A bouchon () is a type of restaurant found in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, that serves traditional

Lyonnaise cuisine Lyonnaise cuisine refers to cooking traditions and practices centering on the area around the French city of LyonKindersley, Dorling (2011)''Ultimate Food Journeys: The World's Best Dishes and Where to Eat Them'' Penguin. p. 49. and historical ...

, such as sausages, coq-au-vin, "salade lyonnaise" duck pâté or roast pork. Compared to other forms of French cooking such as ''

nouvelle cuisine Nouvelle cuisine (; 'new cuisine') is an approach to cooking and food presentation in French cuisine. In contrast to ''cuisine classique'', an older form of ''haute cuisine'', nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and ...

'', the dishes are quite hearty. There are approximately twenty officially certified traditional bouchons, but a larger number of establishments describe themselves using the term. Typically, the emphasis in a bouchon is not on ''

haute cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is a style of cooking characterised by meticulous preparation, elaborate presentation, and the use of high quality ingredients. Typically prepared by highly skilled gourmet chefs, haute cuisine dish ...

'' but, rather, a convivial atmosphere and a personal relationship with the owner.

History

The tradition of bouchons came from small inns visited by silk workers passing through Lyon in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. According to the dictionary ''

Le Petit Robert ''Le Petit Robert de la Langue Française'' (), known as just ''Petit Robert'', is a popular single-volume French dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabe ...

'', this name derives from the 16th century expression for a bunch of twisted straw. A representation of such bundles began to appear on signs to designate the restaurants and, by

metonymy Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word " suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as sales ...

, the restaurants themselves became known as bouchons. The more common use of "bouchons" as a stopper or cork at the mouth of a bottle, and its derivatives, have the same etymology.

Today

Since 1997, Pierre Grison and his organization, ''L'Association de défense des bouchons lyonnais'' (The Association for the Preservation of Lyonnais Bouchons), bestow annual certifications to restaurants as "authentic" bouchons. These restaurants receive the title ''Les Authentiques Bouchons Lyonnais'' and are identified with a sticker showing the

marionette A marionette ( ; ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by ...

Gnafron, a Lyonnais symbol of the pleasures of dining, with a glass of wine in one hand and a napkin bearing the Lyon crest in the other.Cuisine des Gones
(French) Retrieved 13 May 2010. The following list, subject to some fluctuation as the certification is bestowed annually, contains most of the certified bouchons: ''Abel'', ''Brunet'', ''Café des deux places'', ''Café des fédérations'', ''Chabert et fils'', ''Daniel et Denise'', ''Chez Georges le petit bouchon'', ''Les gones'', ''Hugon'', ''Le Jura'', ''Chez Marcelle'', ''Le Mercière'', ''La mère Jean'', ''Le mitonné'', ''Le Morgon'', ''Le musée'', ''Chez Paul'', ''Les Trois Maries'', ''A ma vigne'', and ''Le Vivarais''. While many bouchons are now oriented strongly towards the tourist market, with increased prices and less traditional fare as a result, a typical meal in a real bouchon costs around €12-15 .

Cuisine

Typical items in the bouchon repertoire include: ;Soup:

Tripe Tripe is a type of edible lining from the stomachs of various farm animals. Most tripe is from cattle and sheep. Types Beef Beef tripe is made from the muscle wall (the interior mucosal lining is removed) of a cow's stomach chambers: th ...

soup, pumpkin soup ;Salads and cold appetizers:

Chicken liver Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or hogs—chicken meat (commonly called just "chicken") and chicken eggs have beco ...

salad, pork

head cheese Head cheese () or brawn is a meat jelly or terrine made of meat. Somewhat similar to a jellied meatloaf, it is made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig (less commonly a sheep or cow), typically set in aspic. It is usually eaten cold, ...

, ''groins d'âne'' salad (literally, "donkey snout" salad),moulinhuile
(French) Retrieved 13 May 2010. marinated

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

s, ''salade Lyonnaise'' (

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiche ...

with

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

croutons A crouton () is a piece of toasted or fried bread, normally cubed and seasoned. Croutons are used to add texture and flavor to salads—notably the Caesar salad— as an accompaniment to soups and stews, or eaten as a snack food. Etymology T ...

