![]() While we’re on the subject of seafood, la moule de Dunkerque, also known as moule de corde is definitely a welcome surprise. The yard also produces smoked herring and plans to add a meat smokehouse in the next couple of years. The result is a delicate, buttery, creamy taste, smoky on the outside of the fillet and milder in the centre. The team imports Red Label salmon from Loch Duart in Scotland, guts, fillets and salts it, and smokes it in the cold smokehouse (max. As Christian explains: “There was no electricity in the 17th century so smoking fish and meat was the way to preserve food for the thousands of workers in the yard”. So where does the food come in? Leftover wood and sawdust (some 3,600 oak trees from Compiègne will be needed to complete the project!) have so far been used to build a museum, restaurant, shop and – here’s the important bit – a craft smokehouse. IMAGE © PH FRUTIER, PAS-DE-CALIS TOURISME, SAINT-OMER TOURISME, D BARTIER, NORD TOURISME ![]() Ferme des Récollets near Cassel where the cheese of the same name is produced.The association Tourville’s cold smokehouse.It is led by diver and shipwright Christian Cardin who, having dived in the Bay of Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue in 1985 and discovered the wrecks of six 17th-century ships (his name is on a plaque in the museum in Tatihou), decided to embark upon a massive project to construct the warship Le Jean-Bart, a replica of Louis XIV’s 84-cannon vessel. Take the Association Tourville project at Gravelines. ![]() LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARDīeing an area not front of mind for gastronomy in the eyes of even its nearest French, Belgian and British neighbours, Hauts-de-France has the weapon of surprise in its arsenal – the quality and innovation you find here are remarkable. Boat tours in both are recommended, and you can snap up crops grown at the weekly Marché sur l’eau d’Amiens in Place Parmentier. Like its rural cousin, its numbers of gardeners have fallen recently where there used to be 250 hortillons, there are now only seven and the area is used for a mix of gardening, fishing, nature observation and rest. In the centre of the city, in the original river bed of the Somme, are 300 hectares of floating gardens criss-crossed by waterways which, like the marais audomarois, benefit from abundant peaty soil. The Hortillonnages of Amiens are a similar curiosity of cultivation. ![]() The marais audomarois is the only continuously cultivated marshland in France. Right up until the 1970s the area had no roads, its lands connected only by water and its Flemish inhabitants mostly made up of market gardeners.Īlthough the way of life has changed now – the guinguette danced its last slow waltz a few years ago and many of the houses are now occupied by holidaymakers who are keen on peace and a spot of boating – the area still produces six million white cauliflowers per year, as well as 50 other vegetables including leek, tomato, endive, watercress and artichoke, and its UNESCO-recognised nature reserve boasts an incredible 1,600 species of plants and animals. The only continuously cultivated marshland in France, it was dug by monks back in the 17th century, and is an incredible network of canals (700km) separating peaty lands, fertile spots to grow food. The Saint-Omer marshland – or marais audomarois – is a great example of working with the land. It has exceptional landscapes and age-old traditions mixed with innovative attitudes, knowledge, skill and incredible value for money. ![]() Hauts-de-France has quite the quiver of arrows in its backpack to defend its gastronomic might against sunnier and more célébrées regions of France. Often overlooked by the foodie world, Hauts-de-France is full of surprises, from mussels in cheese sauce and chocolate rats to Welsh rarebit (yes, really!). ![]()
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