What are we eating? Corsica Edition.
A lesson in "terre et mer" (aka, surf n' turf).
Many of you know I usually vet restaurants like crazy before choosing a place to eat. Justin has also developed a good eye and a habit of recon before committing to just anything. So, based on our trip planning research we knew eating here would mean meat-heavy meals. But, I still couldn’t shake from my assumptions that on a pretty small island we would eat anything but seafood all day, everyday. And I hoped for some really good pizza given our proximity to Italy (funnily, my phone provider keeps sending me “Welcome to Italy” messages).
Read on for a look at what we’ve had since arriving in Corsica—pretty different fare than what we’re used to on le continent. Not all of our dishes lasted long enough for a photo, so this is a sampling!
Meat, seafood, meat.
Over the last two weeks we’ve had meals of meat and fish on almost every part of the island. The food has been pretty similar though in all places, with differences being that the north and middle seem even more traditional or local and the south seems more catered to international tourists.
One thing I found striking is that even sitting on the coast, it’s very common to find meat rather than seafood as menu features. It speaks to the importance of cow, pig, and boar in traditional Corsican food. Brocciu is another common staple, a local sheep’s milk cheese, and you often find it fried, in salads or in desserts.
Loup (branzino, “wolf of the sea”) and Daurade (sea bream) are commonly served, and we’ve also had whole roasted and filets of Rouget (red mullet).
We’ve seen a lot of bars à viande, or meat bars (don’t hold back with the jokes). Meat seems to be so ingrained in the cuisine here that the top two photos were from a dock-side restaurant on a seaport. And the meats are very diverse and run a long gamut—sanglier, boccocini de veau, lamb, beef (and horse, which we will not be trying).
A Word on Pizza.
Le continent, how Corsicans refer to mainland France, could take some notes. The pizza here is way better than on the mainland. Maybe it’s the massive Italian influence or something else, but the pizza here reigns supreme. None of these survived long enough for photos.
What are we drinking? Lots of Corsican wine!
Corsica has a thriving even if smaller-scale wine industry. They use a lot of old-school Corsican grape varietals (cépages in French), like Niellucciu in the photo below, and Sciaccarellu, and the wines we’ve had here can easily compete with the better known domaines and regions in mainland France. This island puts out excellent rosé that can absolutely go head to head with Provençal rosé, and their reds have ranged from medium bodied to really full, tannic ones that pair well with all this meat.
Another fun thing about Corsican drinks is that they produce their own limoncellu (spelled differently because it’s in Corsican), they do Capo spritzes instead of Aperol spritzes, where they use the local Mattei Cap Corse liqueur—something in the family of and in between the sweetness and bitterness of Martini Rossi and Campari. We’ve also been gifted digestifs of Myrte (that we now order), which is a liqueur like limoncello but uses the berries and leaves of Myrtle plants. It’s not as sweet or pungent as limoncello and is very good, although I still love my limoncellu.
What about dessert?
There have been a couple of new-to-us, traditional Corsican desserts since arriving on the island, like Fiadone, a cheesecake-esque pastry made with the aforementioned brocciu cheese and chataigne-based (chestnut) desserts like soft cakes and fondants (think lava cake), but there have mostly been staples like crème brûlée, tiramisu, and loads of ice cream. We also found our first affogato since arriving in France, and have found tons of delicious Pavlovas! If you haven’t had the pleasure of a Pavlova in your life yet, you should seek one out immediately.
With a few more days left on the island at the time of drafting this, we are looking forward to getting back to a wider variety of food in Lyon and the freedom to cook at home, but I will miss having fresh seafood dishes widely available. I think I’ve had 5 or 6 fish tartares in just the last two weeks. Still, there’s a lot to be said about cooking your own foods the way you like them, and being able to tailor your meal in a way that is just not always possible in restaurants when you’re traveling for longer periods.
Until next time!
Glad to learn that you got some good pizza. Pizza is one of my favorite foods, although I don't have it nearly often enough due to trying to keep an eye on my weight. Maybe you're right about the proximity to Italy influencing Corsican pizza. Years ago when I worked as a DJ, before playing some teenie bobber record, I made an offhand comment about the history of pizza and how I thought maybe it was invented in New York City by an Italian immigrant. Next thing I know some jabronie called in and gave me a 10-minute lecture on how wrong I was. I think I finally told him something like, "Hey, dude, I'm just trying to survive my shift and having to play the same Michael Jackson record three times in the next four hours."
Hope y'all have safe travels back to Lyon. Did you go over by boat? Do you ever hear anyone say "y'all" over there?
Take care.