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10 Best French Cooking TV Programs


 

*Originally published by Lydia on October 2022 and Updated by Vanessa R in November 2023 

Nowadays, French cuisine is the king of fine dining because of its good quality food, and today the whole culinary industry centers around widely regarded French cuisine. If you love French cooking and how to prepare French food, through French Tv programs are the best way to learn more about French foods. This article will take you through five French cooking TV programs.

Read more on; Top 5 Paris cooking classes

Chef’s Table France

Photo by angelorosa-Pixabay

This television program follows the lives and kitchens of famous French chefs on TV, with each episode focusing on a different chef. The way the chefs work is intriguing, and it’s joyful to see them experiment and push boundaries, creating meals you have never seen before. After watching this show, you will be planning your trip to France.

The show was created by director David Gelb and started streaming on Netflix on April 26, 2015; it takes viewers inside famous chefs’ lives and kitchens. Each episode places the limelight on a single chef and explores the unique lives, passion and talent that influence their cooking style.

The first episode for France chefs was aired in September 2016, with the first episode featuring Alain Passard, a French chef. Alain is the owner of the three-Michelin star restaurant L’Arpege in Paris; the chef stunned the culinary world when he rebooted his restaurant to focus on vegetables rather than meat and used the show to share the story of his bold evolution within French cuisine.

Another Frenchman was Alexander Couillon of two Michelin-starred restaurants, La Marine. On the map, he puts the remote French island, Noirmoutier as a go-to destination for sophisticated French cuisine. Subsequently, chef Adeline Grattard of Michelin-starred restaurant yam’Tcha French and Chinese cuisine created a standout boutique in the foodie capital, Paris. Finally, chef Michel Troisgros of three Michelin-starred restaurants, Troisgros, tells a compelling story in the show. He tells how he conquered the challenge of being in the shadow of his celebrity chef father and how he held his identity as a chef in his own right by renewing the famous family restaurant.

These four chefs take you on a journey to learn and discover French cuisine to prepare or try once you travel to France. They also shed light on the significance of French Cuisine and its history. The program was successful and got nominated for and awarded various awards, including an Emmy nomination.

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The French Chef

American chef Julia Child’s “The French Chef Book” in the Museum of “the purpose” of the Object, located in colonia Roma, Mexico City. Photo by FerEstrada-Wikimedia

The French Chef is an American television cooking show created and hosted by Julia Child. The show was produced and broadcast by WGBH; the public television station in Boston, Massachusetts and it was the first cooking show on American television. The French Chef introduced French Cooking to the United States at the time; it was considered expensive restaurant fare, not suitable for home cooking.

The show was based on the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which Julia Child also co-authored. The original work was aired from 1963 to 1973, and the original episodes were available on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) streaming service as of 2020. In July 2021, other episodes were added to the Pluto TV lineup.

Now chefs and food lovers of all ages and abilities can share Julia Child’s love for French food and master cooking some of her most loved dishes with her best collection of three episodes from the first season. In her signature style, Julia demonstrates classic recipes for French Onion Soup, French Apple Tarts, and Quiche Lorraine.

Top Chef France

Are you a lover of French cuisine? You’re going to love this show. Top Chef is a French culinary reality Tv show that televises competition between several professional cooks as they compete for the title of Top Chef during culinary and gastronomic tests and are judged by a jury whose composition varies according to the tests.

The show attracted some of France’s best-known chefs, hence the top-notch cuisines. The participants peel, cut, prepare, and polish meals to impress the judges. Some prominent stars from the French culinary industry were featured in the show, such as Yannick Alleno and Pierre.

The show was broadcast for the first time on February 22, 2010, and continued producing 13 seasons. Some of the episodes are very interesting, especially the restaurant wars, especially when the contestants split into two teams and have to manage, create and serve in a pop-up restaurant.

The show is successful because it celebrates the art of cooking without asking its audience to know anything about it. The contestants, judges, and challenges are all there to entice your appetite without asking for expertise. It also helps those learning how to make French cuisine.

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French Food at Home

Laura Calder presents French Food at Home, filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which airs on Food Network Canada, the Asian Food Channel, and the Cooking Channel. This show is a lifestyle series featuring simple French home cooking that anyone can take anywhere. All the episodes were shot in a home kitchen in Canada with scenes from France, such as trips to the market and a glimpse of everyday French food life.

As a lover of cooking and French cuisine, this show will be interesting, as it invites you to share a lifestyle that brings the magic of French food home. You will learn how to prepare great culinary touchstones of our time and everyday French food.

