Whisk Wednesdays—Cuisses de Grenouille aux Herbes (Herbed Frog Legs)

For the next few weeks, we're learning about shellfish, snails and frog legs, and first up is frog legs. This, of course, reminded me of this video of the Muppets' Swedish Chef.

The French love frog legs, and it is a "lovable term for the French — the frogs," says Mort Rosenblum, founding editor of the quarterly magazine Dispatches. "They're kind of identified with it, because it's such a distinctive dish."

Frog Tastin' and Giggin'
It's hard to believe, but frog legs are in danger of being "eaten to extinction." Every year, eight to ten tons of frog legs are consumed, according to Taste France.

These days, French frog ranching is dead and commercial giggin' is illegal. You can catch frogs only during frog hunting season, which is 15 days per year and, after you catch them, you must eat them immediately. Otherwise, you may be fined €10,000 or worse, lose your vehicle. So bring a camp stove and frying pan along on your hunt.

If you can't hunt for your own frogs, then you have to import the critters. And if you want French frogs, you may have to resort to the black market…contraband grenouilles de pays.

"French frogs really taste better to most cooks." — Mort Rosenblum

I asked my fishmonger where my frog legs came from, and he said Vietnam! According to this link, Bruno Stril, teaching chef at the Cordon Bleu school in Paris, France, is unsure where his suppliers source their frog legs. "I would like for them to come from France," he says. But he expects that most of the meat comes from other countries."

Frog Fair
A good majority of frog legs were eaten in one weekend at the world's largest frog fair. Since 1972 on the fourth weekend in April, Vittel, France held the Fête de Grenouilles hosted by The Brotherhood of Frog Thigh Tasters.

According to the Harper's Index in July 2004, the last year that the fête served French frog legs was in 1977. After that, they had to import frog legs from other parts of the world, including Indonesia. The Brotherhood of Frog Thigh Tasters wants "to restore la grenouille to glory by persuading the government to put fresh French frogs back on the table."

Frogs in the Frying Pan
This recipe is a simple one-cutting-board-one-knife-one-pan kind of dish.

Dry. Dredge. Season. Sauté with garlic. Sprinkle with parsley.
I would use more butter than called for in the recipe since the frog legs stuck to the pan.

Recipe

Serves 4

1 pound (500 g) frog legs (about twenty pairs)
20 g (1 tablespoon) butter
30 g (¼ cup) flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
You can find the recipe for Cuisses de Grenouille aux Herbes (Herbed Frog Legs) from Chocolate & Zucchini. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Serve with a glass of Riesling (according to The Brotherhood of Frog Thigh Tasters).

Tasting Notes
I tasted the frog legs, and I'm not sure what I'll do with the leftovers. Mind over matter didn't work for me with this meal. If someone prepared them for me and took the meat off the bones and served it in a stew, I would have enjoyed it. The meat is tender and moist with a mouth-feel like a sturdy fish such as monkfish. But all I could think about were little hopping frogs, Kermit the Frog singing "The Rainbow Connection".

My daughter was animated at dinnertime tonight about her animal rights presentation that included a discussion about banning frog dissection in science class. While she was talking, I pulled out my freshly sautéed frog legs from the refrigerator that she could have for dinner. She was not impressed and stormed out of the room while her sisters ribbed her with "ribbit" sounds. It was a moment you had to be here for, maybe. {Although I offered, I didn't make them try a portion.}

Links
• Article: French tradition is on its last legs
• Radio: Well-Traveled Frogs: France Imports Favorite Dish
• Website: Frog Legs Review site

Next Class
• Coquilles Saint Jacques Dieppoise (Scallops with Mussels and Shrimp in Cream Sauce) pages 78-79

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $1,208.01 + $13.52 = $1,221.53
($3.38 per serving)

Butter used so far: 10 pounds, 5 tablespoons

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::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.