The French are famous in the world as true gourmets. Who, no matter how they are, knows a lot about the kitchen and understands the delicate combination of products and a variety of tastes. Further in the article we will tell not only about what the French love to eat, but also provide information about the food that, most likely, they would not eat.
True gourmets
Food is an integral part of the life of this people, a kind of ritual, of course, food is necessary for all people, but ... the French are different. First of all, they look at it from the aesthetic side - for them it is a kind of creative object. Moreover, everything should be beautiful - both the internal taste and the external beauty of the serving of food.
When figuring out what the French like to eat, first of all, it is worth mentioning that their national cuisine does not have ordinary dishes - even the simplest have their own flavor. This is a standard of delicate taste and special, nothing like sophistication. So, what do the French love and do not like?
Russian dishes that they would not try
Each nation has its own preferences in food: what is good for one, for another it can go beyond all reasonable, well, or at best it will not be something tasty. Russian and French cuisine, of course, are different from each other, and they have certain dishes that our people will not understand and will not accept, similarly on their part.
For example, the French do not like herring, but here it is a very common product that is in good demand. And the inhabitants of France call it nothing more than "rotten fish."
The next product is jelly, however, it is incomprehensible not only to foreigners, but even not all Russians find it delicious. Confused by its strange consistency, smell and color. Buckwheat with milk also goes beyond their understanding. Many of the French have never tasted this cereal at all, and even more so in combination with milk.
A controversial product is fat. They eat it, but not in its pure form - most often it is bacon, with a small fat layer. Kissel also did not appeal to the French - by consistency, it resembles the same aspic, for the same reasons, it was rejected from the list of taste preferences.
Now it will be interesting to consider what the French eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
How does the morning begin?
Russians have taken a heavy meal in the morning, but the French are deprived of this habit. Breakfast is as light as possible. In the classical sense, it looks like this: orange juice, croissants, and also ... coffee. Also on this list may be dried bread, honey, confiture, butter. Naturally, not everyone eats like that, but this is, so to speak, breakfast in its classic design.
Let's see what for lunch
A standard French lunch consists of three parts:
- input (first) dish;
- basic;
- dessert.
Many depart from this rule and can order one thing: a sandwich, salad, some dish or soup. The latter, it should be noted, began to lose its popularity. However, it is still used as an entrance dish. The most popular of them are onion and white cabbage. The most popular are mashed soups:
- vegetable;
- leek with potatoes;
- from young peas;
- gazpacho soup, originally from Italy.
Aperitif
A traditional home-made dinner begins with an aperitif (as it can be used chinzano, martini, whiskey, etc., or just juice). An aperitif is delivered to the table with the so-called des amuse-gueule. In their role are salty cookies, canapes, peanuts, fried salted nuts.
On the first
And now it’s the turn of the entrance dish, some salad often appears in its role. The list of the most popular looks like this:
- "Nicoise" (it includes green beans, tuna, olives, lettuce, boiled eggs, tomatoes);
- tomato salad;
- green salad (a mixture of greens);
- grated carrots with dressing;
- eggs under mayonnaise;
- beetroot salad.
Then various types of paste (pate), sharkutri (sausages, cervelat) are served together with gherkins. Open cakes are also popular here, for example, with cheese, leek, jambon, and also made according to an individual recipe.
Another dish that is valued by the French is snails (burgundy) with garlic, for us it is certainly an unusual dish. Of course, it is worth noting seafood - oysters, scallops, mussels, shrimps, crabs.
A favorite of the French table is the Fruy de Mer dish - a salad with shrimps, mussels and salmon seasoned with yogurt. Sardines are also popular with olive oil and lemon juice.
By the way, for the curious, the recipe for Nicoise salad is as follows: 140 g of tuna (canned), 10 olives, 200 g of string beans, 8 anchovies, 4 tomatoes, 2 eggs, 1 head of onion, 2 cloves of garlic, salad taste, 1.5 tbsp. l wine vinegar.
- First you need to prepare the sauce, using olive oil, wine vinegar, freshly ground pepper, garlic, basil leaves, salt. All this must be thoroughly mixed and set aside for now.
- Now you need to boil the beans in salted water over low heat. Rinse it with cold water. In order to make it tastier, it can be slightly fried for 1-2 minutes with olive oil and garlic.
- Tomatoes and boiled eggs need to be cut, and preferably in the same way - it will look more beautiful. Olives, if small, are optional.
- We proceed to the final part. Torn lettuce leaves are laid on the bottom of the plate. Next come thin onion feathers and pour a little sauce. We distribute the beans over the dish and again a little dressing on top. Slide tuna in the center. Around lay slices of eggs and tomatoes, as well as anchovies. Freshly ground pepper and cooked sauce can be added to taste.
Main course
We examined the options for entre, and now we move on to the main dish, which, of course, must contain protein and carbohydrates. It can be a piece of meat or fish with a side dish. Beef patties, beef steak, roast beef, fried chicken, baked veal, tartar, turkey escalope, salmon fillet, flounder, duck breasts - in general, there can be many options.
The side dish is traditionally served with french fries, cauliflower, beans, artichokes, lentils, pasta, rice, steamed vegetables. As a seasoning - sauce, sour cream, butter or olive oil, spices.
