The French cooking style is considered to be one of the most refined, modern and elegant manners found in cuisines all over the world. Food is part of their culture, and famous French chefs make most exquisite dishes after original French recipes that have made France famous since centuries ago. However, the diversity and changes that characterize this cuisine are what makes it interesting. By the early eighteen century, bread and cereals were the basic ingredients in the daily diet. French fries have been introduced to this country in the XVIII century and gained so much popularity that they have been kept as part of the traditional French cuisine. Only with the beginning of the XIX century food has become a social etiquette and more sophisticated dishes emerged, mainly served in high societies. The improvement of transportation, especially the introduction of train, marked the culinary revolution, since every peasant had access to more elaborated meals, ingredients and condiments. Vegetables that grow on fertile French lands include potatoes, green beans, carrots, turnips, aubergines, courgettes, famous French mushrooms, like champignons, oyster mushrooms, porcinis and truffles. As a tradition kept along the course of history, wineries are spread all over the country, producing most refined French wines, served daily by locals.
From: http://www.cookbookwiki.com/France
Recipes
Soup a l'ognion
Servings: 4-6
6 large onions (about 5 pounds), sliced thin
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 quarts beef broth
twelve 1/2-inch-thick slices of French bread, toasted
3/4 pound coarsely grated Gruyère
Preparation
1. In a large pot cook the onions in the butter over moderate heat, stirring frequently, for 40 minutes, or until they are golden brown and well caramelized.
2. Sprinkle the onions with the flour and cook the mixture, stirring, for 3 minutes.
3. Add the broth slowly, stir the soup constantly until it comes to a boil, and simmer it, covered, for 20 minutes.
4. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
5. Serve soup in warmed bowls. Top with toasted bread to cover surface, cover with cheese and broil to melt and slightly brown cheese.
Blanquette de Veau
Servings: 8
10 ounces pearl onions
4 1/2 pounds veal shoulder, boned, trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
9 cups (or more) chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
3 fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds celery root (celeriac), peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
4 large carrots, peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
3 medium turnips, peeled, each cut into 6 pieces
8 ounces button mushrooms
6 ounces haricots verts or other green beans, ends trimmed
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 bunch fresh chives, cut into 2-inch pieces (optional)
Preparation
1. Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add pearl onions and cook 1 minute. remove onions from pot. Trim ends and peel.
2. Add veal to pot and cook 4 minutes. Drain veal; rinse with cold water.
3. Rinse pot and return veal to pot. Add 8 cups chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
4. Add thyme and bay leaves and simmer until veal is tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes longer.
5. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in another heavy large pot over medium heat. Add pearl onions, celery root, carrots, turnips, mushrooms and 1 cup chicken stock. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender and almost all liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes.
6. Add haricots verts and cook until just tender, about 2 minutes.
7. Drain veal, reserving 2 cups liquid (if less than 2 cups cooking liquid remains, add enough stock to measure 2 cups). Mix veal into vegetables.
8. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Mix in 3 tablespoons flour. Cook until butter mixture turns golden brown, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes.
9. Whisk in 2 cups reserved cooking liquid. Cook until thickened, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Stir in whipping cream. Season sauce to taste with fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.
10. Pour cream sauce over cooked veal and vegetables. Garnish with fresh chives, if desired, and serve immediately.
Practical
Our full menu for French cuisine was:
- Duck liver pâté
- Soup a l'oignon
- Blanquette de Veau
- Nouilles au beurre
- Poivrons Rôtis, Courgettes farcie
- Orange chocolate mousse
Observations
The foods cooked this week all had excellent flavour and richness. Unfortunately the duck livers were not available at the start of our class, so the finished product had not chilled enough by the end of class. While still flavourful, the pâté having some warmth left to it meant it had not acquired the proper texture. I got started on the onion soup right away and ensured we caramelized the onions slowly and very well. The end result was an incredibly flavourful soup which I quite enjoyed, and Chef commented on the excellent flavour as well. The blanquette de veau was quite good, although our timing was slightly off on the side dishes, so we ended up serving only the zucchini with the blanquette, which Chef commented was appropriately cooked and flavoured. We then served the noodles and peppers together, which were both cooked well, but Chef mentioned that it would have been nice to have everything plated at once. Lastly, our mousse was very light and flavourful, and there was a good balance between the chocolate and orange flavours, which Chef was happy with. Apart from some timing issues, a good day of cooking.
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