Other than bread/pastry I don't get the fuss about French cuisine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:have you had a really good french onion soup?

In eastern Europe that is called soup for the poorest of the poor, definitely nothing gourmet.

Who cares if it is "gourmet!" It is delicious!!!

I suppose to those that don't have roasted suckling pig and delicious veal and chicken soups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:French cuisine has evolved greatly from the trailblazing days of “The French Chef,” when the average American ate big hunks of underseasoned overcooked meat (beef more often than not) accompanied by equally underseasoned potatoes and probably canned vegetables, if any vegetables at all. People used dehydrated onion instead of fresh, some of them had never seen a garlic clove in real life, and a raft of herbs, seasons and garnishes we routinely use today were either virtually unknown or thought of as very exotic.

Even back then, however, the French focus on seasonal, fresh ingredients, cooking food to the optimum, using various seasonings, and perhaps most of the use of sauces to enhance presentation, texture and palatability was revolutionary in the US. So was the French focus on careful preparation and precise, efficient technique. The various staples of cuisine bourgeoise (onion soup, steak a poivre, and the like) were completely new to many, if not most, American cooks.

With today’s year round availability of ingredients, access to once unheard of exotic ingredients like foie gras, and now-multiple generations of readily accessible cooking instruction, it is easy to forget (if one ever even knew) just how comparatively primitive US cuisine was, particularly after the broad introduction of frozen and other convenience foods.

It is not that easy, however to define exactly what constitutes “French” cooking nowadays. French cuisine has never stood still and the French have a long history of being willing to eat nearly anything that will stand still long enough for them to masticate it. The ingredients, seasonings and culinary influences in France today are far broader than in, say, even the 1960’s.

That said, and as PP’s have noted, the “soul” of French cooking remains fresh (typically local), seasonal ingredients of the highest quality, carefully prepared to enhance their taste and presented as elegantly as circumstances allow. French vegetables don’t come from another continent. Their meat animals are raised more naturally, and everything from chicken on up has remarkably more flavor than what we find in the average US supermarket. This is not to say that one can’t get a bad meal in France, or that with the advent of “super-“ and “hyper-marches,” there hasn’t been a decline in average ingredient quality as compared to specialty shops. There are gradations in everything and even the French are not immune to culinary decline.

The good news is that quality ingredients in the US are more available than ever, albeit probably not at the local supermarket. Those ingredients, handled with a French ethic, will yield food to rival any ethnic or other cuisine. Even Jacques Pepin, perhaps the most famous French cook in history, no longer recognizes his cooking as specifically “French”. For him, inputs change, but technique remains constant, and this is what allows any cooking to shine.

So what you are saying is not that the French cuisine is something truly special, more that it is special to the U.S? I grew up eating tomatoes, strawberries, and all the rest that we grew. We even had our own pigs and chickens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French cuisine melts in the mouth, thats whats so good about it.

Yes because there is a pound of butter in it.

Yes, this was one of their genius innovations. Vive la France! Avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre.

Which makes it delicious but not a cuisine I’d eat regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of ignorance on this thread, starting with the OP who sounds like a moron. Wow.

Ha, ha. Please tell me when the last time was you went to a French restaurant in the U.S.

NP here, but I went to one two nights ago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do say their bread and pastry is awesome and kudos to that, but I do not understand any kind of fuss about how great French cuisine is.

It's just potatoes and beef and some sea food by the coast. Nothing special at all and they have to use loads of sauces to make it tasty. Same old Eastern European and German cuisine. Pretty boring cuisine overall with little to no spices. I can't even think of one dish they have other than beef Bourguignon to be honest and that is just a variation of goulash and beef stew.

No'. It isn't "just" potatoes and beef and some seafood.,

Disagree, it really just is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Surely OP has heard of Julia Child?

Yes, the goodness of a sauce to cover up overly cooked meat? And butter, butter, butter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The secret ingredient in French food is butter.

OMG! How great that we are adding butter to an epidemic of obesity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love french food with such passion. I could happily live in France and live off bread and foie and cheese and steak frites with bernaise etc etc.

I don't really understand why you feel like you have to disparage French food? I of course love Japanese and Vietnamese and Chinese and Filipino and Italian and Mexican and Spanish and German etc etc food as well. Every country brings flavors and techniques to the table that are spectacular and I have learned from all to take back to my own cooking.

LOL though at 'I follow food but have never heard of Thomas Keller'.

Lumpia is wonderful but also kind of a 'peasant food'. Most of the most known and loved dishes in a cuisine are not going to be michelin star complicated dishes, they are the food the children of this generation grew up eating. You should really take your elitism elsewhere OP, seems like you're just full of yourself.

French feel the need to disparage much of the world, so yes, I am just like the French in expressing my opinion openly here. Thomas Keller is nothing to me becasue French food is nothing to me, other than their bread and pastries.

