Classic French Recipes

Introduction

With its long history and international reputation, French cuisine is widely considered one of the best in the world. French chefs are known for creating dishes with high-quality, local ingredients and using classic techniques such as sauteing and braising to accentuate the best qualities of these ingredients. Perhaps more than other Western countries, France strives to maintain its food culture and hold onto its traditional national cuisine.¹

Typical Ingredients

French cuisine ranges from rustic, home cooking to bistro fare to multi-course classical French meals ("haute cuisine"). Common ingredients in all types of French cooking include basic ingredients like cream (e.g. crème fraiche), butter, flour, and eggs, as well as various herbs, especially thyme, tarragon, rosemary, and marjoram (often called herbes de Provence). France is also known for its cheese, such as brie, camembert, comte, fromage frais, and roquefort, which are often enjoyed with the classic French bread, the baguette. And of course, no one can discuss French cooking without mentioning their use of wine.

On the country's coasts, fish and seafood are plentiful. Animals raised in the countryside produce beef, poultry, pork and ham, as well as a variety of sausages and pâtés. France's regions produce a huge variety of fruits and vegetables; artichokes, green beans (French: haricots vert), snow peas (French: mange tout), carrots, leeks, potatoes, strawberries, apples, and wild mushrooms (to name a few!) are all available to French cooks when in season.²

Some more unusual, sometimes very expensive, but still typically French ingredients include escargot, black truffle mushrooms, foie gras, and fleur de sel .