Fête de la Tielle

Fête de la Tielle, today, in Sète!

The tielle is iconic in Sète - it is an integral part of the city's history, originating with the Italian fishermen who immigrated here, bringing their recipes for this luscious octopus pie with them. Eventually, they made their own market, and in 1937, the first tielle went commercial.

There were perhaps a dozen different tielle houses here, and even then, not all Sète tielles were represented. We tried two that were new to us: Dassé, and Maison Tino.

Of course, a fête is not a celebration without music! There were singers on the bandstand, and festival-goers dancing along - I heard a fellow with an outstanding voice, but my video did not hold up :-\

And a meandering band, playing Sète favorites

Naturally, the next Sétois generation is taught all about how to make them...

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Our current tielle rankings are:

1. La Haut - chunky, flavorful, rich
2. Sophie Cianni - more finely chopped ingredients, tomatoey, juicy, nice bread consistency with crispy edges
3. Dassé - chunky, a little tough, bread is ok
4. Maison Tino - finely chopped, spicy, very good filling flavor, high bread-to-filling ratio
5. Unrecalled Name from Les Halles "annex" - ok

Clearly, more work is required!