French Cuisine
120 flashcards by MentisLibrary
Classical French cooking for a serious home cook: kitchen vocabulary, the five mother sauces and their derivatives, core techniques, the regional dishes of Burgundy, Provence, Alsace and the southwest, cheese and charcuterie, patisserie, and how a French meal is served.
- What does mise en place mean?
- Put in place: every ingredient measured, cut and arranged, and every tool within reach, before any cooking begins.
- What is the brigade de cuisine?
- The hierarchy that assigns every cook a fixed station, from the chef de cuisine down through the sous chef and the chefs de partie.
- Who codified modern French kitchen organization and the five mother sauces?
- Auguste Escoffier, who simplified and systematized the elaborate cuisine he inherited from Antonin Carême.
- What is a mirepoix and what is its ratio?
- The aromatic base of onion, carrot and celery, classically two parts onion to one each of carrot and celery by weight.
- What is a white mirepoix and when is it used?
- A mirepoix with the carrot replaced by leek, parsnip or extra onion, so it adds flavor without adding color.
- What is a bouquet garni?
- A bundle of aromatics, classically thyme, bay leaf and parsley stems, tied with string so it can be lifted out whole.
- What are fines herbes?
- The classical quartet of chervil, chives, parsley and tarragon, chopped fine and added at the very end.
- What does it mean to sweat a vegetable?
- To cook it in a little fat over low heat, often covered, until it softens and releases moisture without taking any color.
- What does émincer mean?
- To slice thinly. It does not mean to mince, which is a false friend that ruins recipes translated from French.
- What does ciseler mean?
- To cut into a very fine dice, most often an onion or shallot, using parallel cuts into the half before slicing across it.
- What is a fond in French cooking?
- Stock, the foundation of a sauce. Fond blanc is white stock, fond brun is roasted brown stock, and fumet is fish stock.
- Glace de viande
- Brown stock reduced until it is syrupy and sets to a firm jelly when cold, used a spoonful at a time to deepen a sauce.
- Court-bouillon
- A quickly made aromatic liquid of water, wine or vinegar, vegetables and herbs, used for poaching rather than as a stock.
- Name the five mother sauces.
- Béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise and tomate. Escoffier settled on these five, from which every other classical sauce is derived.
- How is a béchamel made?
- Cook a white roux, whisk in warm milk, and simmer until it thickens. Onion, clove and bay are often infused into the milk first.
- Velouté
- A white stock, chicken, veal or fish, thickened with a blond roux and simmered until it is smooth and velvety.
- Sauce espagnole
- A brown sauce of brown stock, brown roux, mirepoix and tomato, simmered and skimmed for hours.
- Demi-glace
- Equal parts sauce espagnole and brown stock reduced by half, giving a glossy, deeply savory brown sauce.
- How is hollandaise made and why does it break?
- Egg yolks are whisked with a little acid over gentle heat, then warm butter is beaten in drop by drop. It breaks when it gets too hot or the butter goes in too fast.
- Béarnaise
- A hollandaise variant made with a reduction of vinegar, shallot, tarragon and peppercorn, finished with more tarragon and chervil.
- Sauce mornay
- Béchamel enriched with grated cheese, classically Gruyère, and sometimes an egg yolk.
- Sauce suprême
- Chicken velouté finished with cream and butter, and often a little mushroom cooking liquor.
- Sauce allemande
- A velouté thickened further with a liaison of egg yolk and cream, sharpened with lemon. Carême counted it a mother sauce; Escoffier demoted it.
- Sauce bordelaise
- A red wine sauce with shallot, thyme and demi-glace, traditionally finished with poached bone marrow.
- Sauce chasseur
- Hunter's sauce: mushrooms and shallot sauteed in butter, deglazed with white wine, with tomato and demi-glace and finished with tarragon.
- How is a beurre blanc made?
- Reduce shallot with white wine and vinegar almost dry, then whisk in cold butter piece by piece off strong heat until it emulsifies.
- Beurre noisette
- Butter cooked until the milk solids toast and it smells of hazelnut, with a nutty brown color.
- What is the classic vinaigrette ratio?
- Three parts oil to one part vinegar, with mustard and seasoning. The mustard is what holds the emulsion together.
- Aïoli
- A garlic emulsion of pounded garlic, egg yolk and olive oil, thick enough to stand a spoon in.
- Rouille
- A Provençal sauce of garlic, chile and olive oil, often thickened with bread or potato and colored with saffron.