I set myself a challenge that felt like a terrible idea from the start: cooking a French recipe entirely in French… despite not speaking French at all.
No translations. No subtitles. Just watching a French YouTuber cook, guessing the ingredients, and hoping for the best. Somewhere along the way I cut my finger opening a beer with a spoon, misread half the recipe, and still somehow ended up with something genuinely delicious.
This recipe was inspired by French creator Whoogy, whose original video I followed visually without understanding the language. https://youtu.be/KewxkrQDsZU?si=mWeF7znjNDL94bAw
Full blog post: https://barrylewis.net/recipe/cooking-a-french-recipe-without-speaking-french/
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More attempts at International recipes (although normally with translations!) on my Taste the World playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfItiEY3o1mvC4nC2U8g8SMyM35Ow2-iC
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44 Comments
Full respect to Whoogy… his original video is well worth a watch if you actually understand French…. or like me, you don't lol
Pain d'épice, spiced bread is more of a cake. It tastes like gingerbread.
Like I say to myself a lot: Close enough
Hmmm, time to raid the fridge and get some Stew going. That really made me crave beef.
Interesting concept, but a bit disappointed Barry didn't recognize the bone from a beef leg-slice. Also that steak would have been great simply pan-fried with some buttered potatoes and Green beans on the side.
The flour was supposed to thicken it up but cus u couldnt stir it in properly due the size of ur pot it didnt work,
100% maison = 100% from scratch
top quatre = top quatre / four
joue de boeuf= beef cheek
CAS (cuillère à soupe) = tablespoon
bière brune = dark beer
pain d'épices = spiced bread (spices are honey, anis, cloves, ginger)
gousses d'ail = garlic cloves
A "carbonade flamande" is a dish that is popular in the north of France.
You really didn't do too bad ! The video might have helped though haha
Your chips looked much better than his, so there's that at least 🙂
The SO decided to make chicken adobo once using a YouTube video in Tagalog (which he does not speak). No ingredients list or measurements, just watching this old man making the adobo and explaining the what he was doing as he went along (in Tagalog). The SO said the final dish didn't taste right to him, but it was the first time I actually liked chicken adobo! Delicious! Good job trying out the French!😎
Hello,
So, "pain d'épice" is basically a ginger bread. not "epic bread", even if a good ginger bread could be epic.
Your beer seemed a bit pale and you need a stronger brown one to make it more tasteful.
As for the beef cut, he used the cheek.
And for the flour thing, it is easier to make a slurry, but sometimes you can take the shortcut to add it in like he does.
Globally you did great.
We have a version of pain d’epices in the NL and my grandma used it often in similar dishes to those. It is very different to normal bread haha.
For some reason, when you hurt your finger opening the bottle your response brought up the video of "Charlie bit me" in my head 😂. Hope you've recovered?! Well done!!!!
soo since it's flemish is it then more from belgium then from french 😛 ?
A German chef who worked in England recently made Toad in the hole with bacon and parsley on the sauce/ I was like…wtf? As a German maybe I will find you a good German speaking video to cook a German dish.
I think you did a great job….. but bread is gingerbread
idea for another video, do an English recipe, but watch it on mute, visuals only, good luck lol
I was definitely expecting a tie in with a Babbel sponsorship!
Hope this will be a sries…next German pleas or Dutsh , there is Roger van Damme, he has very nuce baking videos but he us cocking as well, I live his gentle way he treats food 😁…thats fun
Im 100% sure that waa ginger bread and not regular bread
❤❤❤❤
Native French speaker here … Gotta admit this made me chuckle but there was actual logic behind it all.
Well done Barry I believe epic tranches is the meat cuts.. but my French is hit and miss.
This made me laugh so much! Well done! Lovely recipe! 🎉. I’ll be trying it myself next weekend! 😂. ❤.
I don't think anyone has done a full ingredients translation yet so I will try (lived in France for 8 years in my 20s and 30s): 1kg of beef cheeks; 6 slices of spiced bread (hard to find here but it's like a honeyed spiced bread, could be replaced with a kind of sweet gingerbread or even Jamaica cake at an absolute push); 75cl of brown ale (beer) – he used a Trappist pale ale here – Orval); 2 bay leaves; 2 tablespoons of brown sugar; 1 large yellow (sweet) onion; 2 cloves of garlic; Dijon mustard; 2 tablespoons of flour; 20g of butter (probably unsalted given it's French); salt and pepper (poivre is pepper). No mention of the beef stock but he did use it!
Both looked delicious, though his did look a bit better, but I'd absolutely try both of them.
Also, this was a fun video idea. Would love to see more of this for other languages and cultures.
And finally, the bit you remarked on around 5:20 looks like it might be bone marrow, which is quite common in French cooking.
Cool video idea, would definitely watch more
Always make a slurry when you put flour in sauces
Loved the closed captions on this one. Points for honesty 😀
6:32 sounded like Charlie bit my finger!
Considering what this French-speaking gentleman is making—"stew with fries"—I suspect he's not French but Belgian. It's a traditional Belgian dish. What you thought was an oxtail is actually a beef marrowbone. You cook it in stews, adding flavor and natural gelatin to your sauce. In the Netherlands, it's used in the traditional pea soup or snert. The "bread" spread with mustard is called "Ontbijtkoek", or gingerbread in Belgium. It's a sweet and highly spiced cake.
This is called a "Frietje Stoofvlees" here in holland 🇱🇺
Verry funny video to watch 😊😂
"100% House" in this context means "100% homemade"
A grown up man that cant open a beer with a spoon LOL (im sure there is a YT vid that can help)
lolol — I know enough French to know what the first two are. WTF does Barry think he's making?!
Loved the video! You should try this with only looking at the ingredients list, only look at the dish after you make it to see how wildly wrong you were.
The bread looks like peperkoek, which is used to make for example zuurvlees. That is a recipe from limburg, and it is a binding agent. Greetings from the Netherlands
Barry, Uncle Roger made a tiktok about you tasting MSG but I can't find you on tiktok to tag you, lol
You made a Flemish stew, Barry! You even used Belgian beer!
Maybe make a follow up video where you translate the video and see where you made any mistakes
The french dude looks like the sailor from Paw Patrol, Captain Turbot😂
I'm baffled by how you've made a career doing what you do, but the fact that you have means you deserve my respect.
6:37 barry close your hand around the neck of the bottle close to the cap and use your finger as a pivot point. End of spoon under the cap. And just pop it off, its so easy I even use my cigarette lighter when I cant find a bottle opener
Barry Guy French Cooking
I haven’t used my french language skills since leaving school at 16 years old and I am now 65, but having watched your video and being strictly self taught about cookery, I would say that the dish that you are working on is “Un Carbonade, du Beoffe (?)or en Anglais a beef stew thickened with toasted bread heavily seasoned with French mustard from Dijonand braised in beer.
Barry my man, you grab the bottle by the neck, place the spoon under the cap and use your tumb as leverage… The same way people open a beer with a lighter. It's a bit tricky and could be a bit painful at the start, but practice makes perfect!
Oh and maybe try a Dutch video next? Love this concept! <3 Would love to see you do an @EtenmetNick video. Very funny guy with some nice recipes!