Traditional recipes of French cooking: 29 recipes (alcohol-free)

Celeriac Rémoulade

A classic recipe of traditional French bistro cooking (winter salad).
December 21^th 2020394K5 18 min.

Croque-monsieur

A classic of French "street food" or bistros: a slice of ham between two slices of bread spread with béchamel sauce. The sandwich is then sprinkled with cheese and toasted in the oven.
August 1^st 2010250K4 46 min.

Du Barry soup

Du Barry is a creamy cauliflower soup, including small whole pieces of cauliflower.
October 17^th 2018258K4.5 1 hour 1 min.

Leeks in vinaigrette

A classic dish of French family and bistro cooking. It's both simple and good. The secret lies in cooking the leeks until they are only just tender, so that they keep their lovely green colour. The special vinaigrette includes herbs and hard-boiled eggs.
September 29^th 2012174K4.3 45 min.

Salad lyonnaise

Salad lyonnaise conjures up the cuisine of the French city of Lyon and the region around: traditionally a salad of dandelion leaves with croutons, lardons and poached eggs. Here is a slightly simpler version with shredded lettuce instead of dandelions.
December 29^th 202120K 42 min.

Potted meat (rillettes)

Potted meat (rillettes) is cooked long and slow in fat. Rillettes can be of pork or duck. Here is the pork version.
October 3^rd 2019429K 25 6 hours 46 min.

Boulangère potatoes

This great classic of French home cooking consists of sliced potatoes with slivers of bacon between, on a bed of onion fondue, moistened with poultry (or beef) stock and baked in the oven. It takes a fairly long time, but is so good, and reheats very well.
April 5^th 202033K 2 1 hour 36 min.

French-style peas

A traditional French recipe, "Petis pois à la Française", with a personal twist, but very easy to prepare. It is an ideal accompaniment for meat, poultry or even a grilled fillet of fish.
July 15^th 2012156K3.8 28 min.

Hachis parmentier

This is the French answer (meat with mashed potato and cheese) to the English cottage or shepherd's pie: a typical family recipe which is an excellent way of using up leftover meat. The proportions are vague here: you need "whatever you have left over"...
February 21^th 2011396K 24.4 1 hour 22 min.

Potato gratin

This classic French recipe is made with sliced potatoes baked in milk and browned on top.
February 21^th 20111.1M 14.6 1 hour 47 min.

Quiche Lorraine

Quiche Lorraine is a recipe that is both simple and delicious. This savoury tart combines bacon and grated cheese with an egg and cream filling in a short-crust pastry case.
April 17^th 2022143K4.9 1 hour 5 min.

Chocolate eclairs

This might appear to be a straightforward recipe: choux pastry, chocolate confectioner's custard and fondant icing, but in practice it is quite technically tricky and all three stages need care to produce a perfect result. But don't let that discourage you; there are demonstration videos and I will...
February 6^th 2011293K 34.5 3 hours 52 min.

Crème brulée

Crème brûlée (burned cream) is quite easy to prepare: it's a simple egg-cream dessert. The only difficulty is in making the delicious crunchy caramel layer on top. The perfect crème brulée (for me) is a cold and soft cream, with on top a nice hot caramel crust. This is a completely new version...
December 31^th 20111.6M 74.3 4 hours 38 min.

Galette Charentaise

This is a traditional cake from France's Charente region. The recipe is straightforward and the cake is slightly dense in texture, but quite delicious.
August 26^th 201845K5 2 hours 45 min.

Macarons (the original French macaroons)

This recipe really is "of the moment": the success of these small, highly-coloured cakes, in an infinite variety of flavours, is impressive. It's a recipe which needs some care, in order to produce a result worthy of a professional pastrychef. No problem, I will guide you through the recipe,...
October 3^rd 20191.6M 714.6 2 hours 38 min.

Peach Melba

Peach Melba is a famous dessert created in 1893 by an equally famous chef, Auguste Escoffier, and inspired by the singer Nellie Melba. There have been many versions of this well-known dish but, in principal, it consists of vanilla ice cream, poached peaches, raspberry coulis and sweetened whipped...
September 9^th 2012118K3.9 2 hours 20 min.

Profiteroles

Small choux pastry puffs, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a rich smooth chocolate sauce.
October 13^th 2010304K 14.5 1 hour 35 min.

Rice pudding (riz au lait)

My personal version of this classic family recipe.
December 18^th 2018388K5 38 min.

Saint Honoré cake

The Saint Honoré cake is a famous example of French patisserie. It consists of a puff pastry base surrounded by a ring of caramel-coated choux puffs and topped with whipped cream (Chantilly). It is a bit tricky to make, but this recipe gives you all the hints you need.
April 14^th 2013116K4.7 2 hours 51 min.

Tart Tatin

Tart tatin is one of the great classic desserts of French cooking. It's an apple tart cooked upside down. Apples are cooked in sugar until they caramelise. Then a circle of puff pastry is put on top, and the whole tart is baked at 356°F (180°C) for 20 minutes. To serve, the tart is turned over so...
October 30^th 2015397K 13.8 1 hour 17 min.

Chocolate rolls (petits pains)

Here is a recipe for "real" chocolate petits pains, i.e. with a milk bread dough (not croissants dough) and with a stick of chocolate inside.
October 30^th 2021430K4.6 5 hours 27 min.

French baguettes

This classic of French baking is rather different from the recipe for leavened bread, it's a question of making a good crust and light crumb along the whole length. To succeed, you should know that there are two secrets: water first of all (much more than for normal bread), and the working of the...
October 24^th 20171.1M 364.7 5 hours 6 min.

French croissants

In this famous and highly technical recipe from a piece of yeast-based flaky dough we are going to cut and shape ("roll") croissants.
June 26^th 2019612K 24.4 2 hours 34 min.

Four quarters

It's "the simpliest cake in the world", called four quarters, because it's made with 1/4 eggs, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 flour and 1/4 butter.
February 21^th 2011311K3.7 1 hour 15 min.

Chantilly cream

Chantilly cream, it's simply whipped liquid cream with sugar. It is use in many desserts, but already delicious simply with strawberries or other fruits.
September 17^th 2013659K5 18 min.

Chocolate Chantilly

If we look at the more scientific side of Chantilly cream we can see that it's mainly cream, and cream is a mix of very small droplets of milk fat and water, which is called an emulsion. When we whip this emulsion, we incorporate air into it and so create a mousse or foam. In the end Chantilly is a...
September 25^th 2013168K5 15 min.

Foie gras Chantilly

Chantilly is a method which is applied to cream of course, but also to other surprising ingredients. If we look at the more scientific side of Chantilly we can see that it's mainly cream, and cream is a mix of very small droplets of milk fat and water, which is called an emulsion. When we whip this...
September 17^th 2013109K4.6 28 min.

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is a cold egg dressing, quite thick, served with many dishes, usually cold too: meat, fish, vegetables, etc.
February 16^th 2014803K5 6 min.

Rémoulade dressing

This dressing is a kind of mayonnaise with vinegar, used for some salads like celeriac rémoulade. Usually it is prepared from mayonnaise, but here is another version, simpler and just as tasty.
October 3^rd 2010868K3.9 6 min.