The Top 10 Most Popular French Recipes

Despite new trends, hype and marketing, tradition has never been stronger. In France, good food still means authentic cooking by using natural products from diverse regions. This is how we celebrate human being by offering the best food to all our senses. Cooking home-made food and eating at the table make your appetite grow stronger. The challenge is to combine ingredients together to get the best taste out of them. However anyone from anywhere can explore the world of french cooking. To start with, let's find out what french people enjoy to eat.

Here are the top 10 most popular recipes in France:

Roast Chicken
Indeed roast chicken is not a notorious french recipe but cooked everywhere around the world from Asia and Africa to America. However it is the most popular french dish. Roast chicken is not stuffed inside. The secret is to baste the poultry several times during roasting with butter and cooking oil and to add an onion in the roasting pan. Roast chicken is traditionally served with potatoes and green beans.

Boeuf bourguignon
The most famous beef stew in France. Boeuf bourguignon is a traditional recipe from Burgundy. A recipe that french people use to cook at least once every winter. The beef meat is cooked in a red wine sauce, obviously a red wine from Burgundy. Bacon, onions, mushrooms and carrots add flavor to the recipe. But thyme, garlic and beef stock are essential to cook a good boeuf bourguignon.

Mussels mariniere
A typical summer recipe very popular along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast. Mussels are fresh and cooked in a white wine sauce with parsley, thyme, bay leaf and onion. It takes only 5 minutes to cook a tasteful mussels mariniere. The secret is to season carefully the meal and to discard any mussels that don't look good enough.

Sole meuniere
Although sole is an expensive fish, the taste is so elegant that it is considered as the noblest fish. Sole meuniere is a recipe from Normandy. The fish is cooked in a butter sauce with a little bit of flour and lemon juice. Sole is traditionally served with rice or green vegetables.

Pot au feu
A typical family meal coming once again from Normandy. Pot au feu is a boiled beef with pork, chicken and vegetables. It takes about 4 hours an a half to cook as the beef has to simmer slowly to extract all its flavor. Pot au feu is also called Potee Normande in France. 

Sauerkraut
Quite similar to the german sauerkraut, the french sauerkraut called choucroute comes from Alsace. However the french recipe can be traced back to 6 centuries ago ! Sauerkraut is a fermented cabbage. Commonly sauerkraut includes sausages, pork knuckle and bacon. Two essential ingredients are alsatian white wine and juniper berries.

Veal stew
Called blanquette de veau in France, this is another stew recipe from Normandy. The veal meat simmers in white sauce - as blanquette from blanc stands for white in french - with mushrooms and onions. The white sauce is made of egg yolks, whipping cream and lemon juice. Veal stew is usually served with rice.

Lamb navarin
Another stew but this one is made of lamb meat. It is also called spring lamb as it comes with green vegetables available in spring. Navarin comes from navet which stands for turnips in french. Other ingredients are tomatoes, lamb stock and carrots. This stew takes less time to simmer than any other.

Cassoulet
A strange recipe that english people often confuse with their traditional breakfast! A traditional meal from south west of France. Each village has its own recipe but it always includes beans and meats. Cassoulet is a rich combination of white beans and depending on the village lamb, pork, mutton or sausage meat. Cassoulet is the cornerstone of the french paradox study describing why people from south west of France suffer less than others from infarcts.

Bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse is closely linked with the city of Marseille on the Mediterranean coast. The recipe is a fish soup from local fish and seafood products including crabs, scorpion fish, monk fish and others. Provencal herbs and olive oil are essential. For a long time, the recipe was a secret jealously kept by the people from Marseille.

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Coq au vin - Recipe

I have been trying to present cuisines from a variety of countries, and the recipe below is no exception. Coq au vin literally means "rooster in wine" en Français. I use chicken in my recipe, but this classic French stew is typically made with old rooster. Old roosters apparently create a rich broth for what eventually becomes the gravy/sauce. There are hundreds of variations throughout France, but I think you will find the recipe below to be fit for special occasions.


Ingredients (serves 5):

1 bottle (750 milliliters) – dry red wine (preferably a French wine like Beaujolais)
1 – large onion, chopped
1 – large carrot, chopped
4 sprigs – thyme
5 sprigs – Italian parsley
1 – bay leaf
5 to 6 pounds – chicken legs, breasts, wings, and backs (leave skin on) – about 2 of each part
8 ounces – bacon slices, cut into ½ inch pieces
2 tablespoons – butter
3 cloves – garlic, minced
2 tablespoons – unbleached all purpose four
1 - shallot, chopped
1 pound – button mushrooms cut into quarters
Salt and pepper to taste
10 – French baguette bread slices 1-inch thick


Preparation:
Gently mix the wine, onion, carrot, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf in a large bowl. Immerse the chicken pieces in the mixture, cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Chicken and vegetables ready to marinate

The next day, remove the chicken to a bowl or plate. Strain the wine from the vegetables and set both aside. In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon for about 10 to 15 minutes over medium heat until it is crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain.

Sliced and cut bacon

Place 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pot into a small bowl and pour off the rest. In the same pot, add 1 tablespoon of bacon fat and 1 tablespoon of butter and allow the butter to melt over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken pieces to the pot and cook until they have browned, about 5 minutes per side.

Chicken parts browning.

Remove and repeat with the second half of the chicken pieces. Once all the chicken has browned and been removed, add the vegetable reserve and cook until browned, about 12 minutes.

Vegetables browning

Make sure to scrape the bits off the bottom of the pot when stirring the vegetables. Add the garlic and cook for one minute stirring. Add the flour and stir for an additional 2 minutes (do not allow the flour to burn). Add the red wine reserve to the pot and stir to remove bits and cooked flour from the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat to medium low and simmer covered for 45 minutes.

In a frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of bacon fat and allow the butter to melt over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the button mushrooms and continue to sauté the mixture for an additional 10 minutes (the mushrooms should turn golden brown but not completely lose their moisture).

Meanwhile toast the bread on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes, until brown. Once the vegetables and chicken in the pot have simmered until the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken to a bowl. Once again, strain the liquid and discard the vegetables. Let the oil separate from the strained liquid and discard (see photo).

Remove the oil from the sauce

Place the liquid back into the pot and boil until the liquid is reduced to a sauce, about 10 minutes. You can boil longer if you want a thicker sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste and then add the bacon, shallots, and mushrooms to the sauce and cook over medium heat until the ingredients are heated, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the chicken pieces. Place one or two pieces on each of five plates along with 2 slices of the toasted bread. Cover both the bread and chicken with the sauce and serve hot.

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