French Bistro Cooking: A Way of Life
French Bistro cooking isn't just about food. It's a way of life. French Bistro cooking has stayed close to its roots. The word "bistro" conjures up romantic images, fancy French desserts, and lovers sipping wine, but bistro cooking actually is very rustic, down to earth food you can easily learn with training at any of the nation's top culinary schools.
French Cuisine History
In the 19th century, the restaurants that sprang up all over Paris and France itself were often high class and high priced. But bistros also sprang up with neighborhood clientele, local atmosphere, and local cuisine. These were places to get together and socialize and eat good, basic food.
French Bistro Cooking Highlights
Bistro cooking highlights seasonal, local, fresh, ethnic foods of the locale. Bistro cooking is honest cooking; it's nothing new and nothing so fancy you couldn't learn it with culinary training.
Bistro cooking is a skill you can learn at culinary school. It's the beauty of a bowl of French onion soup, covered with crusty baguette slices and topped with lots of shredded Gruyere cheese, served with coarse sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. It's as simple as chicken roasted with bay leaves, thyme, and lemon tucked under the skin, gently flavoring from the inside out. It's as comforting as potatoes baked with Reblochon cheese and as simple and elegant as a pear and almond tart.
The Culinary Art of Bistro Cooking
Bistro cooking is a way of life that started in home kitchens and spread to restaurants, so you probably have everything you need in your kitchen. Although if you take classes at culinary school you may find a few new culinary inventions you can live without but don't want to.
Bistro is about friends and neighbors relaxing in the kitchen or on the back porch with crusty bread and local wines, with a pot of kitchen garden soup, a garlic shrimp side, and a main course of tarragon chicken. Culinary training can get you there; and once there, you may never want to leave.
Sources
French Bistro Cooking (http://www.chefhome.com/CBBistro01.html)
"Bistro: French Country Recipes for Home Cooks," by Laura Washburn
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