18+ reasons to cook French food at home

From haute cuisine to a sneaky late-night snack, there is plenty to indulge in when it comes to French cuisine. With a bit of practice and a whole lot of panache, you'll soon be winning too.

Source: Alan Benson

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There have been attempts to knock French food off the top podium for years. Rumblings that French cuisine is dull, predictable and, gasp, old-fashioned, have been growing louder, and yet...

While French cuisine might be flagging on the innovative world restaurant scene, you simply cannot beat French cooking for creating a flavourful, sophisticated home meal. Especially when you're making "the classics".

Remember, too, that French food is as much about ritual as it is about technique. The layering of fresh, seasonal courses with good company and generous time set aside for savouring every bite.

French food is as much about ritual as it is about technique.

The same is true when preparing French dishes. Buy the freshest seasonal produce you can get your hands on, preferably locally, ideally direct from the farmer. Opt for smaller cuts of fine quality meat, rather than larger portions of a lesser grade. Buy from your local butcher or fishmonger, where you can discuss your dish and ask for advice on making the most of your purchase.

Set aside enough time to enjoy the shopping, the cooking, and definitely the eating. While many French dishes are surprisingly quick and easy, others do require resting or long cooking times, so plan ahead accordingly. After all, rushing never makes you feel good and slow and steady wins the race.

To begin...

Bypass the packet

The cheesy crust on top of this soup is what makes the French staple difficult to resist. Source: Classic French onion soup. (Louise Franc)

Brands have been doing a roaring trade in packet French onion soup for decades, but the real thing tastes nothing like the powdered version. Luxuriously mellow and sweet with just a hint of bitterness, topped off with a  bubbling Grueye crouton - this rich broth is a winner straight out of the gates. Be sure to slowly caramelise the onions with patience and care to truly bring this soup to life.

Fished fresh

Gabriel Gaté's coquilles St Jacques à la purée de chou-fleur is the perfect way to celebrate the humble scallop. Source: Benito Martin

A dish that proves that perfection is often found in the simplest pairing. The freshest scallops - if you can pluck them from the sea yourself, all the better - lightly pan-fried, tossed with lemon, herbs and hazelnuts and served with a simple cauliflower puree. It's an entree that might be quick to cook, but is irresistibly lingered over at the table.

Salad warm-up

While salade Lyonnaise might be a salad in many parts, you can make some in advance to speed things along. Source: SBS Food

A salad is often eaten before the main course in French homes. This version from Lyon combines bitter greens with smoky bacon and just-cooked creamy eggs for unbeatable flavour. It's not the simplest of salads to put together, but worth every moment.

Quiche the day

Quiche Lorraine comes from the mountainous region of Lorraine in northern France, but it's fair to say that she's travelled far and wide ever since. Source: Alan Benson

What the French can do with eggs, bacon and pastry deserves plenty of love. Quiche Lorraine is the classic of the classics for good reason. After all, bacon and eggs are always a good idea. Especially when the eggs are turned into a silky custard and housed in a crisp pastry shell.

Snails away

Snails are low in fat and carbs, and a good source of protein, iron, and magnesium. What's not to love? Source: SBS Food

Where else would snails be on the menu, but France? And actually in Morocco, Italy, Greece, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Germany... but it's escargots à la provençale that truly captures the palate. You can get tinned or jarred snails from speciality delis and direct from heliculturalists like Careship Coorong in South Australia or La Perouse Escargot in Tasmania.

Main event

Vin-ner, vin-ner

Coq au vin is a traditional Lyonnaise dish that generously dispenses comfort on cold nights. Source: Jaques Reymond

We're going to run through the champions, starting with coq au vin. This is a one-pan wonder with a low and slow attitude that results in tender chicken and a rich sauce. The longer you cook it, the richer the flavour. Jacques Reymond's recipe is also a primer in classic French cooking technique.

Beef it up

Take time to deeply caramelise every ingredient to bring deep flavour to the dish. Source: Beef bourguignon (Benito Martin)

Beef bourguignon perfectly showcases the magic that is traditional French cuisine. Beef is braised until fall-apart tender in a complex sauce made with leeks, carrots, onions, shallots and local red wine (a Tasmanian pinot noir is excellent Australian alternative). Mushrooms are added in the final stages of cooking, to impart a fresh earthiness to this rich dish.

