Behind the French Menu

Cafes in France and the Story Behind Coffee.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
bryangnewman@gmail.com

A café, in France.
Photograph by courtesy of mia!
www.flickr.com/photos/_mia/2584964985/

A French café is more than just the coffee and pastries it serves. A successful French café offers minimally comfortable seating and a place where people may meet regularly, drink coffee, or relax and just let the world pass by.

To order coffee in a French café click on this p

Ordering Coffee in France, The A - Z of Ordering Coffee in France.

The first coffee bean

Long before the first French café, there was the first grain de café—the first coffee bean that grew on a small evergreen tree in Ethiopia. (The coffee bean is, in fact, a seed that grows in pairs inside a coffee cherry, but I will keep to tradition and call it a bean.)

.
Coffee cherries
Photograph courtesy of Larry Jacobsen
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ljguitar/405457216

Following the Sacred Bean

From Ethiopia, the beans and the secrets of their preparation were exported to Yemen. There, Sufi mystics used the power of the bean to sustain long nights of prayer and meditation, transforming coffee from a wild fruit into a sacred tool for wakefulness. Yemen became the world's first international coffee exporter, selling beans to Ottoman Turkey.

Coffee quickly became the most popular national drink in Turkey, with returning travelers returning home praising 'Turkish Coffee.' The drink finally reached Europe alongside the Ottoman Empire’s army as it expanded into Southeastern and Central Europe. When the Ottomans eventually retreated, the coffee remained.

France's first French café

According to accepted tradition, coffee came to Paris with Pascal Harutyun, an Armenian businessman from Aleppo, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Pascal set up a coffee booth at the Saint-Germain Fair in Paris (Foire Saint-Germain) in 1672 and went on to open France’s first coffee house on the Quai de l’École, near the Pont Neuf bridge, around the same year. (London had seen its first coffee house open in 1652 with the credit usually going to Pasqua Rosée, another Armenian.)

In the early evening.
Happy Hour sometimes comes to French cafés
Photograph by courtesy of Archibald Ballantine.
www.flickr.com/photos/johngevers/14004975/

The oldest café still operating in Paris

The oldest French coffee house still open in France is the Café Le Procope, also in Paris; it opened in 1686. The original owner of Le Procope was an Italian immigrant from Palermo, Sicily, Francesco Procopio. Today Le Procope is no longer a traditional café; rather, it is a smart restaurant and not an inexpensive one, offering history, excellent food, and of course, excellent coffee. Le Procope’s traditions include the claim to have introduced ice cream to France. (The café has opened and closed on the same site with different owners over the years, so Francesco was not available for an interview the last time I visited.)

The outside of Le Procope today.
Photograph Courtesy of Serge Melk
www.flickr.com/photos/sergemelki/3364276074/

Enjoying a coffee in Le Procope today

If you are visiting Le Procope for coffee, ice cream and a touch of history, it is best to go outside of regular meal hours as at lunch and dinner, every table in Le Procope is reserved for diners. Later, while you sip your coffee, consider that you may well be sitting at the same spot where, in the past, sat John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Voltaire, Danton, Marat, or possibly Robespierre; that is real coffee history.

The inside of Le Procope today
Photograph by courtesy of Michael Rys
www.flickr.com/photos/mrys/176993289/

The oil in the bean is far more important than the roast.

The packaging of most branded coffees will tell you the type of roast but little else; however, the amount of oil in the coffee bean affects the taste far more than the roast. The perfect roast cannot produce flavor from dry, oil-less beans. (In fact, darker roasts achieve their bolder profile by drawing these oils to the surface.) For those who visit both France and Italy on a European trip, you may taste the difference in their coffees; the French favor the oiler beans, followed closely by the Italians.

Grains de Café, Coffee Beans.
Photograph courtesy of Apple’s Eyes Studio through Freedigtalphotos.net.

The two beans that fight for your business.

Behind the scenes, battling for market share, are two coffee beans: the Arabica and the Robusta, and their various family members. The Arabica has 50% less caffeine and is considered superior in flavor, but it is much more expensive; consequently, nearly all coffees on the market are blends of the two, with only a few premium brands being 100% Arabica. However, Robusta provides a higher caffeine kick and the golden-brown froth, the mousse (or crema, as the Italians call it), that traditional coffee drinkers expect.

The Blenders

Inside a coffee importer’s warehouse, there are highly trained and highly paid coffee blenders. These employees, like the blenders in the great Champagne and Cognac houses, rely on their sensitive palates and refined olfactory sense to prepare special blends. These blends are prepared for their most valuable customers—the café and restaurant industry.

