Poulet au Vinaigre, or chicken in vinegar, is a classic French preparation that you will find in homes as well as restaurants. At the onset, it sounds kind of overpowering and maybe even unappetizing. Rarely do we think of vinegar as an ingredient other than maybe in a vinaigrette. But when you try this poulet en vinaigre recipe you will realize your error and start thinking about vinegar in a brand new light.

Learn how to easily make French sausages at home. They are not much different than Italian sausages other than the flavorings. In France, these sausages are called saucisses de Campagne or country sausages. They are coarse cut with a highly seasoned filling. Perfect for outdoor eating and grilling.

Salade Lyonnaise is a classic bistro salad where either frisee (curly endive) or dandelion greens are tossed in a hot bacon dressing and topped with poached eggs and croutons. It originated in the city of Lyon, long considered the belly of France. You will find this salad on virtually every bistro in France. The good news is It is simple to make.

Quiche Lorraine is perhaps the most famous of all quiches. Purists will tell you that only bacon, cream, and eggs are allowed. Though it is common to find other ingredients like Gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, and even chives. The original quiche Lorraine may not include cheese, but I won’t tell anyone if you decide to add one cup of shredded Gruyere to the mix.

Learn how to make steamed mussels the French way. The best moules marinières or 'sailor-style mussels' ever. The mussels are simply steamed in white wine and herbs. From start to finish, moules marinières will take no longer than 10 to 15 minutes to prepare.

Coq au vin is as synonymous with French culture as hamburgers are with American. It’s a dish I grew up eating quite a bit and still find very satisfying and comforting when I’m longing for my mother and dreaming of France. The sauce is packed with flavor and begs for a starchy vehicle to soak it up. Classically, boiled or mashed potatoes are served with it, but I think spätzle, noodles, or a creamy potato gratin work better.

Pot-au-feu is a slowly simmered meat and vegetable dish that appears on most home tables in France. Pot au Feu, which literally translates to ‘pot in the fire’, started its life in working-class homes as a way to make less expensive cuts of beef more tender and palatable. Think the original crockpot. The long slow cooking resulted in 2 dishes: a clear nourishing broth and a rich meal of beef and vegetables.

One of the great benefits of the last year has been to rediscover cookbooks I had forgotten about. Lately, I have been diving deep into Michel Guerard's classic Cuisine Gourmande. Two dishes I have made lately have been his Pot au Feu that he made famous in his 1960s Parisian restaurant also called 'Pot au Feu'. The second dish is this incredibly simple and delicious Lentil Salad with Anchoïade Croutons.

Like many old dishes, the exact origins of blanquette de veau are not known though many speculate its birth occurred near Lyon. Blanquette is more a preparation technique rather than a specific dish. The name implies the dish will be white-colored. In Robert Courtine’s book ‘The Hundred Glories of French Cooking’ he states: “ In the kitchen, when we say ‘a blanc’ we mean a clear veal or poultry broth, or a court bouillon whitened with flour, and the blanquette is a white dish in both these senses.” A blanquette therefore can be made with chicken, rabbit, lamb, or even seafood.

‘There is no dish in the Southwest of France more iconic, cherished, and controversial than the cassoulet. Not only is it the best pork and beans dish you can imagine, but it’s also a definitive dish of French country cooking — one that, to this day as you noted, stirs up fierce debate over what makes it authentic! When most travelers go on a trip to France, they bring back photos, or maybe a copper pot; some even smuggle a Camembert or saucisson in their luggage. Me? I bring back recipes.’

This might start as a bad joke, but I promise it isn’t. I was making ‘Nun’s Farts’ yesterday, the more colorful name for feather-light deep-fried beignets, and was struck by how diverse the dough actually was. It got me thinking about the differences between how a chef and a home cook approach cooking. Chefs learn to multi-task many different preparations (mise en place) in order to be ready for service on any given day. Home cooks, while they may multi-task to get through their busy days, generally make one dish to feed their entire family. Most home cooks I have watched tend to make each dish from start to finish.

Typically one finds a wide selection of both raw and cooked vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, poached salt cod, and snails. Many grand aïoli include lots more fish. This past weekend I made mine with snow peas, snap peas, artichokes, and fennel harvested from my own garden with carrots, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, new potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, beets, radishes, shrimp, halibut, clams, octopus, and salt cod.

The Quest: A Simple, Perfectly Roasted Chicken. A humble, seemingly easy dish that unfortunately is as elusive as a unicorn or a five-leaf clover. I mean, how hard should it be to roast the perfect chicken? Let’s analyze what makes it perfect and figure out how to easily do it every single time.

French Onion Soup is perhaps the most iconic and well-traveled of all French dishes. Worldwide it has seduced more stomachs than even our beloved New England clam chowder, which incidentally, is another French export. Onion soup is, as author Robert Courtine suggests, “a daughter of the streets… In her presence, all castes dissolve. Rich and Poor are equal in appetite.” Her simplicity seduces all.