Niçoise Socca (Chickpea Pancake)
Large golden, crackly pancake of chickpea flour and olive oil, peppered, torn by hand and eaten blazing hot on the go.
Large golden, crackly pancake of chickpea flour and olive oil, peppered, torn by hand and eaten blazing hot on the go.
Before the mists of the North, there was the sun of my native city. As a small boy in Nice, I would watch for the vendor who pulled his large golden sheet from the wood-fired oven: you handed over a few coins, carried away a burning piece in paper, and devoured it standing, fingers greasy with olive oil. Nothing simpler — chickpea flour, water, oil, pepper — and yet nothing so good. Eat it on the spot, I implore you: lukewarm, it is but a shadow of itself.
- •Chickpea flour — two measures (pancake base)
- •Water — twice as much (liquid)
- •Olive oil — a good drizzle (richness and cooking)
- •Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Niçoise Socca (Chickpea Pancake)
Large golden, crackly pancake of chickpea flour and olive oil, peppered, torn by hand and eaten blazing hot on the go.
Why this dish? Albert Calmette was born in Nice in 1863. In the alleys of the old town, socca — a thin chickpea flour pancake baked over a wood fire — was sold piping hot on street corners, eaten standing from paper. It is the street taste of his Niçoise childhood, before the laboratories of the North.
Before the mists of the North, there was the sun of my native city. As a small boy in Nice, I would watch for the vendor who pulled his large golden sheet from the wood-fired oven: you handed over a few coins, carried away a burning piece in paper, and devoured it standing, fingers greasy with olive oil. Nothing simpler — chickpea flour, water, oil, pepper — and yet nothing so good. Eat it on the spot, I implore you: lukewarm, it is but a shadow of itself.
Ingredients (period version)
- Chickpea flour — two measures (pancake base)
- Water — twice as much (liquid)
- Olive oil — a good drizzle (richness and cooking)
- Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Chickpea flour — 250 g (pancake base)
- Water — 50 cl (liquid)
- Olive oil — 5 tbsp (richness and cooking)
- Salt — 1 tsp (seasoning)
- Black pepper from the mill — generous (finish)
Method
- Whisk the chickpea flour into the water to avoid lumps, add the salt and 3 tbsp of oil.
- Let the batter rest at least 1 hour (ideally 2-3 hours) to soften.
- Preheat the oven to maximum (250 °C or higher) with an oiled baking sheet or cast-iron pan inside.
- Pour a thin layer of batter onto the hot sheet, drizzle with a little oil.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes, ideally finishing under the broiler, until the surface is golden and crackly.
- Pepper generously, tear into pieces, and eat immediately, burning hot.
How it was made : Socca was cooked on large tinned copper plates in very hot wood-fired ovens, then sold by street criers in the streets of Nice, carried warm on carts — a popular and cheap snack for workers and children.
The contemporary twist : Serve it in strips in a kraft paper cone, street-food style, with a simple grind of pepper — the scientist's Niçoise childhood in bite-sized pieces.
Albert Calmette · Charactorium