French cuisine body of knowledge

Learning material · French cuisine

French cuisine body of knowledge

French cuisine as a discipline of the culinary arts: its nine schools, and their 9 schools, 132 concepts, 9 theories and 43 principles. The tree stops at the principle level. Methods, techniques, dishes and recipes depend on the work they apply to, so they appear only in the examples, never as entries.

Each entry gives its level, its source, a definition and an illustrative example. The example shows the idea, not its scope. Each concept and each principle has a figure, and so does each theory that has a standard figure. A concept marked "also in" has a second parent in another school. "Own placement" and "own wording" mark a placement or a wording that no source sets, and "no term yet" marks a concept that has no standard name.

The founders, sources, dates and quotations are listed from memory and are not checked against the sources.

Discipline

French cuisine

culinary arts and gastronomy · paradigm above: codification (own placement)

The body of knowledge about how food is cooked, served and judged in France. Since the 17th century, French cooks and writers give names and rules to bases, sauces, courses and kitchen roles. Other kitchens learn French cuisine through these names and rules.

Illustrative example A restaurant menu lists an entrée, a plat and a dessert, and a sauce called béarnaise. Each of these words comes from the codified French kitchen.

School1

1 Court cuisine

La Varenne · Massialot · Menon · Marin · 17th–18th c.

The cooking of the royal and noble houses of the 17th and 18th centuries. It replaces the sour, spiced sauces of the Middle Ages with butter, herbs, stocks and roux, and it writes the first French cookbooks with named bases.

Illustrative example A cook who starts a sauce with butter and flour, not with vinegar and cinnamon, follows this school.

Concept1.1

1.1 Liaison

La Varenne · Le Cuisinier françois, 1651

A step that makes a liquid thicker, so that it becomes a sauce. The cook adds a thickener and heats or stirs it into the liquid.

Illustrative example Gravy becomes thick when you stir in flour cooked in the fat of the roast.

Concept1.1.1

1.1.1 Roux

La Varenne · also in Grande cuisine, Classical cuisine

Flour cooked in fat, used to make a liquid thicker. La Varenne gives one of the first French recipes for it. The longer the roux cooks, the darker it gets and the less it thickens.

Illustrative example The first step of a macaroni cheese sauce is butter and flour in a pan.

Concept1.1.1.1

1.1.1.1 White roux

Escoffier · Le Guide culinaire

Roux cooked only until the flour loses its raw taste, before it takes colour. It thickens milk for béchamel.

Illustrative example Butter and flour stirred for two minutes for a white sauce.

Concept1.1.1.2

1.1.1.2 Blond roux

Escoffier · Le Guide culinaire

Roux cooked until it turns pale gold. It thickens white stock for velouté.

Illustrative example The base of a creamy chicken sauce.

Concept1.1.1.3

1.1.1.3 Brown roux

Escoffier · Le Guide culinaire

Roux cooked until it turns brown and smells of nuts. It thickens brown stock for espagnole.

Illustrative example The dark base of a gumbo uses the same step.

Concept1.1.2

1.1.2 Egg-yolk liaison

Escoffier · Le Guide culinaire (own placement)

Egg yolks, often with cream, stirred into a hot liquid that does not boil. The yolks set and make the liquid thick and smooth. If the liquid boils, the yolks curdle.

Illustrative example Carbonara sauce is thick because the hot pasta sets the egg yolks.

Concept1.2

1.2 Bouillon as a base

La Varenne · Le Cuisinier françois

A liquid made by simmering meat, bones and vegetables in water, kept ready for other dishes. In court cuisine it is the base of soups and sauces.

Illustrative example A pot of chicken broth in the fridge for the soups of the week.

Concept1.3

1.3 Bouquet garni

La Varenne · Le Cuisinier françois

A small bundle of herbs, tied together, that the cook puts in a pot and takes out before serving. The usual herbs are parsley, thyme and bay leaf.

Illustrative example Herbs tied with string in a stew, pulled out before the stew goes to the table.

Concept1.4

1.4 Coulis

Massialot · Le Cuisinier roïal et bourgeois, 1691

A thick liquid made from a food that is cooked and pushed through a sieve. In court cuisine it is a meat or vegetable base that gives a sauce body. Today the word often means a fruit purée.

Illustrative example Raspberries pushed through a sieve to make a red sauce for a dessert.

Concept1.5

1.5 Ragoût

La Varenne · Le Cuisinier françois

A dish of pieces of meat or vegetables cooked slowly in a seasoned sauce. In court cuisine the word also means a garnish of small items in sauce.

Illustrative example A beef stew with carrots and onions.

Concept1.6

1.6 Service à la française

Massialot · Menon

A way to serve a meal in which many dishes come to the table at the same time, in two or three services. The guests take from the dishes near them.

Illustrative example A family table where all the dishes are put out at once.

Concept1.6.1

1.6.1 Potage

Massialot

The soup or broth that opens the first service.

Illustrative example A bowl of soup at the start of a holiday meal.

Concept1.6.2

1.6.2 Entrée

Massialot

A hot dish of the first service, after the potage. The name means the entry into the meal.

Illustrative example In France an entrée is still a dish before the main course, not the main course itself.

Concept1.6.3

1.6.3 Rôt

Massialot

The roast meat of the second service.

Illustrative example The roast turkey at the centre of a festive meal.

Concept1.6.4

1.6.4 Entremets

Massialot

A dish served between the dishes, after the roast. It can be a vegetable or a sweet. Today the word means a layered sweet dessert.

Illustrative example A mousse cake in a pastry shop window is called an entremets.

Concept1.6.5

1.6.5 Dessert

Massialot

The last service: fruit, sweets and pastries, served after the table is cleared. The word comes from desservir, to clear the table.

Illustrative example Fruit and cake after the plates of the main meal go away.

