Most restaurants will serve it ‘deconstructed’ for you to mix to your own liking, but occasionally you will find it served as a premixed patty of meat.

It is often served with onions, capers and seasonings, sometimes with a raw egg yolk on the top. Steak tartare is made from finely chopped or minced raw beef or horsemeat. Who remembers the famous scene from Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean when he orders a steak tartare not realizing it is in fact raw meat – we still laugh when we see this dish on a menu. It’s a deeply flavoursome broth-like soup, hearty for a winter’s day. It is very filling so good for lunch if you are spending the day doing some sightseeing. > Visit Lyon, home of this great dish, on a Burgundy cruiseįrench onion soup is made with meat stock and browned onions garnished with gratinéed croutons and cheese on top. It consistently ranks in the top ten when the French are asked about their favorite dish. Traditionally the stew is thickened with a roux. > Eat them fresh from the sea on a Canal du Midi cruiseĪ creamy veal stew made with lots of butter, cream, and carrots. As with most fish and seafood dishes on a French menu, a glass of Muscadet is the perfect match, but a beer is often seen being sipped alongside this dish and it works. The French recipe doesn’t add cream to the sauce (it really doesn’t need it). A big bowl or saucepan of mussels cooked in white wine with shallots and parsley. Many a café and brasserie will serve this popular lunch dish.

> Book a Burgundy break by luxury hotel barge or by hire boat One time in Beaune we experienced the worst (bland and served with spaghetti) and the very best (too many to mention) Bourguignon we have ever tasted. If you find yourself in Burgundy, you won’t be short of the opportunity to test the region’s most well known dish, but be warned, there are some strange variations out there. Dauphinoise or Lyonnaise potatoes go well with it if they are on the menu. > Watch your personal chef make one aboard a luxury hotel bargeĪ firm favorite, this delicious red wine based beef stew is always a winner with our family. A mistake that is loved around the world even today. In a hurry, trying to rescue the dessert, she put the pastry base on top of the browning fruits and then placed the pan in the oven. This is a dish you learn to make at school and the teacher tells you the story about Stephanie Tatin creating this by mistake back in 1898 – she was trying to make a traditional apple pie when she accidentally left the apples in the sugar and butter for too long. It is usually served with crème anglaise or ice cream. This upside-down pastry contains fruit (usually apples) that is caramelized before being baked. Let’s start with a classic French dessert. > Book your foodie holidays to France 20 iconic French dishes I hope you have the privilege of tasting some of these dishes whether you are on board a boat, in a city café or at a restaurant by the sea. To compile a list of the most iconic French dishes is a tall order and we’re sorry if we’ve missed your French foodie favorite. Over the years we’ve enjoyed holidays in France ranging from winter holidays in the French Alps to city breaks in Nice and Paris, and long summers in Provence and Bordeaux. But these iconic French dishes often taste so much better on their ‘home soil’, by using locally grown ingredients and staying true to the original recipe and method. The vast array of its famous dishes you see repeated around the world on restaurant menus is testament to this. Without doubt, one of the most iconic things about France is its food.

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