I had the opportunity to go to Monaco a quarter century ago when I was doing a course in nearby San Remo but missed it - I've regretted it ever since. Thus Monaco for me remains a collection of snapshots from old movies and gossip magazines. For some reason, magazines in Argentina during the 1970's and 80's followed the doings of the Monégasque royal family even more closely than the Spanish or English one.
Monaco is a tiny principality located on the riviera between Italy and France. Thus it does not really have much of a cuisine of its own. Many of its most famous dishes are borrowed from Liguria and Provence, or were developed or enhanced by French and Italian chefs at its most famous hotels.
While there are a few dishes that are typically Monégasque, I did not want to cook them for one reason or another. I was too intimidated by Monaco's sweet version of French fougasse or Italian focaccia to give it a try. It's supposed to be Monaco's national dish - but most people do get it at bakeries rather than bake them themselves.
The problem with Monaco's other specialty, barbajuan is that these empanada-like pastries are traditionally filled with Swiss chard. I hate Swiss chard above every other vegetable in the world. As for the rest, I don't eat dried cod or stuffed vegetables, so stocafi, tomates à la Monégasque and lou fassum were out for me. Finally, socca sounded too similar to Gibraltarian calentita, a chickpea bread I didn't particularly enjoy, to bother with it.
Instead, what I made was:
French cuisines I've explored so far: French,
Alsatian, Auvergnat, Belgian, Bordeaux, Bourguignonne, Breton, Champagnoise, Corsican, Gascon, Ligérienne<,
Limousin<, Lorrainer, Luxembourger,
Lyonnaise,
Medieval French
Italian cuisines I've explored so far: Italian, Abruzzese, Calabrian, Campanian, Caprese, Corsican, Emilian-Romagnan, Florentine, Friulian, Italian Renaissance, Italian-American, Lazian, Ligurian, Lombard, Lucanian,
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