FRENCH GASTRONOMY
For many generations, the French have lived convinced that French cooking is the best in the world. In fact, France is the European country which gives most importance to its food. 84% of the French reckon that "French cuisine" is the best in the world, only 4% give their preference to Chinese cooking, and 2% to Italian or North-African cooking.We're going to try and see what makes French cooking so special, give you regional examples and write down a few recipes.
In France, people use all their five senses when eating, these must be in perfect harmony:
SIGHT: The French have to like the look of what they're going to eat. You'll notice, in a good French restaurant, plates are always decorated, and the food is beautifully dispayed on them.
FEELING: A special effort is made to make the meat tender, the sauces are supposed to be creamy, the vegetables are usually "al dente". In a restaurant, the tablecloth is often made in a soft material, and the cutlery is well polished and smooth.
HEARING: Soft background music such as classical music or jazz is usually played in restaurants. It helps create a relaxed atmosphere, so that people enjoy their meal.
SMELL: Of course, the importance of how food smells doesn't need to be reminded. Except that in France, our tastes are regarded as strange in that respect. For example, we have an expression which says: "The more cheese stinks, the better it tastes!!"
TASTE: Well, that's what eating is all about, isn't it? In fact, the French have a few rules as far as taste is concerned: one should not mix salty dishes with sweet ones; sweet and sour is very rare in French cooking. Other countries tend to think we use a lot of garlic...
Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), creator of the Pêche Melba, and one of Europe's best chefs, said:
"I am often asked why French chefs are superior to chefs from other countries. The answer is simple to me: one just has to realise that the French soil has the privilege of producing naturally, and in big quantities, the best vegetable, the best fruit and the best wine in the world.France also has the best poultry, the most tender meat, and the most varied and delicate game. Its location between three seas provides us with the best fish and seafood. It is therefore natural that a Frenchman should become at the same time a gourmet and a good cook."
He then adds:
"However, in order to have a good cuisine, a nation needs to have a long History of life in royal court, which creates a culture of enjoying a festive meal among friends; it also needs deep domestic traditions, which transmitt from mother to daughter all the secrets of a good table. I regard the reputation of "French cuisine" as a proof of our civilisation."
It now seems obvious, though, that French cuisine has had many foreign influences: North-African, Italian, Jewish, american.... Indeed, French cooking would lose a lot of its characterisics without tomato, corn, strawberries, oranges...these all come from America.
Elizabeth David, a famous British writer, has recently written:
"One of the great characteristics about "French cuisine" is its extreme variety; it seems to possess an inexhaustable collection of recipes to discover."
A LITTLE HISTORY...
Our gastronomy is known abroad mostly for its variety and refinement. This takes its origin in Paris, which was very much a central city in the 17th century. Brillat-Savarin wrote: "A meal such as one to be had in Paris is a cosmopolitan composition, in which each part of the world is represented by its products." Very early, Paris created commercial relationships with the North of France. Then, regional specialities were brought up to Paris from the other regions. Those were, for example: Foie Gras from the Périgord, wine from Bordeaux and the Beaujolais, cheese from Auvergne, fish from the Mediterranean and the North sea...Other more exotic goods were imported from the rest of the world.
Some historians have suggested that the refinement of French cooking comes from the fact that women were invited to feast as well as men. This theory doesn't seem quite right since in most European countries, women were also included at table, and Marrocans and Japanese have an equally sophisticated cuisine, and they never shared their meals with women. However, this could be a factor to explain why table manners improved so rapidly at that time. Our king François 1er (Francis the first) introduced the fist plates in 1536, and then Henri III started using forks.
In fact, our famous king Louis XIV is often presented as the promotor of Haute cuisine. In History classes in primary schools, the children are often taught that he was a greedy king, ever since he was a child. That seems to be true. He liked to eat food in great quantities, for he needed a lot of energy for his work and amusement... But because he wanted to give an image of prestige of France, the cooking needed to be original and sophisticated. His meals were a whole ceremony: he ate alone, but in public. Visitors would stand behind bars and watch him. During his reign, a new style of cooking, "à la Française", appeared; new cookbooks are published as of 1651. What were the transformations?
__ Oriental spices, which were until then sign of wealth and nobility, aren't used so much. They are replaced by French herbs (shallot, chive and above all the black truffle, which then becomes the symbol of luxury and haute-cuisine)
__Sauces, which used to be lean and acid, become richer and are prepared with butter. Butter becomes a major ingredient in French cooking. (At that time, beauty standards changed: the fashion turned to rounder, plumpier women)
__Sugar is more and more used in desserts and sweets, but disappears from salty dishes.
Many other events followed this revolution: people don't cook directly on the fire anymore, the ancestors of our cookers start appearing in all households, rich and poor. People arrange their homes a room to have their meals in, before that, they would ea t in their bedroom or in the kitchen.
During the XVIIIth and the XIXth century, many European kings and noblemen would employ French cooks, paying them heavy sums of money to come to their country. Even nowadays, many chefs of official palaces travel or have training courses and can therefore learn the French methods.
