French cuisine is considered one of the best in the world; it has absorbed the traditions of many nations, becoming the trendsetter of culinary art. Of course, it did not arise overnight: it was a long evolutionary process from simple stuffing of the belly to the preparation of complex dishes, the consumption of which is a special ceremony.
For the French, eating is a ritual of happiness; they are real gourmets and hedonists. We invite you to join the sacrament of a meal in French.
Onion soup
Do you like onions? We are sure that it is not like the French. From an ordinary, ordinary vegetable, they managed to make a delicacy and a masterpiece of French cuisine – onion soup.
Don’t be in a hurry to wince: the right recipe and the hands of a French chef work wonders – you won’t even notice how you will be scooping up the leftovers from the bottom of the plate with a piece of fresh baguette or crouton that goes with the soup.
The authorship of the recipe is attributed to King Louis XV, who woke up hungry at night and made a soup from what he had: onions, cheese and white wine.
Croissants
The prototype of the modern croissant appeared in Austria, but it was French chefs who invented the recipe for puff pastry with butter, thanks to which the aromatic crispy crescent became famous throughout the world and became the hallmark of French cuisine – and an integral part of the French breakfast along with the baguette. “Good morning” is not complete without a cup of coffee and a freshly baked croissant.
A distinctive feature of a real French croissant is the absence of filling; it is magnificent and self-sufficient in itself. Of course, you can secretly dip it in berry jam, but shh…
Ratatouille
The world is wondering what is the secret of the slimness of French women who do not hesitate to devour flour baguettes and croissants. It’s simple – “not by bread alone”: the French diet contains a lot of vegetables.
A favorite national dish is ratatouille: peppers, eggplants and zucchini are baked with cheese or sauce. The secret ingredient of a real French-style ratatouille is in Provençal herbs, which are always used to flavor the dish. These include fennel, cumin, aromatic mint and rosemary.
Salad Niçoise
Niçoise is a derivative of the word Nice , where the salad recipe originated. Niçoise was originally the food of fishermen living on the coast. The ingredients are the most common for these places: anchovies, olives, olive oil and, of course, wine vinegar. Subsequently, the recipe was finalized, and today there are many salad options with the addition of fresh vegetables and boiled eggs.
Tarte Tatin
Or an inside-out pie, an “upside-down” pie. In the classic recipe, apples are used as a filling, which are fried in advance with sugar in butter and then added to the dough.
Today there are many options for pie, the main thing is imagination. Instead of apples, we take pears, peaches or pineapples, and if you are a vegetable lover, feel free to use eggplants or tomatoes.
Julienne
A dish of mushrooms and chicken, baked in a pot under a cheese crust, is familiar to us under the name “julienne”. In France, the word “ julienne ” does not refer to the mentioned dish, but to the method of cutting vegetables into strips for further preparation of soup or salad. And our “julienne” is called “ cocotte ” by the French.
The main thing in julienne cocotte is a thick, creamy bechamel sauce, which is made from milk, butter and flour. Initially, the appetizer was prepared exclusively from mushrooms, since its task was not to satiate, but to whet the appetite. Subsequently, chicken, seafood, sweet peppers and even eggs were added to the recipe. Which option do you prefer?
Quiche
More precisely, Quiche Lauren is an open-faced pie with a hearty filling made from chopped shortbread-like dough. Fish, vegetables, meat or sausages are placed on a pre-prepared dough pan with high sides and carefully filled with a mixture of eggs, heavy cream, sour cream and cheese.
In the traditional pie, smoked brisket was used as filling, but today it is difficult to remember all the filling options – the imagination of cooks is limitless.
Cordon bleu
The romantic name “ cordon bleu ”, which means “ blue ribbon ”, refers to veal schnitzel, which is stuffed with cheese and ham, rolled into a tube and fried in breadcrumbs, always in melted butter. Advice – forget and don’t think about calories, just enjoy.
Veal can be replaced with other meat: pork, turkey or chicken breast.
Kok-o-ven
Meet the rooster in wine . The French simply love stewing chicken in wine; there are many variations of the dish in different wine-growing regions. In the traditional recipe, it is necessary to use a rooster, preferably no older than a year and weighing up to 3 kg. Once upon a time they were specially grown for this dish. In conditions of a shortage of roosters (yes, this also happens), they began to use chicken.
An important rule is that it must be a whole carcass, you cannot cook from pieces.
Potato gratin
If you mix potatoes, cheese and cream, you get an incredibly tasty and satisfying side dish. Gratin is a crust that is certainly golden and rosy. If a restaurant serves you a dish without a crust, return it!
The potatoes are cut into thin slices (this is necessary so that the milk and cream can soak them in more easily), placed in a heat-resistant form, poured with the creamy mixture and sent to the oven. A mandatory seasoning for gratin is nutmeg, which emphasizes the taste of potatoes.
Veal liver Lyonnaise style
Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France.
All traditional Lyon dishes with a masculine twist: sausages, tripe combined with strong alcohol. There was also a recipe for cooking liver. This product is difficult to love and easy to spoil during preparation, so Lyon chefs advise “the simpler, the better.”
Small pieces of liver are breaded in flour and fried in melted butter for just a few minutes; it is very important not to overdry the dish to the point of sole. The liver goes well with onion rings stewed in wine. And if you like to eat something heartier, potato gratin would be an excellent side dish.
Bouillabaisse soup
Or Marseilles soup . This is a traditional fish soup originating from the coastal regions of France. The recipe for the dish was invented by local fishermen, who cooked it from the remaining and unsold fish after a hard day’s work. The peculiarity of the soup is that it is cooked by mixing several types of sea fish, including particularly bony ones, to obtain a rich broth, and the vegetables for the soup are pre-stewed. The soup is served with toasted baguette and garlic sauce.
The dish is so tasty and popular that it was sung by Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola and Nikolai Kuprin.
Clafoutis
For dessert – cherry clafoutis, which is both a casserole and a pie. They take a lot of berries as a base (cherries in the original recipe) and fill them with liquid egg batter. You can use a large quiche pan, or you can make it in small cake pans.
You can replace cherries with pears, apples, and peaches. The main thing is to cut them into small cubes, the size of a cherry.