Check out this cooking class in Paris: 2-hour pastry class 

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School of Chocolate

Photo sourced from Pixabay

School of Chocolate is a Netflix reality competition series hosted by Swiss-French pastry chef, artist, and chocolatier Amaury Guichon and produced by Super Delicious Production. If you love chocolates, this is the perfect programme to watch to learn how chocolates are made from the start to the end.

The show has eight pastry chefs worldwide collaborating to produce works of art. They are challenged individually and in groups to exceed their expectations by creating delicate miniature pastries and massive chocolate showpieces. Throughout the show, it’s worth seeing just for their work’s sheer beauty, which is inspiring and nerve-wracking.

The contestants compete in challenges that stretch their imagination and understanding of what they could be able to create using chocolate. At the show’s end, one chef is named “Best in Class,” receives $50,000 to start their small business, and is given a chance to teach an international master class at Chef Guichon’s pastry academy in Las Vegas.

You can learn how to make croissants in a day; this is the best cooking class for that. French croissant class

Here is the best choice of cooking classes available in Paris:

MasterChef France

MasterChef France is a French cooking competition show that premiered on TF1 in 2010. Based on the British series, it features amateur cooks competing to win the title of MasterChef France. The show is known for its high standards and demanding judges, who evaluate contestants based on their creativity, technique, and flavour. The judges, including Yves Camdeborde, Thierry Marx, and Georgiana Viou, evaluate the contestants’ dishes based on their creativity, technique, and flavour. Carole Rousseau hosts the show and features a specially designed kitchen studio in Paris, equipped with various cooking equipment and a pantry stocked with ingredients. The show is popular with viewers of all ages, particularly young people interested in cooking. The show has been praised for its high production values and realistic portrayal of the culinary world.

MasterChef France has been nominated for several awards, including the International Emmy Award for Best Reality Show and the Prix de la Télévision Française for Best Reality Show. The show has captivated audiences with its blend of culinary artistry, dramatic competition, and celebration of French heritage. It has inspired a generation of aspiring chefs, inspiring them to pursue their dreams in the world of gastronomy.

Le Meilleur Pâtissier

10 Best French Cooking TV Programs

Bread Ahead, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Le Meilleur Pâtissier, the French version of The Great British Bake Off, is a popular cooking competition show that features amateur bakers competing to win the title of Le Meilleur Pâtissier. The show is known for its high standards, its demanding judges, and its creative challenges. One of the things that makes Le Meilleur Pâtissier so special is the use of photo links. Each week, the contestants are given a photo of a dish that they must recreate. This challenge tests their creativity, their technical skills, and their ability to follow instructions.

For example, in one episode, the contestants were given a photo of a tarte tatin. They had to use the same ingredients and techniques as the original recipe, but they were also free to add their own personal touches. The results were some truly stunning creations.

La Maison du Chef

La Maison du Chef, the French version of Hell’s Kitchen, is a popular cooking competition show where professional chefs compete to win a job at a prestigious restaurant. The show is known for its high drama, demanding judges, and gruelling challenges.

The contestants must test their cooking skills, pressure management, and kitchen brigade management skills while dealing with harsh critiques from the judges. The stakes are high, with the winner receiving a coveted job at a Michelin-starred restaurant. La Maison du Chef has captivated audiences with its blend of culinary artistry, dramatic competition, and high stakes, inspiring a generation of aspiring chefs to pursue their dreams in the culinary arts.

Un Chef à l’Oreille

Un Chef à l’Oreille is a cooking competition show that was first aired in France in 2017. The show is based on the Canadian format of the same name. In each episode, two chefs are paired with a novice cook. The chefs are not in the kitchen with their novice partners, but they communicate with them through an earpiece. The novice cooks must follow the chefs’ instructions to create a three-course meal.

The judges of the show are renowned chefs who evaluate the dishes based on their taste, presentation, and creativity. The two teams with the lowest-scoring dishes are eliminated at the end of each episode. Un Chef à l’Oreille is a unique cooking show that combines the creativity of amateur cooks with the expertise of professional chefs. The show is also a great way to learn new cooking techniques and recipes.

Le Monde En Cuisine

Le Monde En Cuisine is a French cooking competition show that features amateur cooks from around the world competing to win the title of Le Meilleur Cuisinier du Monde. The show is known for its multiculturalism, its emphasis on traditional dishes, and its challenging tasks. In each episode, the contestants are given a recipe from a different country. They must then recreate the dish using only the ingredients that are available in their kitchen. The contestants are also judged on their presentation and their ability to work under pressure.

The show has been praised for its ability to showcase the diversity of cuisines from around the world. It has also been credited with helping to revive interest in traditional cooking methods. Le Monde En Cuisine is a popular and successful show that has captivated audiences with its blend of culinary artistry, cultural exploration, and high-stakes competition. 

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