Crêpes are pancakes made in the French style, large and very thin. They are served with toppings, or rolled up with fillings inside. They can be a sweet or a savoury dish, and are meant to be a dish in themselves. Assume white wheat flour was used in making them, unless otherwise specified. The batter…
French Food
Crêpes Suzette
A Crêpe Suzette is dessert dish consisting of a crêpe (thin pancake) served warm folded in half or four with a warm orange sauce on it. It was first created as a breakfast dish for Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1896.
Croissant Day
The 30th of January is Croissant Day. There are many myths associated with croissants now; anything you’re likely to hear about the history of croissants is almost certainly a myth.
Croissants
Croissants are crispy, flaky individual serving-sized savoury rolls. It’s butter that makes them both crispy and flaky at the same time.
Croque Madame
A Croque Madame is a Croque Monsieur with a sunny-side up fried egg served on top of it, according to the Petit Robert dictionary: “Croque-monsieur surmonté d’un œuf sur le plat.” (Trans: Croque monsieur topped with an egg on the plate.) Note that there is no mention of a sauce, Béchamel or otherwise, inside or…
Dijon Mustard
Dijon Mustard © Denzil Green Dijon Mustard is a style of mustard originally made in Burgundy, France. It is named after the city of Dijon, which is the capital of Burgundy. 90% of all mustard made each year in France is Dijon or Dijon-style. 70% of that actually is made in the Dijon area. [Ed:…
Dom Pérignon Champagne
Dom Pérignon Champagne is a sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France by the Moët & Chandon company. It is to be emphasized that, ironically, the man after whom this sparkling wine is made, Dom Pierre Pérignon, in fact focussed his work on preventing wine from developing bubbles. See the entry on Pierre…
Duchess Potatoes
Duchess potatoes are finely shredded, cooked potato, which is formed into shapes and baked, or used as a border on dishes. The classical definition of how to make them is given by Larousse. You peel the potatoes, and boil them in salted water. Drain the potatoes, and let them sit in the hot pan or…
Duck à l’Orange
Duck à l’orange is a French sweet and sour dish, which is unusual in classical French cooking. It is duck served with an orange sauce. Larousse Gastromique (1971) allows two classical methods. Both call for bitter, Seville oranges. In the first method, you braise a duck, drain, carve and slice, and arrange the pieces on…
Duke Cherries
Duke Cherries are a hybrid between sweet and sour cherries. They are sometimes referred to as an “all-purpose cherry.” The trees are less hardy than even sweet cherry trees, and less productive than sour ones. For this reason, plus the fact that they are hard to sell in a market that thinks of cherries as…
Entrecôte
Entrecôte is a steak cut from the rib eye section of the cow, between the 9th and 11th ribs. It is boneless, with little fat. It is popular in France and Europe. Very tender, this more expensive cut is relatively rare to come across in North America unless you ask a butcher to cut it…
Escallop
A piece of meat sliced or pounded very thinly — usually veal. Veal Escallops are usually coated in bread crumbs. Anything sold or served as Escallop should contain no bone, fat or gristle. You will also see from time to time people using the word to refer to pork, beef and liver. Often the French…
Escargot Day
The 24th of May is Escargot Day. Escargot had their heyday in the 1970s, when everyone ate them with garlic butter and bought the Escargot dishes for home use.
Espelette Chile Peppers
Espelette chile peppers are grown in and around the village of Espelette, in the Nive Valley, in the Basque region of France, 4 miles (7 km) from the Spanish border. By law, to be called Espelette chile peppers, they can be only grown in 10 communities: Espelette, Ainhoa, Cambo les Bains, Halsou, Itsassou, Jatsou, Laressore,…
Filet Mignon
A steak cut from a Tenderloin strip. It is the most tender steak of all, and is certainly considered the most prestigious steak by most people. Take a trip to your local casino, and ask the people at the slots what they’re going to treat themselves with to eat if they win. Chances are, the…
Fin de Bagnols Beans
Fin de Bagnols are filet beans that grow on a bush-type bean plant. For use as a green bean, they need to be picked when young, or they will become fibrous and stringy. They really need to be picked every day. If left to fully mature you can use the beans inside as dried beans….
Fines Herbes
Fines Herbes is a blend of herbs used in France. Usually, it is made of chervil, chives, parsley and tarragon in equal portions. The herbs that can be used are not canonical, however. You can add burnet, marjoram, rosemary or thyme. In France, Fines Herbes are available fresh in mixed packs, or as a dried…
Flageolet Beans
Flageolet is the name for a grouping of small kidney-shaped beans, just under ½ inch long.They get more specific names based on what colour their seed is: Flageolet blanc, Flageolet noir, Flageolet jaune, Flageolet rouge, and Flageolet vert. The most well-known is the white and green varieties, which actually range in colour from cream-coloured to…
Fleur de Sel
Fleur de Sel © Denzil Green Fleur de Sel is a hand-harvested sea salt from Brittany in France. Harvesting of the salt centres on the Guérande area in Brittany. The salt has fine, opaque, ivory-coloured crystals; no processing or refining is done. (Fleur de Sel is also produced in the Camargue region of southern France,…
Foie Gras
Foie Gras is the enlarged liver of a goose, or of a male duck. Duck Foie Gras is cheaper and the most common. Foie Gras may be sold cooked (cuit), semi-cooked (mi-cuit), or fresh (frais.) Geese used are usually Moulard geese. The ducks used are also usually Moulards; usually a cross between Muscovy ducks (actually…
Francois Pierre de la Varenne
François Pierre de la Varenne was a French chef in the first half of the 1600s. His name is now revered amongst cooks and chefs because he established the foundation for the basics of French cooking.
Francois Vatel
Francois Vatel is known as the great chef who killed himself on the morning of the 24th of April 1671 at Chantilly, France because a delivery of fish didn’t arrive.
French Bread Law 1993
Le Décret Pain (1993) Decree n° 93-1074 of 13 September 1993 made for the application of the law of 1 August 1905 with regard to certain categories of breads NOR: ECOC9300130DThe Prime Minister, On the advice of the Minister of State, Guard of the Seals and Minister for justice, the Minister for the Economy and…
French Breads
French Breads © Paula Trites French Breads are very hard to imitate exactly outside of France, owing not only to the different flours used in France, but even to the different wheat the flours are made from. (See entry on French Flours.) Classically, bread in France is made from only four ingredients: flour, yeast, salt…