Posts Tagged ‘chocolate mousse’

My French “mother-in-law” is coming to lunch tomorrow. Its not often I cook for her, and I am racking my brains and shuffling the recipes to decide what she would enjoy. A tricky one, as she is convinced that the British cannot cook. In fact most of the French I have discussed this topic with are all defiant regarding the cooking skills of expats from across the Channel. They are also very happy to remind us of our “mad cow disease”.

However our French Christmas lunch cooked by “ma-in-law” was not a patch on the seasonal roast turkey & trimmings I used to do at home in the UK. Our festive meal consisted of an old boiler fowl, pressure cooked with tinned chestnuts and what I can only term “artisan potatoes” (no further veg) followed by an uninspiring endive salad and a supermarket frozen dessert…no fun crackers, or flourish of a little garnish.

It is my opinion that the French are too complacent with their vintage crown of “the best cooks in the world”. The majority of local restaurants here in Nice, in the south of France, mainly cater for tourists, the same menu year in year out. If you dare complain – that is it – you are enemy number one. Only once did we return a lukewarm undercooked steak. We could not even decide if it was lamb or pork and at 22 euros… the waiter threw a fit, then returned the same steak – that had just been re-heated in a microwave!

I do understand that there are some amazing restaurants around especially further afield, but we do not have a car and what if the food is not worth the palaver of a trip? For us, we now avoid the local French restaurants, as we have exhausted the few varieties of dishes offered. There is only so many insipid chocolate mousse you can desire.

Now our one restaurant weekly treat is to go to the expat pub for Sunday lunch. They do not have a microwave, everything is served with a bright stimulating variety of fresh veg and the desserts are always an inspiration. Mulled wine trifle, Bailey’s creme brulee and their chocolate mousse is made with Guinness and served in a fun glass to look like half a pint. Naturally my ma-in-law firmly turned down our invitation to join us there!

I admit to generalizing regarding he cooking skills of both nations, but in my view, the French could be a tad more adventurous with their tried and tested, regurgitated traditional recipes.

Thanks for reading

For more info about being a expat in France visit http://www.livinginthesun.info/articles/france/

Also check my blog on all aspects of moving to France here http://livinginthesun.info/france/

I wish you the best of luck.

Liz

Author: Liz Sunny
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger

Tags: chocolate mousse, christmas lunch, enemy number one, festive meal, french attitude, french christmas, french mother, frozen dessert, mad cow disease, roast turkey

You can’t stay away from the French food, while in France, the country known worldwide for its numerous gastronomic delights and specialties. Certainly, the French cuisine is extremely diverse including a wide variety of foods and recipes from national and regional cuisines. France really offers one of the richest cuisines in the World.

French cuisine is often categorized as National Cuisine and Regional Cuisine. National Cuisine includes the foods that have been integral part of the French culture for ages. These foods include a variety of breads, savory dishes, desserts & pastries, and some preserved foods. Common breads in the French cuisine include Ficelle, Baguette, Flte, Pain, and Pain Poilane (large xed vegetables), Bouillabaisse (fish soup), Les endives (Belgian endive), Boudin blanc (Delicatethick crusted circular loaf).

Savory dishes include Biftek frites (steak & fries), Poulet frites (chicken & fries), Blanquette de veau (blanquette of veal), Coq au vin (chicken in red wine), Pot au feu (beef stew with mi flavored sausage similar to bockwurst), Civet de Lapin (rabbit), Foie de veau (calve’s liver), and Andouillette (chitterling sausage).

Desserts & pastries include Chocolate Mousse, Crme Brle, Mille-feuilles, Choux la Crme (cream puffs), Tartes aux fruits (fruit tarts), Religieuse (chocolate clair shaped to resemble a nun), Madeleine (small cake-like cookie), Tarte Tatin (caramelized apple tart), Gteaux (cake), clairs, and Profiteroles (baked puff pastries (choux) filled with cream or ice cream). And, some typically French preserved foods include Cassoulet, Choucroute garnie, and Duck confit.

