 Small serving dish of pistou | |
| Alternative names | Pistou sauce |
|---|---|
| Type | Sauce |
| Place of origin | France |
| Region or state | Provence |
| Serving temperature | Cold |
| Main ingredients | |
| Similar dishes | pesto |
Pistou (Provençal:pisto(classical) orpistou(Mistralian),pronounced[ˈpistu]), orpistou sauce, is aProvençal cold sauce made from cloves ofgarlic, fresh basil, andolive oil and sometimesalmonds, bread crumbs or potatoes. It is somewhat similar to theLigurian saucepesto, although it lackspine nuts and cheese; some versions include cheese and/or almonds.
TheDictionnaire de l'Académie française dates "pistou" from the 20th century, and defines it as a Provençal word denoting a condiment made from fresh basil, crushed with garlic and olive oil; the term derives frompistar (to grind) itself derived from the Latinpinsare (to pound, to grind).[1]
The sauce is similar to Genoese pesto, which is traditionally made of garlic, basil, pine nuts, gratedSardinian pecorino, and olive oil, crushed and mixed with amortar and pestle. The key difference between pistou and pesto is the absence of cheese in pistou.[2][3]
Pistou is a typical condiment from the Provence region of France most often associated with the Provençal dishsoupe au pistou, which resemblesminestrone and may include white beans, green beans, tomatoes, summer squash, potatoes, and pasta. The pistou is incorporated into the soup just before serving.[4]
Gruyère cheese is used in Nice.[2] Some regions substituteParmesan cheese orComté or sheep cheese inCorsica. Whatever cheese is used, a "stringy" cheese is not preferred, so that when it melts in a hot liquid (like in the pistou soup, for instance), it does not melt into long strands.
It seems undoubtedly to have come from across the border from Italy, deriving from a Genoese sauce calledpesto ... [made] by using a pestle and mortar to mash together leaves of sweet basil, Sardinian sheep's milk cheese, butter, garlic, and olive oil ... The Nice formula ... uses cheese of the Gruyère type.
The soup in which thepistou is placed, giving it its flavor and its name, is a form ofminestrone. One Nice recipe gives the vegetables that go into it as white beans, tomatoes, and summer squash. Another names string beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and vermicelli [Into the soup]; you put thepistou ... at the very last moment.
