FOOD IN FRANCE

  

             French cuisine is a style of cooking derived from the nation of France. It evolved from centuries of social and political change. The Middle Ages brought lavish banquets to the upper class with ornate, heavily seasoned food prepared by chefs such as Guillaume Tirel. The era of the French Revolution, however, saw a move toward fewer spices and more liberal usage of herbs and refined techniques, beginning with François Pierre La Varenne and further developing with Napoleon Bonaparte and other dignitaries, Marie-Antoine Carême.

           French cuisine was codified in the 20th century by Georges Auguste Escoffier to become the modern version of “haute cuisine”. Escoffier’s major work, however, left out much of the regional character to be found in the provinces of France. Gastro-tourism and the Guide Michelin helped to bring people to the countryside during the 20th century and beyond, to sample this rich bourgeois and peasant cuisine of France. Basque cuisine has also been a great influence over the cuisine in the southwest of France.

            Ingredients and dishes vary by region. There are many significant regional dishes that have become both national and regional. Many dishes that were once regional have proliferated in variations across the country. Cheese and wine are a major part of the cuisine, playing different roles regionally and nationally with their many variations and Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) (regulated appellation) laws. 

 

SUMMARY

 

             I) Starters

1/-  Snail

2/-  Foie gras

3/-  Sea fruit

          II)Main dish

1/-  Cassoulet

2/-  Bouillabaisse

3/-  Pot -au- feu

4/-  French fries

        III) Cheese

        IV)Wines

        V)Desserts

1/-  Crêpes Suzette

2/-  Clafoutis aux cerises

3/-  Fraisier

4/-  Tarte tatin

5/- Kouglof

 

Starters

1/- Snails

 

 

                The Snails of Burgundy are one traditional dish of the Burgundian cuisine. The snail of Burgundy (Helix pomatia), lodged in the bottom of the shell, is covered with a mixture of butter minced parsley and mashed garlic, then cooked in the oven.

 So the recipe, as you can imagine, is not so complicated :

-           Snails

-           Butter

-           Garlic

-       Parsley

It’s not hard to make it and it is really delicious!

2/-  Foie gras

 

                Foie gras is a culinary speciality acquired after the fattening of the livers of geese or ducks. The production of foie gras is the object of polemics concerning consequences of force-feeding for the ease of the animals and importance to be granted in this ease. The force-feeding, necessary for the obtainement of foie gras, is forbidden in a lot of countries

 

3/- Seafood

 

 

                We usually eat sea food during the months containing the letter “r” in their name. Because it is expensive, it’s also eaten at Christmas and the New Year. It’s often served on a tray that is put in the middle of the table, so it’s quite convivial. On a typical seafood tray, you can find oysters, crabs, shrimps, winkles…and sometimes lobster .

                When served on a tray, it is eaten as the main course.

II) Main course

1/- Cassoulet

 

               The origines of « cassoulet » date back to the hundred years war (1337-1453).During the attack of Castelnaudary, the soldiers were hungry so the people of the village gave them their stock food : broad beans, vegetables, pigs, fowl. The cooks put all this food in a pot and cooked all the ingredients together and they named it « estofsat ».

This food came in France in the 17th century under the name of cassoulet.

Recipe :

-800 g of boned shoulder of mutton,

-300 g of chest half salt,

-400 g of sausages of Toulouse,

-800 g of confit of goose,

-1 kg of dry white beans,

-3 onions,

- 3 pods of garlic,

-1 spoonful of tomato purée,

-6 spoonful of breadcrumbs,

-1 bouquet garni,

                               2/-  bouillabaisse

 

                It’s a provençal soup wich is prepared  with a lot of diferrent fish and sea food, and with a dash of garlic and saffron and other spicies. It’s a very famous speciality .

 

 

3/-  Pot-au-feu

 

                It is composed of different kinds of boiled meat, a marrowbone, a bouquet garni and vegetables such as carrots, turnips, potatoes, leeks…

The broth is eaten as a starter and the meat and vegetables as a main course.

 

                       4/- French fries

 

                       Potatoes are cut like thin stick and fried in a big bath of oil. But everybody knows them! And they are served in fast-food restaurants. They are also very important for the English fish and chips. 

 

 

 

 

III) Cheese

 

        You’ve certainly already heard about French cheese : there are more than 400 kinds of cheese with different tastes. Some of the most famous and tasty are: camembert, maroilles, roquefort, brie de meaux, livarot, fromage de chèvre, crotin de Chavignol… After the main course, we eat cheese with red wine : it’s a tradition.

IV) Wines

 

 

        Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugar, acids, enzymes or other nutriments. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes the sugar found in the grapes and converts them into alcohol. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are used depending on the type of wine being produced.

        There are 3 kinds of wine : rouge, blanc, rosé.

V) Desserts

                               1/- Crêpes Suzette

 

 

           It’s a pancake with lemon juice and sugar. It’s one of the first sugar pancakes that was made. It’s absolutely delicious!

 

 

2/- Clafoutis aux cerises

                 A delicious and simple recipe that everyone appreciates.                         

                                3/-  Le Fraisier 

 

 

 

 

                It’s a strawberry cake. Incredible isn’t it? It looks beautiful and it’s very good. there are several kinds of “fraisier”.  

 

              

 

 

                    

 4/-  Tarte tatin

                Tarte Tatin is an upside-down apple tart in which the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before the pastry is put on them and the tart is baked. Tradition says that the Tarte Tatin was first created by accident at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, in France in 1898. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin who dropped their dessert and baked it upside-down.

                              

5/- Le Kouglof

 

 

            It’s an Alsacian speciality. The legend says that the name of that cake comes from the patronymic of a cake-maker who accommodated the Magi (les rois mages). They were travelling through Alsace and this land gave the name, Kouglof, to this cake.

So for the recipe you need:

-1 kg of flour

-150 g of sugar

-15 – 20 g of salt

-300 g of butter

-3 eggs

-40 cl of milk

-25 g of brewers’ yeast 

-150 g of grapes of Malaga

-75 g of almonds