French Recipes

How is a typical French menu organized?

A traditional French lunch (or dinner) includes:
- l'entrée
- le plat principal
- le fromage
- le dessert

In a "traditional" French family, friends or family are often invited for lunch on Sunday.
Usually people are invited at 1 p.m. and it is not unusual to leave the table at 4 or 5 p.m. !
When we invite friends, we always serve aperitif before lunch and after dessert you usually offer coffee and eventually digestive.

Traditional main course is meat; sometimes fish, with one or two vegetables. Gigot (leg of lamb or mutton) and Rosbif (roast beef) are the classical meats with flageolets, pommes de terre (potatoes) or haricots verts (French beans) as vegetables.

Une salade verte (green salad) is often served between main course and cheese.

A dessert is always served. French desserts are relatively light compared to other countries and it can be a tart with fruits
(tarte aux pommes, tarte aux fraises) or for example a chocolate cake.

Number of guests

First of all, remember that serving a formal dinner to more than 8 persons is a lot of work and time.

It is better to choose the Buffet option beyond this number. But you can make it if you chose
simple things to cook (cold ones in advance for example) or if you have help
(real help - you need to be 2 cooks). But remember, doubling proportions and weights to your regular recipe are not always as simple as it looks!!

What shall I cook?

Do you absolutely want to give a superb impression to your future mother in law or to your boss ?
DO NOT choose the most sophisticated recipe you can find...

Stay simple: you will have much more success with a simple dish you are used to cooking well
than with a complicated dish you might miss and that will stress you anyway.
You need to relax and you will be a far better host if you do.

Feel it: what do you feel like cooking / serving? This is an important question…
Remember you need to enjoy it in order to do the best job.

Be Classical: as much in the choice of the recipe than in the ingredients. You might not know all the
tastes of your guests. Try to know if you can if there is some special dish your guest especially likes
or is allergic to.

Consider the weather: try to avoid Soup entrée when it is 100°F as well as
sorbet dessert when it is -50°F…it makes sense!

Match courses: Entrée, Main course, (Cheese), Dessert; they follow each other: they have to be different enough and compatible. For example: avoid meat Entrée before a meat course, it might be heavy…
Always try to think of what you would like after…would you like a sauce meat ragout after a soup?
Wouldn't you appreciate a large variety of tasty cheeses after a light fish preparation?