Tag: French

5 French dishes of Italian origin – Italian Cuisine

Catherine de Medici in a portrait kept at the Louvres in Paris.


There are many French recipes that are actually of Italian origin. To bring them and spread them in France, many centuries ago, it was Caterina de 'Medici, who married the Henry d'Orléans, the future king Henry II. Here are 5 famous and unsuspected French dishes that come from Florence

Give her crêpe a soupe à l'oignon until to omelette, many are i French dishes that actually hide aItalian origin, Florentine to be precise. Entered in the tradition of beyond centuries centuries ago thanks to the notorious sovereign Catherine de Medici, the folds of time seem to want to mask what is poised between legend and truth even today.

From the history books to the table

It all began in 1533 from the marriage between the niece of Lorenzo the Magnificent is Henry of Orléans, the future Henry II. The young adolescent, not satisfied with the French gastronomic offer, moved to Paris bringing with her the excellence of the national table among Florentine, Tuscan and Sicilian cooks. From this political union derives the great Italian influence on the table beyond the Alps: in Catherine de Médecis ou la Reine noire of Jean Orieux it is said that the Florentines have reformed the ancient French cuisine of medieval tradition and they go back to modern French cuisine. Last confirmation comes from the very recent publication of the book The table de la Renaissance. Le mythe italien written with several hands and coordinated by Pascal Briost is Florent Quellier, which collects the contributions of different authors and highlights the influence of Italian cuisine on the French one of the time up to today.

Catherine de Medici in a portrait kept at the Louvres in Paris.
Catherine de Medici in a portrait kept at the Louvres in Paris.

Not just the pants!

When Catherine de Medici he moved to Paris, he managed to conquer the palates of the entire court so much to become famous and be included in the most important French recipes – sans faute! Not only: how queen of France, Caterina de 'Medici leaves her imprint on many aspects of our daily life: even the introduction of the underpants is imputed to her, which she uses when she goes riding, riding not to the Amazon, but to men's fashion. His revolution also transforms the table, which is set with damask tablecloths, the dishes are changed between a course and the other distinguishing between salty and sweet and, above all, appears the fork, putting an end to the archaic use of eating with your hands. The culinary legend continues with what it would bring to France: fromolive oil to spinach, beans, peas is artichokes (of which he was very greedy), until the cooking of birds with orange, the pasta and i fruit sorbets and finally the White bread or pan de la Reine. Caterina de 'Medici affirms the pleasure of the table in all its splendor: chronicles of the time report the menu of the gala dinner given in his honor by the city of Paris in 1549 in which dishes are served that must be divided by three, the perfect number of the superstitious queen: «33 roasts of roe deer, 33 hares, 6 pigs, 66 hens for broth, 66 pheasants, 3 bushels of beans, 3 bushels of peas and 12 dozens of artichokes … simply exceptionnelle!

5 Franco-Florentine plates on all

A quick and timely historical excursus that leads us to discover how many of the dishes that have made the French cuisine world famous are inspired by Italy, Florence and the court of the doctors to be more precise. Let's see the most known in the foreground French dishes that (maybe) you did not know were instead of Italian origin.

1) The Canard à l'orange located in the Duck with Melarancio his ancestor. It seems that the original dish was proposed by Sicilian cooks to the wedding banquet of Catherine de Medici and Henry II. The combination of meat / fruit is the particularity of this recipe, which has clear roots in Arab and Sicilian cuisine, and has spread to Florence at the Corte de 'Medici during the Renaissance.

2) The crepe, or the "grandmother's peels", Belong to the history of ancient Tuscany, then come from the countryside to the Medici family kitchens where they are prepared as crepes with the" sauce glue "(pre-béchamel).

3) There Soupe à l'oignon inspired by the Florentine onion soup, the carabaccia originally from Certaldo, imported to our court by the King of France, Henry II d'Orléans.

4) The Omelette they are simply the evolution of our omelettes, enjoyed by the Medici family for generations that Caterina brings with her across the Alps: a preparation of eggs and vegetables that the French like.

5) Also macarons they arrive in France passing from Florence: their name derives from the verb dent is Legend has it that they were born in Venice in the sixteenth century and then served as court cake at the royal wedding with the Duke of Orleans.

