Cooking French lesson for our Kids World Studies International recipes. (2024)

We are cooking French lessons in this world studies. France holds anallure to many people to visit the Eiffel Tower, sit in a cafe andeat fresh hot baguettes.

French food is often rich tasting and filling. Cream based saucesare in many dishes such as the Bechamel sauce recipe below. Some keyFrench ingredients may include cream, cheeses, wine, anchovy, tuna,tapenade(olive paste) and fresh homemade bread.

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Cooking French Lesson: Facts about France

• France produces a large amount of cosmetics and perfume
• Families in France take a long lunch break sometimes up to 2hours
• French cooking has an Italian influence

Cooking French Lesson: Some Famous Things about France

• Tour de France-famous bicycle race that lasts up to 3 weeks
• Notre Dame Cathedral
• Eiffel Tower
• Louvre, one of the largest art museums in the world
  

Cooking French Lesson: Learn a Little Language

Au revoir-good bye
S'il vout plait- please
merci-thank you
Soupe du jour-soup of the day

International Recipes for Cooking French Lesson

French Baguettes

Learning how to make bread from scratch is a great way to start acooking French Lesson as bread is so popular in France.

• 2 cups warm water
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoons yeast dissolved in l Cup warm water
• 7-7 ½ Cups flour
• Cornmeal, optional
• Egg, beaten

In a large measuring cup or small bowl dissolve yeast in 1 cup warmwater and sprinkle in 2 tablespoons sugar. Set aside. In largemixing bowl add 1 cup water, vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups flour.Blend together. Add yeast mixture and remaining 5 cups flour addingone cup at a time. Dough should form into a ball if it is too stickyadd ¼-1/2 cup more flour. Place dough on a floured surface andknead. Divide dough in two portions if easier to handle. Knead dough5-10 minutes until soft and smooth. Pour 1 tablespoon of oil in alarge bowl. Add dough and turn the dough over so both sides areoiled. Place plastic wrap or a towel over the top and let rise for 1hour.

Grease a large cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal if desired.Divide dough in half and roll each half out with a rolling pin inthe shape of a rectangle.(If you'd like smaller loaves divide doughin portions desired) Roll dough up long ways tightly. Seal edges andwith a knife cut diagonal slits on the top. Place on cookie sheetand let rise again 1 hour. Beat one egg and brush the top of theloaves with the beaten egg. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Cheese Souffle

There are many variations of souffles from chocolate to egg to ameat filled souffle. For this cooking French lesson we are making aneasy French recipe with a cheese souffle. You can find pictures andstep by step directions for a Frenchcheese souffle.

Croissants

Learn how to make croissants.

Crepes

Crepe is French for "pancake." They are different from traditionalthick pancakes as they are thinner, often times have a fillinginside and can be rolled up.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• Butter or stick margarine or shortening for cooking

In mixing bowl lightly beat eggs. Add vanilla, milk, salt, sugar,and flour. Blend together. Stir in baking powder. Let rest for 10minutes. Heat small fry pan to very hot. Melt butter and spreadaround to coat pan. Add batter, just enough to cover the bottom ofthe pan. When it bubbles turn to brown other side. Set aside on aplate. Heat pan again several seconds then pour batter into pan.Stir batter before each crepe.

To add to your cooking French lesson visit our crepes kids cookingparty forsomesyrup recipes or filling ideas.
MoreCrepe Recipes for savory and sweet meals.

Bechamel Sauce

An important thing to know about this Cooking French lessonis there are 5 mother sauces. You can learnmore about how to make sauces.

• Bechamel, a white sauce
• Espagnole, brown sauce
• Veloute, a white sauce with vegetable, fish or chicken stock
• Hollandaise, butter sauce
• Tomato, Italiantomato sauce (find the recipe here)

We will just cover Bechamel in this cooking French lesson.Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 ½ Tablespoons flour
• 4 ½ Cups milk
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
In saucepan melt butter. Add onion, pepper, cloves, bay leaves andgarlic. Saute several minutes. Whisk flour into butter mixture.Slowly whisk in milk and stir any lumps out. Bring to a boil thenlower heat to low. Simmer for 5-8 minutes. Strain sauce through astrainer with small holes. You want to take all the onion, clovesand bay leaves out of the sauce at this point. Use on pasta, cookedvegetables, lasagna or another easy French recipe.

