Cervelle De Canut appears as a signature dish in 1 France cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Cervelle de canut · Lyon
Cervelle de canut is a fresh fromage blanc beaten with shallots, garlic, chives, olive oil and vinegar until it is the consistency of thick cream: the original cheap-and-sharp Lyon cheese course that the silk weavers ate on bread at mid-morning.
The name translates roughly as 'silk-weaver's brain', a satirical swipe from the bourgeoisie at the Croix-Rousse canuts who could only afford fresh cheese rather than aged wheels. The canuts ate it on bread with onion and vinegar as a mid-morning meal called the machon. Today cervelle de canut appears on every bouchon menu as a starter or cheese course, and the machon tradition survives every third Friday of the month at a handful of Lyon bouchons that open at 09:30 for the original format.
Where to eat in Lyon:
- Le Bouchon des Filles
- Cafe-Comptoir Abel