Types Of Cuisine and France Regional Food and Dishes
There are many types of French Cuisine to enjoy in France, depending on what you can spend, where you are, and what
you feel like eating. The most elaborate style of cooking, haute cuisine ("OAT kwee-ZEEN"), descrihes the
grand meal of many courses served by top restaurants.
|
|
Beedle The Bard by J.K.Rowling Standard Edition
In certain restaurants, the chef offers a set menu with many courses of fairly small portions, giving a
sampler of the chef's specialties and the best foods of the season and the region.
Nouvelle ("noo-VELL'-) cuisine refers to a recent trend among French chefs to serve lighter food with little
or no butter, cream, or flour in the sauces. Food is arranged artistically on the plate, which may he
decorated with edible flowers. Meats and vegetables are rather undercooked. The low calorie dishes of
minceur("man-SOOR") were created in an attempt to fuse dieting and weight control with fine French
cooking.
Regional French Food
Different regions of France are famous for unique and special foods that come from that area only, and
for regional styles of cooking. Regional recipes are often passed down from one generation
on family stoves and in the kitchens of inns and restaurants throughout the provinces.
The highly prized ingredients and distinctive styles of regional cuisines can also be sampled in Paris,
which, like any other cosmopolitan city, offers a wide variety of foods. However, the prices of regional
dishes are much higher in Paris than in the provinces. The French people enjoy seeking good regional
cooking in the provinces where the ducks are actually fattened, the fish caught, or the truffles unearthed.
There are foods of almost unlimited variety and thousands of ways to prepare them throughout France. Some
French foods that may be unfamiliar to foreigners include sea urchins, eel, snails, brains, kidneys, the
entire calf's head, pig's trotters, little birds like woodcock and thrush, and all kinds of wild game.
In general, the cooking of northern France is based on butter, while southern French cooking uses olive oil,
as does neighboring Italy.
One of the most famous regional foods of France, pate de foie gras ("pah-TAY duh FWAH GRAH"), the famous
liver spread made from specially fattened ducks or geese, comes from Perigord in Southwestern France and
also from Alsace.
The waters of the Channel and the Atlantic Coast yield many varieties of mussels, oysters, and fish.
From Provence come olives and herbs -bay leaf, fennel, rosemary, and thyme. Excellent pork dishes (hams.
pates, terrines, and sausages-known collectively as cbarcuterie) differ from one region of France to another.
A famous white or pink chewy candy filled with chopped almonds and cherries, called nougat ("NOO-gah"),
comes from the town of Montelimar. Dijon exports several styles of mustard. Privas near Lyon produces marrons
glaces("mah-ROHN glah-SAY"), a delicacy of candied chestnuts. The region of Burgundy is knowm for snails,
Cavaillon for melons, and Normandy for butter, cream, cheese, and sparkling cider.
French foods lovers and foreign tourists travel to Mont Saint Michel in Normandy to sample the famous local omelets. They seek the finest bouillabaisse (“boo-ya-BESS"), a fragrant fish stew, in Marseille.
They head west to Toulouse to sample the perfect cassoulet ("kah-soo-LAY"), a complex casserole of white
beans, lamb, pork, sausage, and poultry.
The origin of many a recipe is revealed in its name: frog legs provencal, from the province of Provence; salad nicoise, with olives, anchovies, tomatoes, and tuna, from the city of Nice; beef bourguignon, beef
stew with onions and mushrooms simmered in red wine, from the province of Burgundy: quiche lorraine, a
custard tart with bacon and cheese, from the province of Lorraine; calf's head a la lyonnaise, with chopped
onions and parsley as served in the city of Lyon; and veal a la normande, made with cream and Calvados apple
brandy of Normandy.
Provencal dishes often contain onions, garlic, tomatoes, and olives. An Alsatian dish, on the other hand,
probably has sauerkraut somewhere in the recipe, and is washed down with beer instead of wine.
Perigoudine ("pay-ree-gohr-DEEN'') means there are luscious and expensive black truffles from Perigord in
the sauce.
The cheeses of France often bear the name of the town where they are made, such as the world famous
blue veined Roquefort made from ewe's milk and ripened in caves. France is known for Camembert, Brie,
Port Salut ("POR sah-LEWH"), and more than 300 other kinds of cheeses, many of which are exported.
The various cheeses made from goats' milk are called chevres ("SHEVR").
Extract from “Cultures Of The World France”, Written by Etbel Caro Gofen. Times Editions Pte Ltd,
Singapore: 1999.
|
|
|
| |
Hot French Food
Cold French Food
Mild French Food
Top French Food
Hot French Food
Cold French Food
Mild French Food
Top French Food
Hot French Food
Cold French Food
Mild French Food
Top French Food
French Food
|
|
|
|
