Socca Recipe: The French Appetizer from the Riviera (2024)

FAQs

What is socca made of? ›

Socca is also known by the names of fainá or farinata (coming from Argentina and Italy, respectively), but they are all essentially the same recipe using chickpea flour, olive oil, and water — and all have a crispy, nutty flavor.

A traditional delight hailing from the south of France (Nice, to be exact), socca is a chickpea flour pancake, or flatbread, often served informally as street food. Chickpea flour, sometimes called gram flour, garbanzo flour, or besan, can be found in ethnic grocery stores or health food shops.

This chickpea flatbread (known as “socca”) is a little culinary treasure hailing from the sun-kissed Ligurian Coast, stretching from Italy to France.

The origin of socca – a pancake made from chickpea flour – is disputed. Some cite Roman soldiers using upturned shields as makeshift pans to make food on the go, others say the recipe was created when Nice was under siege by Turkish forces.

Socca Recipe Tips

It's essential that your skillet is hot when you add the socca batter, so put your pan in the oven as soon as you turn it on. If your skillet is too cool, the socca will stick to it, and the edges and bottom won't crisp up as they bake. Don't cut the soaking time short.

Farinata (Italian: [fariˈnaːta]), farinata di ceci, torta di ceci, fainé, fainá, socca, cecìna or cade is a type of thin, unleavened pancake or crêpe made from chickpea flour.

It is hard to pinpoint the exact origins of socca, or soca as it is spelled in the Niçard dialect, though the modern version is likely to have crossed borders from Italy where it is known as farinata.

Pasting properties of both the flour of legumes were significantly different (P < 0.05). Chickpea flour had a lower pasting temperatures and the peak, final, and setback viscosities than dried green pea flour. These characteristics seem to be related to the increased fat content of chickpea flour than green pea flour.

Besan flour, gram flour, and garbanzo bean flour are all chickpea flours; they're just made from different varieties of chickpeas. Chickpea flour or garbanzo bean flour is milled using whole white chickpeas (garbanzo beans). Besan or gram flour is made by grinding split brown chickpeas (chana dal) into a fine powder.

Chickpea flour, also known as gram, besan, or garbanzo bean flour, has been a staple in Indian cooking for centuries. Chickpeas are versatile legumes with a mild, nutty taste, and chickpea flour is typically made from a variety called Bengal grams.

What are chickpeas called in France? ›

The name "chickpea", earlier "chiche pease", is modelled on Middle French pois chiche, where chiche comes from Latin cicer.

The name chickpea comes from the Latin word cicer, referring to the plant family of legumes, Fabaceae. It is also known by its popular Spanish-derived name, the garbanzo bean.

Socca is a chickpea pancake from Nice, France (although according to Wikipedia, it originated as a Genoan dish called farinata). My socca kick started with chickpea flour left over from a disastrous attempt at vegan quiche (don't ask) and a recipe from Food & Wine.

Socca is an unleavened, crêpe or pancake style recipe that uses only chickpea flour. It's a popular street food in Nice, France, but there are variations of it in dozens of other regions and cultural cuisines. It originated in Genoa, and now is widely used in regions across the Mediterranean.

If you choose to make it at home, you'll want to start with dried chickpeas and roast them for a few minutes to develop the flavor. From there, you simply grind them in a food processor into a powdery flour then sift out the larger granules and grind what's left in a spice grinder or coffee grinder.

Besan flour, gram flour, and garbanzo bean flour are all chickpea flours; they're just made from different varieties of chickpeas. Chickpea flour or garbanzo bean flour is milled using whole white chickpeas (garbanzo beans). Besan or gram flour is made by grinding split brown chickpeas (chana dal) into a fine powder.

As a legume, chickpeas are coated in an organic, soapy substance known as saponins that get released as they cook. When mixed with the bean's proteins and carbs, this substance thickens even more, creating a layer of foam that will quickly overflow if the right precautions aren't taken (via Veg FAQs).