15 Old-School French Recipes Your Grandma Used to Make (2024)

FAQs

What is the first recorded French recipe book? ›

Haute cuisine (pronounced [ot kɥizin], "high cuisine") has foundations during the 17th century with a chef named La Varenne. As an author of works such as Le Cuisinier françois, he is credited with publishing the first true French cookbook. His book includes the earliest known reference to roux using pork fat.

One of the most celebrated recipes is Coq au Vin, a classic French dish that showcases the art of slow cooking. Julia's detailed instructions guide readers through every step, from browning the chicken to perfection to creating a flavorful sauce with red wine, mushrooms, and bacon.

The first recorded cookbook that is still in print today is Of Culinary Matters (originally, De Re Coquinaria), written by Apicius, in fourth century AD Rome. It contains more than 500 recipes, including many with Indian spices.

The oldest known cookbook in the world goes back as far as the second millennium BC. Three small clay tablets, inscribed with intricate cuneiform signs, contain cooking instructions for thirty-five Akkadian dishes.

There are many options to choose from, but France's national dish is probably the Boeuf Bourguignon. Well known in and outside France, it represents the beauty of the cuisine by transforming a simple piece of meat into an intensely flavored dish, only composed with national ingredients.

Butter – The Soul of French Cooking:

In French cooking, butter reigns supreme. Its creamy richness adds a luxurious touch to sauces, pastries, and pan-seared delights. From the celebrated beurre blanc to the flaky layers of croissants, butter sets French cuisine apart and elevates its flavors to new heights.

Le déjeuner (lunch)

The French give a lot of importance to their meals and they spend a lot of time at the table. On average, they spend 2 hours 13 minutes at the table per day, compared to 1 hour 02 minutes for Americans.

There isn't a “national vegetable” as I know. We eat a lot of potatoes and you'll always find tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, carrots, aubergines, mushrooms, etc. With some of these… You can of course make… a very good Ratatouille !!

What do French eat for breakfast? ›

A typical French breakfast consists of a croissant or bread with butter and jam and sometimes a sweet pastry. Fresh fruit juice and hot beverages, like coffee or tea, are also included. Here all meals for French breakfast. The tradition of eating a large meal mid-day continues at dinner time in France.

An usual French lunch will include: an appetizer (une entrée), such as a mixed salad, soup, terrine or pâté; main course, (le plat principal), choice of beef, pork, chicken, or fish, with potatoes, rice, pasta and/or vegetables; cheese course (from a local selection) and/or a sweet.

Read the recipe

For your first read of the recipe, pay careful attention to the ingredients and equipment the recipe requires. Make sure that the ingredients you don't already have can be found where you live and that you can afford them.

Recipe Keeper is the easy to use, all-in-one recipe organizer, shopping list and meal planner available across all of your devices. Enter your recipes with as much or as little information as you like.

MS M. 672-5 III, fol. 310r. de Vignay's translation was the one printed in the first book printed in French in 1476. sanctorum, sive Lombardica historia (The Golden Legend) edited by Jean Battalier.

The first literary works written in Old French were saints' lives. The Canticle of Saint Eulalie, written in the second half of the ninth century, is generally accepted as the first such text. It is a short poem that recounts the martyrdom of a young girl.

Taillevent wrote the first professional cookery book in France. It was commissioned by Charles V.

Beginning in the 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in western Europe and it became a key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent.