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Brittany
Galette complète
"Admittedly, the galette complète — the classic ham, egg and cheese — today seems endowed with all the virtues of tradition."
Traditional dish from Brittany.
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AI-generated illustration
Brittany
"Admittedly, the galette complète — the classic ham, egg and cheese — today seems endowed with all the virtues of tradition."
Traditional dish from Brittany.
In the 18th century, the buckwheat galette was far from a complete meal: it was above all a kind of bread dipped into one's drink or porridge, without butter and still less eggs or ham — the origin of the famous popular saying 'manger son pain noir'. In the final third of the 19th century, the folklorist Paul Sébillot noted a curious recipe that had appeared in the north-west of Ille-et-Vilaine, the 'pain de Becherel': an egg rolled inside a warm galette, without ham or cheese. Even in 1923, when the Guide des merveilles culinaires et des bonnes auberges françaises sat down at a crêperie in Quimper, there was mention only of buttered crêpes, accompanied by a glass of milk or a bolée of cider — the savoury filling as we know it today did not yet exist.
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The crêperie itself is a younger institution than its image of immemorial tradition suggests: while the craft of the crêpière or galettière (a predominantly female profession) is attested from the start of the 18th century, the restaurant bearing that name came much later. For a long time, crêpes and galettes were bought 'to take away' to be eaten in a cabaret. It was in Rennes, on Rue Beaurepaire, that the crêperie as we know it today was born: the establishment run by a certain 'Poganne' offered a menu accessible to almost everyone, summed up by the formula 'a sou for the galette, a sou for an egg and, the height of luxury, an extra sou for butter'. Only later, with the general population's access to meat, did ham find its place in the galette — even though the ham-egg-cheese 'complète' stands today as the archetypal recipe of the Breton crêperie. Having become a classic in crêperies across France, it rubs shoulders today with more surprising versions, filled with steak, fish, pineapple or reblochon. It was notably to promote and celebrate this repertoire, galette and crêpe alike, that a Confrérie de la Galette et de la Crêpe Bretonne was founded in 1992 near Rennes, with the aim of encouraging research and quality through regional competitions.
Appearance
a brown buckwheat galette, folded into a square, revealing white ham, golden melted cheese and the egg yolk at its four corners.
Aroma
butter browning on the hotplate, grilled cheese and warm ham.
Taste
the rustic character and slight bitterness of the buckwheat meet the saltiness of the ham and the melting cheese, with the roundness of the egg yolk binding the whole together.
Texture
crisp at the edges, melting in the centre — the browned cheese and runny yolk contrast with the crisp galette.
a buckwheat galette, spread with a rozell over the hot billig, browning until crisp at the edges.
white ham and grated cheese (emmental, comté or tomme bretonne) placed onto the hot galette.
cracked in the centre, it cooks directly on the galette: the white must be set, the yolk remain runny.
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It is served with a bolée of Breton cider, the traditional accompaniment to the galette. It generally opens the meal and precedes, for dessert, one or more sweet crêpes.
The galette complète itself enjoys no official protection (PDO (AOP), PGI (IGP), Label Rouge, TSG (STG), organic): it is a crêperie recipe, not a product subject to official specifications. Only its base, farine de blé noir de Bretagne, is protected by a PGI approved in France in 2008 and recognised at European level in 2010 — a designation that applies to the flour, never to the filled galette nor to its ham, egg and cheese filling.
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