The ranking varies slightly from year to year and from survey to survey, but a dozen dishes always stand out among the favorites of French gastronomes. Regional specialties that have been adopted nationally, original combinations of meats, vegetables and sauces, to be shared at home with family or friends at a restaurant...: the most popular recipes have only one thing in common, they are always very tasty.
Contrary to their (unfounded?) reputation as chauvinists, the French are very open to flavors coming from other countries than their own. They are particularly fond of recipes from their Italian and Spanish neighbors (pizza, lasagna, paella...) and are unconditional fans of couscous and mussels and chips. Except for these very popular dishes, here are those, 100% French, the most consumed here.
French fries, the ingredient of success? The golden potatoes cooked in oil are surely not for nothing in the popularity of the poulet-frites (chicken) and the steak-frites in their country of origin (and yes, the fries are a French invention and not a Belgian one). The first dish even comes out, in a 2023 survey, in first place of the ranking and its almost counterpart, red meat version and not white, has been for a long time a staple of our restaurants' menus.
On these same menus, several dishes in sauce are often featured, such as boeuf bourguignon (that beef stew incorporating another great French taste passion, wine), blanquette of veal or cassoulet. Originating from the Languedoc region, cassoulet shares with sauerkraut the presence of a dominant vegetable, white beans for one and cabbage for the other, combined with sausages and bacon.
We also find in cassoulet duck in its candied form, but it is its lean meat, the magret, which is in this classification illustrating well the varied regional origins of the recipes (here a heritage of the Gers cuisine). In this series dedicated to non-vegetarians, the rib of beef and the leg of lamb are the stars of family meals, their long cooking time and their size adapting well to a preparation during a day off and to a consumption between relatives.
In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.
More unclassifiable, here are the last 3 recipes closing this list of the favorite dishes of the French: raclette (not very surprising in the country of 1 500 cheeses), quiche lorraine and stuffed tomatoes.
If you are one of the 68% of French people who cook regularly, no doubt you have already prepared one of these 12 dishes but, like any self-respecting gourmet, your list is certainly broader and includes another very rich part of French gastronomy: desserts.
But that's another (tasty) story!
Valérie from Comme des Français
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