These feasts used to have several courses,and last for hours. Nowadays, the French still frequently have three-course meals, and even sometimes four or five course meals. Within those courses, a good cook or chef will try and make the diet as balanced as possible: for example, if one has salad as a starter, one may have heavier food such as potatoes or pasta with the main dish. If both the starter and the main dish are a bit "filling", then the dessert will be lighter, a fruit salad or sorbet, instead of cake or chocolate mousse.
The word RESTAURANT is French... It meant at first a rich and fortifying stock, then different dishes which helped revive the energy, and at last became the name of the place where these dishes were served, at the end of the XVIIIth century.
SPECIALITIES FROM DIFFERENT REGIONS
Auvergne is famous for its consistant food . In the region people are very found of dishes with potatoes and bacon mixed with cream. A typical dish in Auvergne is the "truffade" that consists of potatoes,bacon ,garlic and cheese. Another Auvergne speciality is the "potée". It is a main course that consists of bacon, pigham, beef added with cabbage and potatoes. The "soupe aux marrons" is also well-known; it's a soup made out of chestnuts. We also have to underline that Auvergne is famous for its cheese, especially three that are considered amongst the best in France: Cantal, S:t Nectairre and Bleu d'Auvergne; all three made out of cow's milk.
Bretagne is the region where you can find the most delicious crêpes. But be careful, these are not to be mixed up with pancakes. The experts refuse with an obstination that honours their gastronomic harshness, to assimilate the crêpe with the pancake.Crêpes can be eaten sweat or salted, cold or hot. In Brittany they often come with sausages, but are also eaten with eggs, salted butter,onions and even tripes! How the crepes are made and what comes with them depends on each region.They are usually made with water,flour,egg, butter and sometimes cream or milk.In Perigord,in the south-west of France crêpes are made of anise and cornflour. In Auvergne they are made of buckwheat or wheat and in Alsace they use cinnamon,chocolate or nuts. It is important to mention the most famous crêpe of them all; the crêpe "Suzette",invented in the beginning of our era and named after a lady.
Bourgogne is the most famous region when it comes to French gastronomy. Burgundy's culinary and wine reputation is knowned all over the world. A typical dish coming from this region is the "Boeuf Bourguignon" ,a piece of beef cooked in redwine.The real burgundy vinesnails come from this region.There is also a sophisticated starter :"jambon persillé" that consists of ham sprinkled with parsley with the taste of garlic,white wine and pepper.
THE BLACK TRUFFLE
The truffle is known as the diamond in French cuisine. The most famous ones comes from Perigord , a region in the south-east of France.The mushroom comes to life by a mycelium who lives in symbiosis with a tree, preferably a variety of oak.The truffles are not easy to find since they grow below the earth and over the years various techniques have been used to find these "precious pearls" , such as finding the truffles with the help of sows, dogs and even flies.
The most old-fashioned way to search for the truffles is with a sow, who has got an unquestionable sense of smell.One problem though, is that the sow is often clumsy and there is a risk that it destroys the mushroom.Today trufflehunting with sows have been replaced with trained dogs that are often hunting more for their master than for themselves which is the case of the sows.
An other way to find the truffle is actually with the help of flies.This requires a lot of patience and observation. The fly in question has got a green-bronze colour and long wings. Like the sow its quality is its sense of smell. It can smell the mushroom and then gets closer to it to finally sit down on it. After this the hunter in question has to wait to see if other flies are joining the first one. If they are, he can be sure that the truffles are nearby. He then marks the place for the mushrooms and goes to get them.
Nowadays truffle is becoming more and more rare in the region of Perigord. The reason for this, according to specialists, is that modern agriculture machines are sticking more deeply in the soil than old ploughing implements and are destroying the truffles growing underground. In France truffle has become a luxury product because of its rareness, the decreasing production and an increasing demand. The mushrooms are very expensive and are only eaten on special occasions.The price can today go from 500-1000 Francs for 1 kg of truffles!!!
FOIE GRAS
Like the truffle the foie gras has its origins in Perigord.This speciality can be made of either goose or duck liver.Geese are force-feed with the help of a pipe that sends food directly into their stomach, to make the liver fat. Nowadays geese are feed with an electrical instrument, but previously they were force-feed by a longpiped funnel stuck in the beak. This process was made with the help of a woman who helped the goose to make the food ( corn dipped in hot water) go directly down in the stomach by massing its neck. This procedure did not take more than 3-4 minutes.
The force-feeding takes place for about 4-5 weeks and the geese become feed 3 times a day. The daily ration consists in about 1 kg and 500 grams of corngrains. When the process is finished the weight of the goose can go up to 9 or 10 kg!! It can't stand on its feet anymore, it staggers and have breathing problems.
This is the right moment to sacrifice it. The opening of the goose is always a big moment of suspense , because you never know how the liver will look like. The slaughter goes on very carefully not to damage the liver.
This is a really cruel way to treat an animal and the International Animalright Convention have already raised their voices against the inhuman way of treating the geese. Despite this French people are very proud of their foie gras and the force-feeding tradition that they refuse to abandon..