Concept1.7

1.7 Natural taste (goût naturel)

Bonnefons · Les Délices de la campagne, 1654

The idea that a dish must keep the taste of its main food. It replaces the medieval idea that a good dish changes the taste of its food with spices.

Illustrative example Fresh peas cooked only with butter, so that they taste of peas.

Principle1.7.1

1.7.1 Things should taste of what they are

Bonnefons · also follows from Terroir (Curnonsky)

The cook uses spices, sauces and herbs to show the taste of the food, not to hide it. This rule follows from natural taste. It moves French cooking away from the strong spices of the Middle Ages.

Illustrative example A carrot soup must taste of carrots, not of the stock cube.

Concept1.8

1.8 Separation of sweet and savoury

Flandrin, on La Varenne (own wording)

The rule that sweet and salty tastes go in different dishes and at different times of the meal. Medieval cooking mixes them; court cuisine separates them.

Illustrative example Most French meals keep sugar for the dessert. A Moroccan pastilla still mixes sweet and savoury.

Principle1.8.1

1.8.1 Keep sugar for the end of the meal

own wording

Put the sweet dishes after the savoury dishes. This rule follows from the separation of sweet and savoury.

Illustrative example The cake comes after the cheese, not with the roast.

Concept1.9

1.9 Cuisine moderne

Marin · Les Dons de Comus, 1739 · Menon, 1742

The name that 18th-century cooks give to their own lighter, more refined cooking, against the heavy cooking of the past. It is the first 'new cuisine' of France.

Illustrative example Each generation of chefs calls its cooking new. The cooks of the 1740s do it first.

Theory1.10

1.10 Cooking as chemistry

Marin · preface to Les Dons de Comus

Marin's model of cooking as a kind of chemistry. The cook takes foods apart and puts them back together to get their pure taste.

Illustrative example Reducing a stock to make its taste stronger is the kind of step Marin has in mind.

Concept1.10.1

1.10.1 Quintessence

Marin

The pure, concentrated taste of a food, after the cook removes what it does not need. Marin takes the word from alchemy.

Illustrative example One spoon of meat glaze carries the taste of a whole pot of stock.

Principle1.10.2

1.10.2 Draw out the essence of the food

own wording

Cook a food so that its main taste becomes stronger and purer. This follows from the theory of cooking as chemistry.

Illustrative example Roast tomatoes slowly to make their taste deeper.

Theory1.11

1.11 Humoral dietetics

Galen · the older theory this school moved away from

The medical theory, from Galen, that each food is hot or cold and wet or dry, and acts on the four humours of the body. Medieval cooks season food to balance these qualities. Court cuisine slowly leaves this theory.

Illustrative example The old advice to eat 'warming' ginger in winter comes from this theory.

Principle1.11.1

1.11.1 Balance the hot, cold, wet and dry of each food

Galenic dietetics

Season a food with the opposite qualities, to make it safe and healthy. A cold and wet fish gets hot and dry spices. This rule follows from humoral dietetics.

Illustrative example Fish served with a hot mustard and pepper sauce in a medieval recipe.

School2

2 Grande cuisine

Carême · 1810s–1830s

The school of Antonin Carême, cook to Talleyrand and to kings. It puts the sauces in families, plans the meal as a whole, and treats pastry as a kind of architecture.

Illustrative example A tall wedding cake with columns and sugar decorations continues Carême's display pieces.

Concept2.1

2.1 Grande sauce

Carême · L'Art de la cuisine française au XIXe siècle

One of the four base sauces from which Carême derives the other sauces: espagnole, velouté, allemande and béchamel.

Illustrative example One pot of base sauce gives the cook many sauces for the evening.

Concept2.1.1

2.1.1 Espagnole

Carême

A brown sauce of brown stock thickened with brown roux.

Illustrative example The dark sauce under a steak in a classic restaurant.

Concept2.1.2

2.1.2 Velouté

Carême

A pale sauce of white stock thickened with blond roux. The name means velvety.

Illustrative example The creamy sauce of a chicken pie.

Concept2.1.3

2.1.3 Allemande

Carême

A velouté finished with egg yolks and cream. Escoffier later removes it from the base sauces.

Illustrative example A rich, pale sauce on poached chicken.

Concept2.1.4

2.1.4 Béchamel

Carême

Milk thickened with white roux.

Illustrative example The white sauce in a lasagne.

Theory2.2

2.2 Sauce derivation system

Carême · also in Classical cuisine

Carême's model of sauces as families. Each sauce has a parent base sauce, and the cook makes it from the parent by adding one or more items. Escoffier extends the system.

Illustrative example Learn four base sauces and you can make hundreds of sauces.

Principle2.2.1

2.2.1 Each sauce derives from a grande sauce

Carême (own wording)

To make a sauce, start from its base sauce and add the items that make it different. This follows from the sauce derivation system.

Illustrative example Add grated cheese to béchamel and you have sauce Mornay.

Concept2.3

2.3 Pièce montée

Carême · Le Pâtissier pittoresque, 1815

A large decorative piece, often of pastry or sugar, built like a small building for the centre of the table. Carême copies its forms from books of architecture.

Illustrative example A croquembouche, the cone of cream puffs at a French wedding.

Principle2.3.1

2.3.1 Build the display piece by the rules of architecture

Carême (own wording)

Give a display piece a base, a body and a top, in proportion, as an architect does for a building. This follows from the pièce montée.

Illustrative example A tiered cake is wider at the bottom so that it stands.

Concept2.4

2.4 Grosse pièce

Carême

A large main dish, such as a whole roast or a large fish, served as the centre of a course.

Illustrative example A whole salmon on a long platter at a buffet.

Concept2.5

2.5 Ornament

Carême

Decoration added to a dish to make it look rich and ordered. In Carême's time, ornament is often on silver skewers and stands, and the guests do not always eat it.

