French Cooking - 'Cuisine' or Regional ?

[bleudauvergne]

Adam brought up a great question in the French Cuisine Questions thread. Before it get's buried in a tomato fight, I'd like to introduce it as a new topic.

In terms of French home cooking, is there a French 'cuisine' or is it more regional?

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That's a great question, Adam. When I think of French cooking, and what it represents in my mind, it's changed completely over the years. When I first started cooking French, it was to get some classics down, and I had some idea of what various regions were known for, but no real nitty gritty details. I continue my discovery process by discovering the incredible variations found in the regional dishes.

Take sausage, for instance. Here in Lyon, I've learned the subtle nuances between different kinds of sausages that not only are prevalent throughout the city, but also what Lyonnais versions of other regional sausages are. Then there the way things are done from neighborhood to neighborhood. It's fascinating, I could write a book about it.

Discovering the regional specialties is always really interesting to me, and I think that everyone has a certain level of sensitivity to different regions, depending on where you're coming from. The first thing to hit me when I'm discovering a new region are the blatant specialties, sometimes marketed to death, and then house specialties with their various influences, and the picture fills out slowly in my mind. You think you've tasted a crepe and then you go to Brittany. You think you've had a pistou, then Mamie D brings one out one Sunday. I thought I had tasted French cheese, the rest is history...

Has anyone else's focus shifted from French cuisine in general to exploring the regions, how, and when? Stories?

[Adam Balic]

I enjoy the regionality of French cuisine.

One thing that I have noted is how specific a dish can be to a very local region. The other night I cooked a choucroute  recipe from Colmar. The interesting this about it is that it contains no cabbage, but brined turnip instead. I have noticed the same thing over and over again. So while this recipe may come from France, I'm not convinced that it could be called "French"?

[bleudauvergne]

That's really the big question. Would it be more appropriate to call the dish Alsacean instead? Is the dish a specialty of only that specific city, therefore should be be calling it something else altogether? I guess it would boil down to the history, if this dish developed along side choucroute and was not invented in the recent past, as one of those dishes that plays on a name, can we rightfully still call it a choucroute? Hmmm.

[Jake]

Lucy, to answer your initial question I think that's one of the things I love most about french cooking is the regional differences. For those outside of France there are the known "classics", which, of course, have all come from some region of France, but the different regional dishes are what really intrigue me today. The differences between say, Provence, Alsace and Normandy are extensive and with so many specialty books being published these days I think it is easier for anyone outside the country to learn about and enjoy the differences. The first time I had tatiflette was the most amazing experience. Truly, a simple dish, but the sum of the ingredients,

[markk]

Adam brought up a great question in the French Cuisine Questions thread.  Before it get's buried in a tomato fight, I'd like to introduce it as a new topic. 

In terms of French home cooking, is there a French 'cuisine' or is it more regional?

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I too thought of this when reading that thread.

I think that if the question is "French home cooking", the answer is that it is by definition regional, because it's entirely unlikely that a home cook in Provence, and a home cook in Normandy, and a home cook in the Southwest (and a home cook in Alsace) would be making the same things at all. Historically, they wouldn't have had the same ingredients.

But if you take out the word 'home' and ask whether there's a 'French' cuisine or it is more regional, I think that it is only regional as well.

As far as what we call French "classics", I think it would help to give some examples. Are what we're calling classics those dishes that have traveled the world and have always represented "French" food in other countries? The first dish that comes to mind for me is "Duck a l'Orange", and while I can remember it well from "French" restaurants around the U.S. for the last 40 years, I can't recall ever seeing it on a menu in France. (But then, "Veal Parmesan" was what all "Italian" restaurants ever served for the longest time, too.)

It's my understanding that the cuisines of France and Italy (for example) are each made up of vastly different regional cuisines, and that historically it is a few dishes from one or two of the regions that, until recently, were considered the "classic" dishes from those countries. Of course, they came from certain regions, and I think that in the case of France, some regions exported their "haute" cuisine, whereas the dishes that have always represented Italy have always been from the poorer regions.

I also think it's a question of semantics, and how you want to use the word "classic". It may mean the fancier dishes from each region that are made for special occasions there, as opposed to the dishes eaten at home on a daily basis; still, this would vary from region to region as well.

I'd be interested to hear what French dishes come to mind for other people as "classic" French, and I think that establishing those would be helpful to this discussion. And if each person suggesting a "classic" dish knew of its regional origin, that would help the discussion as well.

[chefzadi]

In terms of French home cooking, is there a French 'cuisine' or is it more regional?