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, small, round seeds of ...

dressing, and a

poached egg A poached egg is an egg that has been cooked outside the shell by poaching (or sometimes steaming). This method of preparation can yield more delicately cooked eggs than higher temperature methods such as boiling. Poached eggs can be found in s ...

) ;Hot appetizers: ''gateau de volaille'' (chicken liver cake), ''

boudin Boudin () is a type of sausage found in several French-speaking cultures. The added ingredients vary in French, Luxembourgish, Belgian, Swiss, Québecois, Acadian, Aostan, Louisiana Creole, and Cajun cuisine. Some variations such as boudin ...

noir'' (blood sausage, usually served with warm apples) ;Offal: Andouillette (

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

offal sausage), assorted

offal Offal (), also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the internal organ (anatomy), organs of a butchered animal. Offal may also refer to the by-products of Milling (grinding), milled grains, such as corn or wheat. Some cultures strong ...

gratin Gratin () is a culinary technique in which a dish (food), dish is topped with a Browning (food process), browned crust, often using breadcrumbs, grated cheese, egg or cheese.Courtine, Robert J. (ed.) (2003) ''The Concise Larousse Gastronomique' ...

, tablier de sapeur ;Fish: Stingray,

quenelle __NOTOC__ A quenelle () is a mixture of creamed fish or meat, sometimes combined with breadcrumbs, with a light egg binding, formed into an egg-like shape, and then cooked. The usual preparation is by poaching. Formerly, quenelles were often us ...

s (ground fish dumplings), grilled fillets ;Meat:

Coq au vin ''Coq au vin'' (; , "rooster/cock with wine") is a French dish of chicken braised with wine, lardons, mushrooms, and optionally garlic. A red Burgundy wine is typically used, though many regions of France make variants using local wines, such ...

pot-au-feu (, ; ) is a French cuisine, French dish of slowly boiled meat and vegetables, usually served as two courses: first the broth (''bouillon'') and then the meat (''bouilli'') and vegetables. The dish is familiar throughout France and has many r ...

(

pot roast Pot roast is a beef dish made by slow cooking a (usually tough) cut of beef in moist heat, on a kitchen stove top with a covered vessel or pressure cooker, in an oven or slow cooker. Cuts such as chuck steak, bottom round, short ribs and ...

), chicken thighs stuffed with

morel ''Morchella'', the true morels, is a genus of edible sac fungi closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi in the order Pezizales ( division Ascomycota). These distinctive fungi have a honeycomb appearance due to the network of ridges ...

s ;Vegetables:

Cardoon The cardoon (''Cynara cardunculus'' ), also called the artichoke thistle, is a thistle in the family Asteraceae. It is a naturally occurring species that also has many cultivated forms, including the globe artichoke. It is native to the Medit ...

''à la moelle'' (in bone marrow), '' barboton'', ''pailasson de Lyon'' ;Cheese: ''

Saint-Marcellin Saint-Marcellin () is a soft French cheese made from cow's milk. Named after the small town of Saint-Marcellin (Isère), it is produced in a geographical area corresponding to part of the former Dauphiné province (now included in the Rhône- ...

'', '' Saint-Félicien'', ''

Rigotte de Condrieu The rigotte de Condrieu () is a type of cheese made with goat's milk which originates in the Lyonnaise region of France and is named after the town of Condrieu. It has had French AOC since 2008 and acquired European PDO in November 2013. See a ...

'' ;Desserts: ''tarte praline'' ( praline tart),

lemon meringue pie Lemon meringue pie is a dessert pie consisting of a shortened pastry base filled with lemon curd and topped with meringue. History Fruit desserts covered with baked meringue were found beginning in the 18th century in France. Menon's ''pomm ...

, caramelized apples, '' bugnes de Lyon'' (miniature

beignet Beignet ( , also , ; ) is a type of deep-fried pastry of French origin. It is commonly made from choux pastry, pâte à choux, but can also be made using rice flour (rice beignets) or yeast-leavened batters. Beignets can be served in a variety o ...

References

Bibliography

* {{French cuisine Entertainment in Lyon Restaurants in Lyon Restaurants by type

History

Today

Cuisine

See also

References

Bibliography