Recipes › French

French cuisine

Every French dish we have, with the recipe for each — 95 of them, each one written for this site rather than adapted from anybody else's.

By protein

• Chicken (5)
• Pork (14)
• Beef (9)
• Veal (1)
• Duck (3)
• Lamb (1)
• Rabbit (1)
• Fish (6)
• Shellfish (3)
• Egg (40)
• Vegetarian (35)
• Vegetables (26)
• Desserts (19)
• Pastes, sauces and basics (19)

By region

• Mediterranean recipes (750)
• European recipes (674)

Every French dish

• Aïoli, sourced from France. Garlic pounded to a cream before any oil goes near it, in a mortar rather than a bowl, with olive oil that must go in slower than usual. Egg, vegetarian.
• Aligot, sourced from France. Mashed potato beaten with young unsalted cheese until it ropes, which only one kind of cheese will do.
• Andouillette, sourced from France. A coarse tripe sausage cooked gently and never pricked, because what is inside it is what you came for. Pork.
• Baba au Rhum, sourced from France. A dry yeast cake soaked in warm syrup while it is completely cold, because that temperature difference is what makes it drink. Egg, vegetarian.
• Baeckeoffe, sourced from France. Three meats marinated overnight and layered raw with potatoes under a pot sealed with a rope of dough, which is not opened. Pork, Beef, Lamb.
• Baguette, sourced from France. Four ingredients and a cold overnight rise, baked with steam in the first ten minutes and none after. vegan.
• Béchamel, sourced from France. A white sauce whose roux is cooked for flavour but not for colour, and which is then simmered far longer than most recipes admit. vegetarian.
• Beef Bourguignon, sourced from France. Beef braised in red wine for three hours, where the meat is dried and browned in small batches and the wine is reduced before it goes in. Beef.
• Bouillabaisse, sourced from France. A strained fish broth served separately from the fish, with a garlic and chilli rouille stirred into each bowl. Fish, Egg.
• Boule, sourced from France. A round loaf where the shaping is the whole job, dragged against the surface until the skin is tight enough to hold a dome. vegan.
• Brandade, sourced from France. Salt cod soaked for thirty-six hours with the water changed six times, then beaten with oil and milk into a warm emulsion. Fish.
• Brioche, sourced from France. A dough with its own weight in butter, beaten until it leaves the bowl before any butter goes in, and chilled overnight. Egg, vegetarian.
• Bûche de Noël, sourced from France. A fatless sponge rolled while it is still hot inside a cloth, then unrolled to fill, which is what stops it cracking. Egg, vegetarian.
• Calissons, sourced from France. Almond and candied melon paste on rice paper, where the melon is dried until it is barely tacky before it is ground. Egg, vegetarian.
• Cassoulet, sourced from France. Beans and preserved meat baked for hours, where the crust that forms on top is broken back into the dish several times. Pork, Duck.
• Chausson aux Pommes, sourced from France. Puff turnovers filled with a thick cold apple compote, scored in curves and sealed with water rather than egg. Egg, vegetarian.
• Cheese Soufflé, sourced from France. A thick cheese base lightened with whipped whites, where the dish is buttered in upward strokes so the mixture can climb. Egg.
• Chiboust Cream, sourced from France. Pastry cream lightened with hot meringue rather than cream, folded while the custard is still warm so the two can combine at all. Egg.
• Chicken Marengo, sourced from France. A tomato and mushroom chicken braise whose fried eggs and crayfish go on top at the end and are never cooked in the sauce. Chicken, Shellfish, Egg.
• Chocolate Mousse, sourced from France. Chocolate and eggs with no cream in it at all, where the chocolate must be warm when the whites go in or it seizes into grains. Egg, vegetarian.
• Choucroute Garnie, sourced from France. Rinsed and squeezed sauerkraut braised in wine, with each meat added at its own time rather than all at once. Pork.
• Choux Pastry, sourced from France. A paste cooked on the hob before it is cooked in the oven, which is why it rises on steam with no raising agent in it. Egg, vegetarian.
• Coq au Vin, sourced from France. Chicken marinated in wine overnight and braised in it, with the garnish cooked separately and added at the end. Chicken.
• Court-bouillon, sourced from France. A poaching liquid simmered and then COOLED before the fish goes in, which is the step that stops the skin tearing. vegan.
• Crackling Bread, sourced from France. A savoury loaf whose crackling is rendered and cooled hard before it goes anywhere near the dough. Pork.
• Crème Brûlée, sourced from France. A baked yolk custard chilled hard and burnt under sugar at the last minute, where the contrast only exists for about twenty minutes. Egg, vegetarian.
• Crème Pâtissière, sourced from France. A custard that must be boiled rather than coddled, because the thing that thickens it and the thing that would thin it are both in the yolks. Egg, vegetarian.
• Crêpes, sourced from France. A thin batter rested an hour so the flour swells, where the first one is always wrong and is meant to be. Egg, vegetarian.
• Croissants, sourced from France. A laminated dough folded three times with long chilled rests, where everything depends on the butter staying solid and separate. Egg, vegetarian.
