There is a lot more to French food than freshly baked bread; a mélange of mouth-watering cheeses; exquisite pastries and strong black coffee. The French love food and have truly elevated cooking to an art form.
Traditional French haute cuisine was famous for its elaborate preparation and precise presentation and every budding chef in Europe wanted to learn how to cook in France; the very word "cuisine" is a French word.
The twentieth century brought about dramatic changes in French food and the nouvelle cuisine of the 1970s lightened up its heavy cream sauces and focused on the natural tastes of fewer ingredients.
French chefs usually cook and prepare dishes local to their region and rely heavily on fresh local products. There are many regions in France and they all have their own culinary specialties to explore.
Bon Apetite!
à la Meunière : translates as "in the style of the miller’s wife" or, in other words in a rustic style, and refers to fish that is floured, sautéed in butter, and then served up with a simple sauce of browned butter, lemon juice and some chopped parsley.
Au Gratin : is a culinary technique that originated in France in which ingredients are placed in a shallow dish, topped with grated cheese and breadcrumbs, egg or butter and then cooked or baked under a grill until a golden crust forms.
Béchamel : is a creamy white sauce made from milk whisked into a white roux ( flour cooked in melted butter, without browning). It is one of the five basic “Mother “sauces of French cuisine that form the basis for most, if not all, other sauces. Béchamel is used in a wide variety of recipes such as soufflé bases, scalloped potatoes and lasagna.
Confit : is a very old preservation and slow-cooking process in which meat or poultry is cooked in its own fat at a low temperature. Traditionally, it was then stored, covered, in this fat in a cool, dark place. Confit de canard is a classic dish of duck which is popular all over France.
Cassoulet : is a hearty slow-simmered stew of sausage, confit (typically duck); pork or mutton and white beans which is now one of the great dishes in French country cuisine. It is named after the pot it is baked in, a cassole, and originated in a region of southwestern France, historically known as the Languedoc.
Consommé : is a richly flavoured, perfectly clear full bodied broth that has been clarified from stock or bouillon using egg whites to remove fat and impurities. Consommé has a purity of flavour and clarity of aspect like no other soup.
Crêpes : are very thin pancakes made from flour, egg, and milk that originated in Brittany in the thirteenth centruy. They are so popular that the French even have a national day dedicated to them, La Chandeleur, or Crêpe day on the 2nd of February. Crêpes are served with a variety of fillings, sweet and savoury, from the simplest with only castor sugar to elaborately flambéed crêpes Suzette.
Fromage : France is famous for its astonishing plethora of scrumptious cheeses. There are over 1,000 French cheeses that are grouped into eight distinct categories. These cheeses range in texture from hard to gooey and are made from the milk of cows, goats and sheep, separately and in various combinations. The two most well-known French cheeses outside France are both soft ripened cheeses, Camembert and Brie.
Hors d'Oeuvres : translates to “outside the meal” and are typically hot or cold one-or-two-bite appetisers or starters served before a meal. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal or on trays before seating, such as at a reception. There are 2 main kinds of hors d’oeuvres: crudités (whole or cut vegetables) with dips or canapés, which are small bread or biscuit bases covered with a wide range of toppings, such as pâté.
Mirepoix : is a mix of vegetables, usually 2:1:1 of onions, celery, and carrots, that are cooked in butter or oil, low and slow in order to sweeten the ingredients rather than caramelize them. These slow-cooked aromatics form the base layer of flavour to many recipes, such as soups, stews, and sauces. Similar flavour bases are used in a number of other cuisines around the world. The Italian version is called soffritto.
Pâté : is a paste, pie or loaf consisting of a forcemeat that at least contains liver. Common additions include ground meat from pork, poultry, fish or beef, fat, vegetables, herbs, spices and either wine or brandy. The texture ranges from coarse to quite smooth, depending on the recipe. Pâté can be baked and served en croute (literally “in crust,” or "wrapped in pastry"); prepared as a loaf or terrine or served chilled in a crock and used as a spread.
Ragoût : is a stew of small pieces of meat and vegetables cooked together with a bouquet garni of parsley, a few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf. According to the chef Raymond Blanc, the beef and vegetable stew called pot-au-feu is "the quintessence of French family cuisine; it is the most celebrated dish in France. It honours the tables of the rich and poor alike.”
Roux : is flour and butter or lard cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and or lard clarified butter by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooked to the desired level of brownness.
Soufflé : is a baked egg-based dish which originated in early eighteenth-century France and which is now a hallmark of French cuisine. It is made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savoury main dish or combined with chocolate or berries as a delicious dessert. Soufflés rise considerably in the oven and are best to be served right after taking them out of the oven as they can deflate quite quickly.
Velouté : is the first of the five French "Mother" sauces and is a light sauce made from a white stock (veal, chicken, vegetable) thickened with a pale roux. It is made using a very similar method to a Béchamel sauce, but the liquid used is a light stock rather than milk. The word velouté is the French word for “velvety.”
