Since we have a number of folks on the forum who are still somewhat new to France, I thought it might be fun to have a "food thread" to point out local delicacies or just point out some of the "convenience foods" á là française...

We've been taking advantage lately of the "farce" from the butcher or the charcutier. Sometimes it's called "farce à tomates" or "farce à legumes" - but it's basically sausage meat with seasonings appropriate to use as stuffing for vegetables. Each butcher and charcutier seems to have their own recipe, and you can find farce in the supermarket, too, but it's not as good (add your own seasonings).

DH likes stuffed tomatoes - which is great, because he scoops out his tomato and I chop up what he would otherwise waste and mix it in with the stuffing meat, which makes it just that much moister and flavorful. I prefer stuffed zucchini (courgettes to the Brits out there). But you can also stuff mushrooms or whatever you have handy. (With mushrooms, you chop up the stems and mix with the farce.)

Stick it in the oven until the meat is cooked and it's a quick, light meal.

What other foods have you "discovered" here in France?
Cheers,
Bev

Not sure I've discovered much 'cos I've lived here before, but this area is known for tripe & lentils (not to my taste at all), honeys & jams (yeah, can cope with those), & anything you can possibly do to a dead pig - o & cheese - we have an AOC for blue cheese (which I don't eat either).

But I am a picky eater.

Vaguely interesting is all the different regional words for bread in all its forms; I usually buy a "batard" but have been known to indulge in a "dejeunette". I know that, in the UK, there are myriad words for bread in its various forms (used to work in a bakery); here, it seems, there are too.

H x

Please see post # 38: Guilty pleasures

My wife's Grandmother mixed veal and pork for her stuffing for Moule Farci (Stuffed mussels). Her's was the best in the family. Unfortunately she passed on some years ago.

We lived along the border of Lorraine and always enjoyed choucroute in Strasbourg. You can get choucroute here but not the same meats, sausages and sauerkraut. We also liked the flam kuchen.

Getting close to dinner time.

I use mixed veal/pork mince with chopped kidneys and lardons, with breadcrumbs, soaked in brandy, and shreds of orange pulp for stuffing our Xmas goose

Yes indulgent, but - hey -once a year, it's Ok isn't it?

H

What I find amazing here is that the words for different forms of bread - or even for the different pastries - are all pretty uniform throughout France. A baguette is a baguette, and a batard or a ficelle or any of the other various shapes, sizes and forms of bread are pretty much understood in any bakery anywhere in France.

Among the pastries, a Paris-Brest is always a sort of donut-shaped puff pastry with a beige colored creme filling. A glan is a sort of tear-drop shaped creme puff, usually with green frosting and custard filling.

My first job in the US was in a bakery, and I swear the baker made up the names for the various pastries as he went along. The consistency here just amazes me. (And they all go by the same names in Luxembourg, too!)
Cheers,
Bev

Sorry Bev, I beg to differ, but maybe since my first extended stay in France - 30 years ago - they've "homologue"'d terms and therefore I could be wrong. I do know I had to learn a whole host of new words - in preference to the usual "point & grunt" - to get my daily loaf!

Here you find variations on a theme. In addition to baguettes, they have baguettes with upturned ends called banettes. There's one bakery that sells a type of baguette they call a "petrisanne". It's a bit more doughy than your usual baguette and sometimes they make different types by adding herbs to the dough. Each artisanal bakery has their own ingredients so no two baguettes taste alike.

Speaking of pastries, the Germans were fond of mentioning the time JFK referred to himself as a doughnut, "Ich bin ein berline." Love that German bread!

Cheers.

That's "Berliner" (oops - I'm turning French.... sorry 'bout that...)

A Berliner is a jelly donut. They sell them here from time to time in Carrefour.
Cheers,
Bev

It's hard to tell - but at least I find the pastries are definitely standardized to a large extent.

In Luxembourg, it's just heavenly - bakeries have one side that is all the French pastries, and the other side of the store is all the marvelous varieties of German breads. I only lived for a few years in Germany, but I still adore the variety of breads you can get there - whole grains, rolls, heavy, dark pumpernickel and so many varieties of breads. France doesn't really do justice to breads, especially whole grains - or "pains gris". But the pastries! That's a whole different story!
Cheers,
Bev

I love French bread. My husband's step mother only eats 100% "bio" food. She makes her own bread, but unfortunately she doesn't know sourdough bread.
Sourdough bread is very common in Melbourne, but I don't recall I ever saw it in France, has anyone eaten it in France?