frigousse

Frigousse (an old word for mijoter or ‘to simmer)’ is a traditional dish from Rennes dating from the end of the Middle Ages and often served in an edible bowl made of bread. Ingredients include poultry, cider, chestnuts or sometimes smoked bacon.

You can also find it with artichokes, which grow very well in Brittany; there’s also frigousse Bourguignotte, which is made with wine instead of cider. Some make it with guinea fowl.

After being forgotten for centuries, the dish was revived in the late 19th century. In 1991, the Confrérie du Grand Ordre de la Frigousse was created to make sure no one forgot it again.

Elsewhere in France, frigousse is a winter dish made with turnips, carrots, green beans, peas, onions, and lettuce, cooked with butter and flavoured with bacon.