It isn’t surprising that the country that gave us the Michelin Guide is also the country whose cooking inspires and dictates haute cuisine around the world. Many a chef will tell you they owe their roots to traditional food in France, perhaps rightly so, given the vast array and cooking styles on offer. Often from humble beginnings, French cooking elevates the most modest of ingredients, treating them with such reverence, which yields flavours that are so distinct and inspiring that everyone wants a piece of it. From rich sauces to flaky pastries, French cooking has travelled the world over, but where better to taste it than in its original home of France?
Croissants
There is no better place to start than with the croissant. Nothing says French cuisine better than a croissant, not the masquerading versions you’ll find in many places now, using oil instead of butter. But a proper French croissant that is flaky and on the clasps of almost burnt, that deep golden colour with crispy layers on the outside, cushioning soft fluffy middles formed from perfectly leavened pastry, with slatherings of butter. If you happen to be in Paris, head to La Maison Stohrer on Rue Montorgueil, one of the oldest patisseries in Paris for yours. They do a fabulous almond-filled one too.
Financier
We’re talking pastries, and of course, we know that no one does pastries better than the French. However, we cannot talk about traditional French food without mentioning the financier. A trend-setting cake before gluten-free was a thing, made using almond flour, icing sugar, egg whites and beurre noisette, melted golden butter to you and me.
A financier is light, ever so slightly chewy and utterly delicious. They say it was first made by nuns in Lorraine as far back as the 17th century. It became popular and probably got its name later in the 19th century when an enterprising baker in Paris started making them in the shape of gold bars to sell to his financial customers. The financier proved popular and was here to stay.
Madeleine
Before moving on to other dishes, similar to the financier and also with origins in Lorraine, the Madeleine is yet another sweet pastry. It’s as French as you will get and cannot go without a mention. Often eaten hot with a cup of coffee at French markets, the Madeleine is a cross between a small cake and a biscuit. It’s made from a cake mixture, with a trace of lemon zest and plenty of butter, of course. They leave it overnight and bake the Madeleines on a tray with a distinct shell-like pattern which leaves it slightly crunchy on the outside with a dome-like soft middle.
Croque Monsieur
Now to more savoury dishes, and there’s plenty to pick from, but the croque monsieur is an excellent place to start. This ‘gentleman’s sandwich’ became a favourite of many Parisian cafés as early as the 1900s. The croque monsieur is a hot gooey sandwich made with bread stuffed with ham and gruyere cheese, topped with a bechamel sauce and then grilled.
What you get is a crispy outer casing that reveals a tasty oozy filling, usually served with a tomato salad. It may have fallen out of favour because of mediocre reproductions over the years but is making a comeback with leading cafes and restaurants like Frenchie to Go, Le Fromage par Laurent Dubois MOF and The Croque. They’re just a few that are updating this classic with success.
French onion soup
A dish that comes with notoriety and royal aspirations is the French onion soup. Notoriety because it started being served on New Year’s Eve or after a wedding to disguise the smell of alcohol, a hangover cure of sorts. Royal aspirations because both accounts of its origin have royal links, one to Louis XV who, when hungry at one of his hunting lodges, made a soup from the only ingredients available to him, onions, butter and champagne; the staples of a good French larder. The dish has moved on since then and is now made with beef stock, onions, and bay leaves boiled down, leaving a rich, silky, and slightly sweet soup. It’s topped with a hunk of bread with cheese, grilled before serving. Hangover or not, it’s deliciously warm on a cold night, especially with a glass of something red.
Escargot
Probably more popular and unique to France is escargot or snails. Anyone who is a foodie has got to try them. After all, they have been a popular starter ever since they were served at a banquet for a visiting Tzar in 1814. Before you run to your backyard to grab any old snails, the escargot snails are specially farmed and undergo a rigorous set of cleaning methods to make them edible. The work involved in making escargot could also explain their usual hefty price tag, but it’s all worth it, even if it’s just for the sauces that accompany them. The garlicky parsley butter tops it all.
Moules mariniere
With origins in Belgium, Moules Mariniere is firmly woven into France’s food tapestry and is as part of the food culture here as it can get. You’ll find this very simple and utterly delicious pot of mussels steamed in white wine, shallots and a few herbs at roadside cafes, Bistros, and top restaurants alike. The typical side helping to go with it is, of course, pomme frites, those rather slender and perfectly crunchy French fries. Otherwise, a hunk of baguette will do just as well. It goes without saying that a fine glass of white wine will help wash it down very nicely. Summer or winter, the dish never fails to please.
Pissaladiere
Where the Italians have pizza, the French have pissaladiere. This Moorish flatbread with caramelised onions cooked down to almost a puree then topped with olives and anchovies originates from Nice. You can enjoy it as an appetiser or to nibble with drinks.
Salade Nicoise
Another loved dish from the French Riviera, particular to Nice, is the salad niçoise. The ingredients may vary depending on the season, but the base salad includes tomatoes, anchovies, green beans, tuna, capers, and black olives topped with a boiled egg. It’s a pretty wholesome salad, enjoyed in the summer, drizzled with a lemon, garlic, and olive oil dressing.
Cassoulet
Let’s now move to the main affairs, which very much embrace the French cooking styles, starting with the cassoulet, as typical a French dish as you will find anywhere in France. As it is with many dishes in a vast country, there are different regional variations to it, but in essence, it is a beautiful rich casserole that takes hours, sometimes days, to prepare and cook. The base ingredients include white beans, pork loin, pork belly, and sausages, which veer into regional additions of duck, goose, and even mutton. They cook these for hours, adding a few vegetables to the pot for flavour, until the beans are mushy soft whilst the meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender with a brown crusty top. Originally a peasant dish, it’s loved and revered in many parts of France. Head to Carcassone, Toulouse or Castelnaudary for an authentic experience.
