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If you are just learning the essentials of French cooking, knowing what to have in stocked in your pantry could be a real time-saver. Just by taking a quick look at French cooking classes on a website such as Cozymeal, you will learn that as with other types of ethnic fare, the recipes of France tend to revolve around a particular set of ingredients. Most of these items can be found at your favorite grocery store. However, for higher quality, you can always check specialty item or gourmet food shops. Continue reading to discover a list of the must-have pantry ingredients for French cuisine. This primer will help you get a feel for the cooking of the French, along with a jump start on your culinary lessons or experimentation.

Photo courtesy of Cozymeal.

Butter

Butter is at the core of many French dishes. There’s really no substitute for it, so it’s important that you understand French cuisine is likely to have a substantial fat content. In fact, traditionally, the French are known for using butter that is quite fatty. You can experiment with different types to decide which is most pleasing to you. Be aware that both salted and unsalted butter is available. The unsalted variety may be best so that you can control the amount of salt in each dish according to your liking. Unsalted butter, however, won’t keep as long as the salted kind due to salt’s preservative properties.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is also essential to the pantry of a budding French chef. Olives are grown in France and other Mediterranean countries, but they are being produced more and more in other regions as the popularity of this versatile cooking staple grows. With some experimentation, you’ll likely come across a favorite kind. Flavors depend most on the area in which the olives are grown, along with the way in which the oil is produced. You’ll want to look for two categories of olive oil. These are extra-virgin and pure. Extra-virgin is the highest quality, made from pressing the olives. As you can imagine, this type also tends to carry the highest price tag. Pure olive oil uses heat or chemicals to process the second or third pressing of the olives. While the flavor isn’t as intense, pure oil is fine to use for cooking. You can save your highest quality extra-virgin olive oil for dressings and such.

Additional Oils

You’ll also want to keep some other oils on-hand, as olive oil isn’t an appropriate choice for higher-heat cooking methods such as sauteing. Oils like peanut, canola and vegetable will do just fine for these purposes. They can also be used in simple vinaigrette dressings. You may also wish to pick up nut oils like walnut and hazelnut. These can be used to add flavor or seasoning to some dishes. While these nut oils are quite expensive, you should know they only need be used in small amounts.

Vinegars

Vinegars of various types are used throughout French dishes. Of course, it is an ingredient in the above-mentioned vinaigrette. You will also use vinegar for cooking. Commonly-used vinegars include champagne vinegar, red wine vinegar and sherry vinegar.

Cheeses

France is known for their quality cheeses, so it’s no wonder you’ll find cheese in many French recipes. Because the number of French cheeses could fill an entire article, let’s just focus on three of the most commonly used. Grated fresh Parmesan, an Italian cheese made from cow’s milk, is used in sauces and as a topping. A firm and nutty flavored cheese, also from cow’s milk, is Gruyere. You’ll find it in cheese plates quite often, as well as on sandwiches. Emmentaler may not be as widely known, but it is a cheese that is very similar to Gruyere. This variety is wonderful grated over gratins and used in sauces.

Cream

Cream is a fabulous thing to keep in the pantry, as it’s used in lots of foods. Sauces, flavored with cheeses or meat juices, contain cream. As do popular gratins. Creme fraiche is one you may know. It’s much like sour cream, but with more butter fat and a less sour taste. Creme fleurette is a sweet tasting cream similar to heavy whipping cream.

Brandy and Cooking Wine

As sauces have been mentioned a number of times here and make up a good deal of French cuisine, it should be noted that many sauces contain brandy or some type of cooking wine. Only a splash is needed, but it truly makes a difference in the taste of your sauce. This addition is that secret ingredient that really provides something special.

This list is not exhaustive, by any means, but it should provide you with a strong start toward building your French cooking pantry of staples. Once you get a feel for your favorite types of recipes, you can add to the contents and build a customized supply of essentials.