from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com Normandy in France. Map courtesy of OnTheWorldM Enjoying French cuisine on its home ground is one of the reasons for visiting France; a second reason is to see places of unique interest or great art and architecture that cannot be found elsewhere. Normandy all has all of this and more. Normandy is blessed with 640 km (398 miles) of coast, providing wonderful sandy beaches. There are also many inland rivers, canals, and lakes, including the River Seine that flows through Paris and onto the Atlantic near Honfleur ..read more

  from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman   A few of the fruits and vegetables that may be on your menu. Photograph courtesy of Fondation Louis Bonduelle  French culinary tradition includes naming the cuts used for the vegetables, fries, or fruits on menu listings. Nearly every English-speaking visitor to France will understand a menu offering Steak Frites, but Steak Frites Pont-Neuf is not so well known and won’t be fully translated by Google Translate. Equally, many visitors will know that saumon is salmon, but Microsoft Translator doesn’t help with Saumon et Bruno ..read more

from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman Papeton d'Aubergine. Aubergines/eggplants in the manner of the Pope's Hat. Photograph courtesy of Cuisine Actuelle Papeton d'Aubergine originated in Avignon and is served a pate, as an entrée (the French starter). Apart from eggplant, most French recipes include tomatoes, onions, and eggs flavored with garlic,  parsley, thyme, and bay leaves. (Avignon was home to seven popes from 1309 to 1379. The area around Avignon that the popes ruled was called Comtat Venaissin).     Papeton d'Aubergine Photographcourtes ..read more

from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman  behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com A member of the lamprey family. Photograph courtesy of AANA, Agence de l’Alimentation Nouvelle Aquitaine Lamproie de Rivière Européene, the River Lamprey and the Lamproie Marine or Lamproie de Mer, the Sea Lamprey   -  The French name lamproie, like lamprey in English, covers all members of the lamprey family and there are quite a number of members.  However, in France, one of the two noted above will be on your menu. The lamprey is a strange and jawless animal, neither a true fish nor an eel ..read more

from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman A Baeckeoffe. Photograph courtesy of Joel Bezhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/lejoe/5196062504/  Baeckeof, Baeckeoffe, Baaekenof, or Potée Alsacienne – A traditional peasant stew from the Alsatian area in the Grand Est region. Baeckeoffe and similar-sounding names all mean a Baker’s Oven in the Alsatian dialect. For hundreds of years, when a baker had finished baking that day’s bread, the villager’s cooking pots would be placed in the baker’s oven where their contents cooked while the oven slowly cooled. Each family’s cooking pot contained ..read more

from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman behindthefrenchmen@gmail.com Old Aquitaine and its five departments after the French revolution. (For more about Nouvelle Aquitaine see the last paragraph in this post). From the French revolution until 1-1-2016 Aquitaine included five modern French departments, the Dordogne, Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.  Aquitaine  The Duchy of Aquitaine covered the Roman provinces of Aquitania Prima and Secunda when Rome had settled France.  Then, in the Middle Ages, an enlarged Aquitaine became part of the K ..read more

from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com    The Armagnac tulip-shaped glass. Locally it is preferred to a snifter. Photograph courtesy of Tourism Landes     Armagnac is South of Bordeaux, Cognac is North of Bordeaux.   Many people expect that Armagnac and Cognac to have similar tastes; however, these brandies have palpable differences. They are indeed both grape brandies, and both come from France; however, more or less, there their similarities end. The grapes used are different, and the taste and aroma are different. To add to ..read more

from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman      The Valençay Cheese. Photograph courtesy of Frédérique Voisin-Demery www.flickr.com/photos/vialbost/5486322753/    The Valençay Cheese and Wine In 1998 the Valençay cheese received AOC status and the wine followed in 2004. That made the town of Valençay the first place in France to have both an AOC cheese and AOC wines.  The Valençay cheese and the Valençay wines took their name from the small and attractive town of Valençay in the Valley of the Loire. The valley has beautiful countryside with fabulous chateaus ..read more

from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman   Hams  on sale. Photograph courtesy of Funky Tee www.flickr.com/photos/memnativ/7389790630/     Hams in France French cured ham comes from the upper part of the rear legs of a pig, and two kinds of ham may be on French restaurant menus. The first type of ham and the subject of this post is Jambon Sec (also called Jambon Cru), air-cured(air-dried) ham. The second type of ham is wet-cured ham and that may be cooked again. Wet-cured ham includes the ham used in ham sandwiches, called jambon blanc, white ham, or jambon ..read more

from Behind the French Menu by Bryan G. Newman behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com      Seared duck foie gras Photograph courtesy of yosoynutswww.flickr.com/photos/yosoynuts/4094595898/   Foie Gras is liver from a fattened duck or goose.   For centuries foie gras has been considered a unique French gastronomic experience and part of France’s cultural history. Foie gras will be on many menus. The French and North American takes on foie gras. In the USA, foie gras is on many of the top restaurant menus, though it is banned in California. In the USA, foie gras will most often b ..read more