Both 100% Robusta and 100% Arabica coffees can be blends, as different subgroups of each plant offers different flavors. After blending and roasting, these blends will have a taste and smell that does not vary from batch to batch, month to month, or year to year.

Coffee in a French home.

In many French homes, café au lait—a milky coffee—is the traditional way to start the day. Until about ten years ago, the cafetière (French press) was the unchallenged method for making the morning coffee, but slowly and surely, capsule machines have taken close to 50% of the home market; in cafés and restaurants, espresso machines rule. NB: Don’t expect to find much filter coffee in France;

In France, coffee isn't just a drink; it’s a clock

In France, coffee isn't just a drink; it’s a clock. The type of coffee ordered tells you exactly what time of day it is and whether the patron is 'on the go', standing at the bar (the comptoir) rather than sitting down.

Le Petit Déjeuner (Breakfast).

At home, many French people still favor a bol de café (a coffee bowl) rather than a mug for the morning’s café au lait, coffee with plenty of steamed milk. The bowl is practical: it keeps your hands warm and provides a target for dipping a tartine beurrée (buttered bread).

In a café, the morning order is typically a café crème (espresso with a generous amount of frothed milk). A café crème is basically the professional version of a café au lait. This is the only time of day when it is truly 'acceptable' to order a milky coffee.

A bol de cafe

L’Après-Déjeuner (After Lunch)

After lunch, the coffee of choice is un café, also called un petit noir, a small, strong espresso served black. Some cafés may serve it with a single square of dark chocolate or un spéculoos (a small biscuit); these cut the bitterness and make the patron feel welcome. NB: The French rarely order a cappuccino after a meal; it is not considered good for your digestion.

L’Après-midi (Afternoon break)

In the mid-afternoon, the same hour children enjoy their goûter (after-school snack), adults take their own pause-café. This is a slower, more social time, often marked by an order of a café allongé or a café noisette.

A café allongé is an espresso "lengthened" with hot water.

A café noisette is named after the French word for "hazelnut." This is an espresso with just a small amount of milk or cream, which turns the coffee the hazelnut‑brown color of a hazelnut shell.

Le Soir (Evening)

After dinner, coffee is again served black and small. For those worried about caffeine and sleep, the order becomes a déca (decaffeinated espresso); you may also request tea.

In many restaurants, there is also the option of a café gourmand. This is an espresso served on a tray with a selection of three to five mini-desserts. It perfectly solves the classic dilemma: coffee or dessert? While the selection varies, it often includes a mini crème brûlée, a chocolate mousse, a madeleine or a biscuit.

A café gourmand
Photograph courtesy of Merle ja Joonas
https://www.flickr.com/photos/merlejajoonas/6882916998/

The barista, the most important individual in the cafe.

In the best French cafés, the espresso coffee machine will be under the control of an experienced maître barista, a skilled operator of an industrial espresso machine. The title barista comes from the Italian, (as the Italians invented the espresso coffee machines, they also own the name). Coffee connoisseurs will tell you that only an expert barista can prepare a perfect cup of coffee every time. The correct heat of the water, the proper water pressure, and the correct tamping of the coffee for the espresso machine complete the work of a barista. To make the perfect cup of coffee, the barista will be trained like any other professional and the makers of the various espresso coffee machines and the coffee blenders run training courses for baristas.

Coffee beans, coffee cherries and a coffee tea.

Coffee beans (its seeds) grow in pairs inside a coffee cherry; unlike a regular cherry or a grape, with their protective layers make up about 60% of the fruit's volume.

Because of their high sugar content, ripe cherries begin to ferment almost the moment they are picked. Within hours, the flavor can change from sweet fruit to something far less pleasant; for this reason, the fresh fruit is rarely exported.

However, the dried pulp and skin can be steeped to create a unique tea called Cascara (Spanish for husk). This tea is fruitier and contains less caffeine than coffee. Cascara tea was permitted as a safe food ingredient in Europe in 2021 and now its aficionados can find it in some speciality French coffee shops as an Infusion de Cascara.

From the first coffee booth of 17th-century Paris to the marble tables of Le Procope where revolutionaries plotted a new world, coffee has defined the French experience. It evolved from a rare Ottoman curiosity into a daily ritual that spans every hour of the day—whether it is a morning café au lait, an afternoon petit noir , or a modern curiosity like an infusion de cascara.

To order coffee in a French café click on this post:

Ordering Coffee in France, The A - Z of Ordering Coffee in France.