Illustrative example A carved vegetable flower on a hotel buffet.

Concept2.6

2.6 Order of the meal (ordonnance)

Carême · Le Maître d'hôtel français, 1822

The plan of a whole meal: which dishes come, in which service, and where they go on the table. Carême writes it out for each dinner.

Illustrative example A wedding planner's list of the courses and the time of each.

Concept2.7

2.7 Simplification

Carême

Carême's claim that he removes the confused mixtures of older cooking and keeps fewer, clearer preparations.

Illustrative example A recipe card with four items in place of twelve.

Principle2.7.1

2.7.1 Remove what does not serve the taste

own wording

Take out each item that adds no taste and no use to the dish. This follows from simplification.

Illustrative example A cook drops the extra spice that hides the taste of the fish.

School3

3 Classical cuisine

Escoffier · 1903

The school that fixes the restaurant kitchen of the 20th century. It gives each dish one name and one recipe, puts the sauces in five families, and divides the kitchen into stations.

Illustrative example In a restaurant kitchen today, the cook who makes the sauces is still called the saucier, and the meal still comes one course after another.

Concept3.1

3.1 Fond (stock)

Escoffier · Le Guide culinaire · also in Bourgeois and home cuisine

A stock made by simmering bones, meat or fish with vegetables and herbs, and then strained. It is the liquid base of most sauces of the classical kitchen.

Illustrative example Chicken stock is the start of a good risotto or soup.

Concept3.1.1

3.1.1 White stock (fond blanc)

Escoffier

Stock made from bones that are not browned first. It is pale and mild.

Illustrative example A clear chicken broth.

Concept3.1.2

3.1.2 Brown stock (fond brun)

Escoffier

Stock made from bones and vegetables that are roasted first. It is dark and has a deep taste.

Illustrative example The base of onion soup in many restaurants.

Concept3.1.3

3.1.3 Fish stock (fumet)

Escoffier

A short stock made from fish bones, cooked for about half an hour.

Illustrative example The liquid of a fish soup.

Concept3.1.4

3.1.4 Glace

Escoffier

Stock reduced until it is thick and sticky. One spoon gives a sauce a strong taste and a shine.

Illustrative example The shiny dark layer at the bottom of a roasting pan, made on purpose.

Principle3.1.5

3.1.5 Stock is the base of all good cooking

Escoffier (paraphrase)

Make good stock first, because the sauces and many dishes depend on it. This follows from fond.

Illustrative example A soup made with water and a cube tastes flat next to a soup made with real stock.

Concept3.2

3.2 Mother sauce

Escoffier · also in Grande cuisine

A base sauce that a cook makes first and then changes into many other sauces. Each mother sauce is a liquid and a thickener. Escoffier names five.

Illustrative example A cheese sauce for macaroni is a béchamel with grated cheese. The cook makes the béchamel first and then adds the cheese.

Concept3.2.1

3.2.1 Espagnole

Escoffier

Brown sauce of brown stock and brown roux, with tomato. Escoffier keeps it as the brown mother sauce.

Illustrative example The base of a classic pepper sauce.

Concept3.2.2

3.2.2 Velouté

Escoffier

White stock thickened with blond roux.

Illustrative example The sauce on the chicken in a vol-au-vent.

Concept3.2.3

3.2.3 Béchamel

Escoffier

Milk thickened with white roux.

Illustrative example The white sauce in a lasagne.

Concept3.2.4

3.2.4 Hollandaise

Escoffier

An emulsion of melted butter in egg yolks, with lemon juice. It has no roux.

Illustrative example The sauce on eggs Benedict.

Concept3.2.5

3.2.5 Tomato sauce

Escoffier

Tomatoes cooked down with aromatics and stock. Escoffier makes it a mother sauce.

Illustrative example The base of a pasta sauce.

Concept3.2.6

3.2.6 Small sauce (sauce dérivée)

Escoffier

A sauce made from a mother sauce by adding other items. Escoffier lists hundreds.

Illustrative example Béarnaise is a small sauce of the hollandaise family.

Concept3.3

3.3 Brigade de cuisine

Escoffier

Escoffier's division of a large kitchen into stations, each with its own chef and cooks, under one head chef. It works like an army unit, with a clear line of command.

Illustrative example In a busy restaurant you hear 'Yes, chef!' when the head chef calls an order.

Concept3.3.1

3.3.1 Chef de cuisine

Escoffier

The head of the kitchen. The chef plans the menu, controls the work and answers for each plate.

Illustrative example The chef whose name is on the restaurant.

Concept3.3.2

3.3.2 Sous-chef

Escoffier

The second in command. The sous-chef runs the kitchen when the chef is away.

Illustrative example The person who calls the orders on a busy night.

Concept3.3.3

3.3.3 Chef de partie

Escoffier

The head of one station of the kitchen.

Illustrative example The cook in charge of the grill.

Concept3.3.3.1

3.3.3.1 Saucier

Escoffier

The chef de partie for sauces and often for sautéed dishes.

Illustrative example The cook who makes the pan sauce for the steak.

Concept3.3.3.2

3.3.3.2 Rôtisseur

Escoffier

The chef de partie for roasted, grilled and fried meat.

Illustrative example The cook at the rotisserie.

Concept3.3.3.3

3.3.3.3 Poissonnier

Escoffier

The chef de partie for fish.

Illustrative example The cook who fillets the fish.

Concept3.3.3.4

3.3.3.4 Entremétier

Escoffier

The chef de partie for vegetables, soups, eggs and starches.

Illustrative example The cook who makes the mashed potatoes.

Concept3.3.3.5

3.3.3.5 Garde-manger

Escoffier

The chef de partie for cold dishes, and for the storage and preparation of raw food.

Illustrative example The cook who makes the salads and the terrines.