After the second dish, cheese platter will be used, and as you know, this product in the country is simply very popular. Here they are produced in a wide variety of forms and for every taste.
Dessert
And finally, if you get to a French lunch, you will expect coffee and dessert in the form of ice cream, cream, pastries and fruits. Moreover, the fruits can be in different forms, for example, flambered in cognac, rum or strong wine.
Consider now what the French prefer for dessert. The leaders are melting chocolate dessert (fondant au chocolat). Also on this list are chocolate mousse, pancakes - again with chocolate, banana and even cognac.
A simple, but no less tasty dessert “Floating Islands” made from whipped proteins, milk, vanilla sugar and caramel, you can also add the famous tiramisu, yogurt with sugar or jam and also “strawberry”.
What does the genie look like ?
And what do the French like to eat for dinner? The French prefer to have dinner at home, as, indeed, have dinner, but as an exception they can go to a bistro or restaurant. Unlike dinner, which they pay great attention to, in the evening they eat light meals.
This may be one of the vegetables for the first time, in the cold season they can be replaced by hot soups, and also a main course is added to them, at the end of dessert or cheese.
Differences in French cuisine by region
In different areas of the country, there are differences in the same recipe. However, regardless of the region, there are common features that are inherent in French dishes. As a rule, a lot of vegetables and root crops are used, and also there is generally a very small use of dairy products (the exception is cheeses). So what do the French like to eat in different parts of the country?
For example, Lyon cuisine is famous for delicious onion soup - gratine, in Lorraine a popular dish is open pies with slices of smoked lard and ham with melted cheese, as well as stewed cabbage with pork and smoked breast.
In Burgundy, wine is used in many dishes for cooking - it is added to sauces and gravy. Snails marinated in wine are served without shells with onions and parsley.
In Provencal cuisine, various vegetables, garlic and all kinds of seasonings were widely used. The consumption of meat is limited here. Vegetable dishes are prepared very hearty here. Often eat fish - halibut, pike, carp. They love seafood - mussels and oysters.
Desserts are in special demand here: on the table there are always traditionally chocolate, nuts, nougat, creme brulee, cookies and cakes.
And what do the French like to eat in Normandy? Here they use dairy products in cooking - butter, cream and Camembert cheese. Even meat and fish are always cooked with cream.
What the French like to eat, we now know, but still in every part of the country there are peculiarities, and this is how they differ from each other.
Some of the most famous dishes
What other dishes are worth trying, once in the country of true connoisseurs of gourmet cuisine? Gourmet reviews about French cuisine indicate that the dishes here have a unique combination of taste, and in addition they look very aesthetically pleasing. Only fresh products are used for cooking, attention is paid to details and decoration.
The favorite dish of the French is foie gras. It is a very popular delicacy that can be cooked at home. There are many recipes for it, and we will consider the most common. It is easy to prepare and the ingredients required are minimal.
For roasted foie gras, 500 g of duck or goose liver, green salad leaves, pepper and salt are required.
- First, the liver must be carefully washed and divided into parts.
- Place the pieces in the refrigerator for a while.
- Then pepper and salt, put in a pan and fry for 1-2 minutes on each side.
- After the golden crust appears, it is necessary to remove the liver from the pan. At the same time, oil does not need to be added, because it itself is very oily.
- Fried foie gras must be placed in a baking dish and brought to readiness already in the oven.
- Delicacy is placed on a plate, which is decorated with lettuce, and served immediately to the table.
Naturally, besides this dish in the national cuisine there are many others who will answer the question of what the French actually eat and what else they prefer:
- “Bloody beef steak” - the meat is fried on the outside, but at the same time it remains half-baked inside. Served with potatoes and vegetables;
- roti - roast beef;
- kok-o-ven - cock in wine;
- frog legs - a famous French delicacy. The legs of these amphibians are fried in breadcrumbs or deep-fried. However, not everyone dares to try them;
- escargo is a gourmet dish made from snails.
And here is another popular dish - ratatouille. Let us consider in more detail this dish of vegetables, simple, but at the same time very tasty.
To prepare the ratatouille, you need to take one piece of eggplant and zucchini, 4 tomatoes, a third of red pepper, 3-4 cloves of garlic, half a head of onion, vegetable oil, black pepper, salt, bay leaf, greens.
- Next, cut into thin circles zucchini, eggplant and three tomatoes.
- We put the vegetables in a form oiled. At the same time, they should alternate in color. Add bay leaf, pepper, spray with oil.
- We cut onions and peppers into small cubes, which then need to be fried in oil.
- The remaining tomato must be peeled, finely chopped and mixed with pepper and onion. Pour half a glass of water. Cook the sauce for 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic and herbs, as well as salt and pepper to taste.
- With this sauce you need to pour the vegetables and bake them in the oven for an hour at 180 ° C.
- And now you need to beautifully lay it in the center of the dish and pour the sauce. Bon Appetit!
It should be noted and this feature of national cuisine: almost all dishes are served with sauce. There are thousands of recipes for sauces, and for the French it is not just a sauce for the dish, but a very complicated recipe and a certain mystery. However, here it is customary to treat any dish, putting your soul into it, creating incredible combinations of tastes that conquer the world.
French cuisine can rightfully be called the most exquisite in the world, and the process of cooking is a real art. Knowing this, you will understand that the French love to eat.