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                                                    ------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
Copyright 2010, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2026

The French Connection and The English Kitchen .

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Statue of William the Conqueror

In the town of his birth Falaise, France.

Photograph courtesy of Normandy Then and Now.

The French Connection and The English Kitchen

Was originally published as:

L'influence française sur la cuisine anglaise

in the blog: La mot juste en anglais.

The French connection with the English Kitchen began

with William the Conqueror in 1066

William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066. Shortly after his crowning as King of England, William began handing out the lands that had belonged to English aristocrats to Norman-French Barons and others who had fought with him. The data that shows the English aristocracy was replaced may be seen in the Domesday Book of 1086. The Domesday Book registered all meaningful property in William’s new country and showed his tax base. It survives in the original and is kept in the National Archives at Kew in London, England. The original Domesday Book may be viewed by scholars; the rest of us may see it online (in Latin with an English translation) at:

http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/.

The original, hand-written document, makes clear that of the many large landowners, only four Anglo-Saxon-English aristocrats still owned their lands after twenty years of Norman rule.

Part of the Bayeux Tapestry

showing William’s ships arriving in Hastings 1066

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the conquest of England in the year 1066

You may see it in Bayeux, Normandy, France.

Photograph courtesy of Dennis Jarvis

www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/14811103989/

The new Anglo-Norman-French aristocrats built castles on their newly acquired lands; documents from that time show that the cooks were Norman-French or French, while the kitchen help and farmers were Anglo-Saxon. Consequently; however, the names for prepared meats were adopted from Norman-French; consequently, the names for live animals remained in Anglo-Saxon English.

The language of the French cooks on the left.
The language of the kitchen help and the farmers on the right.

French – English Anglo-Saxon German – English

Bœuf - Beef Kuh - Cow

Veau – Veal Schwein, Swin - Swine

Mouton – Mutton Sceap - Sheep

Porc – Pork Picga - Pig

Poulet – Pullet or chicken Hana, Huhn – Hen

Venaissun - Venison Deor -Deer

The influence of the twelve French Queens of England after 1066

Of the 14 queens of England in the 400 years following the Norman invasion, 12 were French-born. This group includes two queens born in Navarre—then an independent nation between France and Spain. This four-century-long French influence on the English kitchen had a lasting effect on both the English language and the English table. Setting the tone for these queens was William's wife, Matilda of Flanders, who was crowned Queen of England in 1068.

Many classic British dishes have French roots, though not all date back to the time of the Conqueror. The examples below show the Norman-French origins of what are now considered traditional British dishes. "True Brits" will be pleased to know that puddings are not Norman-French, they are genuinely 100% British.

The traditional English and Irish breakfast

The traditional English and Irish breakfast is bacon and eggs, with fried or grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, pork or beef sausages. Along with slices of the blood sausage called black pudding, and, of course, toast. All of the ingredients may be seen on French tables though few if any, are seen at a traditional French breakfast. (Chapter 1).

(Baked beans were a late addition to the British breakfast table; they were an American import. In 1886, Henry Heinz brought five cases to the luxury London department store Fortnum & Mason and a new tradition was born.)

A traditional English and or Irish Breakfast.

Photograph courtesy of Rachael Ludwick

www.flickr.com/photos/raludwick/3849686165/

Bacon

Bacon, along with the word "lard," arrived in England from France. Today, in both English and French, "bacon" refers to smoked or salted meat from a pig. However, while the word lard now also means bacon in French, in English it specifically refers to rendered pig fat—which is saindoux in modern French. This often creates confusion for English speakers when ordering breakfast in France.

A French menu may offer:

Deux Œufs Brouillés et Deux Tranches de Bacon Grillé – Two scrambled eggs with two rashers of grilled bacon.

Rôti De Lotte Au Lard Fumé – Monkfish roasted with smoked bacon.

Œufs au Lard Fumé – Fried eggs with smoked bacon.

An English-speaking diner seeing Œufs au Lard Fumé without a translation might assume the café is offering eggs cooked in pig fat. While that may have been common practice a century ago in France, North America, and Britain, few modern cafés hoping to attract tourists fry eggs in pig fat today. Interestingly, "egg" is a genuine Anglo-Saxon name (originally æg, related to the modern German Ei), while the French is œuf.

Mushrooms - The word comes from the old French word mousseron. Now, even in France, the word has changed, and mushrooms are called champignons. The old French word mousseron nevertheless remains part of the French name for certain wild mushrooms. e.g., Le Mousseron in French is the St George's Mushroom in English.

