Quenelle with Nantua sauce

A dish that spans the ages

Louis XV was said to be fond of this dish, considered a refined delicacy that frequently graced the table of the nobility.

And yet, quenelle, which has a long tradition, is made from simple ingredients (eggs, flour, milk or cream, and Bresse butter of course) and pike, abundant in Nantua and the Dombes ponds, or chicken. As for the sauce, it owes its origin to the proliferation of “Astacus astacus à pattes rouges” crayfish caught in the surrounding rivers and lakes over the last few centuries. Fleshy and full-flavored, they fed on the meat scraps clinging to the hides that tanners left to soak.

Now an emblematic dish, the quenelle even has a brotherhood that organizes the Fête de la Quenelle sauce Nantua every October. On the program: tastings, demonstrations of know-how, local producers’ market…

People came from all over to taste Nantua’s authentic quenelles in this restaurant on the side of the main road…

GOOD TO KNOW

The recipe for quenelle

Milk, eggs, durum wheat flour and butter are the basic ingredients of the quenelle breading. Pike or poultry meat is then added, depending on the desired flavor.

The sauce is prepared in a béchamel-style sauce with crayfish butter. The latter gives the sauce its slightly pinkish color.

Once rolled, the quenelles are traditionally poached, then drowned in the sauce before going into the oven.

Bon appétit!