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About
typical French Food
France is also famous for some "strange" food
that are well known abroad
Contrary to what some foreigners think, frog legs
or snails are not usual menus and many people in
France
are even reluctant eating such food.
Here are some information about
Frog legs, snails,
oysters, foie gras
and mustard
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Frog Legs
"les cuisses de grenouilles"
Consumption of frogs' legs in France totals 3000
to 4000 tons per year
(60 to 80 million frogs). With a population of 60 million, that
makes only 60 gr
[2 oz] per Frenchman, which means that, contrary to what many
foreigners
believe, frogs' legs are not so popular in France ! Frog is now
a protected
species in France so much frogs' legs are imported, in particular
from Indonesia.
Frogs' legs are also light with 70 calorie per 100 gr [3.5 oz].
A suggestion to prepare frogs' legs very simply : Dip them into
flour then fry
them in a non-stick pan with olive oil and crushed garlic ; 5
to 10 minutes
will be enough. Delicious !
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Snails "les escargots"
Snail is another food that is appreciated in France
and often considered as
a "strange" food by foreigners. France is the biggest snails consumer
in
the world with 40,000 tons consumed per year. Most of the snails
production
is artisanal (gathering of wild snals). Snails bredding was only
introduced in
the eighties in France and remains limited (2% of total production).
Famous French snails are "escargot de Bourgogne" (Burgundy snails)
and
"petit gris" (small snails). There is no breeding for escargot
de Bourgogne
that is always wild and is now protected.
If you want to gather and prepare snails yourself, you have to
think about it
in advance as you first have to let them without food during 2
weeks !
Sauce is critical in snails preparation. Most famous preparation
is
"à la Bourguignone" with butter, parsley, garlic and
spices. Not light at all but
delicious !
Feuilleté aux escargots (snails in flaky pastry) is also famous.
Finally snail is good for health as it is full of calcium, magnesium
and vitamin C.
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Oysters
"les huitres"
France is the first European
producer of oysters (140000 tons yearly)
and we are eating a lot of oysters for Christmas.
There are 2 types of oysters :
huîtres creuses (creuse oyster), huître plate (flat oyster) with
several varieties :
Creuse oyster can be Belon, Bouzigues, Gravette, Marennes.
Flat oyster can be Fine de claire, Spéciale de claire…
Oyster are also classified by size from 1 (biggest) to 6 (smallest).
Fresh oyster can be kept up to 10 to 15 days in a cool place before
been
consumed.
How to prepare oysters
We usually eat oyster crude. In order to have better taste, it is
better
to open it just before eating and to lay it on coarse salt. The
classical way
to eat crude oysters is with lemon juice or shallot vinegar and
five-grain bread
or rye bread and butter.
Recommended wine with oysters is white wine such as Muscadet or
Sancerre.
Oyster has low calorie content : 60 calories pour 100 g (8 oysters)
and
is healthy with vitamins, calcium magnesium…
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Le
Foie Gras
Foie gras is a French specialty very appreciated
during Christmas and New
Year celebrations. France is the first producer of foie gras in
the world
(15.3 Million tons in 2000, 81% of total world production). South
West France
is the first region for foie gras.
Types of foie gras
Foie gras is obtained by force-feeding ducks or goose. Most common
foie gras
is duck foie gras (foie gras de canard) whereas goose foie gras
(foie gras d'oie)
accounts for less than 5% of total production.
Le foie gras cru (crude) is mainly used to prepare warm foie gras
dish such
as warm foie gras with grapes Le foie gras frais (fresh) is generally
already
cooked, it can be kept between 1 and 3 weeks in fridge.
Le foie gras mi-cuit (semi-cooked) is usually canned or preserves,
it can be
kept between 3 weeks and 6 months in fridge.
Le foie gras en conserve (tinned) keeps several years.
Le foie gras entier (entire) is the best foie gras but bloc de foie
gras (block)
is more common and cheaper. Foie gras can also be truffled (foie
gras truffé).
How to serve foie gras
Foie gras can be served as a first or main course. If you serve
it as first
course, remove it from fridge 20 minutes before serving it. Slice
it and eat it
on a slice of bread (toast, baguette). Do not spread it. Quantity
per guest
is between 50 and 100 g. Sweet white wine is perfect with foie gras.
Sauternes is the best choice but Montbazillac or Jurançon that are
much
cheaper are also very good.
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French
Mustard "la moutarde"
French mustard (moutarde) is very used in French
cuisine :
- key ingredient in many sauces specially mayonnaise and vinaigrette.
- as condiment in meat
Taste of mustard depends on maceration of seeds. Most French mustards
are made with white wine, this is why it is strong compared to foreign
mustards that are often made with water and sugar.
Most famous French mustards are :
- Moutarde de Dijon (Burgundy) made with white wine.
- Moutarde de Meaux or moutarde à l'ancienne (old-fashionned style)
in which
some seeds remain entire. Usually presented in a stoneware pot,
it is softer
than moutarde de Dijon.
- Moutarde de Reims is made with champagne.
- Flavoured mustards (black currant, raspberry…) : can be very good
but
I personally think that you lose the original mustard taste.
One of the most famous recipe with mustard is "lapin
à la moutarde"
(rabbit in mustard sauce).
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