Concept3.3.3.6

3.3.3.6 Pâtissier

Escoffier

The chef de partie for pastry and desserts.

Illustrative example The cook who makes the tarts.

Concept3.3.4

3.3.4 Commis

Escoffier

A junior cook who works under a chef de partie and learns the station.

Illustrative example A young cook who peels vegetables on the first day.

Principle3.3.5

3.3.5 One station, one task

own wording

Give each station one kind of work, so that each cook gets fast and good at it. This follows from the brigade.

Illustrative example On a busy night the grill cook only grills.

Concept3.4

3.4 Mise en place

Escoffier

Everything that the cook prepares and puts in place before service: cut vegetables, measured items, sauces and tools. The name means put in place.

Illustrative example You chop all the onions and measure the spices before you start a stir-fry.

Principle3.4.1

3.4.1 Prepare everything before service begins

own wording

Finish all preparation before the first order comes. During service, only cook and plate. This follows from mise en place.

Illustrative example A home cook sets out every item before a dinner party.

Concept3.5

3.5 Service à la russe

Escoffier · Le Livre des menus, 1912

A way to serve a meal in which the dishes come one after another, in a fixed order, and each guest gets each dish. It replaces service à la française in the 19th century.

Illustrative example A tasting menu in a restaurant, one course at a time.

Principle3.5.1

3.5.1 Serve each course hot, one after another

own wording

Bring each dish to the table as soon as it is ready, and only then the next. This follows from service à la russe.

Illustrative example The soup comes, the bowls go, then the fish comes.

Concept3.6

3.6 Repertoire

Escoffier · Gringoire and Saulnier, Le Répertoire de la cuisine, 1914

The fixed list of named dishes of the classical kitchen, each with its standard recipe. Le Guide culinaire and Le Répertoire de la cuisine write it down.

Illustrative example When a menu says sole meunière, a trained cook knows the recipe without asking.

Principle3.6.1

3.6.1 One name, one recipe

own wording

Use a classical name only for the dish that the repertoire gives under that name. This follows from the repertoire.

Illustrative example A béarnaise without tarragon is not a béarnaise for a classical cook.

Concept3.7

3.7 Garnish (garniture)

Escoffier

The items served with the main food of a dish, such as vegetables, sauce or small pieces. In the classical kitchen each standard garnish has a name.

Illustrative example Fish on a bed of spinach is called à la florentine.

Principle3.7.1

3.7.1 The garnish names the dish

own wording

Name the dish after its garnish, so that the name tells the guest what comes with it. This follows from garnish.

Illustrative example Florentine on a menu tells you that there is spinach.

Concept3.8

3.8 Menu

Escoffier · Le Livre des menus

The written list of the dishes of a meal, in their order. Escoffier makes the menu card part of the restaurant.

Illustrative example The card that a waiter gives you before you order.

Principle3.9

3.9 Make it simple (faites simple)

Escoffier, attributed · no single parent concept

Do not add what the dish does not need. Escoffier gives this advice to cooks late in his life. It has no single parent concept.

Illustrative example A good omelette needs only eggs, butter and salt.

School4

4 Bourgeois and home cuisine

Menon · Mme Saint-Ange · Mathiot

The cooking of the middle-class household, written first for the cook of the house and later for the woman of the house. It adapts court and restaurant cooking to a home budget and a home kitchen.

Illustrative example A roast chicken on Sunday and a soup from the leftovers on Monday.

Concept4.1

4.1 Cuisine bourgeoise

Menon · La Cuisinière bourgeoise, 1746

Good, plain home cooking of a middle-class family, as opposed to the cooking of courts and great restaurants.

Illustrative example Beef stew, roast chicken and apple tart at a family table.

Concept4.2

4.2 Domestic economy

Menon · Mathiot

The careful use of money, food and time in a household.

Illustrative example You plan the meals of the week and buy only what you need.

Principle4.2.1

4.2.1 Waste nothing

own wording

Use each part of the food and each leftover. This follows from domestic economy.

Illustrative example Chicken bones go into a broth after the roast.

Concept4.3

4.3 Using leftovers (accommodation des restes)

Mathiot · Je sais cuisiner

Turning what is left of one meal into a new dish.

Illustrative example Bread pudding from stale bread.

Concept4.4

4.4 Simmering (mijotage)

Menon · also in Regional and terroir cuisine (own placement)

Cooking food slowly in liquid just below the boil. It makes tough meat soft and mixes the tastes.

Illustrative example A pot of chili on low heat all afternoon.

Principle4.4.1

4.4.1 Give tough cuts long, gentle heat

own wording

Cook tough, cheap cuts for a long time at low heat, not fast at high heat. This follows from simmering.

Illustrative example Beef shin becomes soft after three hours in a slow cooker.

Concept4.5

4.5 Family meal

Mathiot (own placement)

The daily meal of the household, in a short, fixed order of courses.

Illustrative example A weekday dinner of soup, a main dish and fruit.

Concept4.5.1

4.5.1 Entrée

Mathiot

The first, light dish of the family meal.

Illustrative example Grated carrot salad.

Concept4.5.2

4.5.2 Plat

Mathiot

The main dish, usually meat or fish with a vegetable or a starch.

Illustrative example Chicken with rice.

Concept4.5.3

4.5.3 Dessert

Mathiot

The last dish: fruit, yoghurt, cheese or a simple sweet.

Illustrative example A yoghurt or an apple.

Concept4.6

4.6 Measured recipe

Mathiot · Je sais cuisiner, 1932

A recipe that gives each quantity, time and temperature, so that anyone can repeat it. Older cookbooks often say 'enough' or 'until done'.

Illustrative example Bake for 25 minutes at 180 °C.

Principle4.6.1

4.6.1 Give each quantity and each time

own wording

Write each amount and each time in the recipe. This follows from the measured recipe.

