Throughout the years, French cuisine has been influenced by Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium and its food trends along the Atlantic, Channel, and inland. Check Amon Avis to read reviews of different cuisines in France. Classic French cooking methods have legendary influence and recognition. This reputation is precisely why studying French cuisine can be overwhelming for a beginner.
Many cooks are under the impression that they must reach an unattainable degree of elegance and flair when cooking French cuisine. In the United States, this may be attributed to Julia Child’s influence, a well-known writer (and later television personality) who popularized French cooking. Many consider Ms Child’s successful book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” to be the pinnacle of her culinary achievement, as it helped to popularize classic French cuisine among American home cooks.
Regional Specialities of France
The French will traditionally cook and prepare dishes local to their region. This no way means they are parochial; the French have a real sense of terroir, so rustic French cuisine is alive and kicking in France. In metropolitan France, they are likely to taste a wide variety of regional and national dishes. This is evident in many cities around the world where the residents are multi-cultural or include different ethnicities.
Typical French foods rely heavily on local products. Fresh apples, grapes, haricot verts, leeks, mushrooms, various squash, and stone fruits are among the most commonly used products. Poultry, beef, lamb, and veal are readily available year-round; game meat is prevalent and abundant during the hunting season that runs from early autumn to February. No matter the place, France has an abundance of artisanal cheese and wine.
Southern France features the rich, sophisticated flavours of mushrooms and duck and the dramatic herbs, tomatoes, and olives borrowed from neighbouring Mediterranean cuisines. Northern France also showcases an impressive variety of tastes, focusing heavily on farmhouse-style specialities using apples, dairy, pork, potatoes, sausage, and beer.
A History of French Cuisine
Garlic, mushrooms, and truffles have not always been common in France. You use seasonings and decorations to disguise rotten food until the fifteenth century. Many people today consider French cuisine to be peasant food; it was simple, unadorned food.
Catherine de Medici of Italy moved to France in the mid-fifteenth century to marry the future King Henri II, bringing with her Florentine-educated cooks and a sense of creative drama and manners. French cuisine evolved into a magical art of exquisite presentation and innovative flavours over the years.
French cuisine saw significant changes during the twentieth century. Traditional haute cuisine (grande cuisine) is a world-famous cuisine known for its meticulous preparation and presentation. Before food critics chastised it for being too rigid, it was the model of French food preparation.
New cuisine (nouvelle cuisine) was a response to heavy French cuisine in the 1970s. It used fewer ingredients to lighten cream sauces and focus on true flavours. Versatile preparation methods and more experimentation with non-traditional flavours are noticeable in today’s general French cooking.
Fascinating Details About French Cuisine and Cooking
Some interesting facts about French food and cuisine:
- The French consume more cheese than any other nation. They consume 45 pounds of cheese per person per year on average.
- A French chef invented Vichyssoise, a pureed potato soup, in New York City.
- You produced the delicate, flaky French pastry known as the croissant in Vienna, Austria.
- The coffee industry in Brazil began with an affair between the First Lady of French Guiana and Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta. He came to settle a local border dispute, and he left with smuggled coffee seeds she had hidden in a farewell gift, returning to Brazil with them.
- French cuisine is a unique culinary experience that combines delicious, nutritious foods with luxury, leisure, and therapeutic cooking. Making and eating French cuisine is an art that takes a lifetime to master, but it necessitates that time stands still to appreciate its beauty. Consider French cuisine to be an art form, a culture, and a way of life.