Beef Stew

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 very diverse including a wide collection of foods and recipes from national and regional cuisines. France as a matter of fact 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 consist of a collection of breads, savory dishes, desserts & pastries, and some preserved foods. Tasteless breads in the French cuisine consist of Ficelle, Baguette, Flûte, Pain, and Pain Poilane (large xed vegetables), Bouillabaisse (fish soup), Les endives (Belgian endive), Boudin blanc (Delicatethick crusted circular loaf).

Beef Stew

Savory dishes consist of 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 consist of Chocolate Mousse, Crème Brûlée, Mille-feuilles, Choux à la Crème (cream puffs), Tartes aux fruits (fruit tarts), Religieuse (chocolate éclair shaped to look as if a nun), Madeleine (small cake-like cookie), Tarte Tatin (caramelized apple tart), Gâteaux (cake), Éclairs, and Profiteroles (baked puff pastries (choux) filled with cream or ice cream). And, some typically French preserved foods consist of 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, Cévennes, Provence, Côte d'Azur, and Corsica.

Lorraine dishes consist of Quiche Lorraine, Potée Lorraine, and Pâté Lorrain. Alsace specialties consist of Choucroute garnie (sauerkraut with sausages, salt pork and potatoes), Spätzle, Baeckeoffe, Kouglof, Bredela, Beerawecka, Mannala, Tarte flambée, and Baba au rhum.

Nord-Pas-De-Calais (Artois, Flanders, Hainaut) - Picardy dishes consist of Andouillette of Cambrai, Carbonnade (meat stewed in beer), Potjevlesch (four-meat terrine), Waterzoï (sweet water fish stew), Escavêche (cold terrine of sweet water fish in wine and vinegar), Hochepot (four meats stewed with vegetables), and Flamiche.

Normandy dishes consist of Tripes à la mode de Caen (tripe cooked in cider and calvados), Matelote (fish stewed in cider), Moules à la crème Normande (mussels cooked with white wine, garlic and cream), and Tarte Normande (apple tart). Brittany specialties consist of Crêpes, Far Breton (flan with prunes), Kik ar Fars (boiled pork evening meal with a kind of dumpling), and Kouign amann (galette made flaky with high proportion of butter).

Loire Valley/Central Franch dishes consist of Rillettes (spreadable paste made from braised pork and rendered fat, similar to pâté), and andouillettes (sausage made with chitterlings). Burgundy specialties consist of 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), Gougère (cheese in choux pastry), and Pochouse (fish stewed in red wine).

RhÔNe-Alpes dishes consist of 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 consist of Tripoux (tripe 'parcels' in a savoury sauce), Truffade (potatoes sautéed 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 consist of Brandade de morue (puréed salt cod), Cargolade (Catalan style of escargot), Trinxat (Catalan cabbage and potatoes), Bourride (Monkfish stewed with vegetables and wine, garnished with aïoli), Rouille de seiche (Similar preparation of squid), and Encornets farcis (Cuttlefish stuffed with sausagemeat, herbs).

Provence/CÔTe D'Azur specialties consist of 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 Niçoise (varied ingredients, but always black olives, tuna), Socca, and Panisses.

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