French cuisine

French cuisine is characterized by its extreme diversity. French cuisine is considered to be one of the world's most refined and elegant styles of cooking, and is renowned for both its classical ("haute cuisine") and provincial styles. Many of the world's greatest chefs, such as Auguste Escoffier, were masters of French cuisine. Additionally, French cooking techniques have been a major influence on virtually all Western cuisines, and almost all culinary schools use French cuisine as the basis for all other forms of Western cooking.

Specialities by region/city

• Alsace:
• Choucroute garnie (sauerkraut with sausages, salt pork and potatoes)
• Tarte flambée or flammeküche
• Alps
• Raclette (melted cheese served with potatoes, ham and often dried beef)
• fondue savoyarde (fondue made with cheese and white wine into which cubes of bread are dipped)
• gratin dauphinois
• Tartiflette (a Savoyard gratin with potatoes, Reblochon cheese, cream and pork)
• Brittany:
• Crêpes
• kik ar fars (boiled pork dinner with a kind of dumpling)
• Kouign amann (a form of shortbread made with a very large proportion of butter)
• Burgundy:
• Boeuf Bourguignon (beef stewed in red wine)
• Escargots de Bourgogne (snails baked in their shells with parsley butter)
• Fondue bourguignonne (fondue made with oil in which pieces of meat are cooked)
• Lorraine:
• Quiche Lorraine
• Côte d'Azur/Provence:
• Bouillabaisse (a stew of mixed Mediterranean fish, tomatoes, and herbs)
• Ratatouille
• Pieds et paquets Lambs' feet and tripe 'parcels' in a savoury sauce
• Nimes:
• Brandade de morue (puréed salt cod)
• Normandy:
• Tripes à la mode de Caen (tripe cooked in a highly seasoned sauce)
• Auvergne:
• Tripoux (tripe 'parcels' in a savoury sauce)
• Truffade(potatoes sautéed with garlic and young tomme cheese)
• Aligot (mashed potatoes blended with young tomme cheese)
• Southwest:
• Cassoulet (a dish made with beans, sausages and preserved duck or goose)
• Foie gras (the liver of a forcefed duck or goose)