Posts Tagged ‘croque monsieur’

When I first moved to France I remember being quite intimidated by the country’s famous attitude to food. In France, in more rural areas, the knowledge we in the US and the UK seem to have lost is very much alive. Everyone knows how to make jam from the fruits growing in their garden, everyone knows how to preserve joints of freshly slaughtered pork in barrels of rough salt. And in the cities, if you stray from the tourist traps where a very dry and cynical Croque Monsieur is often served, you will find menus featuring the finest, and freshest seafood, and exquisite meats in rich, old-fashioned sauces.

The French deserve their infamy as fussy eaters, for they demand the best. Even in the upmarket cafes clients stare at that which has been delicately placed in front of them, as if they’ve been presented with the dirt off a shoe.

Now residing in France I have learned that the French actually have a very straightforward attitude to diet. There is no mystery, no raging secret about how they cook and how they eat. Their method is easy: use fresh ingredients, and keep it simple. Food must be presented with respect and it must also be prepared with love.

Surprisingly, for a nation suspected of having a quick temper and a highly-strung nature, the French do have what we, as a more laidback people, clearly lack, and that is patience. Put it this way, you wouldn’t expect to get the best from a woman or a man even, from the first date, because real understanding and appreciation of a person’s finer virtues takes more time.

It’s the same with cooking and the French know the relationship between food and sex. It’s as if the energy that goes into a beautiful dish is almost the same committment a person may give a person they want to get to know better. This is, to my mind, the prerequisite to wanting to be able to cook, you must want to get to know food better, the ingredients you can use, the flavours, the spices, the oils, in order to get the love back. In order to add pleasure to your life.
Before we go on to learn more about how simple it s to make good, French food, all fast food junkies and microwave muppets know this!

You may as well get over the fact now, and deal with it. All successful cooking requires method, that is, knowing what you do with what you have bought. We all have ambitions to be able to “throw something together” quickly and effectively, a dish that is easy to make but also delicious. However few wannabe cooks are clear about the process itself.

Yes, you can make an omelette in 20 minutes that will knock your socks off, and anyone else’s, but you need to know what what point you add the smoked haddock or the grated cheese for maximum effect. Creating a dish, and bringing it to its full potential takes a little more time than a microwave or takeout meal. Console yourself with this thought – once you’ve done the work, you can always freeze portions. And with the help of a microwave, you will then be able to heat up your nutritious and tasty, pre-cooked meal.

This is what learning about French fare has taught me, that you need to kick back a little and stretch. Enjoy a glass of wine, change into your slippers, put on some music and start chopping in a relaxed way. Cooking is almost a time you can have to yourself, when you can go off into your own world, while tasting and stirring. Daydreaming space, a chance to think deeply about work or relationships, cooking, I now know, is fun. It’s the most fun you can have on your own, almost, unless you subscribe to some dodgy website for “likeminded singles”. And if you do strike lucky at least you know, having made the effort beforehand that you have something up your sleeve, or, at least in the freezer, to impress a date.

Author: Liliane Marland
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: US Dollar credit card