If I could try French Cuisine, which food should I try first?

Question

French bonbons are the only French food I've ever had in my life and would like to try French cuisine.

Answer 1

There are many specialities in french cuisine.

According to me, you have to taste "entrecote", "camembert" (cheese) and drink a good wine of Bordeaux ...in a french restaurant !

Answer 2

I would suggest fondue and raclette, very typical French cooking.  They both require a little bit of special equipment, but are great foods for sharing with a group of friends.

For Fondue, you have two typical kinds: Savoyarde and Bourgogne.  Fondue Savoyarde is cheese melted with some liquors in a ceramic pot, and kept hot at the table with a little burner.  You dip small chunks of bread in the cheese with a skewer.

Fondue Bourgogne is heated oil and you cook small chunks of beef in it.  You then eat the meat with sauces of your choosing.

Raclette is special cheese cooked in a special "machine".  It's basically a broiler you can put on the table.  You put a slice of this cheese in a mini frying pan and put it under the the broiler until it is melted and gooey.  Then you pour it on chunks of boiled potato with some ham.

Answer 3

Fois gras and lots of wine.

Answer 4

A typical and authentically French meal would be as follows:

Poulet fermier roti

pommes purée

haricots verts

or in English:

Roast chicken

mashed potatoes

green beans

French cuisine is not about exotic ingrediants or strange combinations of ingrediants but about things that should be very familiar to you but done very well.

Yes, there is also French "Haute Cuisine" which can be very complex and very expensive but even there the emphasis on fresh, locally grown/raised ingrediants, prepared with meticulous attention to detail is the foundational element.

Most Americans who think of French Cuisine as being something odd or exotic are quite surprised when they come to France and find so many things that are familiar to them on the menu. They are even more surprised when they order something familiar and discover just how good it can be when prepared by a French cook.

I was once asked to cook a "French" dinner for 350 quests at a charitable event in the American mid-west.  The main course was as I described above. I am happy to say that when the meal was over and I was introduced to the gathering I received a standing ovation.

Many people asked me to reveal the "French recipes" and were astonished  to find I had not added any "secret ingrediants" but that it was all a matter of seeking out the best ingrediants (free range chickens from a local farmer for example) and preparing them with care.

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Answer 5

I like Quiche Lorraine and some wine... Very easy recipe...

ENJOY :)

Answer 6

As you can see from all those answers, you won't find only one specialities.

French cuisine is full of dishes. Go in any restaurant and ask the waiter what s/he would recommend for a first try. That would be your better guess. It depends on the restaurant and what it has to offer.

In any case, take time to eat and to ENJOY your meal. It is very important for us. It is not unusual to stay at the table 4-5 hours or more for a family lunch. So that gives you some idea on how important the meals are.

A British friend of mine once said: "We eat to live. You live to eat". Not completely true but quite close ;)

Answer 7

viennoiseries, cakes, pie are not hard to cook