or four hours. It also staged deception maneuvers? because, of course, everyone tries to keep "his" lobster hole or his crab pool secret from the others. Not with all seafood is such ownership thinking possible. The delicious scallops, for example, are strewn on the sand like the Easter eggs? you just have to pick them up. Your black innards wander into the garbage (or in the chicken coop), are eaten only the white muscle and the orange roe, the "corail". Enjoy scallops either raw with a little lemon juice and salt, sautéed or classic French: stewed with crème fraîche and grated orange peel in the pan. Cockles are also found almost everywhere. Steamed with onion, tomato and garlic it can be a great, tasty pasta sauce in the style of the Italian "spaghetti alle vongole" magic. More difficult is the search for the sweetish and oysters raw to eat clams that live only in coarse and very heavy sand. Even carpets, which are also called "couilles de cheval" (horse testicles) because of their characteristic shaped shellfish inside, you will not discover every day.
Environmentally conscious fishermen turn every stone back.
The digging is not special to Clement anyway. He would much rather search under rocks and boulders for crabs. The star among the crustaceans is of course the beautiful blue colored Breton lobster, which is also hidden under rocks. But Clément's ambition does not go that far.The crabs are enough for him. When his little sisters Salomé and Illona take part in the foot fishing, they prefer to collect the shiny black snails on rocks and algae. It is boiled in water with salt, pepper and bay leaf. A wonderful snack for aperitif. Incidentally, eco-conscious foot fishermen turn each stone back to its original position after the inspection: so that the algae, fish eggs and young mussels adhering to it do not dry out.
In the past, marine animals abounded here. Collecting them was a vital necessity for the people of traditionally poor Brittany? you only took as much as a family could eat. Today, foot fishing is a recreational activity for locals and tourists. From year to year they travel more numerous and often provide a large circle of seafood buyers. This can not cope with some stocks. So the French state decided to regulate foot fishing. The regulations on catch sizes and numbers of mussels, lobsters, crabs and snails are strict. And the penalties imposed on civilians by gendarmes are becoming ever tougher. At home, we sort our catch and prepare it: The oysters are prepared the same raw on a plate. Crustaceans, spider crabs, shrimp must first be boiled in salt water (preferably seawater). Most of the work done by the sand snails, which are called "berniques" or "chapeaux chinois" in France, are Chinese hats: with a knife, one carefully loosens the tasty muscles from the skins, chops them with tomatoes and carrots and then leaves them in the Sauté pan with steamed spring onions and garlic for about ten minutes? a wonderful pasta sauce! And also very healthy because of their high content of iodine, minerals and proteins, without fat. The mussels are also first sanded and then steamed: with shallots, a little butter, a bay leaf, pepper, a glass of white wine or cider, possibly also crème fraîche and curry. Due to the heat, the shells open by themselves.
The self-caught seafood plate makes you full and proud
Expertly, Clément, Salomé and Illona use empty clam shells as pliers to extract the flesh of the other clams. It is more difficult with the cancers. They can be opened even after cooking (depending on size 7 to 25 minutes, if possible in sea water) only laboriously. Helpful are a nutcracker and special cutlery in the form of long, pointed thin forks. Our self-caught "Plat de fruits de mer" fills us with pride? and Giant Appetite. What a difference to the seafood plate in the restaurant, which you have not previously worked out yourself. , ,
Beginners should be warned though: Although such a meal is very low in calories, but extremely rich in protein. Unfortunately, an excessive seafood meal often follows the "protein shock". After one day, however, you are "hardened" against this vomiting diarrhea and can then devote yourself to the pleasures without hesitation. By the way, a protein shock can be avoided by eating as many carbohydrates before, to or after the seafood as possible. In other words, with pasta, bread and sweets may and should be even strong!
