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In the kitchen, testicles are known by many names. In German-speaking countries they are called “white kidneys” or “Spanish kidneys” or, somewhat less embarrassingly, “bull sacks” or “bull sacks”. English-speaking butchers and cooks refer to them as
stones
, but also as “prairie” or “mountain oysters”. In Italy one of numerous code words is
gioielli
, meaning “jewels”, Spaniards order
criadillas
, which means “
little
girl”. And the refined French gourmet speaks of
amourettes
or
frivolités
.
Laëtitia Visse renounces euphemisms. Last year the cook published a small book in her French homeland with the bold and completely undisguised title:
Les couilles, dix façons de les préparer
. Which translates as “The eggs, ten ways to prepare them” - and sounds even more crude in French because the French term
couilles is
not ambiguous like the German word “Eier” and therefore does not allow any misunderstandings. Visse's book is therefore explicitly not about wax-boiled eggs or the perfect omelette, but solely about the male sexual organs.
"When I started in the job, nobody said to me: You are missing the
amourettes
, the
frivolites
or the testicles," says the cook.
“They said: You are a woman and you are missing your balls.
That's why it was always clear to me that the title had to say 'Eggs'. ”But she doesn't want the book and title to be understood as a mere accounting for the boiling world of men.
"It is important to me to popularize dishes and ingredients that many of my generation hardly know," she says.
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In the book, for example, she suggests serving testicles wrapped in pork net with Swiss chard.
Or as
amourettes
(here a euphemism after all)
tossed
in butter with pumpkin and chorizo.
There is even a vegetarian recipe in her book, namely the
couilles de pape en confitur
e.
These “papal eggs” are a local variety of figs whose appearance (in their dried form!) Refers to the pontiff's vow of chastity.
A master of the villain kitchen
Laëtitia Visse has always loved offal, whether from male or female animals - even when she went to the prestigious École Ferrandi cooking school and then cooked in some of the hippest restaurants in Paris for ten years. During this time she was repeatedly humiliated, humiliated and sexually harassed by male colleagues and superiors, says Visse. In her home country she is one of the first to publicly denounce such abuses in the industry. Last autumn a high-profile article appeared in the newspaper “Le Monde” in which she and a few other cooks broke the silence. “In the hospitality industry, things like this are perfectly normal and don't shock anyone,” she explains. "The moment you are in the kitchen, you have made up your mind, you can endure it,you approve of it and you shut up. As a cook you are calibrated to accept everything. "
If she continues to get involved and “open her mouth”, it will primarily be to spare younger colleagues this fate in the future.
She has already made the jump herself.
In the summer of the previous year, she made her dream come true and opened her own restaurant in Marseille.
It is called “La Femme du Boucher” (the butcher's wife) because it is housed in a former butcher's shop, which is also consistent in that the cook offers extremely meat-heavy cuisine, including a number of offal.
“The place fit my concept exactly,” she says.
"I've always wanted to break out of the system with its Michelin stars and the imaginary celebrity chefs and concentrate on what I like best."
A specialty of Laëtitia Visse: lamb testicles the Provencal way
Source: Instagram / visse.laetitia
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And that is a style of cuisine that the French also
call
cuisine canaille
because of its coarseness
, which could be translated as “rogue
cuisine
”.
This includes bistro classics such as (chicken) eggs with mayonnaise, Bœuf bourguignon, as well as all kinds of homemade charcuterie such as sausages and pies and offal such as veal's head, black pudding, pork's foot and testicles.
It may be surprising that there is no fish here, in the center of Marseille and near the picturesque Vieux Port, the city's old port, but it is part of the concept.
“In Marseille they are pretty local patriotic when it comes to cuisine.
As a Parisian, I didn't have to bring them fish or bouillabaisse in the first place, ”explains Visse.
And how does she like to cook her testicles? “I like them best when you simply fry them in oil and garlic until crispy and then add fresh parsley and a little butter,” she replies. So anything but witchcraft. However, you have to remove their thin skin from the things beforehand, which is not that expensive and - at least in France - the butcher still does it if you ask him to. She also likes to cut the testicles into slices or cubes so that the guests don't bump into the look.
“You calculate around 125 grams per person,” recommends the cook.
“It is also advisable to blanch the testicles for a few minutes in boiling water before processing them, then to chill them in ice water and dry them well.” Prepared in this way, they can be prepared as desired or according to one of the recipes in the book.
Hard to distinguish from chicken breast
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In terms of taste, real testicles are much less exciting than the German paraphrases, which refer to the kidneys, suggest. In contrast to the much more frequently eaten urinary excretory organs, testicles have a very low odor of their own. In terms of consistency, too, they are rather unspectacular and far less challenging than the crunchy kidneys, the creamy
brain or the airy sweetbreads. Strictly speaking, breaded testicle slices are a rather bland affair and hardly differ from a chicken breast that has been pounded flat.
Nevertheless, there are tons of fans, even various food festivals are dedicated to the gonads.
Including one in Serbia and several in Canada and the United States, where the prairie oysters are considered cowboy food.
And in the bars around Spanish bullrings, testicles as well as the tails and ears of the bulls are served as tapas.
Of course, Visse doesn't want to have anything to do with such macho rituals.
"My main concern is to process all parts of the animal," she says, "and not just the supposedly precious pieces such as fillet or entrecote."
She likes it hearty, but also cooks asparagus: Laëtitia Visse in her restaurant in Marseille
Source: Aurelie_STELLA_Photographie
With this attitude it is trendy. The professional profile of the cook has changed a lot in recent years. Nowadays, chefs are not only considered stars, but also role models when it comes to sustainability and closeness to nature. They are happy to talk about ecological awareness, avoiding waste, and their ethical handling of producers and livestock. Has this also changed anything in dealing with your female colleagues? Visse doubts that. “Verbal and physical violence against young female colleagues, but also colleagues, are still the order of the day in the kitchen brigades,” says Visse. "The only thing that has changed is that many of them no longer put up with everything."
On the other hand, stardom and role model are a double-edged sword. “It is precisely because they are so much in the public eye and are considered role models that many chefs feel almost untouchable and take advantage of that,” she says. That is why she believes that it will take a long time and many cooks who do not mince words and have eggs until the grievances in the kitchen are finally a thing of the past.