• Croquembouche, sourced from France. Filled choux buns built into a cone with caramel as the only glue, which gives you about ninety seconds a batch. Egg, vegetarian.
• Daube, sourced from France. Beef marinated raw in wine and orange peel then layered into the pot unbrowned, with the wine going in exactly as it came off the meat. Pork, Beef.
• Duchess Potatoes, sourced from France. Piped rosettes of mash dried in the oven before the egg goes in, so they hold their ridges instead of slumping. Egg, vegetarian.
• Duck à l'Orange, sourced from France. Roast duck with a sauce built on a caramel taken dark and then stopped with vinegar, which is what keeps it from being merely sweet. Duck.
• Duck Confit, sourced from France. Duck legs salted overnight and cooked slowly submerged in fat, then stored under it, where the salt is rinsed off before cooking. Duck.
• Éclairs, sourced from France. Choux fingers pierced the instant they leave the oven, filled cold and dipped rather than spooned. Egg, vegetarian.
• Escargots, sourced from France. Tinned snails returned to shells under a garlic butter that is piped in behind them, so it melts down over the snail rather than under it. Shellfish.
• Far Breton, sourced from France. A batter rather than a custard, poured cold over soaked prunes, which sets dense and slightly chewy instead of wobbling. Egg, vegetarian.
• Ficelle Picarde, sourced from France. Savoury crêpes rolled round mushrooms and ham, baked under cream, where the mushrooms are cooked until the pan is dry. Pork, Egg.
• Flamiche, sourced from France. A leek tart whose whole difficulty is the water inside the leeks, squeezed out in a cloth before they go in. Egg, vegetarian.
• Fondant Potatoes, sourced from France. Cylinders browned cut side down in butter and then braised in stock poured to exactly half their depth, never over them. Chicken.
• Fondue, sourced from France. Cheese emulsified into wine, where the cornflour is tossed through the dry cheese and the pot is never allowed to boil.
• Fougasse, sourced from France. A flat olive-oil bread cut right through to the tray and then pulled open, so the slits stay open and every edge crisps. vegan.
• French Onion Soup, sourced from France. Onions cooked down for an hour and a half before any liquid goes near them, with the bread floated rather than submerged.
• French Toast, sourced from France. Stale bread soaked right through rather than dipped, fried in butter and oil together so the butter cannot burn. Egg, vegetarian.
• Frog Legs, sourced from France. Legs soaked in milk and then cooked for four minutes only, in butter that is already foaming.
• Galette, sourced from France. A savoury pancake of buckwheat and water with no milk and no egg in the batter, rested overnight and folded square round its filling. Pork, Egg.
• Ganache, sourced from France. Chocolate and cream emulsified from the middle outwards, where stirring the whole bowl at once is what splits it. vegetarian.
• Garbure, sourced from France. A soup thick enough to stand a spoon in, where the ham bone goes in at the start and the cabbage at the very end. Pork, Duck.
• Gougères, sourced from France. Savoury choux with the cheese beaten in cold after the eggs, baked drier and hollower than a sweet one. Egg.
• Gratin Dauphinois, sourced from France. Potatoes baked in cream with no cheese and no egg, where the slices are not rinsed because the starch is what thickens it. vegetarian.
• Hachis Parmentier, sourced from France. A potato-topped mince where the mash is made stiffer than you would ever eat on its own, so it can hold a fork-raked surface. Beef, Egg.
• Kouglof, sourced from France. A yeasted sweet loaf whose mould is buttered and lined with almonds before any dough goes in, because that is the only decoration it has. Egg, vegetarian.
• Kouign Amann, sourced from France. A laminated dough with the sugar folded between the layers rather than mixed in, so it caramelises into the pastry as it bakes. vegetarian.
• Macarons, sourced from France. Almond meringue shells folded to exactly the right slackness and rested until they skin over before baking. Egg, vegetarian.
• Madeleines, sourced from France. A rested cold batter put into a hot oven, where the shock between the two is the only thing that makes the bump. Egg, vegetarian.
• Mayonnaise, sourced from France. An emulsion of egg yolk and oil where the only difficulty is the first thirty millilitres, and the cure for a split one is another yolk. Egg, vegetarian.
• Meringue, sourced from France. Whites and sugar where the only reliable test is rubbing the mixture between finger and thumb, because grittiness means it will weep. Egg, vegetarian.
• Mille-feuilles, sourced from France. Puff pastry deliberately held down under a weight so it stays flat and dense, then caramelised under a fierce heat. Egg, vegetarian.
• Moules-frites, sourced from France. Mussels steamed open in two batches so the pan never cools, with the chips fried as on the steak frites page. Shellfish.
• Nougat, sourced from France. Whipped whites taken to a hard set by honey and sugar syrup poured in one after the other, never together. Egg, vegetarian.
• Oeufs en Meurette, sourced from France. Eggs poached in red wine rather than water, which colours them and then becomes the sauce they sit in. Beef, Egg.
• Pain au Chocolat, sourced from France. Laminated dough folded round two chocolate batons rather than chips, so the chocolate sits at the folds and cannot leak out. Egg, vegetarian.