Illustrative example A cookie recipe that says 200 g of butter, not a piece of butter.

Concept4.7

4.7 Explained technique

Mme Saint-Ange · no term yet

Teaching a technique together with the reason for each step, so that the cook can adapt it. This concept has no standard name; the label here is the agent's own.

Illustrative example A recipe tells you to rest the dough, and says that this relaxes the gluten.

Principle4.7.1

4.7.1 Say why each step is done

Mme Saint-Ange (own wording)

Give the reason with each step. This follows from explained technique.

Illustrative example 'Salt the eggplant, to draw out the water.'

School5

5 Regional and terroir cuisine

Curnonsky · Rouff · de Croze · 1920s–1930s

The school that describes and defends the dishes of each French region and their local products. Curnonsky and his friends travel France by car and write guides to its regional food.

Illustrative example You choose a restaurant on holiday because it serves the dish of that region.

Concept5.1

5.1 Terroir

Curnonsky · de Croze

The set of soil, climate, landscape and local knowledge that gives a product of one place its own character.

Illustrative example Champagne can only come from Champagne.

Principle5.1.1

5.1.1 Cook the produce of the place

own wording

Use the foods that come from the place where you cook. This follows from terroir.

Illustrative example In Brittany, cook with butter and buckwheat; in Provence, with olive oil and tomatoes.

Concept5.2

5.2 Product (le produit)

Curnonsky

The raw food itself, and its quality. In regional cuisine a good dish starts with a good product.

Illustrative example A farm tomato in August, against a supermarket tomato in winter.

Concept5.3

5.3 Cooking fat

own placement

The main fat that a region cooks with. France is often divided into three cooking regions by their fat.

Illustrative example Fried potatoes in duck fat in the south-west.

Concept5.3.1

5.3.1 Butter cuisine

own placement

The cooking of the north and west, where cows give milk and butter.

Illustrative example The cream sauces of Normandy.

Concept5.3.2

5.3.2 Lard and goose-fat cuisine

own placement

The cooking of the centre, east and south-west, where pigs, ducks and geese give the fat.

Illustrative example Potatoes fried in goose fat.

Concept5.3.3

5.3.3 Olive-oil cuisine

own placement

The cooking of the Mediterranean south.

Illustrative example Ratatouille cooked in olive oil.

Concept5.4

5.4 Appellation d'origine

French law of 1935 · INAO

A legal label that protects a product made in a defined place by a defined method. The French system starts with wine in 1935 and now covers cheese, butter and other foods.

Illustrative example Roquefort is a protected name; other blue cheeses cannot use it.

Concept5.5

5.5 Peasant cuisine (cuisine paysanne)

Curnonsky

The cooking of farm families, made with what the farm and the season give, with little money and much time.

Illustrative example A soup of vegetables, bread and a little bacon.

Concept5.6

5.6 Gastronomic tourism

Curnonsky and Rouff · La France gastronomique, 1921–28

Travel to eat the food of a place. Curnonsky's guides and the first road guides make it popular in France.

Illustrative example A road trip planned around restaurants.

Theory5.7

5.7 The four cuisines

Curnonsky

Curnonsky's division of French cooking into four kinds: haute cuisine, bourgeois cuisine, regional cuisine and improvised cuisine.

Illustrative example A starred restaurant, a Sunday lunch, a village dish and a quick omelette.

Concept5.7.1

5.7.1 Haute cuisine

Curnonsky

The refined cooking of great chefs and restaurants.

Illustrative example A tasting menu in a starred restaurant.

Concept5.7.2

5.7.2 Bourgeois cuisine

Curnonsky

Good home cooking.

Illustrative example Roast chicken on Sunday.

Concept5.7.3

5.7.3 Regional cuisine

Curnonsky

The traditional dishes of one region, made with its products.

Illustrative example Cassoulet in Toulouse.

Concept5.7.4

5.7.4 Improvised cuisine

Curnonsky

Quick cooking from what is at hand.

Illustrative example An omelette with the last of the cheese.

School6

6 Gastronomic writing

Grimod de La Reynière · Brillat-Savarin · 1800s–1820s

The writers who make eating a subject of literature and judgement in the early 19th century. Grimod de La Reynière writes the first restaurant guides, and Brillat-Savarin writes a philosophy of taste.

Illustrative example Each restaurant review and each food blog continues this school.

Concept6.1

6.1 Gastronomy

Brillat-Savarin · Physiologie du goût, 1825

Brillat-Savarin's term for the reasoned knowledge of all that relates to people as they eat.

Illustrative example You ask why a dish works, not only whether you like it.

Principle6.1.1

6.1.1 Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are

Brillat-Savarin · aphorism

What a person eats shows who that person is. This follows from gastronomy.

Illustrative example A shopping basket tells you much about the person who carries it.

Concept6.2

6.2 Taste (goût)

Brillat-Savarin · also in Food anthropology and sociology (own placement)

The sense, and the judgement, that tells good food from bad. Brillat-Savarin studies the sense; Bourdieu later studies taste as a social mark.

Illustrative example Two people at the same table disagree about the same dish.

Theory6.3

6.3 Physiology of taste

Brillat-Savarin

Brillat-Savarin's model of tasting in three steps: the first sensation in the mouth, the full sensation as the food is swallowed, and the judgement after.

Illustrative example A wine taster sips, swallows, and then thinks about the finish.

Concept6.3.1

6.3.1 Direct sensation

Brillat-Savarin

The first sensation, while the food is in the front of the mouth.

Illustrative example The first sweetness of a strawberry.

Concept6.3.2

6.3.2 Complete sensation

Brillat-Savarin

The full sensation, when the food moves to the back of the mouth and the smell joins the taste.

Illustrative example The full taste of chocolate as it melts.

