#71 France

Jen
3 days ago
5 min read

With meticulous preparation of simple but high-quality ingredients and attention to presentation, French cuisine is the absolute pinnacle of culinary art, le crème de la crème you might say.

I often take the opportunity at this stage of the blog to include commentary on other countries’ influence on the cuisine of the post subject’s country, but France is a net exporter of cooking techniques, dishes and terminology, although I will give a nod to Catherine de Medici. The renaissance queen brought chefs and bakers from Italy to France when she married Henry II of France in 1533, and they brought with them the use of tomatoes in cooking, sweet recipes like marzipan and macarons, and even duck à l’orange.

Foundation recipes such as the five mother sauces published by Marie-Antoine Carême, and Georges Auguste Escoffier’s brigade chef management system are used in most western restaurant kitchens, and French-style bakeries are found all over the globe. Since the sixteenth century the French colonial empire’s influence on other native cuisines has evolved cooking in ex-colonies and even produced national dishes like the Vietnamese bánh mì – a baguette sandwich filled with grilled meats, sausage, pickled vegetables, fresh herbs and pâté.

“Let them eat cake.”

Bread in many cultures and countries is more than a staple food; it is a symbol of culture and wealth. The availability and/or price of bread can lead to riots and wars. In France, the price of bread was a contributing factor to the French Revolution.

Think France, think baguette. The origin of the baguette has been lost to history. Legend credits Napoleon with the invention of a slender stick shaped bread that could fit into the pockets of his soldiers, whereas others claim it was a product of the construction of the Paris Metro where a bread that could be broken up without a knife was required for long shifts underground. Whatever its provenance, the baguette is an icon of France, so much so that the ‘artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread’ is recognised by UNESCO on its ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists’ and there are strict laws in France regarding the production and sale of baguettes.

Slice open a freshly baked baguette, slather it in creamy French butter and fill it with slices of ham, and you have France’s (and perhaps my own) favourite sandwich, le jambon-beurre.

A bakery is known as a boulangerie, and in France, this specifically means a bread bakery. The boulangère’s task to provide daily bread is of such importance that it his only task; pastries and cakes are dealt with elsewhere.

Enriched and yeast-leavened, and often laminated breakfast breads and pastries, like brioche and croissants are known as viennoiseries, which is also the name of the place they are made and sold.

As the name, ‘things from Vienna’ may suggest, viennoiseries did not originate in France, but these crispy, fluffy, flaky, buttery, heavenly inventions have been a key part of the French culinary world since the bakery Boulangerie Viennoise opened in Paris in the 1830s, and were introduced to the UK not long afterwards. It’s a sad fact that today there are a lot of s**t croissants out there in the world, but a good croissant is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Patisserie is the most important of the food groups, not just in French cuisine, but in life, for this is where we find the desserts and sweets, such as les gâteaux, tartes au citron, mille feuille, mousse au chocolat, soufflés au chocolat, and choux pastry wonders like profiteroles, which are like “eating chocolate covered clouds” (Rick Stein).

Cuisine régionale

French food isn’t just steak frites and croque monsieurs of Parisian brasseries or the elaborate haute cuisine it is so well known for. Each region has its own traditions, characterised by local produce and influenced by neighbouring countries.

There is a focus on seafood, cider, Camembert and crêpes* in Brittany and Normandy, but the Atlantic south area is home to Bordeaux wines, confit duck and Basque Country dishes that feel more Spanish than French, like chicken Basque a wonderful one pot rice and chicken dish, flavoured with olives and chorizo, and one of my faves. I recommend Delia's recipe.

*The only type of pancake that should ever be eaten on the best Tuesday of the year.

The Mediterranean south is the birth place of ratatouille, and cassoulet, the former being such an iconic dish that Disney made a whole animated movie about it, and the latter described by the food writer Elizabeth David as a “sumptuous amalgamation of haricot beans, sausage, pork, mutton and preserved goose, aromatically spiced with garlic and herbs”. The area is home to Provençal rosé, the perfect accompaniment to seafood dishes like bouillabaisse. Roquefort, a truly magnificent cheese, also originates from this region.

The east of the country yields Burgundy wine and Dijon mustard, and gives us boeuf bourguignon and garlicky, buttery snails, and hearty melted cheese skiing staples like tartiflette and fondue in the Alpine area.

Boeuf Bourguignon à la Julia Child

“As is the case with most famous dishes, there are more ways than one to arrive at a good boeuf bourguignon. Carefully done, and perfectly flavoured, it is certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man…” – Julia Child

Julie & Julia is a 2009 Hollywood film starring Merryl Streep, Amy Adams and Stanley Tucci. Despite the all-star cast, and the film’s nomination for a wealth of awards (and winning several), its existence had somehow escaped me until 2022, but it is now the only film in my Prime purchase list that isn’t Lord of the Rings, and, well, if you’ve seen it, you’ll understand that the Jen Cooks the World dish for France absolutely had to be Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon.

I’ve eaten many a braised-beef-in-red-wine dish, made by myself and others, and they’ve always been a real pleasure, particularly on a cold, dark night. What could be better than tender chunks of beef in a rich winey sauce? Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, that’s what! The recipe from the 758-page Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 (AKA ‘The Bible’) appears complicated, but it is completely worth the effort, and many steps were merely tweaks to simple techniques to elevate the end result - for instance: enhancing the flavour of the beef by taking care to properly brown it, simmering the lardons so that the fat renders evenly; removing the chunky vegetables cooked in the stew before serving as they’ve already generously given their flavour to the stew and are of no further use; and straining the stew to get a gorgeously silky sauce. The final stew is garnished with sautéed mushrooms, which must be cooked without crowding the pan so they do not steam and become soggy, and shallots braised separately for superior taste and texture.

The traditional accompaniment is potatoes, simply boiled. I also served some generously buttered spring greens.