French Food? Do you like it?
- Thread starter Cujet
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I am not hugely experienced with French cuisine, but I have tended to enjoy Mediterranean inspired food more. Greek, Lebanese/Israeli, Moroccan and Italian, Spanish, etc. Flavors like lemons, olives and olive oil, garlic, yogurt, spiced with cumin, paprika, oregano, dill, mint, cardamon, etc.
I'm not so crazy about some of the French sauces. Hollandaise sauce is OK, nothing special. Mayonnaise is not really food, it's more like sandwich lubricant. I guess béchamel is OK. I don't even think of it as French though. It's just Southern milk gravy.
I do appreciate some classic French dishes but since I mostly cook it myself, who's to say how good it really is. I made French onion soup (probably not very authentic) recently. It was good (to me at least). I made coq au vin (chicken stewed in red wine) a while ago and it was just OK.
Give me a pita with lamb and tzatziki sauce any day. Or something Thai. Mexican food never gets old, either.
I'm not so crazy about some of the French sauces. Hollandaise sauce is OK, nothing special. Mayonnaise is not really food, it's more like sandwich lubricant. I guess béchamel is OK. I don't even think of it as French though. It's just Southern milk gravy.
I do appreciate some classic French dishes but since I mostly cook it myself, who's to say how good it really is. I made French onion soup (probably not very authentic) recently. It was good (to me at least). I made coq au vin (chicken stewed in red wine) a while ago and it was just OK.
Give me a pita with lamb and tzatziki sauce any day. Or something Thai. Mexican food never gets old, either.
Beef in Tuscany has issues?
Well what you have described is not french cuisine, but some french dishes & a sandwich! I can't fathom how anyone who tried Boeuf Bourguignon would describe it as bitter unless one used plonk instead of good wine in cooking it. There are some french dishes that may not appeal to North American palates and that's perfectly understandable, "Possum & grits" would not be everyone's choice throughout the US, I'm sure. In general I think that french & italian regional cuisine are excellent. France was the 1st to codify cooking, Italy never has that's why they still nurture the regionality of it.
How was it?
French food is so many different things, and one issue is that exposure to it outside of France can be a different experience than in France. And often it's just a French take on foods that are somewhat interchangeable, like steak frites (steak and fries). I know this "French takeout" place, but I can't say that anything I've ever had there is uniquely French. The owner is French and the restaurant uses his techniques, but the food itself is varied. The first thing I ever had there was a softshell blue crab sandwich.
But sure I love a good croissant. That style of laminated puff pastry is definitely French.
As far as fries go, that's more Belgian than French.
But sure I love a good croissant. That style of laminated puff pastry is definitely French.
As far as fries go, that's more Belgian than French.
Owen Lucas
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Italian food is leagues above French food. and in Italy, it is incredible. i have been all over the place and nothing will top this for me. but... food was also incredible in Greece and in Croatia. food is very good in the Countries in the Mediterranean Sea area. it is not a cliché.
Not issues. Its not as tasty, or tender, or maybe its what I am used to. Every time I have been somewhere and my host convinced me to order the beef, I have been seriously disappointed. Whenever Europeans I work with come here, they immediately ask me to take them to a good steak House. They all have told me there is nothing like the beef here.
It may be no mystery. Americans are taught alcohol is the devil. And either avoid it or consume to excess.
Yet drinking a glass of wine is amazingly cardio-protective, and in fact is 'all-cause' protective.
There may be nothing else one can do that matches the protective power of the 7-14 grams of ethanol contained in one small glass of wine.
I agree. And in fact food in Italy is among the very best food in the world. I should know, I've been just about everywhere.
Believe it or not, Tanzania's fresh food was also good tasting. But very, very basic. Simple eggs, chicken, beef, all better than the best in the USA.
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Ditto.It may be no mystery. Americans are taught alcohol is the devil. And either avoid it or consume to excess.
Yet drinking a glass of wine is amazingly cardio-protective, and in fact is 'all-cause' protective.
There may be nothing else one can do that matches the protective power of the 7-14 grams of ethanol contained in one small glass of wine.
Steak tartare with a side of mad cow.
french fries are good
The best pommes frites I've ever had were at the bar at ERAU's community center, 1980's. Good god those steak fries were delicious. Yes, they served beer. Yes the fries were probably cooked in 10W-40, er, ah, some form of cheap fry oil mix. They had that distinct crispy exterior and soft inside. YUM.
I wanna go back in time, if just for that.
I learned to cook from French food. Never coming close to mastering it but credit is due for the French method. Point being if you want to be a decent general cook there are worse starting points. It gave me a toe hold on flavor matching and again a point to move from to ROW cooking
Runny whites or runny yokes? I like me some runny yolks. I hope you're not talking about runny scrambled!
There are restaurants/cafes in London where you can get an amazing full English breakfast, including well-cooked sausage, bacon, streaky bacon, and yes... black pudding. It's a meal that carries you through a full day of walking with perhaps a small meal mid-day.
Many of the pubs have Thai restaurants associated with them. Indian cuisine is also prevalent.
I'll choose all the above before going to a restaurant serving "French" cuisine.
It's interesting when meat guys go to Italy and then rail against how they cook their steaks. Unseasoned, as in no salt or pepper and expected to season them after they're cooked. Bistecca alla fiorentina is probably the best known Italian steak, and most versions aren't seasoned before cooking. Not even salt.
Now the one thing I'd like to try is Spanish style vaca vieja (old cows). I understand that with the right variety of retired dairy cattle, the fat is yellow, the marbling is intense (even when solely grass fed), and the meat has an intense beefy flavor.
Only been to Italy once. Never had a steak. Did eat all kinds of good pasta I am sure had beef in. Had some seafood. I did have horse - was quite tough.It's interesting when meat guys go to Italy and then rail against how they cook their steaks. Unseasoned, as in no salt or pepper and expected to season them after they're cooked. Bistecca alla fiorentina is probably the best known Italian steak, and most versions aren't seasoned before cooking. Not even salt.
Now the one thing I'd like to try is Spanish style vaca vieja (old cows). I understand that with the right variety of retired dairy cattle, the fat is yellow, the marbling is intense (even when solely grass fed), and the meat has an intense beefy flavor.
Salt is a tenderizer. If you put it on the steak at least an hour before or longer it will tenderize the meat. It pulls out the moisture as part of the process and hence and the salt along with it. If you dry the meat before it hits the grill you will hardly taste any salt after cooked. Learned this from Alton Brown. I put nothing else on my steak, before cooking or after.
Neither really. I was merely providing a contrast to a gray dead roast in the UK. There is nothing wrong with runny yolks. In fact the British have a pretty decent hold on that. But medium rarish in the UK is our well done. Rare gets you medium if you are lucky.
I always like kippers for breaky. One landlord asked us if we wanted eggs or kippers. I said "both". Shocked was she. Especially when I had a bowl of Wheetabix after.
The definition of hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics French, the lover's Swiss, the police German and it's all organized by the Italians.
vs Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian and it's all organized by the Swiss.
Old joke told to me by German friend.