Concept6.3.3

6.3.3 Reflective sensation

Brillat-Savarin

The judgement that the mind makes after the food is swallowed.

Illustrative example You decide that the soup was too salty.

Concept6.4

6.4 Gourmand

Grimod · Almanach des gourmands, 1803–12

A person who loves good food and knows about it. Grimod gives the word a positive meaning.

Illustrative example A friend who plans each trip around the markets.

Concept6.5

6.5 Pleasure

Brillat-Savarin

The pleasure that food gives. Brillat-Savarin separates two kinds.

Illustrative example A snack alone, and a long dinner with friends.

Concept6.5.1

6.5.1 Pleasure of eating

Brillat-Savarin

The direct pleasure of satisfying hunger.

Illustrative example A sandwich when you are very hungry.

Concept6.5.2

6.5.2 Pleasure of the table

Brillat-Savarin

The pleasure of the whole meal: the place, the company, the talk and the time.

Illustrative example A long Sunday lunch where nobody looks at the clock.

Concept6.6

6.6 Amphitryon (the host)

Grimod · Manuel des amphitryons, 1808

The host who gives a meal. Grimod writes a manual of the duties of the host.

Illustrative example The friend who invites you and cooks for you.

Principle6.6.1

6.6.1 To invite someone is to take charge of their happiness under your roof

Brillat-Savarin · aphorism

When you invite a guest, the comfort of the guest is your duty until the guest leaves. This follows from the amphitryon.

Illustrative example A host asks about allergies before the dinner.

Concept6.7

6.7 Tasting jury (jury dégustateur)

Grimod

Grimod's group of judges who taste the dishes that cooks and shops send them, and publish a verdict.

Illustrative example The star rating of a food critic.

Concept6.8

6.8 Osmazome

Brillat-Savarin · term no longer used

Brillat-Savarin's name for the part of meat that gives it its savoury taste. The word is no longer used; chemistry explains this taste with other terms, such as umami.

Illustrative example The deep savoury taste of the brown juices of a roast.

Principle6.9

6.9 One becomes a cook, but one is born a roaster

Brillat-Savarin · no single parent concept

Anyone can learn to cook, but roasting needs a gift. It has no single parent concept.

Illustrative example Some people just know when the meat on the barbecue is done.

School7

7 Nouvelle cuisine

Point · Bocuse · Guérard · Troisgros · Chapel · Gault and Millau · 1960s–1970s

The movement of the 1960s and 1970s that makes French restaurant food lighter, faster to cook and more inventive. Gault and Millau give it its name and write its rules.

Illustrative example A small, beautiful plate in place of a large dish under a thick sauce.

Concept7.1

7.1 Market cuisine (cuisine du marché)

Bocuse · La Cuisine du marché, 1976 · also in Regional and terroir cuisine

Cooking that starts from what is fresh at the market that day, not from a fixed menu. Bocuse makes the term famous.

Illustrative example A board of today's dishes, written each morning.

Principle7.1.1

7.1.1 Buy first, then write the menu

own wording

Go to the market first, and choose the dishes from what you find. This follows from market cuisine.

Illustrative example You choose dinner at the farmers' market, not before.

Concept7.2

7.2 Lightness (légèreté)

Gault and Millau

Food with less fat, flour and heavy sauce, so that the meal does not tire the guest.

Illustrative example Fish with a little lemon butter in place of a thick cream sauce.

Concept7.3

7.3 Reduction sauce

Point · Troisgros (own placement)

A sauce made thick by boiling off water, not by adding flour. It has a strong taste and a light texture.

Illustrative example Pan juices boiled with a little wine until they are syrupy.

Concept7.4

7.4 Cooking time and temperature

Gault and Millau · also in Molecular gastronomy (own placement)

The time and the heat that a food gets. Nouvelle cuisine makes cooking times shorter; molecular gastronomy measures the temperatures.

Illustrative example Green beans cooked for four minutes, still crisp.

Concept7.5

7.5 Plated service (service à l'assiette)

own placement

The cook arranges each portion on its plate in the kitchen, and the waiter brings it to the guest.

Illustrative example Restaurant plates that arrive already arranged.

Concept7.6

7.6 Cuisine minceur

Guérard · La Grande Cuisine minceur, 1976

Michel Guérard's cooking for weight loss: little fat and sugar, but full taste.

Illustrative example The menu of a spa restaurant.

Concept7.7

7.7 Chef as author

Gault and Millau (own placement)

The chef as a creator who signs the dishes, as a writer signs a book, not as a worker who follows the repertoire.

Illustrative example A dish on the menu that carries the name of the chef who made it.

Theory7.8

7.8 The ten commandments

Gault and Millau · Le Nouveau Guide, 1973

Gault and Millau's ten rules that define nouvelle cuisine, published in 1973.

Illustrative example A review that praises a dish as light, fresh and just cooked uses these rules.

Principle7.8.1

7.8.1 Do not overcook

Gault and Millau

Cook each food only until it is done, and keep its texture and colour.

Illustrative example Pink lamb and crisp vegetables.

Principle7.8.2

7.8.2 Use fresh, high-quality products

Gault and Millau

Use fresh products of the best quality, and buy them often.

Illustrative example Fish bought on the day it is cooked.

Principle7.8.3

7.8.3 Lighten the menu

Gault and Millau

Offer fewer dishes, so that each dish can be fresh and well made.

Illustrative example A menu with six dishes, not sixty.

Principle7.8.4

7.8.4 Do not be modern for its own sake

Gault and Millau

Do not change a recipe only to be new.

Illustrative example Keep a classic tart if it is good.

Principle7.8.5

7.8.5 Use what new techniques give you

Gault and Millau

Use new tools and methods when they make the food better.

Illustrative example A blender for a smooth soup, a fridge for fresh fish.

