Background topics | Eating out in northern France
	Food and drink - regional dishes Julian Lucas - your guide to eating and drinking on theotherside

Andouillettes - chitterlings sausages An eel + ingredients for Anguilles au vert Coq à la bière - "chicken stew" Flamiche or Tarte au Fromage eaten with local cider and fresh-baked bread	Regional Specialities "There is an enormous choice of excellent restaurants in Nord-Pas de Calais - including many that cater for coach parties, and an increasing number that offer a taste of regional specialities," says Julian Lucas Many also offer a "national cuisine" - the sort of good food and drink you could find almost anywhere in France.
	Dishes to look out for
	Andouillettes - small sausages made from chitterlings [offal] and served with chips or mashed potato. Speciality of Arras. Anguilles au vert - eels cooked with spinach and sorrel leaves in white wine; garnished with herbs and served hot or cold on fried bread. Carbonade à la flamande - a wonderful Flemish beef stew. It uses slices of beef already charcoal-grilled, then cooked with onions in strong local beer. Carpe à la bière - carp fished from local rivers, cooked in butter with onions, shallots, celery, bay and thyme; then baked with strong local beer and spiced bread. Coq à la bière - "chicken stew", cooked in beer with vegetables. Ideally made with free-range poultry from Licques. Flamiche - Either a sweet or a savoury tart ("flamiche" is the Flemish word for cake.) The best known Flamiche is made with leeks. Flamiches are often made with Maroilles, a strong cheese from the Avenois, or other local cheeses. Gaufres à la citrouille - a pumpkin waffle made with a batter mixed with cooked vegetable and rum. Waffles made with various flavours and fillings are a Flemish favourite. top of next column	Hochepot Flamand - Flemish stew, a "hotch-potch" of mixed meats (pig's ears and tails, breast of beef, oxtail, shoulder of mutton, salt bacon); cooked with local vegetables (carrots, potatoes, leeks, onions, turnips, garlic, celery, beans). Now usually made with just oxtail and vegetables. The word hochepot comes from the old French hottison meaning to shake. Potjevleisch - Flemish potted meat, originally from Dunkerque. It is a terrine made of three meats: often veal, bacon and rabbit; or chicken duck and rabbit. Calves feet are sometimes added. The meat is cooked with onions, shallots, garlic, white wine and some herbs, lemon and tomatoes. Soupe à l'Ail - garlic soup, a speciality from the Douai area. Tarte au Fromage - another name for a cheese Flamiche, an open-top cheese pie, often made with Maroilles, a strong-flavoured local cheese that comes in a square shape. Tarte à Gros bords - open-top sweet custard tart. Pastry with the traditional custard and sugar filling, cooked in a wood-fired oven. Waterzoi - a fresh fish stew, made with vegetables, cream and any coarse fish - carp, perch, pike... Sometimes also made with chicken (or other white meat) stewed with leeks. Back to top of page
Tarte à Gros bords, a sweet custard tart	Related Background Information: Beer - the local drink, from local breweries Bread - revival in traditional types AND Flemish waffles Cheeses - specialities of the region Chicory - the region's alternative to coffee Chocolate - why the North shares a sweet tooth with Belgium! Farming - local produce, and farms to visit Eating fish & seafood - with recommended seafood restaurants Snails - snail farms to visit Wines - where to buy

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