Cuisine

__**Top Five French Dishes **__toc

Introduction
French cuisine can be broken down into two categories, nouvelle, and regional. These two styles have many differences. Nouvelle came into fame around the 1970’s and is characterized by shorter cooking times and a lighter feel to the food. Cuisine regional is based more on the ingredients used in the the particular region, thus the name regional. Regional cooking is usually heavier with more meat and dairy products. While the nouvelle style is based on smaller portions and lighter ingredients such as fish and herbs instead of butter and flour. In this Wiki we will cover the top 5 French dishes from both the nouvelle and regional categories.

Crepes
The first dish we will talk about is the crepe. The crepe has been a traditional regional french dish for centuries. It originated in Brittany, in the northwest region of France. The crepe is a thin pastry that can be made into a sweet or savoury dish based on the type of fillings you use for the center and the type of flour used. While sweet crepes are made with wheat flour, savoury crepes are made with buckwheat flour. Crepes have risen in fame over the years to be an icon of French culture. Everywhere you go in France now you will be able to find at least one place selling crepes. Here is a very simple crepe recipe. media type="youtube" key="gtxp2pG0iH8?rel=0" height="349" width="425" align="center"

Croissants
The origin of the croissant is a much disputed topic. Many stories are told as to where the croissant came from. One story tells of a baker up late at night in Vienna. He was baking bread for the morning and heard voices in the walls. (During this time period, the bakeries were underground and towards the walls of the cities to prevent fires.) The voices the baker heard were the Turks digging under the city walls. The baker alerted the military who then collapsed the tunnel and solved the problem. A similar story is told in Hungary. The same story line is kept but the ethnicity of the baker and the place is changed. And yet another story tells of how Marie Antoinette asked the bakers to copy a favorite treat of hers from Austria. The end result ended up with the croissant. media type="youtube" key="nqv14cDy98Q?rel=0" height="349" width="425" align="center"

Frog legs are a great treat in France and China, they are one of the better know delicacies. According to some, frog legs resemble chicken in flavor and texture. Frog legs can be fried, breaded, boiled, or cooked any other way you can think of. Frogs’ legs first showed up in southern China as early the 1st century AD. The Aztecs, too, were known to eat them. However, they don’t show up very much until they appeared in the annals of the Catholic church in France. When they got to France the monks were eating them too much and were getting too fat. So, the church ordered them to only eat meat on certain days. In response, the monks had frog legs classified as fish. //**Basic frog leg recipe**// 3000 to 4000 tons of frog legs are consumed in France each year (60 to 80 million frogs). That only makes about 2 oz per person. Though, frog legs are not very popular in France. The frogs are now protected in France. Much of Frances frogs are imported from other countries. Frog legs are very light in calories, 70 calories per 3.5 oz. media type="youtube" key="rFh60vQd9GY?rel=0" height="349" width="425" align="center"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Escargot
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Escargot has been consumed by various cultures in various regions for thousands of years, including ancient Greece and Rome. Snails can either be collected from the wild or bred. In France, the collection and preparation of snails is under tight regulation, making the dish more rare. When snails are bred for consumption, their diet is monitored so that they remain safe to eat. When snails are collected from the wild, they must be purged if they have consumed any poisonous plants. If the snail has consumed poisonous plants, then it is not safe for consumption. Today, escargot is considered a delicacy in many countries outside of the United States. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Snails contain a high amount of protein, but a low amount of fat. They also contain calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, and approximately eighty percentwater. France is the largest consumer of escargot, which uses about forty thousand tons of snails per year. This is a recipe for Escargots de Bourgogne. media type="youtube" key="fokJxFjWJfs?rel=0" height="349" width="425" align="center"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Ratatouille
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ratatouille is a dish that originates from the Provence region in (southern) France that usually contains eggplant, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, zucchini, garlic, and herbs. It can be a main dish with pasta or rice, a side dish, or an appetizer with some sort of bread or crackers. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> There are several methods to cooking the dish. Some people saute the vegetables (or simmer them in olive oil) all together, whereas some other people use the tomatoes, onion, garlic and bell peppers to make a sauce and cook the other vegetables separately. Then the vegetables are all mixed together and are sometimes made into a casserole. Ratatouille can be presented at at various temperatures, including cold, room temperature, or hot.This is a recipe for Ratatouille. media type="youtube" key="uP-BsT35HtA?rel=0" height="349" width="425" align="center"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Conclusion
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Whether you have been to France or not you will most likely have heard about one of these famous dishes. While Regional and Nouvelle cuisine is quite different you can see that both are very popular. So next time you are thinking about trying something new and foreign why not try a top French dish like frog legs, crepes, croissants, ratatouille, or the revered escargot.

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