As I am off to Paris at the end of the month, I thought I
would explore some popular French dishes and foods. I have always loved France,
their culture, their language and the food alors je suis très heureux! Below I have listed popular French main
courses and desserts, most are well known and heard of throughout the world.
Main courses
Quiche Lorraine – This started out as a pie without a lid,
filled with custard and smoked bacon and later on cheese was added to enhance
the recipe.
Moules Marinières – This is mussels, they are often cooked
in a white wine and parsley sauce and served with chips.
Boeuf Bourguignon – This is a stew made with beef braised in
red wine, flavoured with garlic, onions, and mushrooms, seasoned with a bouquet
garni which is just a bag of herbs.
Coq au vin- This was originally made with a rooster, but
chicken is now used. It is cooked in a red wine sauce with bacon, butter, and
beef stock.
Gratin dauphinois – This is a classic French dish made with
thinly sliced potatoes, crème fraîche with cheese which is très délicieux!
Ratatouille - A vegetable dish including onions, courgettes,
tomatoes, aubergines, and peppers, fried and stewed in oil and sometimes served
cold. Sometimes served with rice or bread and used to be a side dish but now is
often a main course.
Escargots de Bourgogne – Quite simply snails baked in their
shells with parsley butter.
Canard à l'Orange – It is a classic French dish in which a
duck is roasted and served with an orange sauce. It is very succulent and I
highly recommend that you try it!
Desserts
Mille feuille – This is made of three layers of puff pastry
and in between the layers is cream (crème pâtissière) but sometimes jam is also
added. The top pastry layer is decorated with things such as icing sugar, cocoa
powder or glazed with icing, often decorated with chocolate drizzled on top of
the icing.
Crème brûlée – This is rich custard topped with a hard layer
of caramel. It is normally vanilla flavoured custard but can also be flavoured
with other ingredients such as chocolate, coffee, cinnamon, amaretto, orange/
lemon or hazelnut for example.
Éclair – This is an oblong pastry made with choux dough, in
the middle is a cream or custard and it is topped with chocolate typically. It
is similar to profiteroles which are round instead of oblong. The cream or
custard filling can be flavoured with vanilla, coffee or chocolate for example
and the icing topping is often fondant icing or chocolate. Sometimes is it
caramel and in this case it may be called “un bâton de Jacob.”
Macarons – These are meringues made with icing sugar, ground
almond and food colouring. They are typically filled with buttercream, ganache or
jam and are very colourful.
Tarte Tatin – This is an upside – down tart where the fruit
are caramelised in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. Apples are
usually included in the recipe, but other fruits can also be used.
Soufflé - These are
lightly baked cake and can be served as a savoury or sweet dish. They are
fluffy and puffed up by the egg whites. Typical ingredients in soufflés include
cheese, jam, fruits, chocolate and citrus fruits such as lemon.
Madeleine - These are very small cakes in the shape of a
shell as they are baked in special pans. The recipe contains finely ground
almonds normally and some recipes use lemon zest to enhance the flavour.
Pain au chocolat – Chocolate filled pastry, similar to puff
pastry; it is similar to a croissant and both can be served hot or cold.
Croquembouche – This French dessert is made of choux pastry
balls piled into a cone shape and is often served at weddings and other
celebratory events. It is covered in threads of caramel spun sugar and may also
be decorated with sugared almonds, chocolates and occasionally is covered in
macarons or ganache.
