To successfully prepare French cuisine, one must utilize high-grade ingredients and practice precision during preparation. French dining also emphasizes elegance and social gathering during dining experiences.

Haute cuisine originated in France and emphasizes precision and artistic presentation. French cooking techniques like flambe, sauteing and poaching have become standard globally; additional essential skills include rouxing, bouquet garni and chiffonade (cutting thin strips with a knife to ensure even cooking).

Mise en place

Mise en place (pronounced: meez an plas) refers to a cooking technique employed by chefs that allows them to quickly prepare ingredients and tools before beginning a meal.

Have you seen it used in cooking shows? Chefs always ensure their mise en place is organized before starting to cook so as to ensure no essential ingredient or tool goes amiss during a recipe.

Professional chefs make good use of this practice; home cooks can also benefit from this strategy by reading through all recipes thoroughly to understand its ingredients and cooking process more thoroughly, and minimize kitchen-related distractions that could otherwise distract.

Deglazing

Caramelized bits that adhere to the bottom of a pan after searing meat or sauteing vegetables may seem unremarkable at first, but these golden delights contain tons of flavor! Deglazing involves pouring liquid such as wine, beer or fruit juice directly into your hot pan while the heat remains on and scraping vigorously to release those flavorful tidbits that have stuck to its walls.

Chefs use deglazing as an indispensable technique for making stocks and sauces such as demi-glace that enhance many dishes, as well as for adding flavorful broths and stews.

Sautéing

Sauteing is a French cooking technique which involves quickly frying ingredients with minimal fat over high heat, using precision and strong heat management skills to achieve desired caramelization and flavor development without overcooking or burning the food.

French cuisine relies heavily on producing rich stocks and broths, which requires patience, dedication, fresh ingredients, quality tools like a chef’s knife, heavy-duty skillet, and sturdy cutting board to produce tasty results.

Braising

Braising is an ancient cooking technique involving both dry and wet heat that produces tender meat dishes. The process entails searing ingredients in a hot pan (usually dutch oven), then simmering them gently in flavorful liquid.

After searing your star ingredient, deglaze the pan by using wine, stock, beer, or even water to loosen any stubborn bits that have adhered to the bottom. Stir these liquids into your braising liquid for added depth of flavor in your dish – an effective way to maximize ingredients!

Poaching

Poaching is one of the gentler cooking techniques, used primarily to simmer fish or eggs in flavorful liquids such as water. Although often water is used, other liquids such as wine, milk or stock may be added for additional flavor to the food being poached.

Alternatively, try poaching eggs using red wine to achieve “oeufs a la bourguignonne.” A well-poached egg has a sleek shape with white that adheres tightly to the yolk without disintegrating, as tested with a knife tip; and should shimmy but not shatter when tested by hand.

Sauces

An exquisite sauce can add moisture, flavor, and depth to almost any dish. The French take great care in crafting their sauces; many consider them essential to the French dining experience.

Bechamel, Veloute, Espagnale and Hollandaise are known as mother sauces because they serve as the foundations from which other French sauces can be created. Each one combines roux with an emulsion base.

Roux is a cooked mixture of butter and flour used to thicken soups, sauces, and desserts. Emulsions involve mixing two liquids that usually do not mix, such as oil and vinegar, using an emulsifier like egg yolks as a binder.

Pastry cream

Pastry cream (sometimes known as “creme patisserie”) is the star ingredient of many French desserts and its mainstay in many cuisines worldwide. Similar to homemade vanilla pudding but thicker, pastry cream requires just egg yolks, milk and cornstarch for its creation and is very straightforward.

I love these sites justin britt ,china tokyo ,brooklyn bagel randolph ,happy at the bay

All pastry cream recipes require tempering – gradually pouring hot milk into an egg mixture in order to reduce the risk of curdling during baking. I prefer cornstarch over flour as it tends to leave less of an unpleasant floury taste behind.

Once your pastry cream has thickened, stir in butter for added richness and to add a shiny sheen to its appearance. Cover with plastic wrap and let cool before using.