Nîmes craftsman Christophe Mouton, heir to a family of brandade producers, had his know-how recognized by the Culinary College of France, which has many great chefs.
The Culinary College of France has existed since 2011 and aims to promote culinary diversity and craftsmanship, as well as combat standardization and industrial food. In Nîmes, among these, there are the chefs Croizard, Sanchez and Nutile. Precisely this is also the credo of the Mouton family, which begins every morning at 4:30 with the manual sorting of the cod, previously seasoned, destined to cook the brandade that will be sold in the shops of rue de l’Horloge in Nîmes and in that of Uzès.
The trigger came from an elderly, nostalgic customer
Recently the family SME decided to stop salty pasta, small portions of pizza and morsels of brandade have been victims of the price increase. “We sold them for 2.70 euros each, it should have gone up to 4.20 euros, but we don’t want to become an elite store, so we focused on the core business”, explains Mylène, Christophe’s wife. This represents the fourth generation, Bérénice and Mathilde, who also work for the company, the fifth, but the story is almost over.
The previous generation had in fact sold the company, Christophe Mouton had gone to work elsewhere, in particular at the Coudène company in Alès, before leaving it, to become an organic baker in Saint-Quentin-la-poterie. “I had a small kiosk in the market and I asked him to make me a brandade salad bowl. One day, an elderly customer told us” no, no, I stopped eating it since the Mouton brandade no longer exists. “We explained to him. which was just that. Given his enthusiasm, we’re back to production! “ Milene smiled. The company will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2023.
