The atlas · A cuisine · Brittany — the peninsula of north-western France, between the Channel and the Bay of Biscay

Breton

Also Brittany, Bretagne, Breizh, Cuisine bretonne
One of French cooking's regional kitchens · all 7 side by side

Buckwheat and salted butter, the catch of a long, rocky coast, and pancakes cooked thin on a hot iron plate.

Where it comes from

Brittany was a poor, windy country of small farms, and buckwheat — which grows where wheat struggles — became its staple, probably from around the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Pancakes and porridges of it fed the countryside for generations, with wheat kept for feast days.

Salted butter is the other thread. Brittany had its own salt from the marshes of Guérande, and it's often said that an old exemption from the salt tax kept butter salted here while most of France went unsalted. It runs through the cakes and biscuits, and through the fish from its many harbours.

Where in it

  1. Quimper and CornouailleThe Breton-speaking south-west: Douarnenez, where kouign-amann is said to have been born, the crêperies of Quimper and its lacy crêpes dentelle, and the butter biscuits of Pont-Aven.Kouign-amannCrêpes bretonnesFar breton
  2. Brest and the IroiseThe naval port at the western tip, facing the cold, clear Iroise sea, where lobster, crab and langoustine come in to Finistère's harbours.Homard à l'armoricaine
  3. Saint-MaloThe walled corsair city of Upper Brittany, where buckwheat pancakes are called galettes, with Cancale's oysters just along the bay.Galette complète
  4. Lorient and the south coastFishing ports from Concarneau to Quiberon — sardines, mackerel and hake landed daily, and the cotriade fishermen made from what was left over.Cotriade
  5. Guérande's salt marshesClay pans by the sea where salt has been raked by hand for centuries; its fleur de sel seasons the butter, and the butter the palets and caramels.Palets bretons

How it cooks

The billig
A wide, flat cast-iron plate, very hot; the batter is spread thin with a wooden rozell and turned with a long spatula.
Salted butter everywhere
Beurre demi-sel goes into the pan, the pastry and the caramel — the salt is part of the taste, not a seasoning added after.
Laminating with sugar
For kouign-amann, butter and sugar are folded into bread dough so they caramelise in the oven.
Fish and potatoes in one pot
The fishermen's way: potatoes and onions first, the fish laid in at the end and barely simmered, the broth served apart.

Always in the kitchen

buckwheat flourplain floursalted butterfleur de seleggsmilkciderhamandouilleprunessugarpotatoesonionsshellfish

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

BretonGalette complèteA thin, lacy buckwheat pancake folded square around ham, grated cheese and an egg left runny in the middle.No one here has made it yetBretonCrêpes bretonnesThin wheat-flour pancakes, cooked on a billig and eaten with salted butter and sugar, jam or salted-butter caramel.No one here has made it yetBretonKouign-amannBread dough folded with layers of salted butter and sugar and baked until the outside caramelises into a sticky, crackling crust.No one here has made it yetBretonFar bretonA dense, custardy flan of eggs, milk and flour, baked firm, usually with prunes soaked in the batter.No one here has made it yetBretonCotriadeThe Breton fishermen's stew: several kinds of fish simmered with potatoes and onions, the broth poured over bread and the fish eaten after with vinaigrette.No one here has made it yetBretonPalets bretonsThick, crumbly biscuits made rich and slightly salty with plenty of salted butter and egg yolks.No one here has made it yetBretonHomard à l'armoricaineLobster cut up live, seared in its shell, flamed with cognac and simmered in white wine, tomato and shallots with a touch of cayenne.No one here has made it yet

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Breton yet.