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What to Eat in Normandy
Normandy is one of the most beautiful regions of France. With a diverse landscape spanning from the blue coast to the lush and green countryside with fields dotted with apple trees, Normandy offers visitors a high-quality gastronomical variety.
Luxurious seafood, famous cheeses, rich-flavored ciders and liquors, there are so many mouth-watering dishes to try during a holiday in Normandy!
What to eat in Normandy, France? Read on this Normandy food guide for the full list of the best food in Normandy to try on your next visit!
Normandy Food Specialties you Need to Try
Check out this guide with the famous food in Normandy. The descriptions will help you decide whether to try these Normandy food specialties.
TIP: If you want to learn more about its food, Normandy (Rouen, Caen) has many fun food tours:
1. Oysters
Oysters are among the most popular Normandy products. Once in the region, you will surely see oyster farms everywhere, therefore trying this food in Normandy is a must.
Oysters have slightly different tastes and textures depending on where they are farmed in Normandy, with the special oysters of Isigny being particularly tasty and pulpy, while those of Saint-Vaast are known for their nutty flavor.
As a general rule, the “R” months (September, October, November, December, January, February, March, and April) are the best for oyster tasting. French legislation also provides for a period of closure of wild oyster fishing from the beginning of July to 31 August to ensure their proper reproduction.
Eaten as an appetizer, oysters are served as they are or with a squeeze of lemon or mignonette sauce, made of chopped shallots and red wine vinegar. If you like intense flavors, you are in for a treat!
2. Coquilles de Saint-Jacques
A delicious and elegant appetizer, coquilles de Saint-Jacques are nothing more than scallops seasoned with various ingredients to make them extra flavorful. Caught in the Manche department, from October to May, this wild seafood is savored in all its forms, from the auction to gourmet dishes.
A classic Normandy food, locals like to eat them pan-fried with parsley, garlic, and salted butter or with parsley, shallots, white wine, and cream.
In restaurants, coquilles de Saint-Jacques are usually served in scallop shells to make the dish eye-catching. Enjoy them with a glass of dry white wine like a Chablis, they are delicious!
3. Andouille de Vire
Andouille de Vire is a typical sausage based on chaudins (pork’s big intestines). It is usually eaten cold and thinly sliced, as you would do with salami.
Andouille de Vire can also be served pan-fried to strengthen its spicy taste and added to salads or served alongside cooked apples.
Another way to eat Andouille de Vire is as part of a local recipe, Feuilletés d’andouille de Guémené, a puff pastry filled with the sausage, apples and Camembert cheese.
Over recent years, Andouille de Vire has become a top gourmet food in Normandy – so make sure to try it!
4. Boudin Noir
Boudin Noir is a specialty from Mortagne-au-Perche (Orne department) and is one of France’s oldest and most revered dishes.
Boudin Noir is a dark-color sausage made from pork, spices, and pig’s blood. It is similar to the black pudding you can find in the UK, although the boudin noir is softer and usually smaller. The flavor of this sausage is very complex, so it will surely hit your taste buds!
Boudin Noir is usually served grilled or fried with potatoes, onions, and apple slices as a main dish.
5. Tripes, Caen Style
Tripes cooked Caen style is the French version of the Scots’ Haggis. The origin of this dish dates back to the 11th century when a cook from Caen decided to create a dish with cows’ paws and stomachs instead of wasting them.
Tripes Caen style is a special food in Normandy because of the ingredients used to cook this bold main dish. The cow’s entrails are simmered in the oven for up to 15 hours in a tripière, a special pot made to cook this dish, along with root vegetables, garlic, peppercorns, cider, and a glass of Calvados.
6. Agneau de Prés-Salés
Agneau de Prés-Salés is one of the traditional Normandy dishes from Mont Saint-Michel, from the salty meadows around the abbey island. The meadow-salted lamb, a Grévine breed, has AOP status (protected designation of origin) as it is produced in a very limited area and is only sold by registered artisan-butchers.
The lamb is the stew’s main ingredient, which is slowly cooked with carrots, onions, navette turnips, potatoes, and haricots blancs (white beans).
Hearty and cozy, this dish is served mainly at Easter time, because it is at its best, in terms of flavor profile. But it is easy to find it all year round in quality restaurants around Mont Saint-Michel.
7. Mère Poulard Omelette
The famous Mère Poulard puff omelette is the gastronomic symbol of Mont Saint-Michel, first served in the 19th-century by Annette Poulard.
What makes this omelette special is its baveuse texture, which only in this area is eaten this way. AND the price – 45€ for a fluffy omelette (the house’s specialty) generously sprinkled with black truffle from Périgord and served with a pan of potatoes, bacon, and a truffled veal sauce.
The making process to achieve the Mère Poulard omelette’s incredible fluffiness is a secret, as the original recipe is highly guarded. However, it seems that the eggs’ white and yellow are individually whipped before being combined with cream and butter, and the omelette is cooked over a wood fire.
8. Tarte Normande
A favorite dessert in Normandy (and in all of France), tarte normande is a typical pastry cake with apples and Calvados, a local brandy.
This dish is a simple yet deliciously sweet dessert that celebrates some of Normandy’s finest ingredients, especially dairy and locally grown apples.
The buttery shortcrust pastry is filled with apples and vanilla cream custard, topped with caramelized apple slices, and finished with a dash of Calvados.
Tarte Normande can be served with vanilla ice cream, yum!
9. Tergoule
This delicious food in Normandy, tergoule is a wonderful dessert that you need to try! Traditionally, tergoule was popular at village festivals in Lower Normandy, and today is a hearty and loved family dish.
This dessert is a pudding made of rice cooked in milk and sugar, and topped with nutmeg and cinnamon. Soft and creamy on the inside, tergoule has a thick and caramelized crème brûlée-like crust on top.
Fun Fact: the dessert’s name comes from the Norman language and means “to twist one’s mouth,” which is linked to the faces people supposedly pulled in tasting the spicy tergoule while it was still very hot.
10. Normandy Cheeses
There are many delicious cheeses in Normandy, and two thirds of them are made of cow’s milk. The four most famous Normandy cheeses are PDO (AOC in French) and they bear the name of the villages where they are produced.
Camembert is the most famous French cheese and it is soft and creamy with a bloomy rind. It smells super bad but the taste is delicious! AOC Camembert cheese is made with raw milk, but you can also find it with pasteurized milk.
Pont-l’Évêque is a soft, washed-rind cheese and easy to recognize for its square shape, orange rind and distinctive flavour.
Neufchâtel is a soft cheese with a bloomy rind, and a mild and delicate taste. Neufchâtel is the oldest Normandy cheese and the origin of its curious shape dates back to the Hundred Years’ War, when the dairy maidens in the Pays de Bray would offer English soldiers this cheese in the shape of a heart as a token of their affection.
Lesser known abroad, Livarot is a soft, washed-rind cheese. Recognizable by its cylindrical shape and surrounding circles of woven straw. The interior of Livarot is supple, creamy, and its flavor offers notes of mushroom, hazelnut and sometimes a hint of spiciness, depending on its degree of ripeness.