Cooking in French

The Chefs!

One of the great things about this school is that they offer many additional programs to expand our knowledge of French culture and provide additional opportunities to speak French.  Of those I've particiapte in, two involved cooking.   

One evening three other students and a professor (complete with ingredients, hats and aprons) came to my apartment to make desserts.  In only two hours, we made cake a l’orange, crepes with butter & sugar, chocolate mouse and apple tart.  It was amazing to me that you could make these completely from scratch in only two hours.  All turned out great despite most of  the chefs not understanding most of the French words used in the recipes and the professor being required to speak only in French.   Not only were the words a problem, but the

Me with Cake a l'Orange

French  measure ingredients in grams, not cups and the ovens are Celsius not Fahrenheit degrees.  We had a challenge.  We divided up the desserts so each person made one. 

My contribution was the cake a la orange.  My approach was to figure out the ingredients.  Once I did this, I used my knowledge of cooking to fill in the cooking for the words I didn’t know.  So for example, I knew the word for flour. (I learned it after I attempted to buy flour at the store.  When I couldn’t find it, I asked the store clerk for help.  He had no idea what I was talking about.  After watching me look at every package of sugar and similar packaged items, the clerk said he might know what I needed.  And he was right!  Now that’s really trying to help the customer. ) 



One Chef had Skills!



Back to my example, I knew the word for flour and salt and the recipe said to do something with them, so I assumed I was supposed to mix them together before mixing them in with eggs, butter, etc.   It said to do something with the orange and I assumed it was putting the zest of orange in the mix.  The cake turned out quite good.   We did benefit from having a a woman who loved to bake making the apple tart.  All the desserts were good, but we concluded the chocolate mouse was the best.  We also thought that the apple tart would have been better with ice cream.  However, the French don’t put ice cream on tarts or pies.  Perhaps they have something to learn from us.  Then again they seem to be a little thinner than we do.

Without a doubt, spending the evening with fellow students was a great experience.  We got acquainted much better by cooking together than we would have in a more formal setting.  And I have some new recipes!