Eclade, Bordeaux Region (Gironde)

The coastline of Bordeaux and the Gironde region is teeming with great seafood, caught fresh each day, sold in the market or eaten straight away at one of the many wonderful seaside restaurants.

Eclade is a special barbecue of mussels cooked on the beach. Cooked by placing mussels on water-soaked board and heaped with pine needles or hay then set on fire. When the fire is doused tasty hot mussels are ready for eating.

The mussels (or moules in French) are placed on a wooden board vertically, so tip up. They are squeezed in tight so that they don't open during cooking. The cooking process can take around 10 minutes. Then they are traditionally eaten with bread, salted butter and some delicious white wine.