Yes it is more regional. Except Paris where people from allover France have come to live (all over the world really). Btw, do those Parisians ever really cook much at home anyway?

I've mentioned this before, I grew up without a frigo in the Beaujolais. The only market was the weekly farmer's market so it was extremely regional. But we also had a lot of Algerian food at home, which is not tied to the terroir where the Rhone and Burgundy meet. France has a lot of ethnic minorities. I remember when a halal butcher opened up nearby my maman stopped going to our village butcher. After all these years he is still mad at us.

Yes, there are dishes that represent certain regions. French home cooks don't do "fusion" as much as say Americans seem to. But certain things like North African preserved lemons and semolina couscous have made there way into home pantries and French dishes. Cusine de grandmere are those old classics that grandma made. A more modern femme might take recipes from whatever magazine it is that women read and perhaps add avacadoes to a salad or lemongrass to a fish soup. An array of ingredients are more readily available now through super markets. So like cooks all over the world, French home cooks prepare dishes with what is available. So my French friends cook more "ethnic" at home than our parents did, unless of course our parents were "ethnic" to begin with...

Has anyone else's focus shifted from French cuisine in general to exploring the regions, how, and when? Stories?

I was born in Lyon, raised in the Beaujolais... The first time I saw a beach was when I was around 18-20. It was in Brittany. Wherever I travel I mostly (try to exclusively) eat local specialties. Oysters, lobster, seafood in general... *sigh* I have more to say about regional cooking, but I'll hold off for now...

[Adam Balic]

That's really the big question.  Would it be more appropriate to call the dish Alsacean instead?  Is the dish a specialty of only that specific city, therefore should be be calling it something else altogether?  I guess it would boil down to the history, if this dish developed along side choucroute and was not invented in the recent past, as one of those dishes that plays on a name, can we rightfully still call it a choucroute?  Hmmm.

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Lucy - the full name of the dish is"Choucroute de navets a'la Colmar". I haven't seen it anywhere but in Alsace.

I imagine that it like thousands of other regional dishes in France, they only become "French" once they are disseminated outwith their region of origin. This may occur though spreading of the dish to other regions (choucroute being served in Paris for instance) or by the knowledge of the existance a particular dish (in cases where the dish remains local in production). But in all these cases I would think that these dishes would keep there regional appellation.

[touaregsand]

Has anyone else's focus shifted from French cuisine in general to exploring the regions, how, and when? Stories?

I remembering watching a few episodes of Julia Child's on PBS when I was a kid (I'm 35). She looked positively ancient and did not have the immediate, visceral importance to me that have been expressed by other Americans on the boards. She was too far away from me, as with most other things French. As young as the age of 5 (when I moved to the States) I remember rich relatives of mine talking about dining out in French restaurants, in States and in France. Oh, it was so fancy, the contraptions they use eat, the rigid service protocals! I grew up eating pretty fancy, aristocratic Korean food at home. But we used two sticks and a spoon to eat with. They were silver with ornate inlaid decorative work on the stems. The whole snail thing seemed really funny to me. Holding it with tongs and a special fork just for this? When I was in junior high my aunt took me to a French restaurant, my friends at school thought it was quite the thing, but none of us knew exactly why. It just seemed such a fancy, grown up thing to do. I don't even remember what I had. They kept taking my utensils away with each course. Clearing plates, new plates. I thought, "I wonder why they torture the dishwasher like this." Flash forward a few more years, I borrow a copy of Ms Julia's book. Alas there are very few French restaurants left in Los Angeles, the ones that are around are too formal and old fashioned for a young LA girl and her surfer boyfriend to try, I have no interest in trying any of them. MAFC still looks too foreign and distant.

All this time though, my whole life I am obsessed with food. I always liked foods that other kids didn't seem to like. I had a secret passion for liver (all kinds, even monkfish liver). My family was very food orientated and my parents thought nothing of giving me money to buy expensive ingredients for all of my cooking experiments.

But I was still lost with my cooking on certain levels. I didn't have a firm grasp of cooking techniques and priniciples.

The answer? I marry a French Chef. (My family was not surprised at all). I very quickly learn that it isn't so complicated, distant or foreign to me. Alot of it was under my nose for a long time. My first introduction to French food was very broad in a certain sense. It began by helping out my husband in the kitchen at home and in restaurants. Eventually I became "good" enough to fill in for most positions and I have enough pratical and management experience to supervise and train staff which I did. In between all this we went to France over a dozen times. Mostly Lyon and Paris. My first trip over there was to Lyon and the Beaujolais. OMG! The whole meaning of "artisanal" changed for me on that first trip.

Note: The heavy use of "fancy" is intentional.