French vegetarian recipes
35 French vegetarian recipes, each written for this site and each saying what its method turns on.
- 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.
- Baguette, sourced from France. Four ingredients and a cold overnight rise, baked with steam in the first ten minutes and none after. vegan.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Éclairs, sourced from France. Choux fingers pierced the instant they leave the oven, filled cold and dipped rather than spooned. Egg, vegetarian.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Peach Melba, sourced from France. Poached peaches cooled in their own syrup with a raspberry sauce that is never cooked. vegetarian.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Tropézienne, sourced from France. A sugar-crusted brioche split horizontally while completely cold and filled with pastry cream lightened with whipped cream. Egg, vegetarian.
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