• Pain aux Raisins, sourced from France. A spiral of laminated dough rolled round pastry cream, cut with a thread rather than a knife. Egg, vegetarian.
• Pain d'Épices, sourced from France. Rye flour and honey with no butter and no egg in it at all, raised with bicarbonate and left three days before cutting. vegetarian.
• Pain de Campagne, sourced from France. A country loaf built on a poolish fermented overnight with a third of the flour, which is where its sourness and its keeping come from. vegan.
• Pan-bagnat, sourced from France. The niçoise salad shut inside a loaf and pressed under a weight for two hours, which is the entire recipe. Fish, Egg.
• Pâté, sourced from France. A coarse pork terrine pressed under a weight overnight and not eaten until the third day, because it has not finished until then. Pork, Egg.
• Pâte Brisée, sourced from France. Shortcrust rubbed rather than creamed, where visible pieces of butter are what you are aiming for and a smooth dough is the failure. Egg, vegetarian.
• Peach Melba, sourced from France. Poached peaches cooled in their own syrup with a raspberry sauce that is never cooked. vegetarian.
• Persillade, sourced from France. Parsley and garlic chopped together and nothing else, with no oil in it and nothing pounded. vegan.
• Pipérade, sourced from France. Peppers cooked down for forty minutes until they are a jam, with the eggs stirred in off the heat so they stay loose. Egg, vegetarian.
• Pissaladière, sourced from France. A thick proved bread base under onions cooked down for an hour and cooled, with the anchovies laid on at the end. Fish.
• Pistou, sourced from France. Basil, garlic and oil with no nuts in it, and the cheese handed round at the table rather than pounded in.
• Pommes Dauphine, sourced from France. Equal weights of choux paste and very dry mashed potato, deep fried, which is what makes them hollow rather than solid. Egg, vegetarian.
• Potjevleesch, sourced from France. Four meats packed raw in layers and set in their own jelly, which comes from the bones rather than from gelatine. Chicken, Pork, Veal, Rabbit.
• Praline, sourced from France. Caramelised nuts ground in short bursts and stopped before the oil comes out, because five seconds past that it is a paste. vegan.
• Puff Pastry, sourced from France. A block of butter folded into dough until there are hundreds of layers, where both must be the same firmness at every fold. vegetarian.
• Quiche Lorraine, sourced from France. A custard tart with no cheese in it, baked blind first and sealed with egg so the base stays crisp. Egg.
• Raclette, sourced from France. A cut face of cheese melted on its own and scraped straight onto the plate, with nothing mixed into it at all. Pork, Beef.
• Ratatouille, sourced from France. Each vegetable fried separately and combined at the end, so the pieces stay distinct instead of collapsing into a paste. vegan.
• Rémoulade, sourced from France. Mayonnaise built stiffer than usual because every single thing added to it afterwards is wet. Egg, vegetarian.
• Salade Niçoise, sourced from France. A composed salad built in sections rather than tossed, with the eggs the only thing on the plate that has been cooked. Fish, Egg.
• Saucisse de Toulouse, sourced from France. A coarse pork sausage with almost nothing in it but pork, salt and pepper, coiled rather than linked. Pork.
• Soupe au Fromage, sourced from France. A soup layered like a lasagne and baked rather than stirred, so it comes out of the oven in slices. Chicken.
• St. Honoré Cake, sourced from France. A puff base ringed with caramel-dipped choux buns, where each bun is dipped before it is placed and not after. Egg.
• Steak Frites, sourced from France. Chips fried twice at two temperatures, with the steak cooked in the gap and rested while they go back in. Beef.
• Steak Tartare, sourced from France. Raw beef chopped by hand at the last minute, where everything depends on the meat and on how recently it was cut. Beef, Fish, Egg.
• Tapenade, sourced from France. Olives pounded to a coarse paste rather than blitzed smooth, with the capers that give it its name kept in. Fish.
• Tarte à l'Oignon, sourced from France. An onion tart whose case is blind-baked and sealed before a wet custard goes anywhere near it. Egg, vegetarian.
• Tarte aux Mirabelles, sourced from France. Small plums laid cut side up on a layer of ground almonds, which is there to drink the juice before the pastry can. Egg, vegetarian.
• Tarte Flambée, sourced from France. A dough rolled paper thin and never proved, baked as hot and as fast as the oven will go.
• Tarte Tropézienne, sourced from France. A sugar-crusted brioche split horizontally while completely cold and filled with pastry cream lightened with whipped cream. Egg, vegetarian.
• Tartiflette, sourced from France. Potatoes and bacon under half a cheese laid rind-up, where the potatoes are boiled first and the cheese is not grated.
• Tripes à la Mode de Caen, sourced from France. Tripe blanched twice in fresh water before anything else happens, then cooked in cider for most of a day. Pork, Beef.
• Truffade, sourced from France. Sliced potatoes fried with aged cheese and pressed into a cake with a crust, where nothing is mashed and nothing is beaten. Pork.

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