**You can simplify this recipe by melting the butter andwhisking in flour. Slowly add milk and stir until thickens. Seasonwith thyme and salt. (This isn't the typical French recipe however.)

Turn this Bechamel sauce into a Mornay sauce by addingcheese. Stir shredded cheese in your sauce stir until melted. Youcan use this for homemade macaroni and cheese or on top of homemadepasta.

Ratatouille

For this cooking French lesson this recipe is loaded withvegetables. You can't get much healthier with this easy Frenchrecipe.

• 1 medium unpeeled eggplant, cubed
• 2 small zucchini, sliced
• 1 Cup green bell peppers, chopped
• 1/2 cup medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, quartered
• 1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

In skillet pour ¼ cup oil in bottom. Heat oil and add choppedeggplant, zucchini, peppers, onion, and tomatoes. Sprinkle with saltand pepper and stir in garlic. Simmer on medium and cook for 15minutes or until vegetables are tender.

French Onion Soup

• ¼ cup Butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4 cups thinly sliced white onions
• 6 cups water
• 8 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

In a large saucepan melt butter and sauté garlic and sliced onionsfor 5-8 minutes until onions are tender and golden. Add water,bouillon cubes, pepper, salt, bay leaf and Worcestershire sauce tosaucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 25 minutes. Servewith toasted cheese bread or croutons. Serve warm. If your kids likeonions this cooking French lesson would be an easy kids meal.

Crème Brulee

A popular and easy French recipe. This cooking French lesson may bebetter for older kids to try making themselves. Younger chefs willhave to have an adult help with the cooking on the stove.

• 1 quart heavy cream
• 8 egg yolks
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ Cup sugar
• ½ Cup brown sugar

In a saucepan heat heavy cream. Bring just to a boil and take offheat. Set aside. In mixing bowl beat 4 eggs, 8 egg yolks and ½ cupbrown sugar. Add a small amount of the hot cream mixture into themixing bowl and stir together. Then add all of the mixture in themixing bowl to the remaining hot cream mixture in the saucepan. Stirtogether and add ½ teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Stirtogether and pour into ramekins, small pie plates or one shallowbaking dish. Fill a casserole dish with water and place ramekins orpie plates into the water. The ramekins will be covered with waterup to about ½ way. (This is called a water bath) Bake at 350 degreesfor about 30 minutes or until set. Cool. Sprinkle tops with brownsugar and caramelize in the oven before serving. You can also servewith fresh fruit.

Chocolate Mousse

• 8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
• ¼ cup water
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 1 ¼ Cups whipping cream

Chop chocolate with a knife or place in ziploc bag and use a rollingpin or kitchen mallet to crush. Whip whipping cream in a mixer forseveral minutes until stiff. Chill in the fridge. Meanwhile, meltchocolate pieces, water and butter in saucepan. Stir until meltedand smooth. Let cool. In clean saucepan add egg yolks, sugar andanother ¼ Cup water. Whisk together and cook over medium heat. Use acandy thermometer and continue stirring until temperature reaches160 degrees. Turn off stove and set pan aside. Whisk chocolatemixture into egg yolk mixture. Allow to cool, stirring often. Stirin whipped whipping cream. Spoon into serving dishes and chill untilserving. A yummy cooking French lesson.

Another easy mousserecipe.

Paris Theme Party Food Ideas

Try these theme Parisrecipe ideas.

Cooking Around the World Studies

RelatedCooking around World Pages:~International Cooking for Kids,~American,~Asian,~British,~Eastern Europe,~French,~Greece,~India,~Irish,~Italy,~Mexico,~Middle East,~South Africa,~Southern USA~World Studies Unit

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