Principle7.8.6

7.8.6 Avoid marinades, hanging game and fermentation

Gault and Millau

Do not hang game, marinate or ferment food to change its taste. Keep the taste of the fresh product.

Illustrative example Venison cooked fresh, not hung until it smells strong.

Principle7.8.7

7.8.7 Remove rich brown and white sauces

Gault and Millau

Stop using heavy brown and white sauces made thick with flour.

Illustrative example Steak with its pan juices in place of espagnole.

Principle7.8.8

7.8.8 Do not ignore dietetics

Gault and Millau

Think about health when you cook.

Illustrative example Less salt and more vegetables on the plate.

Principle7.8.9

7.8.9 Do not fake the presentation

Gault and Millau

Make the dish look like what it is. Do not disguise the food.

Illustrative example Fish served as fish, not shaped into a swan.

Principle7.8.10

7.8.10 Be inventive

Gault and Millau

Create new dishes and new combinations.

Illustrative example A chef serves fish with a fruit sauce for the first time.

School8

8 Molecular gastronomy

This · Kurti · 1988 onward

The scientific study of what happens when people cook, started by Hervé This and Nicholas Kurti in 1988. It comes from physics and chemistry, not from the kitchen.

Illustrative example A science programme on television that explains why mayonnaise fails.

Concept8.1

8.1 Culinary precision (précision culinaire)

This · Les Secrets de la casserole, 1993

Hervé This's term for each rule, tip, proverb or old belief about cooking that cooks pass on. This collects thousands and tests them.

Illustrative example 'Do not open the oven while the soufflé bakes.'

Principle8.1.1

8.1.1 Test each kitchen rule as a hypothesis

own wording

Treat a kitchen rule as a hypothesis, and test it before you trust it. This follows from culinary precision.

Illustrative example Cook two pots of pasta, one with oil in the water, and compare them.

Principle8.1.2

8.1.2 Searing does not seal in the juices

This · McGee, On Food and Cooking

Browning meat at high heat does not keep the juices inside. It gives taste through the Maillard reaction. This follows from culinary precision.

Illustrative example A seared steak still drips juice on the plate.

Concept8.2

8.2 Dispersed system

This

A material in which one phase (gas, liquid or solid) is spread through another. Most foods are dispersed systems.

Illustrative example Milk is drops of fat spread in water.

Concept8.2.1

8.2.1 Emulsion

This

Drops of one liquid spread in a second liquid that does not mix with it.

Illustrative example Mayonnaise: drops of oil in egg yolk and lemon.

Concept8.2.2

8.2.2 Foam

This

Bubbles of gas spread in a liquid or a solid.

Illustrative example Whipped cream, meringue.

Concept8.2.3

8.2.3 Gel

This

A liquid held in a solid network.

Illustrative example Jelly, panna cotta.

Concept8.2.4

8.2.4 Suspension

This

Solid pieces spread in a liquid.

Illustrative example A smoothie or a hot chocolate.

Theory8.3

8.3 Disperse systems formalism

This

This's notation that writes each dish as its phases and the way they are dispersed. It lets you describe textures and invent new ones.

Illustrative example Writing 'oil in water' for a vinaigrette that holds together.

Principle8.3.1

8.3.1 The texture of a dish follows from its dispersed system

own wording

To change the texture of a dish, change its dispersed system. This follows from the disperse systems formalism.

Illustrative example Whip air into liquid cream and it becomes a foam.

Concept8.4

8.4 Maillard reaction

Maillard, 1912 · chemistry

A reaction between sugars and amino acids at high heat that makes food brown and gives it roasted tastes. Louis Maillard describes it in 1912.

Illustrative example The brown crust of bread and of a seared steak.

Principle8.4.1

8.4.1 Browning needs dry heat above the boiling point

own wording

To brown food, keep its surface dry and hotter than boiling water. This follows from the Maillard reaction.

Illustrative example Pat the meat dry before you put it in the pan.

Concept8.5

8.5 Caramelisation

chemistry

The browning of sugar alone at high heat.

Illustrative example Sugar melted in a pan until it turns amber.

Concept8.6

8.6 Protein denaturation

This · McGee

The change of shape of proteins under heat, acid or beating, which makes them set.

Illustrative example Egg white turns from clear to white as it cooks.

Principle8.6.1

8.6.1 Cook an egg by temperature, not by time

This (own wording)

The texture of an egg depends on the temperature it reaches more than on the time. This follows from protein denaturation.

Illustrative example An egg held at 64 °C for an hour has a soft, creamy yolk.

Concept8.7

8.7 Starch gelatinisation

chemistry

The swelling of starch grains in hot water, which makes the liquid thick.

Illustrative example Cornflour makes a custard thick when it heats.

Concept8.8

8.8 Culinary transformation

This · also in Food anthropology and sociology (own placement)

Each change that cooking makes to a food: physical, chemical or biological. Molecular gastronomy studies how it happens; anthropology studies what it means.

Illustrative example A raw potato becomes chips.

Concept8.9

8.9 Low-temperature cooking

Pralus · Goussault · 1970s

Cooking food for a long time at a precise, low temperature, often in a sealed bag in water (sous vide).

Illustrative example A steak that is pink from edge to edge.

Concept8.10

8.10 Note-by-note cuisine

This · 1994 onward

This's proposal to cook with pure compounds, not with plants and meat.

Illustrative example A drink made from water, sugar, an acid and one aroma compound.

Principle8.10.1

8.10.1 Build a dish from pure compounds

own wording

Choose each taste, colour and texture as a separate compound, as a composer chooses notes. This follows from note-by-note cuisine.

Illustrative example A jelly made only of water, gelatin, sugar and one flavour.

School9

9 Food anthropology and sociology

Lévi-Strauss · Bourdieu · Flandrin · Montanari · Fischler

The study of French food by anthropologists, historians and sociologists. They ask what eating means, how it changes over time, and how it marks social groups.

