As part of our Ursino project, each month we invite you to discover a traditional recipe shared by a chef, a celebrity, or an anonymous contributor.
Discovering a dish, its history, how it is eaten, and even the memories associated with it is precisely what our students around the world do. Based on this, they conduct research to discover the origins of dishes and their ingredients.
The goal: for them to discover for themselves that our cultures, particularly our culinary cultures, have always been enriched by diversity and encounters between peoples.
Today, we are delighted to introduce you to a charming and generous man who fought to keep the Breton dialect of Groix (spoken on the island of Groix) alive.
In February, it will be a year since he left us, and we wanted to honor his memory and his culinary talents! For once, we are not sharing one of our videos, but one by José Calloch, who has brought the delicacies of the island of Groix back into fashion.
This gentleman reveals the secrets of Kouign-pod, a very old Breton dish that is still widely made on the island of Groix.
Tell us about Kouign-pod!
It is a dough made with butter and sugar that is cooked in water. In the past, it was wrapped in a cabbage leaf and cooked with the pot-au-feu. It is eaten as a dessert.
"Kouign" means cake, but in the Vannes dialect, the "k" is pronounced "ch." And "Pod" means pot. It is a heavy dough, similar to bread dough, made with flour, eggs, and cream. Melen sugar (yellow in Breton) is sprinkled on top. This is a browner sugar with more flavor, a bit like vergeoise. Pieces of butter are then added and the dough is folded over. Everything is placed in a knotted cloth and boiled in water with coarse salt.
Once cooked, it is cut into slices and eaten as it is, drizzled with the sweet juice that comes out of it.
The next day, it can also be pan-fried: the slices are browned in butter with the sugar scraped from the bottom of the dish added on top.
Who prepared this dish?
How was this recipe passed on to you?
"I first discovered this dish when I was six years old, thanks to my father. When I was ten, I started making it myself when he went out to sea, as he was a sailor on trawlers. I simply learned by watching him do it!"
Does this dish seem old or new to you? Is it disappearing? Which region do you think it belongs to?
"It's a very old dish! It's still very popular in Groix!"
Are you aware of any other variations of this dish?
How and when is this dish usually eaten?
"It's a quick and easy dish! It can be eaten as a dessert or snack, for example."
Are there any "rituals" associated with eating this dish?
"Kouign-pod is eaten with cutlery because it is full of sweet juice. It is eaten piping hot."
What does this dish remind you of? Do you have any special memories associated with it?
THE RECIPE FOR KOUIGN-POD
Ingredients:
- 400g flour
- 15 tablespoons of "brown" sugar
- 1 egg
- Salted butter
- 50cl of heavy cream
- Salt for boiling water
Steps:
- Pour the flour into a mixing bowl, make a well in the center, crack the egg into it, and begin mixing with a spoon.
- Add the cream little by little, mixing with a spoon.
- Pour onto the table and finish by hand. Knead well until you obtain a smooth dough. Roll out into a thick dough.
- Add the brown sugar (not on the edges)
- Cut pieces of butter and arrange them on top of the sugar.
- Fold the dough over the long edges first to cover the sugar and butter, then fold over the wide edges. Make sure it is tightly sealed!
- Place everything in a clean dish towel and tie it tightly... with a sailor's knot for the real deal!
- Cook in a pot of boiling water with coarse salt for about 45 minutes.
- Serve on a plate, cut into strips, and enjoy, preferably warm, drizzled with the syrup that has collected in the dish.