Tasty French Treats that are Worth Knowing

Café Gourmand

I believe that one of the most elegant presentations of the bistros Parisian is the café gourmand which can be translated as "coffee with treats". As the Parisian community cares about their physical health and appearance, I've never seen anyone in Paris consume a large tiramisu with a giant glass of americano. In fact, sugar consumption is not taking place as part of the breakfast - as chocolate crackers perhaps - as part of the lunch or dinner in small portions after the meal or during the apéro in a single cracker portion.

Café gourmand is the secret flavor of Paris. I say secret as most of the time it is not written on the bistro menus, however, is served in every cafe/bistro if you ask for it. While the price of the espresso is on average around 2-3 euros, you pay an extra 4-5 euros for desserts, and in total this treat costs around 7-8 euros. Three kinds of mini desserts (brownie, crème brûlée, tiramisu) are being served however, the number and type of the desserts would vary from one place to another. If you will be visiting Paris soon, it definitely deserves to be on your to-taste list!

Chèvre et Miel

Goat cheese and honey. It may sound like an interesting combination for an average Turkish tourist however, the goat cheese in France is not as aromatic and heavy-smelling as the ones in Turkey. I can even say that chèvre is one of the rare French cheeses that might be consumed during breakfast.

It is sold in rolls and consists of 3 layers. Starting from the core it consists of hard cheese, a creamy part, and an outer shell made of whey which is all made by goat milk. There are some which are covered by different spices (such as basil or chilly), walnuts, or even flowers available especially in cheese shops or in local shops settled in the countryside of France. In particular, the ones with gray-blackish outer pods are smoked in a fireplace and have an incredible taste!

What to call it? Chocolatine or Pain au Chocolat?

They actually both mean the same thing! "Pain au chocolat" should be translated as chocolate bread, but I'd prefer to describe it as a kind of chocolate croissant. My conscience does not allow me to call it simply bread.

Basically, the same product is being sold as "Chocolatine" in the south of France and as "Pain au chocolat" in the rest of the country. It might be surprising for a tourist that somehow the bakery vendors have the unconscious behavior of correcting the foreigners if they use the wrong name or make a spelling mistake somehow. In the case you kindly ask for a "chocolatine" in Paris, you may face this astonishing question: "Oh, did you mean pain au chocolat?"

It seemed to me like bakeries also feel responsible for informing the clients of the distinction between the feminine and the masculine. It's not "un baguette". It's "une baguette"! However, the good news is, the treats you will taste after this mini-discussion are unbelievably tasty and unforgettable.

Galette de Rois

By translation, it's called the "king's cake". This pie - which is usually filled with mashed apples and produced with unique patterns - has become a tradition of birthday parties. The fun part is that there is a pawn called "féve" hidden in the pie and those who find the pawn in the piece served for them are considered the king or queen. The pie itself is being sold with a paper crown in all bakeries. The taste of it is for sure perfect as almost all other French patisserie is and the excitement of the game is worth experiencing.

Escargot

In Turkish cuisine, the dish of snails is not at all a familiar taste. However, it has been consumed in Mediterranean countries for years and cooked according to various recipes.

Although I had seen snail soup called "Ghlal" in Morocco before, I prefered not to taste it. While wandering around in old towns or in squares, it is impossible not to encounter a snail soup seller. If you witnessed the cooking process, you would hear the deplorable cry of snails.

In Cretan cuisine, the typical snail dish is boiled with white wine and bay leaves, while in Maltese cuisine it is cooked by steaming it with red wine, mint, and basil. Today, it is possible to find various ways of cooking snails in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France but today, I will be writing about the French version.

"Escargots au beurre persillé" is not cooked by boiling or steaming the snails as in some other recipes. The snails are first killed, removed from their nests without damaging their shells, and placed back in them after being sautéed (usually with the addition of garlic butter or wine).

On the last step; shells stuffed with butter, basil, and/or parsley are kept in the oven for a while before being served.

The fact that we observe the sale of frozen ready-made snails in the supermarket makes it apparent that the "escargot" has become a kind of fast food rather than is solely served in restaurants with high standards. If you get into a discussion with your French friends about whether snails are edible or not, do not underestimate their defensive power on this particularly sensitive topic.

