Expressions: Cuisine et Recettes | French Grammar

French has the most developed culinary vocabulary of any major European language — a side effect of three centuries during which professional French cuisine set the standard for restaurants worldwide. The terms you'll meet in any cookbook (faire revenir, à feu doux, cuit à point) are still the technical vocabulary used in kitchens from Lyon to Lima. This page covers the everyday cooking lexicon: how to talk about heat, knife work, measurements, and the rituals around the table.

The single most important pattern to internalize is the use of faire + infinitive for cooking verbs: faire cuire, faire bouillir, faire revenir, faire mijoter. French does not say je cuis le poulet — that exists but feels mechanical and rare. The natural form is je fais cuire le poulet, where faire signals that you are causing the cooking to happen. Think of it as French saying "I'm having the chicken cook" rather than "I'm cooking the chicken." Once you accept this, half the cooking vocabulary becomes predictable.

The basic verbs: cooking, preparing, putting

Three high-frequency verbs form the backbone of any kitchen conversation:

mettre = to put. Mettre au four = to put in the oven.
préparer = to prepare (broader — includes prep work, not just cooking).
cuisiner = to cook (as in to engage in cooking, often without a direct object).

Je mets le poulet au four pendant quarante-cinq minutes.

I put the chicken in the oven for forty-five minutes.

Ce soir, je n'ai pas envie de cuisiner — on commande une pizza ?

Tonight I don't feel like cooking — shall we order a pizza?

Je prépare le dîner pendant que tu mets le couvert.

I'll get dinner ready while you set the table.

Note the distinction between cuisiner (the activity, no object) and faire cuire (apply heat to a specific food). Je cuisine means "I'm cooking" as a general activity. Je fais cuire les légumes means "I'm cooking the vegetables" — a specific action on a specific item.

Faire + verb: the heat verbs

This is the heart of French kitchen vocabulary. Each construction names a specific cooking technique.

faire cuire = cook (apply heat — the generic term).

Fais cuire les pâtes huit minutes dans l'eau bouillante.

Cook the pasta for eight minutes in boiling water.

faire bouillir = boil. The water has to actually boil.

Faites bouillir un litre d'eau, puis ajoutez le sel.

Bring a liter of water to a boil, then add the salt.

faire frire = deep-fry. Lots of oil, high heat.

On fait frire les beignets jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient dorés.

Fry the doughnuts until they're golden.

faire griller = grill, toast. Used for bread, meat, vegetables — anything heated dry on a grill or under a broiler.

Je fais griller deux tranches de pain pour le petit-déjeuner.

I'll toast two slices of bread for breakfast.

faire revenir = sauté, brown. Quick high-heat cooking with a little fat to develop color and flavor — the first step in countless French recipes.

Faites revenir les oignons dans un peu d'huile pendant cinq minutes.

Sauté the onions in a little oil for five minutes.

faire mijoter = simmer. Low heat, gentle bubbles, long time. The verb evokes a stew quietly cooking on the back of the stove.

Le pot-au-feu doit mijoter au moins trois heures.

The pot-au-feu has to simmer for at least three hours.

faire rôtir = roast (in the oven, with fat).

Je fais rôtir le poulet à 200 degrés pendant une heure.

I'm roasting the chicken at 200°C for an hour.

faire dorer = brown lightly, give color. Less aggressive than faire revenir.

Faites dorer la viande à feu vif avant d'ajouter la sauce.

Brown the meat over high heat before adding the sauce.

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The pattern faire + infinitive is the causative construction. Literally "to make something cook" or "to make something boil." French treats the cook as the agent who causes the heat to do its work. English collapses this into a single verb (boil the water); French keeps the two acts distinct — you are doing one thing (faire), the heat is doing another (bouillir).

Heat levels: à feu doux, vif, moyen

French specifies heat with the preposition à + feu + adjective. These are the three you need:

à feu doux = on low heat (literally "on gentle fire")
à feu moyen = on medium heat
à feu vif = on high heat (literally "on lively fire")

Faites cuire la sauce à feu doux pour qu'elle ne brûle pas.

Cook the sauce on low heat so it doesn't burn.

On saisit la viande à feu vif, puis on baisse le feu.

You sear the meat on high heat, then lower the flame.

