All recipes

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Sauce béarnaiseTarragon butter sauce

Sauce béarnaise was created in the 1830s at a restaurant in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris and named after the Béarn region, home of King Henri IV, and it is still the sauce French families serve with steak and frites on special evenings. Egg yolks are whisked over gentle heat with a sharp reduction of vinegar, shallot and tarragon, then thickened with warm butter into a glossy, tangy sauce. The yolks are only lightly cooked, so use pasteurised egg yolks if serving anyone pregnant, very young, elderly or with a weakened immune system. The common mistake is too much heat, which scrambles the yolks. Chef's tip: if the sauce starts to look grainy, whisk in a teaspoon of cold water off the heat at once.

30 min

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Tomates à la provençaleBaked garlic breadcrumb tomatoes

Tomates à la provençale are the summer side dish of every Provençal kitchen, set out at lunch from June to September beside grilled fish, lamb or an omelette. Ripe tomato halves are baked slowly, cut side up, under a heap of garlic, parsley and olive-oil breadcrumbs until the tomatoes slump and caramelise and the topping crisps. The common mistake is using under-ripe tomatoes, which stay sour and firm. Chef's tip: salt the cut tomatoes and turn them upside down for 15 minutes before topping; they lose excess juice and the crumbs stay crisp.

55 min

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Sauce viergeRaw tomato and olive oil sauce

Sauce vierge is the fresh summer sauce of Provence, made popular by chefs on the Côte d'Azur in the 1980s and now spooned over grilled fish, vegetables and pasta in homes from July to September. Diced ripe tomato, shallot and basil are gently warmed in good olive oil with lemon and coriander seed, just enough to release the flavours without cooking them. The common mistake is heating it too much, which turns it into a cooked tomato sauce. Chef's tip: use the ripest tomatoes you can find and leave the sauce to infuse for 20 minutes before serving.

12 min

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Agneau pascalLamb-shaped Easter cake

The lammele, or agneau pascal, is the Easter cake of Alsace, a light sponge baked in a lamb-shaped earthenware mould from Soufflenheim and dusted with icing sugar, with a little paper flag tied round its neck. It is bought from bakeries in Strasbourg and Colmar or made at home for Easter Sunday breakfast. No lamb meat is involved; it is a vegetarian cake. The common mistake is not greasing the mould well enough, so the head sticks. Chef's tip: brush the mould with soft butter, chill, then dust with flour, so every detail comes out clean.

60 min

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Pommes puréeSmooth mashed potatoes

Pommes purée is the smooth, rich mash served all over France with roast chicken, sausages or a Sunday daube, and made famous in Paris restaurants where chefs beat in almost as much butter as potato. Floury potatoes are boiled whole in their skins, peeled hot, pressed through a ricer or sieve and beaten with hot milk and cold butter until silky. The common mistake is mashing in a food processor or with a blender, which turns the starch gluey. Chef's tip: dry the riced potato over a low heat for a minute before adding the butter; drier potato takes in more butter and tastes richer.

45 min

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ChouquettesSugar choux puffs

Chouquettes are the small, hollow choux puffs studded with pearl sugar that French bakeries sell by weight in paper bags, a favourite treat bought on the way home from school and shared between brothers and sisters. They are made with the same choux dough as éclairs but left unfilled. The common mistake is opening the oven too soon, so they collapse. Chef's tip: press the pearl sugar in well after glazing, so it does not roll off.

40 min

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Gâteau marbréMarble loaf cake

Gâteau marbré is the marble cake of French childhood, a vanilla and chocolate loaf with swirls through every slice, packed in school bags for goûter and sold in supermarkets everywhere as a lunchbox cake. Homemade, it is soft, buttery and quick. The common mistake is swirling too much, which turns the cake brown all through. Chef's tip: layer the two batters in the tin and drag a knife through just two or three times.