Boudin Noir

When talking about French delicacies, the subject will eventually lead to the wine-cheese-charcuterie trio. "Boudin noir" (pig blood sausage) is one of the choices of France's 2000-year-old charcuterie tradition.

These sausages, which are produced daily, must be consumed within one or two days at the most. Since it is not always possible to find it fresh, some families in rural areas freeze the pig blood instead of turning it into sausages and store it in the freezer until the day they wish to use it.

Sausages can be prepared and served with apple, lemon, and spices however the recipes used in preparation may vary in line with personal preferences. While the sausages can be grilled or fried and can be served with potatoes or apples, frozen pig blood is mostly being added to ratatouille or other vegetable dishes at the last stage of cooking - they are being defrosted and kept in the pot until they get soft.

On the other hand, the pig is not the only animal whose blood is being consumed as a product. The same type of sausages can also be made with duck and goose blood. For those who are open to new tastes and whose diet would allow them to taste it, boudin noir served with apples along with red wine can be a highly interesting French combo of taste. Besides, there are sausage lovers who argue that consumption of animal blood is ethical in a way non of the parts of the animal are being wasted including meat, milk, skin, and blood. And it is acknowledged as an important component for health as well. On the farm I visited, I even heard some stories about Roman generals making their soldiers drink blood to get stronger.

Foie Gras

Foie Gras is considered one of the protected cultural elements of French gastronomy. As of 2016, France is number one in foie gras production in the world, while Hungary ranks second. Thanks to its creamy structure, it is being differentiated from other charcuterie products such as sausages and bacon. And it is quite different in taste from other meat and meat products as well. In other words, if you spread it on your bread without reading the label of the can, you may even not suspect that you are eating a meat product. And without doubt, I can say that it is one of the most typical flavors you can encounter in France in terms of its uniqueness of texture and taste.

It is usually being consumed with wine, spread - tartiner- on bread or crackers, or served along with a steak. It is mostly sold in mini glass jars or cans and is consumed in small quantities. One of the reasons why it is consumed in small portions is that the way it is being produced is quite dubious. For those who care about how the food they consume is produced in the first place, it is necessary to give a short summary of foie gras production.

Foie gras production is a 13-week process. Young birds (duck or goose) are kept in indoor production farms until they are hitting 4 weeks of their lives. They are being fed with grass and special nutritions outdoor between the weeks of 4 until 9. And after the 9th week, they are being force-fed 3 times a day by drilling into their stomachs -which is a method called "gavage". So animals spend the last 4 weeks of their lives being force-fed through a tube as their lungs need to be lubricated. This method not only enables more foie gras to be produced in the short term, but also increases the taste and quality of the product.

In some small-scale local farms, production can be made without using this particular method. There are farms that use more ethical methods to turn the fattening season of animals - between autumn and winter season- into an opportunity however, this alternative has an effect on prices and taste as well.

Kirsch

It would be appropriate to say that it is a drink produced in France that has German influence. If you happen to be in the Alsace region, it would be possible to taste the homemade ones! It is a soft drink made by double distillation of morello cherries which has a soft taste compared to vodka-type soft drinks. It is a colorless drink that is light in terms of odor but heavy in terms of the level of alcohol (38-40%).

The idea that people produce kirsch in their backyard reminds me of the raki produced at home by the old family members of several families in my hometown, Iskenderun. You would also see on its cute bottles that "Eau de Vie" - water of life- will be written on the labels. It also fits perfectly with cocktails made with plain or red berries.

Crémant d'Alsace

I had the chance to try crémant in Alsace however, I found out that crémant produced in Bourgogne, Loire, and Limoux regions are highly famous as well. The basic logic is that the grapes which vary in taste and type from region to region make a difference in the taste of the final product.

We can call crémant neither wine nor champagne, perhaps sparkling or bubble wine would fit as a description. It has a soft taste and a wonderful texture which would go along with any dish or plate you will prepare aside. If you are looking for a wonderful gift to buy from France, crémant may be the one that you are looking for.

