Finding Food Elsewhere

Food is why we’re in France

That shouldn’t surprise anyone.

I think about food a lot. I also do a lot of cooking.

And I eat almost every day.

This is truly a culture that loves and celebrates food, yet not everything is amazing. They have their share of junk food here, but also celebrates fresh ingredients, regional and local foods, and simplicity, as well as the famously difficult techniques.

Techniques & Basics

I like to cook quickly, making things that are tasty and nutritious from quality ingredients. I also try not to make things too complicated.

I also like to use local or foraged ingredients whenever possible, so they will show up in recipes here and there. I try to work with what is fresh and available easily. Hopefully, all of the recipes can be adapted to other ingredients so that one ingredient can be swapped for another simply.

Simple French Cuisine Basics

French cuisine isn’t so intimidating and I think of it as more of a palate of colors and flavors to work with than anything else.

If you look up “French cuisine,” you’ll get some basic ideas – and these are definitely not uniquely French, but are helpful guides.

·      freshness & simplicity

·      cook by region and by season

·      Select techniques that highlight ingredients

·      Keep it simple, but flavorful

·      sauces

·      herbs

For me, this always boils down to: let a carrot taste like the best carrot it can be; let a steak taste like a steak. And so on.

I won’t get into too many advanced techniques and my baking and pastry game is pretty weak, but we’ll try it out.

K