Bouillabaisse

Bouillabaisse is traditional stew from Marseille, made by fisherman who wanted to cook the fish they couldn’t sell at the markets. Source: Michael Marchment

This dish made from fishermen's 'leftovers' can be made with whatever seafood you happen to have on hand and it takes little time to pull together. Bouillabaisse is a particularly light and tasty dish that makes a welcome change from some of the richer French stews.

Beany good

A slow-cooked marvel, cassoulet contains many ingredients, but is really a cinch to make. Source: Bean cassoulet with nut crumb (Damon Gameau)

Cassoulet is another winning French stew. The version pictured here is vegetarian, made with cannellini beans and topped with a nut crumb, but a traditional cassoulet is generally packed with a variety of meats like chicken, duck or pork. The dish is named after its cooking vessel, the cassole, a round, deep earthernware pot (which also brought us the word casserole).

Duck, duck, goose

Bathe duck legs in their own fat to crisp up. Source: Supplied

Confit is a preservation technique where meat or vegetables are cooked at a low temperature in fat, then cooled and stored in the rendered fat (you can also confit fruits in a very concentrated sugar syrup). The longer you store the meat, the more tender and flavoursome it becomes, as connective tissue slowly breaks down and the fat inhibits bacterial growth. If that doesn't sell you on this outstanding duck confit with thyme, orange and garlic, we don't know what would... 😊

Gratin gratitude

Alpine families love this classic potato dish, gratin Savoyard, which is very easy to make and delicious. Source: Benito Martin

Baking potatoes with a couple of types of cheese and butter was always going to be a good idea. You can add garlic and cream to your gratin, beef or even spinach, but you really can't beat the classic version. It needs a full hour minimum in the oven to ensure the potatoes cook right through.

Top rated

Ratatouille originated in the south of France and word spread from there. Source: Benito Martin

Ratatouille stands proudly at the top of the podium with neither fanfare nor dispute.

The real main event

Clap for clafoutis

This apricot clafoutis is scented with lemon and has a beautiful creamy texture. Source: Alan Benson

Most often made with cherries, clafoutis is also marvellous with apricot and lemons. A custardy batter surrounds the stonefruit with a texture that's quite like pancakes. The sweetness comes almost exclusively from the fruit. Traditional cherry clafoutis was made using unpitted cherries, which supposedly added a flavour to the dish reminiscent of almonds.

Crepe invention

While you can fill your crepes with almost anything, this caramelised banana and honey version absolutely pops. Source: Brett Stevens

Crepes seem fiddly and a bit temperamental, but they are very forgiving. The batter should resemble thin cream, no thicker. Drop about half a cup in the centre of a flat-based pan and spread it to the edges. Then practise your flipping using a wooden spatula. Much flipping practise will no doubt be required, which is no chore when it results in crepe after crepe after crepe.

Soufflé away

A chocolate soufflé with a hazelnut ganache is surely heaven-sent. Source: Chris Chen

If crepes send a little jolt of fear into the heart of even the most seasoned cook, then the soufflé sends the dagger. No need to cower, though. The only true secret to making a soufflé stand tall is to carefully whisk room temperature egg whites so they puff to maximum volume in the oven. Oh, and this is one time where day-fresh eggs are not required. Give them a week to settle before whisking.

Crème ooh-aah

Crème brûlée has been the weddings, parties, anything dessert of choice for centuries. Source: Guillaume Brahimi

The classic crème brûlée is a great marriage of simple ingredients. It's the kind of dessert that is far showier than it has any reason to be, as this recipe by Guillaume Brahimi proves. Put this on a dinner party menu and watch your guests swoon. They will never need to know how easy it is to make. For maximum kudos, it pays to save the blowtorching to perform in front of your crowd.

Macaron fever

With so many unique flavours available, it almost seems a crime to highlight chocolate macarons. Almost. Source: The Chocolate Queen

It's hard to remember the time when everyone confused maracrons with coconut macaroons, so ingrained are these bite-sized melty-mouthy biscuits these days. The meringue-almond-ganache treat has whole shops devoted to it and rightly so. Every flavour in every colour is a treat worthy of fanfare.

About that late night snack...

Croque on

Guillaume Brahimi's recipe toasts the sandwich in the oven for maximum melt on the cheese. Source: French Food Safari

Don't be fooled into thinking this is just a toasted sandwich. The French don't do 'just'. The croque monsieur is the boss of toasted sambos. Crisp on the outside, meltingly creamy and flat-out amazing on the inside, you won't find a more satisfying midnight snack anywhere. For a variation, try adding an egg for a croque madame or pineapple for a (pas très français) croque Hawaiian.