On the other hand, there has been an ongoing debate about where the first sparkling wine and champagne derivatives were produced. Contrary to the popular belief, the first sparkling wine was produced in Limoux, not in Champagne.

Cidre de Pomme

Cidre de pomme is a soft drink with a taste ranging from sweet-mild to bitter-sharp (related to apple type and fermentation duration) and its alcohol content ranging from 2-8%. If you think how magnificent an apple may taste like, it can only taste as good as the ones in Normandy! It is already possible to observe the variety of products make by apple or include apple mash: pies, puddings, desserts, tea, jams, crackers and of course thousands of types of cidre.

Cidre production has some similarities with winemaking in terms of the technique however, there is a duration and attitude difference in fermentation and maceration stages. In order to see how production-consumption habits lead to creativity in the language, I would like to give two expressions that emerged within the production of Cidre: the type of apple used to make this drink are called as pommes à cidre while the tree that bears fruit itself is called pommiers!

Fromage/ Cheese

Agriculture and stockbreeding are generating a large portion of the French economy. Especially when you travel in the countryside of France, you get the feeling that there is almost nothing but pastures, green fields, and natural parks in the country. The animals grazing on those pastures are the fundamentals of the production of the world's best-marketed cheeses.

French cheeses are made from 4 main ingredients: cow's milk, goat's milk, sheep's milk, and whey. They are divided into several different classes according to their color, hardness, odor, moldy or mildew-free, the region of production, and the place of production (eg farm cheese, artisanal or industrial cheese). I can outline and exemplify 7 groups:

• Cheeses with white mold (Camambert)

• Washed rind cheeses (Livarot)

• Uncooked semi-hard cheeses (Morbier, Raclette)

• Hard cheeses (Beaufort, Comté)

• Cheeses with blue mold (Roquefort)

• Goat cheeses (Soignon, Sainte-Maure of Touraine)

• Lamb's milk cheeses (Ossau-Iraty).

When you get to the supermarket, the cheese aisles stretching from one end to the other are both surprising and exciting for many people. Which cheese you will combine with which meal or wine, or which type of cheese you will consume during which time of the day is a personal result that you would reach by tasting different combinations over time.

On the other hand, the AOC/AOP (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée/ Protégée) label has been created both to protect the uniqueness of regional cheeses in French cuisine and to show a quality threshold. In other words, you can be sure that the stamped cheeses as such are being produced under the required conditions and have quite unique tastes.

Chèvre

Apart from the types and selection criteria of cheeses, the manners of consuming cheese vary from country to country. While French cheeses are suitable in terms of taste and texture the consumption during lunch and dinner after the main dish or during apéro; Turkish cheeses are more suitable to be eaten during breakfast. If you have moved from Turkey to France and still haven't given up on having breakfast early in the morning, I can suggest you to have goat cheese (chèvre) or "La vache qui rit" for the breakfast.

Chèvre is one of my favorite French cheeses, it has an excellent taste. It is sold in rolls and consists of 3 layers. Starting from the core it consists of hard cheese, creamy part, and an outer shell made of whey which is all made by goat milk. Especially when you visit the local markets or markets in villages, you can see different types of goat cheese that are covered with several different materials such as walnuts, lavender, and peanuts. And there are even the ones that are grey-blackish on the outside, fumigated in the fireplace, and they taste outstanding.

Raclette

If you enjoy consuming cheese and if you especially loved having apéro, Raclette will be the most enjoyable cheese to have! If I compare it with cheddar cheese due to its easy melting feature, we are talking about cheese that has a sharper taste, darker yellow color, and is much harder in terms of texture.

The recipe is simple: boiled potatoes, bacon, raclette cheese and lots of wine - red wine is my preference. You can melt the cheese in any pot or pan however, in France there are already raclette machines with melting and grilling chambers designed just for this - occurrence which I believe is the best invention ever. If you are going to organize a soirée with your friends or family, you may go with this menu as it is budget-friendly, tastes marvelous, and easy to create a cozy environment. If there's one thing in France that can bring a family or group of friends together around one table, that's should be the raclette machine on the table and tasteful wine!