French Cuisine

Turning vegetables into the classical 7-sided barrel shape with a turning knife. For carrots, potatoes, and courgettes as garnish in classical dishes. Takes 30+ hours of practice before it becomes consistent.

White fond from raw bones. Brown fond from roasted bones (200\u00b0C, 45 min first). Never let it boil: bubbling makes the fond cloudy and bitter. Always skim in the first 30 minutes.

Equal parts butter and flour cooked together: blonde roux for velouté, brown roux for espagnole. The raw flour taste only disappears after 3-5 minutes of cooking. Cold liquid into hot roux or hot liquid into cold roux: never warm on warm.

B\u00e9chamel (roux + milk), Velouté (roux + fond), Espagnole (brown roux + brown fond), Hollandaise (egg yolks + clarified butter), Sauce tomate. Each of the 5 has dozens of derivative sauces. Master the mother sauces: every other sauce follows logically.

Reduction concentrates flavour. Mounting with cold butter gives gloss and body without flour. Add cold butter cubes of 2cm and keep the pan moving constantly. Stop when the sauce coats the spoon (napp\u00e9).

Reduce shallots and white wine to near-dry, then whisk in cold butter flakes piece by piece. The emulsion is fragile: never too hot, never too cold. Classic with fish, asparagus, and vegetables.

Purifying cloudy fond with a clearmeat: minced meat, egg whites, carrot, and tomato mixed into cold fond. At 85\u00b0C the protein coagulates and traps all cloudiness, rising to the surface. Carefully strain through damp muslin.

Mix egg yolks with cream and slowly pour the hot sauce in. This coagulates the yolks in a controlled way, binding the sauce without flour. Never above 82\u00b0C: the yolks curdle and the sauce turns grainy.

After searing meat: dissolve the pan drippings (fond) with wine, cognac, or stock by keeping the pan hot and stirring. These are the Maillard reaction products that contain the most flavour. Never discard them.

Slow cooking in own fat or oil. Originally a preservation technique, now valued for its soft, meltingly tender texture. Classic for duck, pork, and garlic. Finish in a hot pan for crisp skin.

Sear on high heat, then slow-cook in a covered pot with fond and aromatics. For tough cuts of meat rich in collagen. The liquid should never bubble.

Cooking in liquid just below the boiling point. For fish, eggs, and delicate proteins that dry out or curdle at high temperatures. Poach fish in court-bouillon, eggs in water with a splash of vinegar.

Add alcohol (cognac, calvados, armagnac) to a hot pan and ignite. The flame burns off the raw alcohol taste and leaves the aromas behind. Always turn on the extraction.

Forming a cheese or sauce crust under the grill or in a hot oven. Gratin dauphinois, sole bonne femme, and gratin de macaroni are classics. The product is already cooked: gratinating only adds colour and crust.

Fast cooking in minimal fat over high heat with constant movement (sauter means "to jump" in French). For mushrooms, potatoes, and meat that needs colour and crispness. The pan must be truly hot.

Roasting on a bed of aromatics in a covered pan in the oven, regularly basting (arroser) with the rendered fat. For poultry and tender meats that do not need the brown crust of open roasting.

Brief cooking in salted water followed by immediate plunging into ice water. Stops the cooking process, fixes the colour, and keeps vegetables crisp. Haricots verts, broccoli, and asparagus benefit the most.

Fish, meat, or vegetables cooked in a hermetically sealed parchment or foil parcel. All juices are fully retained. The dramatic effect when opening at the table is an added advantage.

Cooking vegetables in a combination of water, butter, and sugar until the liquid evaporates and the sugar caramelises. Glacer \u00e0 blanc: light golden. Glacer \u00e0 brun: deep golden. For carrots, turnips, and onions as garnish.

Cooking in own juices in a hermetically sealed pan without added liquid. For vegetables such as courgette, peppers, and mushrooms. Concentrates flavour without dilution from water.

Dry cooking in the oven at high temperature. For poultry, large cuts of meat, and root vegetables. The Maillard reaction on the exterior creates the crust and depth of flavour. Always rest after roasting: 10-15 minutes.

B\u00e9chamel or cr\u00e8me p\u00e2tissi\u00e8re as the base, whipped egg whites that trap the air. Rises through the expansion of air in the heat. Never open the oven door in the first 10 minutes.

6 turns of folding the dough with cold butter in between. Each turn doubles the layers. After 6 turns: 729 layers. The butter must stay cold at all times: melting means ruined layers.

Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and flour, then add hot milk and cook back until the cream thickens and the flour is cooked through. Cover immediately with cling film directly on the surface to prevent skin.

Fran\u00e7aise: raw egg whites + sugar (not stable). Suisse: egg whites + sugar warmed au bain-marie. Italienne: hot sugar syrup (121\u00b0C) poured onto whipping whites: the most stable meringue for mousses and entremets.

Caramel sec: melt sugar dry without water. Caramel liquide: cook sugar with water to 160\u00b0C. At 170\u00b0C amber-coloured and nutty. At 180\u00b0C nearly burnt and too bitter. Tarte tatin and cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e require precisely 165-170\u00b0C.

Ganache: cream 1:1 with dark chocolate. Pour hot over chopped chocolate, wait 1 minute, then stir smooth. For mousse au chocolat: let ganache cool, then fold in whipped cream and Italian meringue.

Melt chocolate, cool on marble slab to 27-28\u00b0C, reheat to 31-32\u00b0C. Gives gloss, snap, and a bloom-free finish. Untempered chocolate: matte surface and grey bloom.

Vanilla custard cooked au bain-marie until just set (95% set, slightly wobbly in the centre). Cool, then caramelise a sugar layer with a br\u00fbl\u00e9e torch. Cold heart with a warm sugar crust.

Whisk a sabayon of egg yolks and reduction au bain-marie to ribbon stage. Then slowly emulsify in clarified butter (63\u00b0C). B\u00e9arnaise: same base but with a tarragon-vinegar reduction.

Laminate brioche dough with cold butter in 3 turns. The gluten must relax between each turn. Croissant dough has more yeast than puff pastry and rises through fermentation and steam.

Brown fond with brown roux, roasted vegetables, and tomato, slowly reduced. Demi-glace: espagnole + brown fond 50/50, reduced by half. The richest, deepest sauce base in the classical kitchen.