Illustrative example A study of who eats which bread in which town.

Theory9.1

9.1 Culinary triangle

Lévi-Strauss · Le triangle culinaire, 1965

A model that puts all food at three points: raw, cooked and rotten. Raw food is not changed. People change it into cooked food, and nature changes it into rotten food. Lévi-Strauss reads cooking as the step from nature to culture.

Illustrative example A salad is raw, a roast chicken is cooked, and a ripe cheese is 'rotten': time and microbes changed it, not fire.

Concept9.1.1

9.1.1 Raw

Lévi-Strauss

Food that culture and nature have not changed. It is the top point of the triangle.

Illustrative example A carrot just pulled from the ground.

Concept9.1.2

9.1.2 Cooked

Lévi-Strauss

Food that people change with fire. It is the change made by culture.

Illustrative example A roast chicken.

Concept9.1.3

9.1.3 Rotten

Lévi-Strauss

Food that nature changes with time and microbes. It is the change made by nature.

Illustrative example Aged cheese, yoghurt.

Concept9.1.4

9.1.4 Roasted, boiled, smoked

Lévi-Strauss · the second triangle

Lévi-Strauss's second triangle, of cooking methods. Roasting is close to the raw, boiling is close to the rotten, and smoking is close to the cooked.

Illustrative example A barbecue, a stew and smoked salmon.

Principle9.1.5

9.1.5 Cooking marks the passage from nature to culture

Lévi-Strauss · Le Cru et le cuit, 1964

Cooking separates people from nature; in myths, the cooked stands for culture. This follows from the culinary triangle.

Illustrative example Many myths tell how people got fire to cook.

Concept9.2

9.2 Gustème

Lévi-Strauss

Lévi-Strauss's smallest unit of meaning in a cuisine, as a phoneme is in a language. You read a cuisine through the oppositions of its gustèmes.

Illustrative example Sweet against salty, or local against foreign, in a national cuisine.

Theory9.3

9.3 Theory of distinction

Bourdieu · La Distinction, 1979

Bourdieu's theory that taste, also in food, shows and keeps the social position of each group.

Illustrative example Some people choose organic vegetables, and others a large portion, partly to show who they are.

Concept9.3.1

9.3.1 Habitus

Bourdieu

The lasting habits of taste and action that a person learns from the social group in which that person grows up.

Illustrative example How you hold a fork, or what you call a proper meal.

Concept9.3.2

9.3.2 Cultural capital

Bourdieu

Knowledge, skills and taste that give a person status, learned at home and at school.

Illustrative example Knowing which wine goes with which dish.

Concept9.3.3

9.3.3 Taste of necessity

Bourdieu

The taste of groups with little money, for food that is filling, cheap and strong.

Illustrative example A big plate of pasta that feeds the whole family.

Concept9.3.4

9.3.4 Taste of luxury

Bourdieu

The taste of groups free from need, for food that is light, rare or refined. Bourdieu also calls it the taste of freedom.

Illustrative example A small, artful plate at an expensive restaurant.

Principle9.3.5

9.3.5 Taste classifies, and it classifies the one who classifies

Bourdieu

When a person judges food, the judgement puts that person in a social group. This follows from the theory of distinction.

Illustrative example Calling a dish vulgar says as much about the speaker as about the dish.

Concept9.4

9.4 Gastronomic meal of the French

UNESCO intangible heritage list, 2010

The festive meal that UNESCO lists in 2010 as intangible heritage: good products, wine with food, a fixed order of courses and the art of the table.

Illustrative example A wedding or a Christmas dinner in France.

Concept9.4.1

9.4.1 Apéritif

UNESCO

Drinks and small bites before the meal.

Illustrative example Olives and a glass of wine before dinner.

Concept9.4.2

9.4.2 Entrée

UNESCO

The first course.

Illustrative example A terrine or a plate of oysters.

Concept9.4.3

9.4.3 Main course

UNESCO

Meat or fish with vegetables.

Illustrative example A roast capon.

Concept9.4.4

9.4.4 Cheese

UNESCO

A course of cheeses, before the dessert.

Illustrative example A board with three cheeses.

Concept9.4.5

9.4.5 Dessert

UNESCO

The sweet course.

Illustrative example A Christmas log cake.

Concept9.4.6

9.4.6 Digestif

UNESCO

A strong drink after the meal.

Illustrative example A small glass of Calvados.

Principle9.4.7

9.4.7 The meal follows a fixed order of courses

UNESCO (own wording)

Serve the courses in the agreed order: apéritif, entrée, main course, cheese, dessert and digestif. This follows from the gastronomic meal.

Illustrative example Cheese comes before the dessert, not after.

Concept9.5

9.5 Commensality

Fischler · L'Homnivore, 1990

Eating together at the same table. Fischler shows that the French value the shared meal more than many other nations.

Illustrative example A family that eats dinner together each evening.

Principle9.5.1

9.5.1 Eating together is part of the meal

own wording

Count the company and the talk as part of the meal, not only the food. This follows from commensality.

Illustrative example A dinner with friends is good even when the food is simple.

Concept9.6

9.6 From spice to butter

Flandrin · Histoire de l'alimentation, 1996 · no term yet

The change, from about 1650, from sour, spiced medieval sauces to fat sauces with butter and herbs. Flandrin describes it. It has no standard name; the label here is the agent's own.

Illustrative example A medieval green sauce of vinegar and spices, against a modern beurre blanc.

Concept9.7

9.7 Culinary field

Ferguson · Accounting for Taste, 2004

Ferguson's term, after Bourdieu, for the social space of cooks, critics, writers and eaters who together define French cuisine.

Illustrative example Chefs, critics, cookbook writers and diners who argue about what good food is.

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