Ask Lemmy

Not OP, still huge fan of French cuisine. I’d choose Coq au Vin. It’s straightforward to do at home, all you need is a pot and a cooking plate. Combines red wine, mediterranean herbs and a good amount of butter with vegetables and chicken for an incredible dish. French people value fresh, beautiful ingredients and are willing to pay top money for A-class quality. That’s another secret to their cooking.

Then there’s of course more dishes that you can’t easily do at home:

• try a hand-made Croissant fresh out of the oven in the morning.
• Cheeses - there’s hundreds of them, eat them alone or with some Baguette and grapes.
• Galettes are thin wholegrain pancakes. They come with salty toppings, but also sweet varieties - salted caramel is a classic.
• Fresh oysters with a squeeze of lemon.
• Nothing compares to a good, aged French red wine. But also fresh white wines and roses are fine - locals buy them in 5 liter boxes in the supermarket, you put them in the fridge and are settled for a week. Just be mindful that they need to be fresh (last year’s harvest typically).
• Sparkling wines are amazing, too. It’s fine to settle for Cremant, it’s the same stuff as Champagne, but cheaper.
• I could write another list twice as long about seafood.

Best thing to do is visit France and experience it. No need to waste time and money in overcrowded Paris, foodies will be very happy in Bordeaux, Marseille, Rouen and affordable Provence area. You get amazing lunch deals (“plat du jour”, dish of the day) that typically include starter, main and dessert for around EUR15 in many places.