Boeuf Bourguignon
Another traditional dish that is very regional and exemplifies traditional French cooking is the Boeuf Bourguignon or beef burgundy. It’s basically a beef stew with lashings of red wine added to it. It’s thought to have originated from the Burgundy region, which is known for its red wines and also thought to have the best beef in France. It may sound basic, but the flavours are far from it.
The beef is often cooked in the pot with little pearl onions, button mushrooms, bacon lardon and beef stock, all reduced to leave a rich, silky deep brown sauce flavoured by all these ingredients, with tender melt-in-your-mouth beef. Have it with a side of dauphinoise potatoes (see below), and comfort food has never tasted better, it goes without saying that a glass of burgundy is a must.
Bouillabaisse
If we head down to Provence and, more specifically, to Marseille, it’s not surprising that the typical French food from these regions is fish based, given that it’s by the waters. We’re talking of a dish that’s ever so tasty, the bouillabaisse, a dish that even inspired Julia Childs who lived in these parts for over a year. It is a sort of fish stew, with a base made from cooking fennel, garlic, onions, deseeded tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves and olive oil in water with an orange peel and saffron.
Then they add fish to it, bones and all, depending on the fisherman’s catch of the day, but ideally flat and firm, with a few shellfish too. The brightly coloured rich stew is then served with boiled potatoes (there’s enough flavour in the stew) and a piece of bread smothered with rouille (a saffron mayonnaise). It truly doesn’t get better than this.
Duck confit
If ever there was a dish that encapsulated French cooking, then it’s confit de canard or duck confit. What first began as a method of preserving meat before the refrigerator resulted in one of southwestern France and Gascony’s most enjoyed dishes. The duck leg (a whole duck in the old days) is cured with salt before being cooked at a very low temperature over several hours in duck fat, resulting in the crispiest, most flavour-packed piece of duck you’ll taste.
You can enjoy it as a starter or as a main course with mashed potato and wash it down with a glass of cabernet. Sometimes it’s the same duck meat that they use in a cassoulet. You could also enjoy this special French dish at home without worrying about quality as you can get really good, tinned versions on sale.
Poulet basquaise
With Spanish origins, the poulet basquaise is as traditional in the southern parts of France as any other dish you will find in these regions. Red and green peppers are typically cooked down to almost a puree and form the base of this beautiful chicken hot pot. Then add chicken and finish it off in the oven with some stock, cooking it over several hours. It’s a beautiful summer dish which you can eat with a side helping of potatoes, but rice does it better justice.
Coq au vin
There is no shortage of classic French dishes that often use wine in their cooking. Another such dish is the coq au vin, ‘rooster in wine.’ Similar in its cooking style to the boeuf bourguignon, the coq au vin uses chicken instead of beef. They add onions, bacon lardons, and mushrooms, then splash it with enough wine to cover it and a dash of cognac before gently simmering or throwing it into an oven. It results in a rich, tasty stew. How you choose to have yours is up to you but be sure to guzzle down some red wine with it.
Dauphinoise potatoes: a classic traditional food in France
When it comes to accompaniments, France is a nation that knows how to pimp up a potato. If there were a competition, it would come tops. At the top of the list would surely be the dauphinoise potatoes, originating from the south-eastern region of France. Thinly sliced potatoes are layered with lashings of cream and garlic and then baked to leave them crispy on the top and creamy and fluffy on the inside. As with many dishes passed down, there are those who add some gruyere cheese on the very top, which adds to the crispiness of the dish, but the purists bulk at the idea. They are a worthy accompaniment to any main dish worth its weight in salt. You’ll even be tempted to have them on their own.
Pommes boulangère
Added to the list of traditional foods in France that typically embrace French cooking styles is the pommes boulangère. Again, not too dissimilar to the dauphinoise potato, the pommes boulangère are layers of thinly sliced potatoes, this time with the addition of onions and, instead of cream, a rich chicken or meat stock. The name is testimony to its humble origins, where women in the village who didn’t have ovens would take their casseroles to the bakery on their way to church. They would pick up the tasty, crispy layered potatoes on the way back home in time for their Sunday lunch. To think that this delicious bake with humble beginnings now graces the best of restaurants in the world.
Tart Tatin
And now we move to the most favourite part of a meal, the dessert, of course. Top of all French desserts must surely be the tart Tatin. Ironic, seeing as it originated from a mistake. The story is that back in 1898, Stephanie Tatin, in an attempt to cover up her almost burned apples, which she was preparing for an apple tart, covered them with pastry and baked them with triumphant results. To this day, the apples are caramelised with butter and sugar before being finished off in the oven and served upside down so that the pastry is at the bottom when you eat it. You won’t find a better end to a meal except of course if you add some crème anglaise.
Crepes Suzette
Yet another dish borne from a supposed mistake is the crepe Suzette. They’re rather thin pancakes served with a flambeed (torched to burn off the alcohol) orange and brandy sauce, now commonly eaten with a dollop or two of ice cream; delicious. However, when a head waiter in 1895 attempted to serve the future King George VII this classic dish, the sauce accidentally caught fire. Instead of starting it all over, he served it anyway. The future King loved it so much and asked to name it Suzette, after a girl travelling in his entourage. These crepes have been served that way since.
Quiche lorraine
It would be remiss not to mention the quiche Lorraine when talking of traditional food in France. Essentially a French savoury tart with German origins, you can find this classic dish in any decent bistro worth its weight. Originally an open pastry filled with a savoury custard with the addition of bacon, cheese was added to it, morphing it into its current delicious form as a quiche Lorraine. Perfect eaten hot or cold.
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