Kig ha farz

Literally ‘meat and stuffing’ (farz is Breton for farce), this classic dish comes from the far west region of Léon in Brittany. Various cuts of pork and beef and Breton sausage (or saucisse de Morteau) are cooked in a broth, along with carrots, turnips, leeks, onions and Savoy cabbage.

The farz is the dumpling boiled in a special linen and cotton bag. Farz noir is made of buckwheat flour, eggs, butter, cream and salt. Some people, especially children prefer the milder tasting farz blanc, made with wheat flour mixed with eggs, milk, sugar, crème fraîche and raisins.

For either version, it’s often served with lipig, a sauce made by melting finely chopped shallots or oignons de Roscoff in butter, with a dash of the Kig ha farz broth.

Kig ha farz dates from the time into the 19th century when communal ovens charged a heavy tax—hence the thrifty Breton penchant for turning their buckwheat flour into dumplings or crèpes. In some poorer parts of the region, the dish was called farz poch (the dumpling boiled in a pocket) or farz mañch (boiled in a shirt sleeve).