In Focus - Discover France: Experience the Best of France - page 723

• » Hard cheese (fromage à pâté dure) The hardest type of French cheese has a texture
similar to cheddar. Common types include Beaufort, Comté, Emmental and Mimolette, an
Edam-like bright-orange cheese from Lille.
Bread
No French meal would be complete without a fresh baguette.
Buying bread is a daily ritual for French people, and it's usually served at break-
fast, lunch and dinner. The French traditionally eat bread sans beurre (without but-
ter) at meals, but will grudgingly supply a bit of butter if you ask nicely.
The classic French bread is the long, crusty stick known as the baguette. The
flûte is similar but slightly fatter, while the ficelle is thinner and crispier. Baguettes
are best eaten within four hours of baking. You can store them for longer in a plastic
bag, but the crust becomes soft and chewy; if you leave them out, they'll be rock-
hard within hours.
Most bakeries also offer a range of more expensive loaves, often made with
grains, cereals, nuts or herbs. A common type is the pain de campagne , which is
typically a round loaf made with white and wholemeal flour.
Meat & Charcuterie
Meat in France isn't simply a matter of steaks, chops and cutlets - French chefs
make use of practically every part of the animal, including tongue, trotters and
pretty much every type of offal you can imagine. Some of these might sound unsa-
voury, but don't dismiss them out of hand - once they've been marinaded, basted
and slow-cooked, they can often be much tastier than more-traditional cuts. Some,
however, are an acquired taste - tête de veau (calf's head) is probably best left to
the nonsqueamish.
Charcuterie traditionally denotes meat products made from pork, but encom-
passes other things such as cold cuts, patés and terrines. The classic charcuterie is
the saucisson (a cured sausage similar to salami), which you can buy whole or
sliced. Saucisse denotes a fresh, uncooked sausage that's boiled, grilled or fried
before eating.
Other things to look out for on the charcuterie counter are jambon (ham), andouil-
lette (tripe sausage), boudin (blood sausage/black pudding) and rillettes (potted
meat, usually spread cold over bread or toast). Paté in France tends to be smooth;