French delicacies

This famous dish is made from the liver of ducks or geese that are specially fattened. The flavour is rich and delicate with a buttery aftertaste. It’s a luxury delicacy sold whole, or made into mousse, pate, galantine or parfait. It’s traditionally eaten on special occasions, like Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Duck foie gras is slightly cheaper than the goose product and has a more musky flavour, while the goose version is smoother and more delicate. It’s traditionally served as an appetiser with toast triangles or crusty bread.

Escargots is the French word for snails, a French delicacy of steamed or boiled snails served with a herbed butter sauce that is usually flavoured with garlic, parsley, pine nuts or thyme. Escargots are served on a special plate with holes in to keep the snails in place. You will be given special tongs to hold the shell and a fork to extract the snail meat. Once it’s on the fork, dip it into the sauce.

Steak or Boeuf Tartare is a delicacy of raw beef tossed with egg yolk, capers, finely chopped shallot onions and gherkins and seasoned with Tabasco and Worcester sauce. The freshness of the minced beef gives it a very light, delicate taste. It’s usually served with sautéed potatoes, pommes frites (French fries) or rye bread and is a staple dish on brasserie and bistro menus throughout France.

Although eaten in many countries, frogs’ legs are a traditional French dish. They are prepared with a sauce made of butter, garlic and parsley and then served with a salad. They taste like a combination of fish and chicken.

French onion soup is a rich-flavoured onion broth made from beef or chicken stock and traditionally topped with Gruyere cheese and bread croutons. Its rich, robust flavour is due to the way the onions are slowly caramelised with butter during the cooking process and the addition of cognac, thyme and black pepper. French Onion Soup is topped with grated Gruyere cheese and bread just before serving and toasted so that the cheese melts and the bread is crisp.

The French love duck, and during your visit to France, you’ll find many famous duck dishes to sample, including Confit de Canard, which is slow-cooked duck leg that has been preserved in duck fat, and Canard a l’Orange, where the duck is roasted and served with an orange sauce. Then, of course, there’s the famous delicacy we already described above, called foie gras, a pate made out of duck liver. Sample little slabs of this delicious delicacy on crusty French bread for breakfast.

Gourmet dining in Burgundy

French delicacies