You might also encounter à feu très doux (very low) and à feu très vif (blazing hot). The verb baisser le feu (lower the heat) and monter le feu (turn it up) come up constantly.

Knife work: peeling, chopping, slicing, grating

French distinguishes several precise knife actions where English often makes do with cut or chop.

éplucher = to peel (general — vegetables, fruit). The everyday word.
peler = to peel (more technical, often for fruit with thin skin like tomatoes after blanching).
couper = to cut (the generic term).
hacher = to mince, chop fine. Implies very small pieces. Hacher menu = to chop very fine.
émincer = to slice thin. Long thin slices, typically of onion or meat.
râper = to grate. The verb behind fromage râpé (grated cheese).
trancher = to slice (longer, regular slices — bread, roast meat).

Épluche les pommes de terre pendant que je hache l'ail.

Peel the potatoes while I mince the garlic.

Émince finement deux oignons et fais-les revenir.

Slice two onions thin and sauté them.

Râpe le parmesan juste avant de servir.

Grate the parmesan just before serving.

The distinction between éplucher and peler trips up learners. In everyday cooking, éplucher covers nearly everything. Peler turns up in technical recipes, especially when the skin is removed without a peeler — for tomatoes you pèle à vif (peel after blanching), and for apples you épluche with a peeler. If in doubt, use éplucher.

Mixing, beating, blending, whisking

mélanger = to mix (general — combine two or more things).
battre = to beat (eggs, cream — vigorous motion). Battre les œufs en neige = beat egg whites stiff.
fouetter = to whisk (with a whisk specifically — un fouet).
mixer = to blend (with an electric mixer or blender).
incorporer = to fold in gently. The technical verb in baking.
monter = to whip up to peaks (cream, egg whites). Monter les blancs en neige = whip the whites to soft peaks.

Mélange la farine et le sucre dans un grand saladier.

Mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl.

Battez les œufs en omelette avant de les verser dans la poêle.

Beat the eggs together before pouring them into the pan.

Montez les blancs en neige bien ferme, puis incorporez-les délicatement à la pâte.

Whip the whites to stiff peaks, then fold them gently into the batter.

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The verb mixer is a Gallicized borrowing from English (to mix), but in French it specifically means blend with an appliance. To mix two things together by hand is always mélanger. A French speaker would never say mixer la farine et le sucre — that would imply running them through a blender.

Seasoning and tasting

assaisonner = to season (the technical term).
saler = to salt; poivrer = to pepper.
épicer = to spice (add spices).
goûter = to taste (sample to check).
savourer = to savor (enjoy slowly).
déguster = to taste in a connoisseur sense — wine, cheese, fine food.

Assaisonne avec du sel, du poivre et un peu de thym.

Season with salt, pepper, and a little thyme.

Goûte la sauce et dis-moi si c'est assez salé.

Taste the sauce and tell me if it's salty enough.

On a savouré chaque bouchée — c'était un repas mémorable.

We savored every bite — it was a memorable meal.

Measurements and quantities

French recipes use the metric system rigorously. Memorize these:

un kilo (= 1000 g, abbreviated un kg)
un demi-kilo (= 500 g)
un gramme (g)
un litre (L)
un demi-litre (500 mL)
un quart de litre (250 mL)
une cuillère à café (cuil. à c. — teaspoon)
une cuillère à soupe (cuil. à s. — tablespoon)
une pincée de (a pinch of)
une gousse d'ail (a clove of garlic)
un verre (a glass — informal, recipe sense)

Il faut deux cents grammes de beurre et un demi-litre de lait.

You need two hundred grams of butter and half a liter of milk.

Ajoutez une cuillère à soupe de moutarde et une pincée de sel.

Add a tablespoon of mustard and a pinch of salt.

Pour quatre personnes, il faut compter un kilo de pommes de terre.

For four people, count on a kilo of potatoes.