Tomato – The British and the French both received both the tomato and its name from the Spanish via the conquistadores; the original Aztec name was tomatl, and the Spanish passed that on. Having received tomatoes from the Spanish at the end of the 17th century, both the French and the British considered tomatoes an ornamental plant; who added the tomato to the English and Irish breakfast is unknown.

Sausage - The word sausage came to England as the French word saucisse in 1066. At that time, in French, a saucisse included all types of cooked and uncooked sausages; however today, in modern French, a saucisse is often a smoked, cured or dried sausage, including salami style sausages. The French term saucisson is primarily used for a large saucisse. While the term boudin is commonly used for uncooked sausages. That includes the pork or beef sausages that are served grilled or fried for the English and Irish breakfast. In France, a boudin blanc, is a pork, veal or beef sausage, part of light lunch or dinner. Sausages are not commonly seen on a French breakfast table.

Black pudding - The black pudding sausage; a pig's blood sausage that is a traditional British, Irish and French favorite, and in French it is called a boudin noir. All boudins noir, black puddings, will have been boiled before being sold, and then will be fried or grilled before being served. The British and Irish versions of black puddings are usually large sausages, much too much for a single person, and for breakfast, only two or three grilled or fried slices will be served. French boudin noirs are mostly shorter and thinner than most black puddings and are often part of a light French lunch or dinner. France also organizes an annual international competition for the world’s best boudin noir, the world’s best black pudding. From all over the world, in March, the lovers of the boudin noir including many from England and Ireland come to compete at the Foire au Boudin de Mortagne-au-Perche, the black pudding fair which takes place at the town Mortagne-au-Perche in Normandy.

For a small contribution to the local economy, you may taste an incredible variety of sausages. However, the international competition—the Concours International du Meilleur Boudin Noir—is strictly for producers of black pudding. The competition is organized by a confrérie, the Chevaliers du Goûte-Boudin (Knights of the Blood Sausage).

If you wish to participate, follow the link to the Foire au Boudin.; while the first page is in French, further pages feature a Union Jack with rules for international entrants. Mark your diaries for the third Saturday and Sunday in March, and call your travel agent or EasyJet.

Boudin Noir (Black Pudding) with apples

Photograph courtesy cuisineaz

The French word toster came to England from France, where it originally meant "to grill" or "to toast." Later, the French would re-adopt the Anglicized word "toast" and use it with its modern English meaning. Today, in France, the word "toast" is just as popular as the formal French term for toasted bread, pain grillé.

Blancmange

The blancmange that arrived in England with the Normans was very different from today’s French dessert. Historically, blanc-manger could refer to almost anything white, as the name literally translates to "white dish" or "white eating."

A modern French blanc-manger is a dessert consisting of powdered almonds, sugar, milk, and cream, usually set with gelatin. Menus may offer versions flavored with strawberries, coconut, or other fruits.

In contrast, the Norman-French blancmange that first came to England was a savory stew of chicken or calves' feet flavored with almonds. Recipes survive from that era showing both the French and English variations. Thankfully, the blancmange offered in Britain today is nothing like the version I disliked as a child. Back then, blancmange came out of a packet; it was primarily fruit-flavored cornstarch and sugar to which milk was added.

Ox-tail soup and stew- Hochepot

These classic British and Irish dishes, known as oxtail soups or stews, were adopted directly from William the Conqueror's soldiers in 1066. Many of William’s troops came from Flanders in northern France, where their oxtail stew was called a Hochepot—a dish that remains popular in that region today.

Hochepot is the direct ancestor of the traditional British oxtail soup. It is prized for its deep flavor and the soft, silky texture provided by the bone marrow. (The historic province of Flanders is located primarily within the modern French department of Nord, along the coast of La Manche—the French name for the English Channel.)

Hochepot and Hodgepodge

The traditional recipe for a Norman hochepot includes—aside from the essential oxtail—almost any ingredient found in the kitchen. This add-everything method is responsible for the word hodgepodge in the English language.

In modern English, a "hodgepodge" usually refers to a mixture of miscellaneous items rather than specifically food. However, odds and ends are exactly what composed the original Norman recipe. Thus, the culinary hochepot gave birth to the linguistic "hodgepodge." To this day, various meat and vegetable stews can still be found on menus across Great Britain and North America under the names hochepot, hotchpotch, or hodgepodge.

Oxtail stew

Photograph courtesy of T.Tseng

www.flickr.com/photos/68147320@N02/15056259921/

Shepherd's Pie and Cottage Pie and their French connection.

