- Axoa
-
A specialty of Gascony made with
seasoned ground veal, onions, and plenty of sweet and hot red peppers.
- Blanquette de veau
- This classic French stew is made from veal, mushrooms, and
onions. The stew is first simmered in a white stock, then served
in a velouté sauce finished
with egg yolk and cream.
- Civet de lièvre
- A hare is cut up and marinated in brandy, red wine, and olive
oil. It is then cooked in a roux
made from cooked bacon and onion, to which is added an herb bunch
(bouquet garni), and garlic. The hare's blood finishes the
sauce.
- Coquilles St. Jacques à la
Provence
- Scallops sautéed with wine, shallot, herbs, and
garlic.
- Cotriade
-
This fish soup, often called "Breton
Bouillabaisse," is made with the largest possible variety of fish. This
might include eel, mackerel, hake,
sardines, John Dory, and Dover sole;
shellfish is not used. The soup, which also
includes onion, potatoes, and thyme, is served over thick slices of
bread.
- Foie gras
- Foie gras is the oversized liver of a force-fed goose or duck.
Goose is preferred. A classic
presentation for hot foie gras involves first studding the liver
with brandy-soaked truffles, putting a bay leaf on top,
wrapping the whole in bacon and then in a pig's caul -- the fatty
membrane that lines the abdominal cavity. This can be baked in a
terrine or sealed in a pastry shell, the purpose of which is to absorb
the grease released during cooking. Foie gras is also used in
pâtés and as garnish, often paired with truffles.
The two are characteristic of the cooking of Périgord. In
contemporary cuisine, fresh lobes of foie gras are sautéed, often
with fruit.
- Fonds d'artichauts mirepoix
- Mirepoix is a combination of diced carrots, onions, celery and
ham cooked in butter. Here they complement artichoke hearts.
- Fondue au Fromage
-
This Swiss dish is also popular in the Alpine regions of France (never
mind its cyclical comebacks in the States). It is
made by melting a mixture of Gruyère or Comté cheese with
white wine until smooth, and flavoring it with kirsch and garlic (often
only by rubbing a clove against the inside of the pot before melting the
cheese). The fondue is
served with chunks of bread for dipping.
- Friture
-
This dish from the western regions of France is made with very fresh,
bite-sized river fish that are deep-fried. They are served with vinegar,
lemon juice, or tartar sauce as a condiment.
- Garbure
-
Garbure is the name given to many stew-like vegetable soups
made throughout France, although the dish is most popular in
Gascony. It is made with cabbage, confit of goose
and assorted local vegetables and is always served with a thick slice of toasted bread.
- Gaudes
-
This dish is made of a white cornmeal that is very similar to polenta. It
can be eaten hot as porridge, but usually it is poured into a mold.
Then, when cool, it is sliced and fried with seasonings. Gaudes can be
made with savory ingredients, but in Franche-Comté
the most popular additions are butter and a sprinkling of sugar.
- Lapin à la moutarde
- This classic French bistro dish presents rabbit cooked in a grainy
mustard sauce with herbs and white wine.
- Matefaim
-
A hearty, thick pancake popular in the Alpine regions of France. It is
intended to -- as the name says -- "tame hunger."
- Matelote
-
A fish stew made with red or white wine, and, usually only freshwater
fish. It is made in many variations throughout France, depending on local
tastes and seasonal availabilities.
- Pâté
- Pâté names a mixture of ground meats and meat
fats,
game or liver, truffles perhaps, butter, port, Madeira or cognac, herbs
and spices. It can be smooth or coarse. If the mixture is served cold, in
its baking dish or
molded in aspic (a savory jelly), it is called a pâté or a
terrine.
Pâté en croûte is pâté
inside of a pastry crust. A galantine is
a bird that has been boned and stuffed with
pâté.
- Pan Bagnat
-
A provençal sandwich made by brushing
a split loaf of bread with olive oil and then generously filling it
with the region's signature
ingredients -- olives, onions, anchovies, green peppers, and
tomato. The
filling is then topped with vinaigrette before closing the sandwich
and
serving.
- Panada
-
A thick soup or porridge that is popular in Franche-Comté and the
Savoy. It is a simple concoction, made with bread, butter, milk and water
or stock.
- Pissaladière
-
This provençal relative of the pizza is made by topping a flaky
yeast crust with onions, black olives, and anchovies and drizzling the
whole with olive oil.
- Pistou
-
A specialty of Italy and Provence, this soup is
made with assorted
vegetables (usually including green and white beans, tomatoes,
onions, and
potatoes) and vermicelli noodles. The broth is thickened and
flavored by
adding a garlic-and-basil paste (essentially, pesto).
- Pot-au-Feu
- Literally "pot on fire," this is a dish of meat and vegetables that
have been slowly cooked together in water. The rich broth which results is
served
with croutons as a first course. Then, the meat and vegetables are
served as an entrée. The combination of meats and vegetables
varies by region. If the meat has bones with marrow, the marrow may be
served on toast as another course before the entrée.
- Raclette
-
This Swiss melted-cheese dish is a sort of variation on fondue. To make
it, a wheel of cheese (this could be Gruyère, Comté, or the
eponymous Raclette) is held to a fire until a layer of it is sufficiently
melted that it can be scraped onto a plate. It is traditionally
accompanied by boiled potatoes, bread, and a glass of the local white wine.
- Ratatouille
-
This melange of vegetables combines whatever is available in the
provençal garden -- always including tomatoes, eggplant, bell
peppers, zucchini, garlic, and a generous amount of olive oil. The mix is
allowed to simmer until done to the cook's preference, and is then served
as a side dish or dip with bread.
- Rillons and Rillettes
-
These two meat dishes are usually made with pork, or, less commonly, with
goose, duck or other game. First, the meat is chopped into tiny pieces,
seasoned, and cooked in lard. Then, for rillettes, the mixture is
pounded into a paste, packed into a jar, and covered with melted lard to
preserve it. It is served like pâté. Rillons are
served just after the initial cooking.
- Ris de veau braisé
- These are sweetbreads -- the thymus glands of veal (as here),
young beef, lamb, or pork -- braised in
butter.
- Rognons de veau flambés
- Veal kidneys are cooked in butter and flamed with brandy.
After removing the kidneys from the pan, a sauce is made in their
juices byadding beef or veal stock, Madeira, cream, mustard butter,
and mushrooms.
- Sole à la bretonne
-
A whole sole is spread with a paste of sautéed mixed vegetables and
then braised in white-wine based fish broth. It is served with a sauce
made of the cooking liquid and a little cream.
- Spaetzle
-
Tiny buttered egg-and-flour dumplings served as a side dish in Alsace and
the nearby regions of Germany.
- Tripe à la mode de
Caen
- One either loves or hates this dish. It is made by layering
onions and carrots on the bottom of a casserole, then adding a
halved steer's foot with its meat, on top of which is laid beef
tripe, garlic, leeks, and herbs. The whole is covered with apple
cider and -- since Caen is a city in Normandy -- finished with a shot
of Calvados. The casserole is then sealed
under a paste of
flour and water and baked for 10 to 12 hours.
Finally, it is served cold in its terrine.
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