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Poitou-Charentes
« They are called royans » — from the mouth of the Gironde to Charentais tables, a little silver fish that long bore the name of its home port.
Seafood from Poitou-Charentes.
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The name « royan » comes directly from the town of Royan, at the mouth of the Gironde: « the best sardines known » were once caught there, and for this reason were called royans — very small in size, they were considered « the queen of the kingdom's sardines ».
According to an 1821 text already cited by local historians of the Bassin d'Arcachon, fishing for this small sardine off Royan had already ceased « for fifty or sixty years » by that date — placing its decline around the years 1760–1770. So as not to lose a name associated with their greatest dining pleasures, Bordeaux food lovers then transferred it to a larger sardine, caught this time on the grande côte of the mer de Gascogne and sold under the name « royan d'Arcachon » — a transfer of name attested in black and white by an article in the newspaper La Charente on 16 April 1933, reporting the good catches of the sardine fleet of Arcachon and Gujan-Mestras.
Today, Royan's fish auction — founded in 1875 beneath the harbour arcades, then relocated to the Quai des Sabliers — focuses on so-called noble species (sole, sea bass, meagre, turbot, sea bream…); the sardine no longer features among the landed catch.
As the name « royan » is not protected by any official mark, a Breton canning brand took hold of it to market its own tinned sardines — a practice that has remained entirely legal in the absence of a protected designation.
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The Saintonge poet Pierre Ardouin (1870–1934), a native of Tesson, dedicated a poem entitled « Le Royan » to this little fish, celebrating the sardine sold on the port of Royan — proof that this name remained a source of local pride long after the decline of the fishery itself. This memory endures today through the Confrérie La Sardine de Royan, an association founded on 24 September 1993 in Royan, whose statutory purpose is the gastronomic promotion of « la sardine de Royan, dite la Royan », through receptions and tastings.
Appearance
A small silver fish, renowned for its very slender size — « they were very small », reports an 1821 account cited by the historical association of the Bassin d'Arcachon.
Two preparations stand out among the recipes bearing the name of Royan: « sardines de Royan grillées entières », pan-fried whole, and « royans au gros sel de mer », a raw preparation cured under salt.
the sardines are scaled, gutted, and then stripped of part of their skin.
seasoned with salt and pepper, they are seared for about five minutes in a hot frying pan with olive oil and butter.
drizzled with lemon juice when served, immediately after cooking is finished.
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Pan-cooked and drizzled with lemon, the sardine de Royan pairs well with a vin de pays. Served raw « au gros sel », it is accompanied by toasted bread spread with salted Charentes butter and jacket potatoes. It is this same tradition of convivial tasting — and of gathering around the fish — that the Confrérie La Sardine de Royan perpetuates today.
No official quality mark protects the "sardine de Royan". Today, an association, the Confrérie La Sardine de Royan (founded in 1993), perpetuates this name through tastings and gastronomic receptions.
Brotherhood
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