Marie-Antoine Carême was a French chef and food writer in the first half of the 1800s. He is now seen as the founder of “La Grande Cuisine Française”, having defined everything from sauces to chefs uniforms.
French Food
Marrons Glacés
Marrons glacés are candied chestnuts. Making them is very labour intensive; consequently they are considered a delicacy in France and usually purchased.
Marseille Vanilla
The term “Marseille Vanilla” is an in-joke amongst cooks. It means garlic. The joke is that garlic is used to such an extent in cooking in Marseille, France, that they might almost be using it in their desserts.
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise © Denzil Green Mayonnaise is a very thick, creamy sauce served at room temperature or chilled. It can be used as a sauce, a dressing, and or a condiment. It is made from oil and raw egg with something acidic added such as vinegar or lemon juice. The oil and the vinegar would normally…
Meaux Mustard
Meaux Mustard © Denzil Green Meaux Mustard tastes very similar to Dijon, but has a grainy texture because it’s made with cracked seeds. To make the mustard, black mustard seeds are roughly crushed, then mixed with vinegar and spices. History Notes Meaux is a cathedral town. The Monks there were amongst the first to make…
Mesclun Mix
Mesclun Mix © Randal Oulton Mesclun Mix is not one single type of kind of salad green, but rather, as the name states, a mix. The contents of the mix will vary. It often contains leaves such as baby spinach, curly endive, dandelion, lamb’s lettuce, mizuna, purslane, red chicory, red oak leaf lettuce, rocket, and…
Méteil
Méteil is flour made from a mixture of wheat and rye. Up to the 1600s, the European poor could only afford flour made from rye (many couldn’t even afford that.) As the price of wheat became more affordable, it became possible for them to enjoy a flour that had some wheat mixed into it —…
Migaine
Migaine is a French term for a mixture of egg and either milk, cream or crème fraîche, or a mixture of the three. It can be used to form the basis of a custard in savoury pies such as quiches or in sweet pies such as fruit tarts. When used for sweet dishes, it is…
Mise en Place
Mise en Place © Randal Oulton Mise en Place means literally “putting (things) in place” (ready to be used.) In a kitchen, it means getting ingredients out, and ready to use. In the strictest sense, the ingredients are not only set out, they are also prepared, measured and arranged in the order in which they…
Montmorency Cherries
A Montmorency cherry is a somewhat unusual sour cherry, in that it is a sour cherry with light-coloured flesh and an almost clear juice. The tree can grow up to 9 metres (30 feet) tall when very old, though it averages 4 ½ metres (15 feet) and can have a spread anywhere from 2 ½…
Muscat de Provence Squash
Muscat de Provence squash is a round, flattened squash with a dark green rind ripening to orange. It has thick, firm flesh, with a rich, sweet taste.
Nantes Carrots
Nantes Carrots are almost perfectly cylinder shaped, almost the shape of a sausage. They are rounded and blunt at the top and bottom, and don’t taper as other carrots do: they are pretty much the same width their entire length. They will be 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) long, about 1 ¼…
Napolitain Cakes
A French style of cake, not called Napolitain on account of any association with Napoleon, but rather because it was made in the “style” of desserts from Naples, which were often layers of different colours, textures and tastes. This style of cake used to be made very huge, as a dazzling piece of showmanship to…
Narbonne Honey
Narbonne Honey is made in the Aude département of south-western France. The honey is very light-coloured, almost white or ivory coloured sometimes. The bees are kept on the slopes of the Corbière hills and the Clape hills, where they feed on rosemary blossoms. The bees might also visit flowers from plants such as thyme, lavender…
Niçoise Salad
There are so many different ideas of what constitutes a Niçoise Salad salad, that it has almost become more of a category, rather than an actual defined salad. Though it’s a French salad, variations even exist throughout France. The ingredients are not tossed together; rather this is a “composed salad” meaning the ingredients are arranged…
Omelette
An omelette is a cooked egg dish made from eggs that are beaten, then poured into a frying pan, cooked to form a thin “pie”, then folded in half to form one of two classic folds, either the half-moon shape or the letter fold. The Science of Good Food describes them as “soft scrambled eggs…
Onglet à l’échalote
Onglet à l’échalote is hanger steak that is grilled, removed from heat, immediately sprinkled with finely-chopped shallots and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. The heat from the meat causes the shallots to sweat, transferring a subtle amount of the taste into the steak.
Onglet en Sarment
Onglet en Sarment is hanger steak that is grilled over dried grapevine branches. It is popular in the Bordeaux area of France.
Oronge Mushrooms
Oronge Mushrooms are wild mushrooms that grow in Europe, particularly in Italy and France. They grow in oak or chestnut forests in small groupings. Their round, orangish caps are white inside. They have pale yellows stem that are thick and bulbous at the base. They are very tasty, very rare and highly-prized. Cooking Tips Can…
Paillards
Paillards are boneless cuts of meat that are pounded flat, then cooked quickly. To make your own, start with a boneless cut of meat. If it is 2 to 3 cm thick (about an inch) or more, consider cutting that in half first. Use the smooth end of a meat mallet to pound with (not…
Pain au Froment
Bread made from wheat flour. A bread entirely from wheat flour will be “Froment 100%.” A bread whose flour is ¾ wheat flour will be “Froment 75%” — the remaining 25% of the flour may be rye, spelt, etc. Some think that “pain au froment” means stoneground wholewheat flour, but though that may occasionally be…
Pain au Levain
“Pain au Levain” is French bread made from a sourdough starter. It is a dense bread, usually round or oblong, with a very delicate tang to it. The sour tang — or the acidity (“acidité”, as the French refer to it), helps to hold moisture in the bread, which makes it stay fresh longer than…
Pain au Son
Pain au Son is made with wholewheat (wholemeal) flour. Under legislation, bread called “Pain au Son” must have a minimum bran content of 20%. It is made with French flour type 150 which is a whole wheat flour with additional fine wheat bran added to the flour. Nutrition Often used for special diets.
Pain Complet
Pain Complet is a whole wheat (wholemeal) type bread with a medium-fine crumb. It is made with a mix of both French flour type 55 (white bread flour) and type 80 (wholewheat flour.) It is not the same as “pain intégral”, whose flour is totally whole wheat flour. Storage Hints Freezes well.