A Mediterranean coastal preparation of small squid — encornets — stuffed with a farce of their own tentacles, herbs, garlic, and breadcrumbs, then braised in a tomato-and-wine sauce. A specialty of the Languedoc coast and the Bassin de Thau, where small squid are abundant in the lagoon fishery.
Encornets farcis is a traditional preparation of the Languedoc and broader Mediterranean French coast, documented in regional cuisine sources as a specialty built on the small squid that abound in the Bassin de Thau lagoon and along the Mediterranean shore. Like many stuffed-seafood dishes of the Mediterranean, it reflects the resourcefulness of coastal cooking: the squid's body becomes its own cooking vessel, and the tentacles — which do not stuff well — are chopped into the farce so that nothing is wasted. No specific inventor or founding year is documented; it is a regional and family dish.
A stuffed encornet is a small squid body, taut with farce, braised until tender in a deep red sauce. The squid is gelatinous and faintly sweet, the farce within savory with garlic, herbs, and the chopped tentacles; the tomato-and-wine sauce, reduced during the braise, carries the squid's ink and the sea's minerality. Eaten hot with bread to mop the sauce, often as a main course.
Encornets farcis relies on gentle braising to balance the squid's tendency to toughen. The squid body is separated from the tentacles; the tentacles are chopped fine and combined with garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs, and sometimes a little sausage or pork to make a farce, which is then stuffed loosely back into the body cavity — loosely, because the farce swells as it cooks and would split the squid if packed too tight. The stuffed squid are then braised slowly in a tomato-and-wine sauce. Prolonged, gentle cooking dissolves the collagen in the squid's connective tissue, converting it to gelatin and giving the squid its tender texture; brief, high heat would toughen the muscle fibers before the collagen could break down. The sauce, reduced alongside, concentrates the squid's own juices into a savory glaze.
Variations
The farce varies by house — some add pork, sausage, or rice; the tomato-and-wine braise and the squid-as-its-own-vessel construction are the constants.
On the Palate
Where Encornets Farcis sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
6 steps · 40 min
- 115 min
Clean the small squid, separating the bodies from the tentacles; keep both.
- 210 min
Chop the tentacles fine and mix with garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs, and a little optional sausage or pork to make a farce.
- 310 min
Stuff the farce loosely into the squid bodies and close the openings with a toothpick.
Watch outStuff the farce in loosely and leave room — it swells as it cooks, and packed too tight it'll split the squid open.
- 48 min
Brown the stuffed squid briefly in olive oil, then add tomato, white wine, garlic, and herbs.
- 545 min
Braise gently for forty-five minutes to an hour, until the squid is tender.
Watch outBraise gently 45-60 minutes until tender — squid toughens fast at a boil, then only long slow cooking melts it back to tender.
- 65 min
Serve hot in the reduced sauce, with crusty bread.
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