Cuisine of any country is an integral and important part of its culture and mentality. Every country has its own, special food, special ingredients, and combinations thereof, and there are always present some national dishes. In some cases, these dishes become symbols of a country, and any foreigner who comes to the country, must be sure to try this dish. Russia is popular with soup, hash, jelly; Ukraine with bacon, dumplings; Italy - pizza, pasta, cheese; Norway - fish dishes. Let's talk about the peculiarities of French cuisine and etiquette.
French cuisine is an example to follow in the art of cooking. The lexicon of French cuisine entered the vocabulary of many national cuisines. Dozens of words from the word "restaurant" and ending with "omelet" in short, are the testaments to the popularity of French cuisine. The French regard cooking as an art, and famous chefs are considered as a kind of poets. They believe that the ready-made recipes are only the basis for cooking, using which, every woman can bring something new and fresh, and thus make her meals special and different from those of the same names of the dishes served in restaurants or in other families.
French cuisine is conventionally divided into three parts: cuisine regionale - regional cuisine; cuisine bourgeoise - of common French cuisine and haute cuisine - extremely fine cuisine, an example of which at one time was the court of the French king’s kitchen. Regional French cuisine of the southern provinces (Provence, Languedoc, Basco, Gascony) contrasts sharply with the exigencies of the food, great use of wine and spices in the recipes, especially garlic and onions. Alsatian cuisine has its own characteristics, lying in satiety, greater use of pork, cabbage. Residents of coastal areas are used to the cuisine consisting of seafoods: fish, crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimps.
One of the main features of French cuisine is the active use of wine, brandy and liqueur in cooking of a variety of dishes. Wine is usually subject to significant evaporation, as the result of which, wine alcohol evaporates, and the remaining part gives food a unique flavor and fills it with a pleasant scent. In any dish that does not require long cooking, remains less than half of the initial volume of wine in the end. Apart from the fact that the wine used for cooking, it also serves as the main component of marinades for meat and broth and boiling fish.
In comparison with other countries, French cuisine uses less dairy products. The exception is for cheeses, famous throughout the world. The dish with cheese and lettuce is necessarily served before the dessert. Commom for the French table are omelets and cheese souffle, which is cooked with various spices and fillings: ham, mushrooms, herbs. Another feature of French cuisine is a wide variety of sauces. The British even joke about this: if in England, there are three varieties of sauces and three hundred and sixty kinds of religion, in France there are three kinds of religion and the three hundred and sixty recipes of sauces. In fact, it is considered that French cuisine has more than 3000 different sauces.
Despite the absence of sturgeon in France, hostess skillfully prepare delicious dishes from inexpensive fish, using a large range of different gravies and sauces. A characteristic feature of French cuisine is the usage of such vegetables as artichokes, asparagus, lettuce.
A special chapter of French cuisine is given to the desserts. The phrase “French dessert” is primarily associated with such a wonderful dish as eclair - oblong cake with custard. Indeed, this is one of the most popular dishes not only in France, but throughout the world. Today you can try eclairs, covered with chocolate or icing, and sometimes sprinkled with powdered sugar inside cake - coffee or chocolate cream.
The name of another French sweets is "macaroni". This, of course, has nothing to do with Italian pasta, but with cookies on the soft whipped egg whites, sugar and grated almonds. Between the two layers, such sweet products as custard, jam, honey are put.
And finally, we should say a couple of words about the French etiquette. Etiquette is generally a separate chapter in the case of the French nation, especially when it comes to the meal. The meal should be accompanied by an interesting conversation. The French prefer to talk about culture, art and French cuisine - the national pride of every Frenchman. Lengthy toasts are not accepted at the table, as well as the clink of glasses. Traditionally, the dinner starts at 6 or 7 pm, so if you've been invited to dinner, you know that you will be expected at this time.
The characteristic feature of French food is an abundance of vegetables on the dinner table. Potatoes, different varieties of onions, green beans, spinach, cabbage, different varieties of tomatoes, eggplant, celery, salad is not a complete list of vegetables used to prepare salads, appetizers, side dishes. Soups are also popular, especially soups from leeks with potatoes, onion soup, seasoned with cheese, clear beef broth soups, filling soups, l fish soup, fish soup. Main course mainly includes steak with fried potatoes and fried steak with blood with a slightly toasted crust and almost raw inside. These two dishes are the personification of the French cuisine. The French like when the meat is not overcooked, it should remain pink and juicy inside.
Among the course dishes you can find marine and freshwater fish (cod, flounder, halibut, mackerel, pike), seafood shrimp, lobster, scallops. After the second course it is served the dish with cheese of several varieties. After the cheese you should drink only red wine, not tear or juice. Desserts include fresh fruit and berries, fruit salads, pastries, especially with nut filling, ice cream with fruit and biscuits, dessert cocktails. The daily supply provides two French breakfast. First breakfast consists of fruit and vegetable juices, eggs, cheese, butter, omelets (with jam, ham, cheese, mushrooms, herbs, stuffed tomatoes and other garnishes). Lunch (12 hours) - cold appetizers of sea food and fish, poultry meat, stuffed or stewed vegetables, hot dishes of simple cooking. Lunch (from 6 to 7 pm) - any European cuisine appetizers, soups, main dishes.
As we can see, French cuisine is quite various and rich with different tasty products and sauces. If you are going to visit France, you should be aware of all the peculiarities of the national cuisine, in order to make your trip delicious and exquisite.