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Tips on Cooking French Food
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Classic French cuisine has a look and feel all of its own, however every region of France has its own traditions when it comes to cooking, with influences from Italy, Spain and North Africa. This section provides hints on both classic and regional dishes...
Classic Many sauces are made from a base of reduced red wine and stock. To ensure that the taste builds up correctly, always reduce the wine first (normally to about 1/4 of its volume) before adding and further reducing other ingredients.
Tasting is the key to French cookery. Taste at each stage, even if unpleasant, to get used to the correct taste at any given stage. This will help you to understand how the flavours change during the cooking process and will train the palette to look for key indicators that the end result will be the desired one.
If your hollandaise sauce curdles, simply add a little hot water and whisk briskly. It should come back together into a smooth sauce.
Whether making Aïoli or classic mayonnaise, if the sauce does not emulsify, a great tip to get it back is to start with an egg yolk in a clean bowl, then very slowly add in the separated mixture, beating vigorously.
Follow this link to see how to make great choux pastry.
Provencal When making a ratatouille, ensure that the aubergine, peppers and courgettes are cut into large chunks to ensure that the taste of each vegetable can be found in each mouthful. Always cook each vegetable separately before simmering together in herbs. This ensures that the tastes are kept complete and you do not create a purée.
If making a 'Pistou' soup, always use a mortar and pestle to crush the basic ingredients of garlic and basil.
A true, classic 'Salad Niçoise' is always arranged, never tossed. It is made with sliced tomatoes arranged around a plate, sprinkled with chopped spring onions and diced green peppers, a hard boiled egg is then sliced and arranged on top along with anchovies, black olives and flaked tuna. It is all finished off with a sprinkling of olive oil and wine vinegar.
Try a classic pissaladiere from Nice. It is basically an onion tart, studded with black olives, baked in a hot oven. Click here for an alternative version.
If making an 'Aïoli' (garlic mayonnaise), a good tip to stop the mixture failing to bind is to properly pound the garlic to a paste with salt and pepper in a mortar and wooden pestle before adding any other ingredients.
If making a bouillabaisse (fish soup), try serving it the traditional way of a soup to start with followed by a course of fish in the same vein as a 'Pot-au-Feu'.
Alsace When cooking a 'choucroute' (sauerkraut) the traditional Alsatian way, you should ensure that the meat is cooked in with the pickled cabbage. This ensures that the juices mix properly and provides a less acidic result. Additional lardons in the cabbage helps this process further.
Oil & Vinegar Extra virgin olive oil, which comes from the first pressing of olives, is generally used for dressing or for cooking foods that do not need to get too hot, this is because the nutritional value is lost at high temperatures. Normal yellow olive oil, which is less expensive, is fine for cooking with.
Sherry vinegar has a sweeter and more gentle taste than normal white wine vinegar, cider vinegar or malt vinegar.
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