French · Brittany · main

Kig ha Farz

Kig ha Farz reads richness 6.8, umami 6.3 and warm spice 3.6 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a French · Brittany main, about 16 hr 18 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 6.6 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 3.5 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 1.5 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.4 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 7.1 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.2 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 6.8 · Umami 6.3 · Warm Spice 3.6 · Allium 3.4 · Sweetness 3.2 · Floral 2.6 · Salinity 2.6 · Earthy 2.2 · Herbaceous 1.6 · Sourness 1.4 · Bitterness 1.2 · Nutty 1.0 · Fruity 0.9 · Heat 0.8 · Funk & Ferment 0.8

What's in it (17)

• salted pork shoulder — 1000 g
• beef shin — 800 g
• pork hocks — 700 g
• buckwheat flour — 300 g
• eggs — 100 g
• regular milk — 200 g
• butter — 80 g
• carrots — 320 g
• white turnips — 300 g
• cabbage — 700 g
• leeks — 400 g
• onions — 300 g
• cloves — 300 g
• butter — 100 g
• shallots — 120 g
• black peppercorns — 5 g
• bay leaf — 1 g

Time & effort: about 16 hr 18 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 88.9 kcal, 4.6 g protein, 4.8 g fat, 8.8 g carbs

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

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. The name is Breton for meat and farz, and the farz is the reason to make it: a buckwheat pudding cooked inside a linen bag hung in the broth, then rubbed through the cloth into loose warm crumbs. You will need a clean, closely woven linen or cotton bag about 40 by 25 cm, boiled once before first use. A pillowcase, sacrificed, is the usual improvisation.
2. Soak the petit salé overnight in cold water, changing it twice. Put it with the beef shin and the smoked knuckle in a large stockpot, cover generously with cold water, bring slowly to the boil and skim off the grey foam for the first 15 minutes until the surface runs clear. Add the clove-stuck onion, the peppercorns and the bay, and hold it at a bare simmer.
3. Make the farz while the pot comes up. Whisk the buckwheat flour with the eggs, the milk and the melted salted butter into a thick batter, about the consistency of a cake mixture. Season it lightly — the broth will salt it further.
4. Pour the batter into the bag and tie the mouth loosely, leaving a good third of the bag empty. This matters: the farz swells by half as it cooks, and a tightly tied bag bursts or produces a dense grey brick.
5. Lower the bag into the pot so it hangs in the broth without touching the base, and simmer everything together for 3 hours. Keep it at a shiver — a hard boil shreds the meat and makes the broth cloudy.
6. Add the carrots, turnips, leeks and second onion for the last 45 minutes and the cabbage for the last 25, so nothing collapses.
7. Lift the bag out, let it cool 5 minutes, then roll and squeeze it firmly with both hands, working the pudding through the cloth so it breaks into fine, loose crumbs. This is the pilé, and the crumbly texture is the entire point — untie the bag and cut it into slices and you have made something else.
8. Make the lipig: melt the 100 g of salted butter in a small pan and cook the shallots gently for 8 minutes until the butter turns hazelnut brown and the shallots are soft and sweet. Serve the meat carved on a platter with the vegetables, the farz crumbs alongside, a bowl of broth first, and the lipig poured over everything at the table.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Loobia Polo — Persian
• Doro Wat (Spiced Chicken Stew) — Ethiopian
• Sop Buntut (Oxtail Soup) — Indonesian
• Sorpotel (Pork and Liver Cured in Coconut Vinegar) — Indian · Goa
• Arroz de Pato — Portuguese

Keep reading: what richness, umami, warm spice 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.