Greatly influenced by the French geography, the French cuisine also includes a wide range of regional cuisines, including foods & dishes of Lorraine, Alsace, Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Artois, Flanders, Hainaut)-Picardy, Normandy, Brittany, Loire Valley/Central France, Burgundy, Poitou-Charentes, Limousin, Bordeaux, Perigord, Gascony, Pays Basque, Toulouse, Quercy, Aveyron, Roussillon, Languedoc, Cvennes, Provence, Cte d’Azur, and Corsica.

LORRAINE dishes include Quiche Lorraine, Pote Lorraine, and Pt Lorrain. ALSACE specialties include Choucroute garnie (sauerkraut with sausages, salt pork and potatoes), Sptzle, Baeckeoffe, Kouglof, Bredela, Beerawecka, Mannala, Tarte flambe, and Baba au rhum.

NORD-PAS-DE-CALAIS (ARTOIS, FLANDERS, HAINAUT) – PICARDY dishes include Andouillette of Cambrai, Carbonnade (meat stewed in beer), Potjevlesch (four-meat terrine), Waterzo (sweet water fish stew), Escavche (cold terrine of sweet water fish in wine and vinegar), Hochepot (four meats stewed with vegetables), and Flamiche.

NORMANDY dishes include Tripes la mode de Caen (tripe cooked in cider and calvados), Matelote (fish stewed in cider), Moules la crme Normande (mussels cooked with white wine, garlic and cream), and Tarte Normande (apple tart). BRITTANY specialties include Crpes, Far Breton (flan with prunes), Kik ar Fars (boiled pork dinner with a kind of dumpling), and Kouign amann (galette made flaky with high proportion of butter).

LOIRE VALLEY/CENTRAL FRANCH dishes include Rillettes (spreadable paste made from braised pork and rendered fat, similar to pt), and andouillettes (sausage made with chitterlings). Burgundy specialties include Boeuf Bourguignon (beef stewed in red wine), Escargots de Bourgogne (snails baked in their shells with parsley butter), Fondue bourguignonne (fondue made with oil in which pieces of meat are cooked), Gougre (cheese in choux pastry), and Pochouse (fish stewed in red wine).

RHNE-ALPES dishes include Raclette (the cheese is melted and served with potatoes, ham and often dried beef), Fondue savoyarde (fondue made with cheese and white wine into which cubes of bread are dipped), Gratin dauphinois, and Tartiflette (a Savoyard gratin with potatoes, Reblochon cheese, cream and pork).

AVEYRON dishes include Tripoux (tripe ‘parcels’ in a savoury sauce), Truffade (potatoes sauted with garlic and young Tomme cheese), Aligot (mashed potatoes blended with young Tomme cheese), Pansette de Gerzat (lamb tripe stewed in wine, shallots and blue cheese), and Salade Aveyronaise (lettuce, tomato, roquefort cheese, walnuts).

LANGUEDOC dishes include Brandade de morue (pured salt cod), Cargolade (Catalan style of escargot), Trinxat (Catalan cabbage and potatoes), Bourride (Monkfish stewed with vegetables and wine, garnished with aoli), Rouille de seiche (Similar preparation of squid), and Encornets farcis (Cuttlefish stuffed with sausagemeat, herbs).

PROVENCE/CTE D’AZUR specialties include Bouillabaisse (stew of mixed Mediterranean fish, tomatoes, and herbs), Ratatouille (a vegetable stew with olive oil, aubergine, courgette, bell pepper, tomato, onion and garlic), Pieds paquets (Lambs feet and tripe ‘parcels’ in a savoury sauce), Soupe au pistou (bean soup served with a pistou (cognate with Italian pesto) of fine-chopped basil, garlic and Parmesan), Salade Nioise (varied ingredients, but always black olives, tuna), Socca, and Panisses.

Author: James Burrows
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Information

Tags: belgian endive, blanquette de veau, boudin blanc, chocolate mousse, french dishes, pain poilane, poitou charente, poulet frites, regional cuisines, savory dishes