Brezhoneg Pemp

Brezhoneg Pemp

Brittany landscape. The atlantic coast near Baule.

Brezhoneg

Brezhoneg Pemp

"Brezhoneg Pemp" is a course in the Breton Department. In this advanced course, students are introduced to elaborate texts or proverbs, grammar complements and some colloquial phrases for a usual conversation.

Rekipeoù Breizh

Krampouezh (pancakes) is the best known of Breton cooking. More basic to the region's gastronomy than bread, pancakes come in two main varieties:

Sweet pancakes, made with plain wheat flour mixed with eggs and milk, are generally folded over a sweet filling of some kind.

Salted pancakes, also called "galettes", are made with buckwheat flour, eggs, and water, and are usually filled with savory ingredients. Crêperies, which dot almost every street in Brittany, serve extensive all-crêpe menus, offering fillings ranging from a sprinkling of sugar or a bit of jam to layers of ham, vegetables, and cheese.

Pancakes are eaten at any time of day, as a snack or as a full meal—and are almost always accompanied by a cup or bowl of locally pressed cold (alcoholic) cider.

One Breton seafood recipe that is slightly more complex is "cotriade", now considered a luxury dish, but long the traditional daily stew of poor local fishermen. Heading out to sea for four or five days, fishermen took along provisions that would not spoil easily—potatoes, onions, garlic, leeks. Throwing these into a pot of water spiked with sea brine, they'd put in some of the more common fish they caught that day—a mix that might include mackerel, conger eel, sardines, skate, crab, mussels, and shrimp, among other things.

If cotriade is Brittany's bouillabaisse, kig ha farz is its pot-au-feu. A specialty of the Leon region, it is a hefty stew made with beef or salt pork, cabbage, potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, garlic, and leeks. The farz, or stuffing, is a thick buckwheat porridge made with bouillon, milk, and a dollop of lard, wrapped in a dishcloth, and immersed in the pot to cook alongside the stew. By the time the stew is finished, the farz has become a heavy, crumbly dumpling or pudding, to be fluffed with a fork and served with the meat, vegetables, and broth. Like many stews, kig ha farz is better the next day.

Cakes an also important like "kouign amann", Breton for butter cake—a traditional dessert said to have originated in the mid-19th century in the port of Douarnenez, at the southwestern tip of Brittany. But now you find it throughout Brittany.

Traou Mad is a Breton delicacy produced in w:Brittany, being a full fat butter biscuit served for breakfast or afternoon tea. Traoù Mat (in peurunvan orthography) stands for Good Things in Breton.