French · Lyon · appetizer

Cervelle de Canut

Cervelle de Canut reads salinity 6.6, umami 6.5 and richness 5.7 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a French · Lyon appetizer, about 6 hr 11 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 7.6 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 3.2 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 4.6 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.4 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 5.9 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Salinity 6.6 · Umami 6.5 · Richness 5.7 · Allium 4.0 · Sourness 3.8 · Funk & Ferment 3.7 · Herbaceous 3.5 · Citrus 2.6 · Fruity 2.6 · Smoke 2.1 · Sweetness 1.9 · Floral 1.8 · Warm Spice 1.4 · Earthy 1.1 · Nutty 0.9 · Bitterness 0.9 · Heat 0.8

What's in it (13)

• fromage blanc — 500 g
• shallots — 60 g
• garlic — 4 g
• chives — 11 g
• chervil — 7 g
• tarragon — 4 g
• flat-leaf parsley — 7 g
• red wine vinaigrette — 30 g
• grapeseed oil — 41 g
• dry white wine — 44 g
• salt — 5 g
• freshly ground black pepper — 3 g
• country ham — 320 g

Time & effort: about 6 hr 11 min (4 hr 11 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 109.7 kcal, 9.1 g protein, 6.6 g fat, 2.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. The name means the silk-weaver's brain, and it is a Croix-Rousse joke about the texture — and, less kindly, about the weavers. It is a fifteen-minute dish whose whole quality sits in the cheese, so buy real faisselle from a farm stall if you possibly can.
2. Set the fromage blanc in a sieve lined with muslin over a bowl and let it drain in the fridge for 4 hours. Supermarket fromage blanc is often loose enough to make a sauce rather than a spread, and draining is what fixes that. Discard the whey.
3. Crush the garlic to a paste with a pinch of the salt on a board, using the flat of a knife. Left as chopped pieces it stays raw and aggressive and will dominate everything by the second day.
4. Beat the drained cheese with a whisk for a minute until it is smooth and slightly aerated, then whisk in the vinegar, the white wine and the oil a little at a time. The mixture should thicken and gloss as the oil goes in — it behaves like a very loose emulsion.
5. Fold in the shallots, the garlic paste and all four herbs with a spatula rather than the whisk, which would bruise them. Season with the rest of the salt and the pepper.
6. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. It needs that time: straight after mixing it tastes of separate ingredients, and after two hours it tastes of one thing.
7. Serve cold with hot toast, or with plain boiled potatoes, which is how it is eaten in the bouchons. Taste again just before it goes out — chilling flattens salt, and it will almost always want a little more.
8. Substitutions: faisselle can stand in for the fromage blanc; mild olive oil can stand in for the grapeseed oil; Aligoté can stand in for the dry white wine.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Oeufs en Meurette — French · Burgundy
• Turkey Bolognese with Rigatoni — Italian-American
• Nduja-Style Rigatoni with Whipped Ricotta — Italian
• Salade Lyonnaise — French · Lyon
• Cotriade — French · Brittany

Keep reading: what salinity, umami, richness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.