Cuisses de Grenouille

Frogs have been eaten in France since the Middle Ages; church records describe frog legs being classed as fish so they could be eaten during Lent, and the tale of monks adopting them for that reason is widely repeated, though it is more legend than documented fact. By the 17th century the legs were a recognised delicacy, prepared en persillade and au beurre. The historic French heartland is the Dombes, whose thousand-odd lakes were dug from the 15th century by landowners and monks for fish-farming and became prime frog habitat; the local garlic-and-parsley preparation is known as à la dombiste. Today little of the supply is local: France banned commercial frog-hunting in 1980 and protected the native species in 2007, and the great majority of frog legs eaten in the country are imported frozen from Asia or shipped live from around the Mediterranean.

A good frog leg has a thin, pale-gold crust from the flour and butter, giving way to lean, moist white meat that pulls cleanly off the slim bones. The flavour is mild and faintly sweet, more like chicken breast than anything 'froggy', with the delicacy of flaky white fish. Garlic, parsley and browned butter coat the surface; the lemon cuts the richness. Overcooked, the meat turns dry, stringy and rubbery — the legs are small and lean and have almost no fat to protect them.

The legs are patted dry and given a light dredge in seasoned flour: the thin coating absorbs surface moisture so the meat sears rather than steams, and its starches and proteins brown in the hot butter via the Maillard reaction, forming a crisp shell that also slows moisture loss. The cook is fast and hot because the meat is very lean — a couple of minutes per side — so the muscle proteins set without drying out and toughening. The persillade (raw garlic and parsley chopped together) is added near the end so the garlic perfumes the butter without scorching to bitterness, while the butter is taken to the nutty beurre noisette stage, where its milk solids brown and deepen the flavour. A final squeeze of lemon brightens the fat and seasons the dish.