Seems like more of a personal grudge against France and the French then against French food. Pretty weird for a Filipino (guessing based off a lumpia love). Would have assumed you would have bigger beef with China

I suppose you missed the Central European post.

[Anonymous]

Of all the things to be a massive see you next Tuesday about…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree. I’ve been to some really good French restaurants and the food is fine but I just don’t get excited for it.
Good itialian food, from every region. I could eat every day of my life. If I’m looking at different restaurant menus, frenzy is often my last pick.
And my Italian relatives say the French stole all the pastries from italy.

Right? I agree about Italy, good Italian food in Italy is truly amazing. Perhaps it is because I am from Europe? I am a naturalized American citizen, but I have never heard a single person back home or in Italy rave about the French cuisine. To me, they invented nothing, but the baguette and croissant and I wonder if it was really the Ottomans and Italians who influenced the layered sheet pastries.

Croissants are from Vienna
https://www.parisunlocked.com/food/food-history/history-of-the-croissant-how-france-adopted-it/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The secret ingredient in French food is butter.

OMG! How great that we are adding butter to an epidemic of obesity.

Butter, like everything else, can be managed. French people traditionally eat lightly at breakfast, don’t snack, and typically walk a great deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surely OP has heard of Julia Child?

Yes, the goodness of a sauce to cover up overly cooked meat? And butter, butter, butter.

Ah, the canard about sauced “covering up” things. Sauces enhance food, or at least good ones enhance good food. And the whole Julia Child point was that she grew up eating overcooked bland food and promoted cooking things to an ideal doneness, not beyond recognition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The secret ingredient in French food is butter.

OMG! How great that we are adding butter to an epidemic of obesity.

Butter, like everything else, can be managed. French people traditionally eat lightly at breakfast, don’t snack, and typically walk a great deal.

Don't forget the pack a day habits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:French cuisine has evolved greatly from the trailblazing days of “The French Chef,” when the average American ate big hunks of underseasoned overcooked meat (beef more often than not) accompanied by equally underseasoned potatoes and probably canned vegetables, if any vegetables at all. People used dehydrated onion instead of fresh, some of them had never seen a garlic clove in real life, and a raft of herbs, seasons and garnishes we routinely use today were either virtually unknown or thought of as very exotic.

Even back then, however, the French focus on seasonal, fresh ingredients, cooking food to the optimum, using various seasonings, and perhaps most of the use of sauces to enhance presentation, texture and palatability was revolutionary in the US. So was the French focus on careful preparation and precise, efficient technique. The various staples of cuisine bourgeoise (onion soup, steak a poivre, and the like) were completely new to many, if not most, American cooks.

With today’s year round availability of ingredients, access to once unheard of exotic ingredients like foie gras, and now-multiple generations of readily accessible cooking instruction, it is easy to forget (if one ever even knew) just how comparatively primitive US cuisine was, particularly after the broad introduction of frozen and other convenience foods.

It is not that easy, however to define exactly what constitutes “French” cooking nowadays. French cuisine has never stood still and the French have a long history of being willing to eat nearly anything that will stand still long enough for them to masticate it. The ingredients, seasonings and culinary influences in France today are far broader than in, say, even the 1960’s.

That said, and as PP’s have noted, the “soul” of French cooking remains fresh (typically local), seasonal ingredients of the highest quality, carefully prepared to enhance their taste and presented as elegantly as circumstances allow. French vegetables don’t come from another continent. Their meat animals are raised more naturally, and everything from chicken on up has remarkably more flavor than what we find in the average US supermarket. This is not to say that one can’t get a bad meal in France, or that with the advent of “super-“ and “hyper-marches,” there hasn’t been a decline in average ingredient quality as compared to specialty shops. There are gradations in everything and even the French are not immune to culinary decline.

The good news is that quality ingredients in the US are more available than ever, albeit probably not at the local supermarket. Those ingredients, handled with a French ethic, will yield food to rival any ethnic or other cuisine. Even Jacques Pepin, perhaps the most famous French cook in history, no longer recognizes his cooking as specifically “French”. For him, inputs change, but technique remains constant, and this is what allows any cooking to shine.

So what you are saying is not that the French cuisine is something truly special, more that it is special to the U.S? I grew up eating tomatoes, strawberries, and all the rest that we grew. We even had our own pigs and chickens.

Not quite, particularly at this point.

Lots of us grew up eating more locally and seasonally, but over time the demand for year round access to mediocre but durable versions of fresh fruit and produce has impacted that, as did the popularity of canned, and later frozen, and other prepared (microwave) and convenience foods after WWII.

I think at this point, particularly outside France proper, “French” cooking is more an ethic or style combined with technique. It also shows up in the enduring presence of the “brigade” system in fine restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a cassoulet that I still sometimes think about, it was so, so good.

(If anyone knows a local place with a great cassoulet I’d appreciate the recommendation)

Et Voila! had a good one that I think about still. It was pre-covid. Melt in your mouth, rich, savory.