What is French food?
[[File:Terrine de saumon au basilic.JPG|thumb|right|230px|Basil salmon [[Terrine (food)|terrine]]]] [[File:Blini-Demidoff.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Blini-Davidoff: Buckwheat cakes with caviar and onions]] [[File:Potatoes lyonnaise.JPG|thumb|right|230px|Potatoes [[Lyon|Lyonnaise]]]] [[File:Vlaamse_Hutsepot.jpg|thumb|right|230px|A pot-au-feu, the traditional French [[stew]]]] '''French food''' has influenced the style of [[cooking]] throughout Europe, and its [[chef]]s work in [[restaurant]]s throughout the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.delices-du-monde.fr/recettes-francaise.html|title=Diversity of French Cuisine|accessdate=1 August 2010|archive-date=23 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723164351/http://www.delices-du-monde.fr/recettes-francaise.html|url-status=dead}}{{in lang|fr}}</ref> The roots of modern ''haute cuisine'' lie in chefs like [[François Pierre La Varenne|La Varenne]] (1615–1678) and the notable chef of [[Napoleon]], [[Marie-Antoine Carême]] (1784–1833). These chefs developed a lighter style of food compared to the food of the [[Middle Ages]]. They used fewer [[spice]]s, and more [[herb]]s and creamy ingredients. Typical ingredients like [[roux]] and fish stock, and techniques such as [[marinade|marinading]], and dishes such as [[ragout]], were invented. Carême was an expert pâtissier (pastry-maker), and this is still a mark of French cooking. He developed basic [[sauce]]s, his 'mother sauces'; he had over a hundred sauces in his repertoire, based on the half-dozen mother sauces. French cooking was introduced in the 20th century by [[Auguste Escoffier|Georges Auguste Escoffier]] (1846–1935). He was a genius at organisation. He worked out how to run large restaurants, as in a big hotel or a palace: how the staff should be organised; how the menu was prepared. He had methods for everything, and may have invented over 5,000 recipes.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our History {{!}} Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts|url=https://www.escoffier.edu/about/history-and-timeline/|acce