I have my own favorite  French chefs who have created many gorgeous dishes. You can find many of their recipes and how to prepare them at the click of a few buttons on the Internet and it is definitely worth the effort.

1 Michel Roux

One of the greatest French chefs, Michel Roux is today a ‘grand seigneur’ of French cuisine. His cook book ‘Gavroche’ is a masterpiece which includes desserts to die for. He combines the traditional with the modern in such a remarkable way.

2 Raymond Blanc

One of my all time favorite French chefs, this lovely man creates French dishes which are out of this world. His culinary creations whether they are starters, main courses or desserts all have a very singularly Raymond Blanc signature which you will find to be fresh, clean and extremely healthy.

3 Jean-Christophe Novelli

This Michelin award winning chef holds courses which teach students to cook dishes to perfection as well as present them in a wonderful way. His recipes really are quite unique and tremendously innovative.

Do you have a favorite French chef who creates marvelous recipes that you have recreated in your own kitchen with success? Do you like to add your own personal touch to a recipe and do you find this a fun thing to do? I am a great believer in trying new dishes all the time and love to experiment on my dinner guests. I must admit I have had a few disasters, but I think this is all part of the fun of cooking something I have never tried before. The strangest thing is that the disasters are usually the easiest dishes to cook.

French cuisine is among the most interesting cuisines in the world today. It is one of the oldest and most stylish cuisine out there. And this is partly due to the wonderfully brilliant and amazing French chefs that have made innovations and breakthroughs in the French culinary world. Now here are the seven top French chefs that have had huge contiributions in the history of French cuisine.

7. Bernard Loiseau

Bernard Loiseau was born on January 13, 1951. He first got interested in the culinary arts when he was a teenager. At that time, he was an apprentice of the famous Troigros brothers in Roane at their equally famous restaurant La Maison Troigros for about three years. He was among the biggest supporters of the simpler and more delicate dishes of Nouvelle Cuisine, and his restaurant La Côte d’Or was among the most sought after dining places in France. In fact, he was such an icon of the said style that many believe he inspired the character “Auguste Gusteau” in the highly popular animated movie “Ratatouille”. Sadly though, he committed suicide on February 24, 2003 due to depression caused by his restaurant being downgraded in the Gault Millau guide and being threatened with the removal of one star in the Michelin guide.

6. Joël Robuchon

Joël Robuchon was born on April 7, 1945 in Poitiers, France. He is considered to be among the best and most influential chefs in the world today. In fact, he has been given the Meilleur Ouvrier de France award in 1976 and declared by Gault Millau as the Chef of the Century. As with most famous chefs, he has a chain of popular restaurants, most of which have been awarded Michelin stars, and has also published several cookbooks. His restaurants can be found in major cities around the world. Moreover, he is the mentor of the equally awesome chefs Gordon Ramsay, Eric Ripert, and Michael Caines.

One of the things I love about French dinners is that cheeses actually have their own place in them. I mean, where else would you be served cheese between the main course and dessert? And you would be served not just one yummy French cheese, but four! I tell you, French dinners are delectablyly charminng. Obviously, I love cheese. Now, here are seven most famous kinds of French cheese.

1. Camembert

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Price: $8.80
Camembert is made from usually pasteurized cow’s milk. In France, however, they prefer to use raw unpasteurized cow’s milk. It is soft, gooey, and creamy inside with a white dry rind outside. It is said to have been invented in Normandy, in a town called Camembert. But some experts say this could just be a popular local myth. Another interesting tidbit about this cheese is that the famous surrealist painter Salvador Dali mentioned it was the inspiration behind his most famous painting of a runny clock entitled “The Persistence of Memory”. Experts say Camembert goes well with red wine.

2. Brie de Meaux

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Price: $19.99
Brie is made from whole or skimmed cow’s milk that could be pasteurized or unpasteurized. It looks a bit like Camembert and it also uses the same species of mold but it is more solid on the inside. If your Brie looks as gooey as a Camembert, it is most probably overripe, which you don’t really want. It was invented in Brie, the province for which it was named after. Although this type of French cheese is usually white, there is a type of Brie that has a brownish and drier rind called Brie Noir. It is drier and has a daker color because it is aged longer than the typical Brie. Like Camembert, Brie is served with red wine.

3. Roquefort

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Price: $25.49
Roquefort is a popular blue cheese made from ewe’s milk. It is made, like most French cheeses, in rounds and is white in color with spots of blue green, which is actually mold, all over it. The production of this cheese is quite curious because it is aged inside caves that can only be found in Mont Combalou in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Originally, the mold for this cheese was taken directly from the cave soil but now it is cultured inside labs. Moreover, technically this cheese can be made outside of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon but they cannot take the name Roquefort because the label is protected by French law. Quite snobbish, right? And in my opinion, so French. I read somewhere that Zinfandel goes well with Roquefort.

4. Boursin

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Price: $7.25
Boursin is a cream cheese that is made from cow’s milk mixed with salt, spices, and herbs. It was invented by, and named after, a French cheesemaker named Francois Boursin from Normandy in 1957. Boursin Garlic & Fine Herbs, the original recipe only has milk, cream, salt, pepper, garlic, chives, and parsley. This variety continues to be the most popular one today. Most people eat this creamily delicious cheese with bread, usually a baguette. It goes well with a bottle of fruity red wine.

5. Reblochon

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Price: $84.00
Reblochon is a soft cheese from raw or unpasteurized cow’s milk. It is aged in caves or cellars in the mountains of Haute Savoie. There is a charming anecdote regarding this cheese’s name and origin. The story goes that during the Middle Ages, farmers paid their taxes with milk from their cattle. But in order to pay less, the farmers do not fully milk their animals. (I guess nobody really likes taxes, even then. I sure don’t.) And after the tax collectors go, the farmers milk their cattle again. The much richer milk they get with the second milking is the one they use to make Reblochon. In fact, the word Reblochon comes from the French word “reblocher” which means “to milk the cow’s again”. Reblochon is said to have a nutty taste and a strong herby smell. Similar to Boursin, a bottle of fruity red wine would complement this yummy cheese.

In accordance with PARIS -AFP, one of the best and most popular French chefs, Alain Ducasse, and a well-known in France chocolate and pastry chef, Yves Thuries, have decided to take over the top national higher school of pastry (Ecole Nationale Superieure de la Patisserie, or ENSP). The school, located in the southern part of France, in Yssingeaux, faced a possible closure due to declining enrolment of students, which “saddened” the famous chefs. The school was established in 1984 as the only culinary college in France that offered a complete and advanced curriculum in order to teach established chefs the art of making pastry. Last year, only 750 students were enrolled in the program.Ducasse, the celebrity chef of the top-ranking Michelin restaurants in Paris, New-York, and Monaco, believes that the school can be resurrected to become a French “seedbed of creative pastry”. He already has his own culinary school, named “Alain Ducasse Formation”, which not only trains professional chefs but also provides consulting services to create balanced meals for astronauts of the European Space Agency!

The chefs’ educational plans include attracting international students to enrol in the training, as well as exporting the French pastry art expertise by establishing the school branches outside of France. It is planned that, by the year 2010, about 1,200 culinary students will attend a full-time school program, while amateur chefs from both France and other countries will learn the art of making pastries at the regular weekend courses.