French Recipes

• Andouillette - Andouillette is a type of sausage that historically comes from Lyon, Cambrai or Troyes. Traditionally it is made from the stomach and colon of a pig, but nowadays the contents may vary, though it usually includes the intestines of a pig, cow or calf. It has a rubbery texture, and very strong animal-like flavor and smell, that if you are unused to it, you may find disconcerting or even unpleasant. Andouillette is usually eaten hot, but may be sliced and eaten cold.
  
  
• Beef Bourguignon (French: Bœuf bourguignon) - A stew prepared by cooking beef in red wine with carrots and onions. Garlic and herbs are used for flavoring, and lardons (cubes of bacon prepared from the back fat of a pig) are usually used in the recipe. The dish is garnished with mushrooms and onions.
  
  
• Blanquette de veau - Veal poached with aromatic vegetables in water or stock. The vegetables are then discarded and the sauce thickened by adding cream and egg yolks. Mushrooms and onions are also added to and cooked in the sauce.
  
  
• Bouillabaisse - This is a fish stew, from the Provençal region, and especially the city of Marseille. The dish is prepared by cooking a variety of fish and shellfish (as many as a dozen varieties) with celery, leeks, onions and tomatoes, in stock flavored with herbs and spices. When the dish is served, the fish and stew are placed in separate bowls, and the stew is poured over "rouille", which is French bread seasoned with bread crumbs, olive oil and chili.
  
  
• Coq au vin - This well-known French dish is prepared by fricasseeing chicken in wine with lardons (cubes of bacon prepared from the back fat of a pig), mushrooms, and garlic. Traditionally, older roosters are used when preparing coq au vin, as they contain more connective tissue, which results in a richer broth. According to legend this recipe was eaten by Julius Caesar during his conquest of Gaul, but it unclear if this story is actually true.
  
  
• Escargot - Snails - often eaten as an appetizer - normally cooked in garlic butter.
  
  
• French onion soup - According to legend this soup was invented by King Louis XV (or perhaps King Louis XIV) when he returned to his hunting lodge and had to improvise a new recipe from an almost bare larder. This soup is made from onions and beef broth, and topped with cheese and croutons.
  
  
  
• Pot-au-feu - A spicy stew made with beef and vegetables (carrots, celery, leeks, onions and turnips).
  
  
• Quiche - Quiches are baked dishes made with heavy cream, and eggs in a pastry crust. Traditionally cheese is not used when making quiche, but nowadays, most recipes do include some cheese. Quiche Lorraine is simply quiche with some bacon in the mixture. Quiche Alsacienne is the same as Quiche Lorraine, but with onions added.
  
  
  
• Crêpes - Crêpes are thin pancakes made from wheat flour that are originally from Brittany (French: Bretagne). There are both savory (crêpes salées) and sweet (crêpes sucrées) varieties available.
  
  
• Éclairs - Éclairs are hollow baked pastries (made from choux pastry - a very light version of pastry), which when cool are filled with pastry cream (crème pâtissière), custard or whipped cream, and then topped with either chocolate or icing.
  
  
• Profiteroles - Like éclairs, profiteroles are made from choux pastry, but they are however much smaller. They are normally filled pastry cream (crème pâtissière) or whipped cream, sometimes glazed with caramel, and often served with chocolate sauce.
  
  
• Chocolate mousse - A creamy dessert made from eggs and cream, and flavored with chocolate.
  
  
• Crème brûlée - A vanilla custard base topped with a hard layer of caramel made by burning sugar under a grill, blowtorch or other intense heat source.

• French Recipes & Cookbooks
  
  
• Recipes and Cookbooks

Williams-Sonoma Essentials of French Cooking: Recipes & Techniques for Authentic Home-cooked Meals (The Essentials) By Georgeanne Brennan Oxmoor House Hardcover (288 pages) List Price: $34.95* Lowest New Price: $20.90* Lowest Used Price: $21.24* Usually ships in 24 hours* *(As of 10:55 Pacific 10 Mar 2010 More Info) Click Here Product Description: Long before anyone on this side of the Atlantic was devoted to eating seasonally and locally, the French were doing precisely that, just as they had been for centuries. Although the high-end haute cuisine of Paris exported itself far and wide many decades ago, the varied regional cooking styles of France continue to reveal themselves to the world and dazzle those fortunate enough to experience them firsthand. Williams-Sonoma's Essentials of French Cooking takes you on a meandering food lover's tour of France, from the windswept coastline of Brittany, where the lamb tastes of the salty fields on which it grazes, southward through Gascony, with its bracing Armagnac and rib-sticking cassoulet, to the delicious fish stews of Marseilles and the Mediterranean, and back up through Burgundy, where the wine flows from some of the world's greatest vineyards and the local Dijon mustard makes a perfect sauce for the local rabbit. In these pages you'll also explore the fascinating intersections of culture and gastronomy in Alsace, where potatoes, cabbage, and beer lend a Germanic heft to the traditional menu; sunny Provence, where dishes made with tomatoes, garlic, olives, and basil link its cooking to that of neighboring Italy; and the Basque country, where Spanish flavors and Moorish spices like saffron and cumin have seeped over the Pyrenees. In addition to presenting a wide range of traditional, regional main dishes to build meals around, this collection of more than 140 carefully selected recipes covers a full range of courses and techniques, from silky baked farm-fresh eggs to brilliantly simple preparations for every season's vegetables through the most luxurious chocolate creams and satisfying rustic fruit tarts. And while terroir plays an undeniable role in this cuisine, true French cooking is comfort food for family and friends, which translates everywhere. A comprehensive glossary and a section on basic stocks and sauces help you fill your pantry with the authentic elements and bring one of the world's most admired cuisines home to your table.

Classic French Cooking: Recipes for Mastering the French Kitchen By Elisabeth Luard M Q Publications Hardcover (304 pages) List Price: $20.00* Lowest New Price: $9.63* Lowest Used Price: $3.57* Usually ships in 24 hours* *(As of 10:55 Pacific 10 Mar 2010 More Info) Click Here Product Description: "Classic French Cooking is a collection of iconic recipes that are the base from which all other French cooking derives. Luard is very conscious that classical French cuisine can be complicated and lengthy on method and that most home cooks do not have endless hours to prepare family meals, nor are they always willing to give over an entire day to cook for a dinner party. She has analyzed the methods carefully and wherever possible has simplified the process without losing the most important feature of the French kitchen--flavor. Luard has demystified the process with her common sense approach. And for this reason "Classic French Cooking is an exciting and welcome addition to any cook's library. Her text is thorough and the pages are peppered with her enchanting line drawings of dishes, kitchen utensils, ingredients and market stalls.

Recipes: Classic French Cooking - Foods of the World By Editors of Time-Life Books Time-Life Books, NY Spiral-bound (152 pages) Lowest Used Price: $2.74* *(As of 10:55 Pacific 10 Mar 2010 More Info) Click Here Product Description: recipes of French cooking