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Cervelle de Canut

In French, this curious name means "silk-weaver's brain", but don't be alarmed, this tasty "brain" consists of cottage cheese mixed with herbs, vinegar and finely chopped shallots.

The Canuts were the silk weavers in the area around Lyon, France. In the nineteenth century this was one of their favourite dishes.

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Last modified on: August 1^st 2021

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For 500 g, you will need:

1 400 g cottage (or curd) cheese
2 3 shallots
3 2 cloves garlic
4 chives
5 parsley
6 4 tablespoons liquid cream
7 4 tablespoons olive oil
8 4 tablespoons white (spirit) vinegar
9 salt
10 pepper
Total weight: 675 grams

Change these quantities to make: 250 g 500 g 1 kg 1 kg 500 g

Change measures: Metric

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How long will it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Resting	Start to finish
21 min.	1 hour	1 hour 21 min.

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 1 hour

Thoroughly drain 400 g cottage (or curd) cheese: put in a strainer over a bowl and leave for at least 1 hour.

Stage 2 - 10 min.

Meanwhile, peel 3 shallots and 2 cloves garlic. Prepare the chives and parsley.

If you can, pick a few chive flowers as well.

Stage 3 - 3 min.

Chop the shallots and garlic cloves very finely.

Stage 4 - 2 min.

Chop the parsley and chives.

Stage 5 - 2 min.

Transfer the drained cottage cheese to a bowl, add 4 tablespoons liquid cream and beat with a whisk to loosen the cheese.

Stage 6 - 2 min.

Salt and pepper, then add 4 tablespoons olive oil and 4 tablespoons white (spirit) vinegar. Beat again to mix well.

Stage 7 - 2 min.

Add the shallots, herbs and the chive flowers if you have some, and mix these in with a spoon.

Check the seasoning.

Your Cervelle de Canut is ready.

Stage 8

You can enjoy it on fingers of toast...

Stage 9

...as an aperitif snack.

Stage 10

Or as part of a meal with, say, steamed potatoes.

Remarks

The amounts given are for guidance, so do adapt them, a little more of this or less of that, to suit your taste.

The herbs can be whatever you prefer: parsley and chives as here, or chervil and tarragon, which also work well.

Keeping

1 or 2 days in the fridge, covered with plastic film.

Source

Home made.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
1,207 Kcal or 5,053 Kj	48 gr	39 gr	95 gr
45 %	14 %	3 %	11 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
179 Kcal or 749 Kj	7 gr	6 gr	14 gr
7 %	2 %	<1 %	2 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2700 k-calories or 11300 k-joules by day for a man (change to a woman).

Possible allergens in this recipe: Milk, Sulfites

How much will it cost?

For 500 g : 2.60 €

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Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

	Cottage (or curd) cheese : You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Frozen cottage cheese with strawberries, ... All
	Liquid cream: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Spring veal sauté , Plum and almond panna cotta, Pan-fried scallops and chanterelles with Noilly Prat sauce, Asparagus "en petit pois", Hearty potato and ham gratin, ... All
	Olive oil: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Chicken pie, Caesar salad, Couscous, Pan-fried fish fillets, braised cabbage with Noilly Prat, Scallops au gratin, ... All
	White (spirit) vinegar: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: How to prepare sorrel, Mackerel Fillets in White Wine, How to prepare romanesco, Béarnaise sauce, Poached eggs, ... All