We had a chat to Bastien and Katia of Les Deux Coqs who make French charcuterie in Adelaide and sell out of two locations at the Adelaide Central Market and Prospect. They celebrate Les Deux Coqs’ first birthday today.
Les Deux Coqs has had a stall at Adelaide Central Markets for about a year now. Tell us about your shop/restaurant.
We opened on 22 June 2018, and we are celebrating our first birthday this Saturday 22 June 2019. We advocate for charcuterie above all because it’s the heart of our profession. Then as we also make and sell pâtisserie, we are also caterers and we propose weekly and Friday Specials (more elaborate dishes on Fridays than during the week).
What we offer is, above all, traditional cuisine, without the fuss or as we say in French à la bonne franquette!
We are wrapped to have our shop at the Adelaide Central Market (notably because the selection and criteria to be a trader are quite rigorous). In 11 months, we already have regular clients. Which is wonderful! For some Australians, our charcuterie products are a real discovery. There are some who don’t know neither rillettes, pâtés croûtes, nor jambon persillé and others.
There are also Australians who have travelled to France who literally scream with joy in front of our store as they can now buy French charcuterie in Australia. That’s the “saucisson” effect! 😊
We also have a lot of French clients who are thrilled to be able to find French flavours. of Course, the flavours are not 100% identical as we only use local produce. For example, the pigs have not been raised and fed in the same way as in France in Australia, the taste can differ a little. So we adjust our recipes to bring them close to the French tastes.
And before that, you were at the Willunga markets on weekends?
We started at the Victor Harbour Farmers Market, then Goolwa, Willunga and a few months at the Adelaide Farmers Market in Goodwood.
We returned to the Goolwa Farmers Market for Christmas. We are always thrilled to see stallholders alongside whom we sold our products for a year. We would like to return to Willunga occasionally but because we no longer belong to the Fleurieu Peninsula they have refused us access.
As a matter of fact, by the time the shop was being built in April-May 2018, we moved to our new commercial kitchen in Prospect. That’s where we produce all of our charcuterie products.
How and why Adelaide?
We visited Australia 6 years ago and Adelaide was our crush. Coming from a wine region in France, what’s better than living close to the McLaren Vale et Barossa regions.
From a culinary point of view too. Many companies from other Australian states purchase their ingredients from South Australia. It’s the State in which the climate is closest to Europe and is therefore perfect for our enterprise.
Take for example the olives that we use in our cooking, notably for our tapenades. We visited several olive farms on arrival in Australia to taste and select those which we consider the best. The ones we chose come from Willunga and have received many awards.
Where are you from in France? How long have you been in Australia and more specifically in Adelaide?
Bastien is from North Burgundy (north of Beaune (where the best wine in found), Katia is from central France and we both lived in South Burgundy in the Beaujolais near Lyon (charcuterie country) for a few years.
We’ve been in Australia for 2 years.
Have you had cooking training?
Bastien has worked in the food industry for a number of years, ditto for our chefs like Bernard who leads our cooking classes. He has worked for more than 40 years in cooking in France, Germany and Australia.
Why do you think French cuisine is always in fashion?
I wouldn’t say that French cuisine is in fashion but that it is always highly appreciated. It’s not rare to hear our clients say that our cuisine has a lot of flavour. Even when we make simple dishes, clients are enthralled. Our dishes are very balanced and varied and that makes a difference.
Les Deux Coqs has been offering French cooking classes at the Adelaide Central Markets. Do people get to cook themselves or is it more akin to a cooking demonstration?
We organise cooking classes fortnightly (except if we have other events on).
Each lesson is different. They last for 2 hours. There is a platter with our charcuterie, glasses of wine, a main and a dessert.
The lessons are really flexible. Participation is not obligatory. People can simply watch and eat or participate when they wish to. We have purposely created sessions to hold a maximum of 8 people. It is therefore very easy to interact with the chef, to ask questions and to participate. The lessons teach quite simple recipes, which are easy to reproduce at home.
If we don’t have at least 6 people, we delay the class to the next session.
Who teaches the lessons? Are they lessons given in English, French or both?
Our chef Bernard, in English. We haven’t had any French in any of our classes so far.
Are you able to give classes in French for groups?
On demand, why not?! But we would need a minimum of 6 people.
When are the next lessons?
Soon. We publish all of our classes on Facebook, eventbrite and in our stall.
What’s your favourite dish?
Confit de canard with grenaille potatoes, blanquette de veau, bœuf bourguignon, raclette… too hard to just choose one!
Are there things that are eaten in France that you don’t find here or that you can’t cook here?
Raw milk cheese! It’s what makes the cheese so good!
Also in charcuterie, it’s rare to find certain pieces of meat or some ingredients. When we arrived in France, Bastien had to go to his butcher and go into his cutting room to show him exactly what part of the meat we wanted. Some cuts of meat are not used in Australia like they are in France.
Are there French dishes that Australians won’t eat?
Good question! We found that Australians are quite open to foreign cuisine. Australia is made up of many cultures. That’s why I think Australians are quite adaptable and curious.
When we started to sell at the markets, some Australians told us they hated pâté because the taste that they knew in Australia was too strong. Indeed, pâté here is a liver mousse. In contrast, we get them to taste our rillettes and even our terrines, and they buy them! Some would buy 3-4 jars of rillettes and terrines each time they came to the market!
When we opened our stall, we hesitated about making boudin noir and andouillettes. But in the end, these are two products that work quite well!
A lot of our clients are of English or Polish origins and some of our products are close to what they find in their home country.
Also, for Christmas, we offered escargots, and the majority of orders were for Australians. So after escargots, what wouldn’t they eat?
How is Les Deux Coqs celebrating its first birthday?
On Saturday, we will have an accordionist for our birthday from 11am to 1pm as well as a big raffle from which you could win 1 cooking class and and 3 jars. There will also be new products being previewed including la mousse de canard in a jar! As well as one other surprise product. We will also have a photobooth with patisseries to be won.
Anything else?
Scoop: we are planning to hold a private dinner on a Saturday each month and to hold a sort of Tour de France of French cuisine!
We are holding a dinner for 30 people for Bastille Day, the night before on Saturday 13 July.
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WHERE TO FIND LES DEUX COQS?
IN TOWN
Les Deux Coqs at the Adelaide Central Market is open on the following days and times:
- Monday– closed
- Tuesday 7:00 -17:30
- Wednesday 10:00 – 15:00
- Thursday 9:00 -17:30
- Friday 7:00 – 21:00
- Saturday 7:00 – 15:00
- Sunday– closed
PROSPECT
Les Deux Coqs has also opened their commercial kitchen to the public where they sell their charcuterie as well as baguettes and French cheeses!
Les Deux Coqs in Prospect is located at 5/194 Prospect Road and is open from 8am to 5pm Monday to Thursday.
What’s your favourite French charcuterie product?