60 min

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Saumon à l'oseilleSalmon with sorrel sauce

Saumon à l'oseille was created in the 1960s at the Troisgros brothers' famous restaurant in Roanne, north of Lyon, and it soon became a dinner-party classic in French homes. Thin escalopes of salmon are cooked for barely a minute and laid on a pale green cream sauce sharpened with sorrel, whose lemony bite cuts the richness of the fish. This home version uses a quick fish stock and no wine, so it is alcohol-free. The common mistake is overcooking the salmon; the thin escalopes are done the moment they turn pale. Chef's tip: add the sorrel at the very end and take it off the heat at once; it collapses in seconds and turns khaki if boiled.

25 min

French Fish

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Pain au laitSoft milk rolls

Pain au lait is the soft, slightly sweet milk roll French children take to school for goûter at four o'clock, split and filled with a bar of chocolate or spread with jam. The dough is enriched with milk, butter and a little egg, shaped into small oval rolls, snipped along the top with scissors and sprinkled with pearl sugar. The common mistake is overbaking, which gives a crust; they should stay pale gold and pillowy. Chef's tip: brush them with egg twice, before and after proving, for the glossy bakery finish.

175 min

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Pâte feuilletéePuff pastry

Pâte feuilletée is the queen of French pastries, the flaky dough behind galettes des rois, mille-feuilles, vol-au-vents and palmiers, still made by hand in pâtisseries all over France. A simple dough is wrapped around a flat block of cold butter, then rolled and folded six times, so that in the oven the water in the butter turns to steam and lifts hundreds of layers. It takes time rather than skill. The common mistake is letting the butter get warm and soft, which smears the layers together. Chef's tip: chill the dough for 30 minutes after every two turns, and work in a cool kitchen.

300 min

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Pain aux raisinsRaisin custard swirl pastry

Pain aux raisins, called escargot in some bakeries for its snail-shell spiral, is the third great pastry of the French breakfast counter, alongside the croissant and pain au chocolat. Croissant dough is spread with vanilla crème pâtissière, scattered with plump raisins, rolled up and sliced into spirals, then baked and brushed with syrup until glossy. The common mistake is spreading the cream too thick, so it oozes out and the spirals open. Chef's tip: soak the raisins in hot tea or orange juice for 30 minutes so they are juicy and do not burn.

680 min

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Brioche à têteTopknot brioche

Brioche à tête, the brioche parisienne, is the little fluted bun with a round head that sits in every French bakery window, eaten for Sunday breakfast, dunked in hot chocolate or served with jam at goûter. The dough is very rich in eggs and butter, kneaded long until silky, then chilled overnight, which makes it easy to shape and gives a deep flavour. The common mistake is adding the butter too fast, which leaves a greasy dough. Chef's tip: add the butter a little at a time while the mixer runs, and wait until each piece disappears before adding the next.

620 min

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OranaisApricot custard pastry

The oranais, also called abricotine, is a French bakery pastry that is said to come from the city of Oran in Algeria, brought back by returning pieds-noirs in the 1960s, and it is now found in boulangeries all over France for breakfast and goûter. A square of puff or croissant dough has its corners folded over a spoonful of pastry cream and two apricot halves, so it looks like a pair of eyes. The common mistake is using wet canned apricots, which make the pastry soggy. Chef's tip: drain the apricots on kitchen paper and glaze them with warm apricot jam after baking for a jewel-like shine.

50 min

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Langues de chatCat's tongue biscuits

Langues de chat, "cat's tongues", are long, thin butter biscuits with golden edges, served with coffee, ice cream or a bowl of chocolate mousse in French homes and cafés; they keep well in a tin and children love them. A simple batter of butter, sugar, egg white and flour is piped in strips and baked until the edges just brown. The common mistake is piping them too close together; they spread. Chef's tip: tap the tray firmly on the worktop after piping so the strips flatten evenly.

25 min

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Crêpes dentelleCrisp lace crêpe biscuits

Crêpes dentelle, "lace crêpes", are a speciality of Quimper in Brittany, said to have been invented by a baker there in 1886 who burnt a crêpe and rolled it up; they are wafer-thin, crisp, buttery rolled biscuits, sold in tins all over Brittany and eaten with coffee or crumbled over ice cream. The common mistake is spreading the batter too thick, so they will not crisp. Chef's tip: spread the batter so thin you can see the tray through it, and roll each one as soon as it comes out of the oven.

