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Cervelle de Canut

Name: Cervelle de Canut
Prep time: 21 min
Total time: 1 h 21 min
Yield: 500 g
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 400 g cottage (or curd) cheese; 3 shallots; 2 cloves garlic; Chives; Parsley; 4 tablespoons liquid cream; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 4 tablespoons white (spirit) vinegar; Salt; Pepper

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.

47 K 3.5/5 (2 reviews)527536

Duration

1 hour 25 min.

Difficulty

Easy

Last modified on: November 3^rd 2026

Step by step recipe Ingredients Duration Nutritional facts Cost Comments Support the site ❤️

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

Times for this recipe

Preparation

25 min.

Resting

1 hour

All in all

1 hour 25 min.

Preparation 25 min.

Resting 1 hour

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around: ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 3 - ⌛ 3 min.

Chop the shallots and garlic cloves very finely.

Step 4 - ⌛ 2 min.

Chop the parsley and chives.

Step 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.

Step 6 - ⌛ 2 min.

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

Step 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.

Step 8

You can enjoy it on fingers of toast...

Step 9

...as an aperitif snack.

Step 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: Homemade.

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Nutritional information

	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats	Calories	Energy
Per 100 g	7 g RDI=11 %	6 g RDI=2 %	13 g RDI=18 %	173 kcal RDI=9 %	726 kJ RDI=9 %
Whole recipe	48 g RDI=74 %	39 g RDI=15 %	90 g RDI=124 %	1,162 kcal RDI=58 %	4,865 kJ RDI=58 %