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How to make french toast – Italian Cuisine

How to make french toast


You've certainly seen French toast in many American movies because this is it typical breakfast-brunch recipe along with pancakes, scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. I'm very simple and quick to prepare: just immerse the slices of bread in the box in a mix of eggs and milk and then fry them in a pan with butter.
French toast comes served lukewarm, sprinkled with icing sugar and accompanied with jam, maple syrup, fresh fruit, honey or cream.

How to make a french toast

First you decide whether to make a toast with two slices stuffed in the middle or with only one slice.
Then choose bread. It can be del panbrioche if you want a sweet and greedy toast, but it will also be simple white bread in the box.
you can fill the toast as you prefer, with butter and sugar, butter and jam, ricotta and honey, hazelnut cream and everything you like. If you use only one slice, however, you do not need to add anything.
Then pass the slices of single bread or stuffed toasts into a mixture prepared with 3 beaten eggs and 100 ml of milk.
You can add a pinch of cinnamon, if you want, and a teaspoon of powdered sugar to sweeten, but if you use pan brioche it will not serve.
The last step is the cooking in a pan with a knob of butter.
The toast must become crispy and golden.

And the croque monsieur?

We do not confuse french toast and croque monsieur, two recipes from the French name and based on bread in a box but do not provide the same procedure or the same ingredients.
The croque monsieur, or its richer version croque madame, is prepared with two slices of bread stuffed with bechamel, ham and cheese and then seasoned with another béchamel sauce and roasted in the oven. The croque madame, however, is a toast stuffed with ham and cheese then cooked in a pan with butter. It is characteristic because it is served with a fried egg as the last layer.

And the pain perdu?

Another recipe very similar to French toast is the pain perdu, very famous in France and in some northern European countries and also known in Italy as a recipe for the poor tradition.
It is a full french toast, but prepared with slices of common bread, better if stale.
The slices are not stuffed, but simply wet with eggs and milk and then fried with butter.
It is a recipe for recycling that can be served at any time of the day with an accompaniment of cooked fruit like apples or pears or compotes of all kinds.
It is a true comfort food.

Here now in the tutorial some ideas to prepare for delicious french toast for your breakfast.

Perfect French Baguette at Home – Only Impossible If You Don’t Try It

Whenever someone asked me why I hadn’t done a baguette video
yet, I’d tell them because you just can’t recreate an authentic loaf of French
bread at home. 

I’d explain about the water, the flour, the centuries old
starters, and the steam-injected ovens. I told them what I’d been told; that it
was simply impossible, or as the French say, “impossible!”


That was, until I actually tried to make some. Much to my
amazement, not only was it possible, it was really pretty simple. The key is
water. That goes for the dough, and the baking environment. The dough must be
very sticky, as in hard-to-work-with sticky. This is nothing well-floured
fingers can’t conquer, but I did want to give you a heads-up.

Besides the water content in the dough, the oven must also
be moist. This humidity, in addition to some occasional misting will give the
crusty baguettes their signature look. How does this work? You know how when someone
pours water on the rocks in a dry sauna, and suddenly it feels way hotter? It
probably has something to do with that.


Anyway, who cares why it works, the important thing here is
that real, authentic, freshly-baked baguette is now an everyday reality. One
thing worth noting; I adapted this no-knead version from a recipe I found here
last year. The original is in metric, so I’ve converted it, but also included
the original flour and water units in case you want to get it exact. I hope you
give this easy, and so not impossible baguette recipe a try soon. Enjoy!


For 4 smaller or 2 large baguette:
1/4 tsp dry active yeast (I used Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise
Yeast)

(Note: if you want to use a traditional bread technique, add the whole package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp) and proceed as usual)
1 1/2 cups water (325 grams)
1 3/4 tsp salt
18 oz by weight all-purpose flour (500 grams), about 4 cups
– Mix dough and let rise 12-14 hours or until doubled
– Punch down and shape loaves, let rise covered with floured
plastic 1 to 1/2 hr or until almost doubled
– Bake at 550 F. about 15 minutes or until well-browned
– Spray with water before baking, at 5 minutes, and at 10
minutes during cooking time

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