I never thought eating frogs would have international consequences. Apparently that would be the reason why the British call the French frogs, and in return, the French gave their across-the-Channel neighbour a nickname “les rosbifs” - french spelling for a British Sunday roast beef dinner.
Although I still don’t fully understand the rationale behind those not-so-flattering appellations, calling a nation’s people by their typical dish is not an uncommon practice (e.g. krauts for Germans, goulash-heads for Hungarians) just like kindergarten kids give silly nicknames to one another.
That being said, if frogs seem to be an unusual food for many or only regarded as a source of protein in times of famine in the past, frogs are considered a delicious dish in France as well as in China.
Photo by Alexa Fotos on Pixabay
France is well-known for its cuisses de grenouille although so well-known that some French may regard them as a cliché. One of the common ways to cook these is with butter and persillade sauce, which is basically a combination of chopped parsley and garlic. I used to live in a young and constantly evolving neighbourhood near Buttes Chaumont Park in Paris. Frog legs served that way in a pan, in a modern version of traditional bistrot (Mansae) down my street, form part of my memories of living there. While writing these lines, my thought has wandered to checking on the current menu of my then favourite restaurant. I am so happy to see that the restaurant still serves this legendary dish!
Photo by Bei, frog legs with green pea soup and chorizo by Lilia from Le Goût de la Passion in Amboise
I loved those frog legs not only because they were truly delicious, but also because they brought me back from Paris to my childhood in China, although cooked differently. My mom cooked frogs in “hong shao” style, it was a holiday treat. “Hong shao” stands for red braised - a typical slow cooking technique using both light and dark soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, sugar, ginger, garlic, sometimes with spices such as star anise and dried chilli of Chongqing. The Chinese call it red because “hong shao” will give an amber, red-coloured hue to any food cooked that way. Frogs’ tender and bouncy texture imbibed such a umami sauce, making every bite juicy and flavourful. I’m surely not the only one who loved that dish. A victim of its success, local species of frog became scarce, then wild-caught frogs were banned.
Today in China, the frogs that are consumed are mainly a north American species - called bullfrog - imported from Cuba back in the 1960’s and are now the most cultivated. We Chinese are thankful for those frogs given in exchange against Peking ducks and expertise in rice cultivation. China’s own production can provide a daily consumption of 250 tons in Shanghai, 200 tons in Chengdu and another 200 tons in Chongqing - the top three cities that put the most bullfrogs on the plate; moreover, the country is also one of the largest exporters. Flourishing restaurants have developed various ways to cook such popular fare. Hotpot, pan fried, deep fried, soup, slow stewed, grilled; cooked with fermented chilli or green pepper and shiso, or Sichuan peppercorn and garlic… possibilities are endless. Are the French the only froggies?
Photo by Silvanyu on Pixabay
Sichuan style of frog legs
For your dinner conversation
People in both France and China are well known as frog eaters; but they are not the only ones. In South-East Asia especially Vietnam, Indonesia (the largest exporter of frog legs), other European countries such as Switzerland, Portugal, Spain and some of Eastern Europe countries, even the Southern regions of the United States, etc. frogs are consumed for their tender flesh and taste resembling chicken.
The fact that some frogs are still caught wild raises environmental concern. Farming frogs (bullfrogs) could be a solution providing that they don’t escape into the wild. As invasive species, they are a threat to local amphibians and fauna.
And to add some salt to it
In Britain, calling the French frogs is based on the amphibian being a part of their diet. Often said as an insult or mockery, the nickname has turned ironic since a shocking and entertaining archeological discovery in 2013. It was found a mile away from Stonehenge that frog legs were an English delicacy around eight millennia before becoming a French one!
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