15 Old-School French Recipes Your Grandma Used to Make (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular recipe from Mastering the Art of French cooking? ›

One of the most celebrated recipes is Coq au Vin, a classic French dish that showcases the art of slow cooking. Julia's detailed instructions guide readers through every step, from browning the chicken to perfection to creating a flavorful sauce with red wine, mushrooms, and bacon.

The French culinary technique of déglacer enriches and enhances the flavor of traditional French dishes. Translating to deglazing, chefs remove leftover juices from the pans that meat, for example, is cooked in, before using them to create a base for sauces with perhaps the addition of wine or stock.

The same way we would use a tablespoon or teaspoon of something, in France you would see cuillère à soup - tablespoon (literally, soup spoon) and cuillère à café- teaspoon (literally, coffee spoon). And, of course, for the non-precise cooks out there, we can't forget to add a pinch or, in French, pincée.

Steak-frites

This is often considered the most typical French dish. A piece of steak, often a rib eye (entrecôte) is pan fried in butter and served “saignant” or bloody with a mountain of chips. Hollandaise and béarnaise sauces are both served with steak-frites.

Founded in Paris in 1895, Le Cordon Bleu is considered today the largest network of culinary and hospitality schools in the world with more than 35 institutes in 20 countries and 20,000 students of over 100 nationalities are trained every year.

The 17 course French classical menu consists of appetizers, soups, eggs, pastas/rices, fish, meat entrees, sorbet, main meats, roasts, vegetables, salads, cold buffets, desserts, savories, cheeses, fruits/nuts, and beverages.

The secret to French cooking is in the delicate preparation of each ingredients. Take any classic French recipe and you will find that the simplest of foods are enhanced in flavour and texture by precise culinary techniques.

Mirepoix consists of onions, carrots and celery (either common Pascal celery or celeriac). Mirepoix is used in many dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces. It is used either raw, roasted or sautéed with butter. Mirepoix is known as the holy trinity of French cooking.

What does C mean in French cooking? ›

s. (cuillère à soupe) or c. à. c. (cuillère à café), both standard size spoons (akin to our tablespoon and teaspoon) that are typically found in the average kitchen.

For liquids 1 cup is the same as 240ml (US) or 250ml (UK) - there will be no difference to the quality of your baking based on the 10 ml difference. For simple conversions for measurements of less than 1 cup we have prepared a cups to ml conversion table for you below.

Baking Soda & Baking Powder. You can find baking soda (bicarbonate de soude) and baking powder (levure chimique or poudre à lever) in any supermarket.

Staple ingredients in French cooking include garlic, onions, carrots, celery, fresh herbs like thyme and parsley, butter, cream, wine, and high-quality meats, seafood, and produce. Cheese and bread are also integral to French cuisine.

Boeuf Bourguignon

This hearty beef stew from the pages of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is, hands down, Child's most infamous dish.

According to The Daily Meal, Mastering the Art of French Cooking sold around 4,000 copies each month by the end of 1964 and sold more than 600,000 copies by 1969. As of 2011, the cookbook has sold more than 1.5 million copies, making it one of the most successful cookbooks in history.

Auguste Escoffier (born October 28, 1846, Villeneuve-Loubet, France—died February 12, 1935, Monte-Carlo, Monaco) was a French culinary artist, known as “the king of chefs and the chef of kings,” who earned a worldwide reputation as director of the kitchens at the Savoy Hotel (1890–99) and afterward at the Carlton Hotel ...