Two dishes, Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie, are considered decidedly traditional British creations; they are the ultimate British comfort foods. Strictly speaking, a Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb or mutton, while a Cottage Pie is prepared with beef. Interestingly, both dishes are among those most often denigrated by French tourists visiting Great Britain. However, both French and British diners are usually surprised to learn that the origins of these two dishes are not British, but rather 100% French.

In France, the British Cottage Pie began life as Hachis Parmentier, and the Shepherd's Pie began as Hachis Parmentier d’Agneau (lamb). The word hachis refers to something "hacked" or minced—the origin of the English word "hash." These much-loved recipes appeared on French menus nearly one hundred years before their British versions became popular.

If a menu lists Le Hachis Parmentier Grand-Mère, it indicates a dish prepared "as Grandma did"; and for the French, "made like Grandma" is the very definition of comfort food

The "Parmentier" in the name refers to Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the man who famously promoted the potato as a food source in France (it was previously thought to be poisonous or only fit for animals). Without him, we might not have the mashed potato topping that defines these pies!

Shepherds Pie

Photograph courtesy of jules:stonesoup

www.flickr.com/photos/stone-soup/3500639454/

The French Hachis Parmentier is made with ground beef and chopped onions fried in butter, flavored with nutmeg and a gentle touch of garlic. Once the beef and onions are browned, they are placed in a casserole dish lined with mashed potatoes. The mixture is then covered with another layer of potatoes and baked. To help the top achieve a perfect golden brown, grated Parmesan cheese may be added before serving.

The major taste differences between a British Cottage Pie and a French Hachis Parmentier come from the Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and rosemary that typically flavor the British version. Aside from these aromatic accents, the dishes are largely the same.

Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie first appeared on British and colonial menus in the early 20th century. They were heavily influenced by France, where the British had grown fond of Hachis Parmentier after they began visiting the country in large numbers at the end of the 19th century. Like it or not, these "British" staples are essentially French imports.

Hachis Parmentier
Photograph courtesy of Cuisine AZ

Hachis Parmentier (made with beef) and Hachis Parmentier d’Agneau (made with lamb) were named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a pharmacist and agronomist who popularized potatoes in France in the mid-18th century. By encouraging the French to adopt the potato, Parmentier saved millions from starvation during a period of frequent wheat crop failures. At the time, many French people incorrectly believed potatoes were poisonous. The dishes named in his honor were already established French comfort foods on restaurant menus by the 1850s.

Parmentier was an important figure in French culinary history. As Europe and the USA were enduring the "Little Ice Age," he famously employed "reverse psychology" to promote his crop. He stationed armed guards around his potato patches to lead the public to believe the crop was an expensive delicacy intended only for the elite. As he expected, this piqued local interest, leading people to steal the tubers to plant in their own gardens. Parmentier reportedly instructed his guards to accept bribes and "look the other way" when people sneaked into the fields at night.

Parmentier’s contributions were eventually recognized at the highest levels of government; in 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte appointed Parmentier as the Inspector General of the Health Service.

Antoine-Augustin Parmentier

France, look after your tourists!

Given the deep French influence on the English kitchen, English-speaking visitors to France deserve better menu translations. With so many linguistic overlaps between the two languages, listings such as Steak Frites or Steak Salade are easily understood.

However, a popular listing like Darne de Saumon Grillée, Sauce Béarnaise may confound visitors unacquainted with French culinary terms. At best, a standard English translation might read: "A thick cut of grilled salmon served with Sauce Béarnaise." While "thick cut" and "grilled salmon" are clear, how many English speakers on their first visit to France know what a Béarnaise sauce is? A truly helpful menu would explain that it is a creamy, buttery sauce flavored with tarragon and shallots.

The French, given their profound historical connections to British cuisine, should urge their chefs and restaurateurs to make their menu listings more visitor-friendly. Providing context for these classic dishes would not only honor their culinary history but also bridge the gap for the modern traveler.

Most of this post was originally published as a guest post for the blog “Le Mot Juste en Anglais”. Then it was entitled “ L'influence française sur la cuisine anglaise, “meaning the French influence on English Cuisine. Le Mot Just en Anglais is a blog whose readers are mostly French speakers interested in English; the blog is published by Jonathan Goldberg and Jean Leclercq and may be seen at: Le mot just en anglais.

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Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases

French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase you are searching for to the phrase "Behind the French Menu" enclosed in inverted commas (quotation marks) and search using Google, Bing, or another search engine. Behind the French Menu's links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases commonly seen on French menus. There are over 450 posts featuring more than 4,000 French dishes, all accompanied by English translations and explanations..

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