The book “Simple French Food” has been recently written by one of the most skilful American experts in French cuisine, an enthusiastic advocate of authentic French cooking, Richard Olney. His previously written books include a number of popular paperbacks and hardcovers on the subject, such as “The French Menu Cookbook”, “Lulu’s Provencal Table: The Exuberant [...]

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 [...]

In many cultures, basil is treated as a sacred herb. In India, it is an object of veneration, which is planted in temples and monastery gardens. It is believed to have a power to cure diseases and kill both mosquitoes and demons thriving in the open air. In ancient Persia and Greece, basil was associated [...]

French sorrel (Rumex Scutatus), a mildly acidic cultivated green herb, has always been praised throughout Europe, especially in France where it enjoys its greatest popularity. It is a very ancient herb; its name is derived from the Teutonic word for “sour”. Ancient species of sorrel were extensively used in pharaonic Egypt and its allied type, [...]

Do you know that, in the Gascony region of France, in the land of Three Musketeers, the people snack on fried duck skin and eat twice as much foie gras as other Frenchmen, and fifty times as much as Americans? They are also slathering goose or duck fat on bread instead of butter and eat [...]

La Maquette, a great French cuisine restaurant in Toronto, has been voted this year as the most romantic French restaurant in Canada. Besides, every year, renowned for its poetic atmosphere and sumptuous culinary delights, it is nominated in numerous other categories, including “Best Food” and “Best Ambience”. La Marquette is located in a historical district [...]

Almost every world cuisine offers recipes that include raw animal protein (fish, meat and unpasteurized dairy products), which seems to be a universal practise. In Italy the most famous raw appetizer is carpaccio, in the Middle East – kibbeh, in Norway – raw marinated fish, and in France it is steak tartare and, of course, [...]

Roquefort is a delectable ewe’s-milk blue cheese from the South of France, and is one of the most famous of all French cheeses. In accordance with the European law, only those cheeses aged in the natural Cambalou caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon have a right to be named “Roquefort”, this is why when you buy this cheese [...]

Baguette, with its crunchy, crisp crust and a soft, delectable center, is a traditional white bread served in France, and a staple of French cuisine. French “une baguette” is translated into English as a “stick”, which truly describes the unique form of this most popular French bread – it is shaped as a wand of [...]