40 min

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Gâteau nantaisAlmond rum-free lemon cake

The gâteau nantais comes from Nantes in the Loire, created in 1820 by a local baker when the city's port imported sugar and rum from the Caribbean; it is a dense, moist almond cake with a crackly white glaze, eaten at goûter and family lunches. Traditionally the cake is soaked in rum and the glaze flavoured with it; this version uses lemon juice for both so all ages can eat it, and adults can add 2 tablespoons of rum to the glaze. The common mistake is overbaking, which dries it. Chef's tip: soak the cake while it is still warm.

50 min

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Crème de marronsSweet chestnut spread

Crème de marrons, sweet chestnut cream, was invented in Privas in the Ardèche in the 1880s to use up broken chestnuts from making marrons glacés, and it is now a French store-cupboard classic: spread on crêpes at Candlemas, stirred into fromage blanc, or piled into a Mont Blanc dessert. This home version uses cooked, peeled chestnuts. The common mistake is not blending it smooth enough. Chef's tip: blend while still warm, and push it through a sieve for a silky finish.

40 min

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Confiture de tomates vertesGreen tomato jam

Green tomato jam is the thrifty end-of-summer preserve of French kitchen gardens, made in October in the south-west and Provence with the tomatoes that will never ripen before the frost; it tastes surprisingly like a mix of melon and lemon and is served with breakfast or with cheese. The common mistake is cutting the tomatoes too big, so they stay hard. Chef's tip: slice them thinly and leave them overnight in the sugar; they turn translucent when cooked.

80 min

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Torteau fromagerGoat's cheese cake

The torteau fromager is the cake of the Poitou-Charentes, a tall, light goat's cheese cake with a dramatically burnt, almost black dome, sold at markets around Poitiers and served at Sunday lunch and weddings. Fresh goat's cheese is beaten with egg yolks and sugar, folded with whisked whites and baked in a pastry-lined dome mould at a high heat, which gives the dark crust. Use pasteurised fresh goat's cheese. The common mistake is opening the oven early, which makes it fall. Chef's tip: do not worry about the black top; it is meant to be that way and tastes of caramel.

80 min

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Brioche vendéenneBraided Easter brioche

The brioche vendéenne is the plaited Easter brioche of the Vendée on the Atlantic coast, once baked for Easter Sunday and for weddings, where it was carried into the dance on a huge board. It is softer and lighter than Parisian brioche, scented with vanilla and orange-blossom water, and has protected status (IGP). The common mistake is plaiting too tightly, so it splits in the oven. Chef's tip: plait loosely and give it a long, slow final prove.

330 min

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Pogne de RomansOrange blossom brioche crown

The pogne is the Easter brioche of Romans-sur-Isère and Valence in the Drôme, a high crown of soft dough fragrant with orange-blossom water, traditionally made for Easter and eaten with the local ravioles, or at breakfast with butter. Its name comes from "poigne", the fistful of dough the baker grabs. The common mistake is underproving; it needs a long, slow rise to be light. Chef's tip: make the starter the night before; it gives the pogne its gentle, rich flavour.

635 min

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Confiture de figuesFig jam

Fig jam is made in late summer in Provence and the south-west, when the trees are heavy with violet figs, and it is served with breakfast and, very often, with cheese, especially goat's cheese and ewe's cheese from the Pyrenees. The figs are cooked with lemon and vanilla until thick and glossy. The common mistake is undercooking it, so it stays runny. Chef's tip: figs are low in pectin, so add a grated apple or use jam sugar.

60 min

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Pommes AnnaLayered buttered potato cake

Pommes Anna was created in the 1860s at the Café Anglais in Paris and named after one of the fashionable ladies who dined there, and it is still a special-occasion side dish for roasts and Christmas dinners in French homes. Very thin potato slices are layered in overlapping circles with butter, pressed down and baked until the outside is a crisp golden cake and the inside soft. It is turned out like a tart and cut in wedges. The common mistake is not pressing the layers firmly, so the cake falls apart when turned out. Chef's tip: use clarified butter; it does not burn and gives the deepest golden crust.

75 min