Doneness: cuit, à point, trop cuit

The vocabulary of doneness is specific and precise — especially for meat, where French has a developed nomenclature equivalent to English rare/medium-rare/medium/well-done.

pas cuit = uncooked / raw (in a complaint sense — should be cooked but isn't)
bleu = very rare (literally blue — the meat is barely seared)
saignant = rare (literally bleeding)
à point = medium / medium-rare (the default in France — what you get if you don't specify)
bien cuit = well done
trop cuit = overcooked
brûlé = burnt

For pasta, al dente is borrowed unchanged from Italian. For bread, bien doré (nicely golden) is the goal. For cake, cuit à cœur (cooked through to the center) is the test.

Je voudrais mon steak à point, s'il vous plaît.

I'd like my steak medium, please.

Le rôti est trop cuit, il est sec.

The roast is overcooked, it's dry.

Plante un couteau au cœur du gâteau pour vérifier qu'il est cuit.

Stick a knife in the center of the cake to check it's done.

Setting the table and washing up

mettre le couvert / mettre la table = to set the table.
débarrasser la table = to clear the table.
faire la vaisselle = to do the dishes.
essuyer la vaisselle = to dry the dishes.
passer à table = to come to the table (announced when food is ready).

À table ! Je vous attends, ça va refroidir !

To the table! I'm waiting, it's going to get cold!

Tu mets le couvert pendant que je termine la sauce ?

Will you set the table while I finish the sauce?

Je n'ai pas envie de faire la vaisselle ce soir, on la fera demain matin.

I don't feel like doing the dishes tonight, we'll do them tomorrow morning.

The phrase passer à table is the standard way to announce that the meal is ready. À table ! alone is the imperative version — said loudly across the apartment to call everyone in.

The set phrase: avoir le coup de main

A useful idiom: avoir le coup de main = to have the knack, to have a feel for it. Le coup de main literally means "the stroke of the hand" — the gesture, the touch that comes from practice.

Pour les crêpes, il faut avoir le coup de main — sinon elles déchirent.

For crêpes, you need to have the knack — otherwise they tear.

Ma grand-mère a le coup de main pour les tartes — les miennes ne sont jamais aussi bonnes.

My grandmother has the knack for tarts — mine are never as good.

Recipe register: the imperative and the impersonal

Cookbooks use two voices:

The plural imperative (-ez form): formal, distant — addresses the reader politely. Faites bouillir l'eau, puis ajoutez le sel.
The infinitive (no subject): even more impersonal, common in modern recipes. Faire bouillir l'eau, puis ajouter le sel.

Both are correct. The infinitive feels slightly more professional, the imperative slightly more conversational. In conversation about cooking, you'll switch to tu / vous depending on whom you're addressing.

Préchauffez le four à 180 degrés. Pendant ce temps, mélangez la farine et le sucre.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Meanwhile, mix the flour and sugar.

Faire fondre le chocolat au bain-marie. Laisser refroidir avant utilisation.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Let cool before use.

Common mistakes

❌ Je cuis le poulet pour deux heures.

Awkward — French prefers faire cuire and uses pendant for duration.

✅ Je fais cuire le poulet pendant deux heures.

I'm cooking the chicken for two hours.

❌ Je veux mon steak medium.

Don't borrow English — use à point.

✅ Je voudrais mon steak à point.

I'd like my steak medium.

❌ Mélange les œufs avec le mixeur.

Mélanger means mix by hand; for an appliance use mixer.

✅ Mixe les œufs avec le mixeur. / Bats les œufs au fouet.

Blend the eggs in the blender. / Whisk the eggs.

❌ Mets le sel et poivre.

Generic mettre is too vague — use saler / poivrer or assaisonner.

✅ Sale et poivre. / Assaisonne avec du sel et du poivre.

Salt and pepper it. / Season with salt and pepper.

❌ La viande est trop cuisinée.

Cuisiner is the activity, not the state — use cuit.

✅ La viande est trop cuite.

The meat is overcooked.

Key takeaways

French cooking vocabulary is built around three patterns: faire + infinitive for heat verbs (faire cuire, faire revenir, faire mijoter), à feu + adjectif for heat levels, and a rich set of precise verbs for knife work (éplucher, hacher, émincer, râper) where English uses generic cut. The metric system reigns in measurements, and the doneness vocabulary (saignant, à point, bien cuit) is more nuanced than English. Master faire cuire, faire revenir, and faire mijoter, and you can read most French recipes; add assaisonner, goûter, and the table-setting expressions, and you can hold any kitchen conversation.

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