You do not have to hunt wild boar like Obelix, the fictional world’s most prolific consumer of French cuisine. Neither do you have to afford the services of Anatole, one of the fictional world’s most famous French chefs. Learn the meaning & pronunciation of "mignardises", "confit", "ecrevisse", "petit fours", "au jus" - let Henry Higgins wrestle with that. Develop a taste for escargots(snails), lapin(rabbit), grenouille(frogs) - leave that to the connoisseurs. A name like Uncle Tom Travers or Sir Roderick Glossop or J. Washburn Stoker is not necessary; Sharma/Das/Patel/Patil/Krishnamurthy will suffice.
Before you say "This reviewer is crazy", here is a menu to illustrate a few points.
A) Pumpkin Soup.
B) Chicken in White wine & Mustard Sauce
C) Spinach Gratin & Mushroom Rice.
D) Flourless chocolate cake garnished with berries and mint.
Pumpkin soup showcases Nouvelle French cuisine’s penchant for keeping things simple and using just a few fresh ingredients. Take some cubed fresh pumpkin, add salt and pepper, and boil it in water until just tender. Puree it in a blender, add some lemon juice, and serve hot as the first course. You may elect to add some ginger or nutmeg(not both) at the first step to give it some more taste, and add a little cream at the end. I prefer the ginger and no cream version(more healthy and flavorful), but the nutmeg and cream version is magnificent as well. As my wife who makes this soup like to say - "You need to be able to taste the Pumpkin, and this should be the pre-dominant taste".
The chicken dish is a variation on one of the most traditional and famous dishes from Burgundy, coq au vin, literally chicken in wine. Red wine is used in coq au vin, mine uses white wine instead. Both begin with a standard French procedure of browning chicken pieces. You can use olive oil or a butter-olive-oil mixture or a butter-light-vegetable-oil mixture for browning. Saute some onions with garlic, add the browned chicken and some leeks(and/or green spring onions), add white wine and simmer until the chicken is cooked. Add mustard(preferably Dijon), salt & pepper to taste, and if necessary, add some cream to soften the taste of the mustard. There are several variations of this basic browned chicken with wine dish, somewhat akin to multiple Indian versions of chicken curry. Lighter versions involve less browning and more sautéing, and a light roux(a basic French oil/butter flour sauce) instead of cream; herbs such as bay leaf thyme parsley & tarragon, and vegetables such as carrots and mushrooms.
Spinach gratin serves to highlight French cuisine’s excellence in vegetarian cooking. The French believe in emphasizing the natural flavor of a vegetable, and in contrast to most Indian cooking usually do not add spices. However, the end result is just as tasteful. I still vividly remember a sautéed eggplant and green peppers side to a fish dish in a Paris restaurant, more than the fish itself. This side was simplicity and elegance personified; just a light sautéing of the freshest eggplant and peppers with a hint of black pepper and garlic. Coming back to that gratin, you lightly oil a baking dish(olive oil preferred, light vegetable oil may be substituted.) and line it with tomato slices. Season the tomatoes with salt & pepper and add another layer of lightly sautéed onions(season again); and top with a lot fresh cut spinach(season again). Gratin’s imply adding a final layer of cheese and/or breadcrumbs, I usually skip the cheese and just lightly dust with breadcrumbs. Drizzle some more oil, and bake until the spinach has wilted and cooked.
Mushroom rice is the only carb. dish on this menu, and is made just as you would make any pulav. Begin by sautéing some mushrooms, add spices/herbs to taste(minimal being the key word), and add rice and water. Put it on high heat until the water begins to boil, then cover with a heavy lid and cook over medium heat until done.
Finally the dessert, and what a glorious dish it is; brings out an important difference between French and other flour based Western desserts(cakes/pies). The French believe in using fresh fruits, eggs, cream and chocolate, and comparatively less flour. This recipe has no flour, and begins with melting chocolate(the darker the better) with butter. Separate egg yolks from whites, beat them with sugar, and fold in the melted chocolate. Beat the egg whites, gradually adding sugar, until very stiff. Fold this egg-white mixture into the rest; and bake in a 350 deg. F. oven until done. When serving, you may garnish it with some seasonal berries(cut strawberries, small raspberries etc.) and some mint leaves. You may also puree the berries and and add artistically add a small amount. If berries are unavailable, any good fruit preserve(apricot, strawberry) will suffice.
The French like to experiment with and include ingredients from all over the world. Provencal cooking(South of France) is influenced by its Italian and Spanish neighbors. You will find many pasta and ravioli and basil sauce dishes(Italian influence), and saffron and rice dishes(Spanish influence). Bouillabaisse, the famous Provencal fish soup/stew gets its kick from red cayenne pepper. Most Indians eating this dish would compare it with a good Indian fish curry; and call for plain rice as an accompaniment. I have also eaten spicy curried prawns with mango chutney at a Riviera seafood restaurant. French chefs at some of the world’s best restaurants usually have one or two fusion dishes - French dishes with Indian spices(Tandoori). You also see the influence of Africa(tagine) and the Middle East.
I stumbled onto French cooking when I was a single in Grad. School. I would usually make a hash of Indian cooking, Indian cookbooks in those days were too imprecise(a dash of this, a pinch of that, fry for some time etc.). Geeky-computer-nerds(and bad cooks) like me need exact directions down to the milligram/microsecond/nanometer, and American written French cookbooks were only too willing. After slavishly following the written recipe, I discovered that I could make something edible. Since I had made it and there were few other choices, I learned to like it; but the the effect on others was quite profound. Make less than optimal Indian food and everyone complains; make barely edible French food and you are perceived as sophisticated. So all you skilled in Indian cooking, if I can do it so can you. Loose your inhibitions, be adventurous and take the plunge; you may discover something truly exceptional. Just remember to invite me and my wife, I promise not to eat as much as Obelix, will not expect you to cook like Anatole, and we could be dancing all night.
All the recipes described above are available online and so please excuse the lack of exactness.
Bouquets/Brickbats/Cooking Tips/Comments welcome.
References
1) Asterix Comics
2) P. G. Wodehouse
3) My Fair Lady
Books/TV shows on French Cooking
1) Alton Brown’s TV show "Good Eats"
2) Barefoot in Paris/Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten
3) Books by Patricia Wells
4) Provence the Beautiful Cookbook, Richard Olney