French
Recipe Sites
OK, this page is fancier than the rest, but it is French after all. Some of the French recipe sites are from restaurants, the rest are a mix of whatever I could find. I expected to find more quality sites by now, but many of the good ones are charging a fee to download their recipes... I'll keep looking.
- àla carte
- A very colorful and navigable site. There are about 150 recipes which can be accessed by either an index based on main ingredient or by courses (both indexes are available in French or English). Many of the recipes have pictures and all come up in their own window so you can just close the recipe and you are back at the index. You may find some of the recipes intimidating if you are a beginning cook, but you have to dive in sometime. There is also a menu section with pre-planned meals and other goodies if you take the time to look for them. The artwork used on the site is also quite attractive. Take time to read the archive for some of the author's commentaries. (Last reviewed: 23 Dec 2004)
- The French Pastry Chef
- Chef Blair has updated his navigation bar to include recipe classifications based on difficulty of preparation -- an excellent addition for those of us who are not advanced pastry chefs. OK, the chef went to a culinary high school in Detroit, Michigan and the American Institute of Baking -- not Le Cordon Bleu. But you MUST see this site. Loads of beautiful photos of the finished product, precise instructions, and a great assortment of recipes. There appear to be well over 100 fabulous looking goodies, but beware that while some of the recipes are quite easy (by the chef's standards), others are very difficult; and even some of the easy ones can be quite time consuming. (Last reviewed: 23 Dec 2004)
- Bien Cuisiner.com
- Another French site with recipes rated by difficulty, cost, and preparation time. The recipes have pictures of the step-by-step preparation. Lots of recipes you have heard of such as Duck à l'orange and Tart tatin; also a few you may not have encountered before such as Chicken à la menthe or Veal liver with capers. (Last reviewed: 22 Jan 2005)
- La Bohème Restaurant
- Just a few (less than 20) recipes, but the site has some very interesting recipes (Mushroom-Roasted Garlic Soup or Magret de Canard aux Épices, for example). Again, there are a few recipes that are not for the timid. I'd like to see a few more recipes from this team. (Last reviewed: 23 Dec 2004)
- French Food and Cook
- A very large number of recipes rated by difficulty, speed of preparation, and "lightness" -- many recipes have photos. There are menu suggestions (classical and "super easy"), buffet hints, and recipes in French if you want to practice your French. The recipe instructions are very clear and most measurements are in both metric and non-metric. (Last reviewed: 22 Jan 2005)
- La Cuisine Chantraine
- A collection of original recipes created by Charles Chantraine in his famous restaurant called l'Epaule de Mouton in Brussels. Click the "a la carte" link at the bottom of the page to see the main navigation page (and, unfortunately, listen to the theme from Mission Impossible when the main page opens). You'll find several dozen recipes all translated into English and many also available in French. Recipes for duckling, veal, sweetbreads, crêpes, soufflé, and basic cooking instructions abound. A few of the recipes are a bit difficult, but for the most part they are manageable. (Last reviewed: 23 Dec 2004)
- Maille.com - Cookbook
- There is again an English version of the site. You are probably familiar with some of their products (mustards, gherkins, vinegars, etc.). So ... not unexpectedly, the recipes all have at least one of the Maille products as an ingredient. Recipes also feature the following information: Total time, Preparation time, Cooking time, Cooling time, Level of difficulty, Cost, and Quantity (servings). The recipes generally look to be high quality and interesting; for example, Quail with Cherries or Caramelized Honey and Mustard Cremes. One thing I did find frustrating is the navigation mechanism which is a search menu that manages to reset the choices in odd ways occasionally. I found the best way to navigate is to either choose a type of dish and leave the category set to "Your choice:" OR set the type of dish to "Your choice:" and choose a category. It still muddles things a bit, but it worked (more or less). (Last reviewed: 18 May 2005)
- Joie de Vivre
- A commercial site selling all kinds of French shelf-stable items and fresh duck from the US. If you don't mind that many of the recipes have ingredients that they'd like you to purchase from the site, the recipes are varied and interesting. For example, in the appetizer section, there is a recipe for seared foie gras with mango and ginger; duck with peaches in the main courses; and scallops in saffron sauce in the fish & seafood. (Last reviewed: 23 Dec 2004)
- Cooking 2000
- A small number of recipes but some of them look quite interesting. In particular, there are some appetizers that sound very good (Mushrooms Marinated in Dijon Mustard, Shrimps Flambéed in Cognac). The recipes don't look particularly difficult, but you may have difficulty finding some of the ingredients. A feature on the site is that for each recipe there is an approximate cost indicator, number of servings, preparation time, and cooking time. (Last reviewed: 23 Dec 2004)
- ProvenceBeyond
- A large list of recipes (over 100), but less than 1/3 of them have links to a recipe. This could be a great site, but with such a limited number of recipes I have it here primarily because it has a French/English food dictionary. (Last reviewed: 22 Jan 2005)