Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and this feature where we are delving into A to Z of French Food: Letter H – Hors-d’œuvres & Humble French Classics.
When exploring French food beginning with the letter H, it quickly becomes clear that this quiet letter has far more flavour than first expected. From comforting family dishes and coastal specialities to fragrant herbs and centuries-old traditions, the letter H reveals a side of French cuisine that is both humble and deeply rooted in heritage.
I’ve always loved the letter H. To me, it smells of honey and fragrant herbs drying in the summer months on a terrace in the south of France. And what a fitting image to continue our exploration of French cuisine as we make our way through the alphabet.
As some of you may know, the letter H is not used as much in the French language as it is in English, and when it is, it’s mostly silent. So even though some of the dishes in this article may sound as though they begin with an A, an I, or another letter altogether, rest assured that they do indeed start with H — and together they tell a delicious story of French food culture, from rustic peasant dishes to refined coastal delicacies.
As we move further through the A to Z of French food, each new letter reveals a world of flavours, techniques and regional specialities. So whether you are a passionate foodie, a curious traveller exploring French gastronomy, or simply want to know what makes French cuisine so enduring, let’s continue our delcious journey through France, and explore French Food beginning with the letter H.
If you’re interested in discovering more about French food culture you might also enjoy our guide to French food and way of life.
A to Z of French Food: Letter H
This week we’re exploring eight iconic foods and two drinks that start with the letter “H” : Hachis Parmentier, Huîtres, Herbes de Provence, Haricots Verts Amandine, Homard, Hure de Porc, Hareng Fumé, Hors-d’Œuvres, Hypocras, and Haut-Médoc.
1. Hachis Parmentier – Classic French Comfort Food
There’s something incredibly comforting about a hachis Parmentier. It could be the perfectly seasoned minced meat, the creamy, buttery mashed potatoes, or simply the fact that it’s the perfect dish to serve to friends: you can prepare it earlier in the day and just pop it in the oven, letting it slowly cook until golden while you enjoy an apéro with your loved ones.
It seems to invite conviviality and what’s more, it’s a true champion of zero-waste cooking. Originally, it was created to use leftover roast meat, and purists still maintain that this is at the heart of a proper hachis Parmentier. While most people now buy minced meat specifically for the dish, you can still channel its original purpose by using what you already have in your fridge. An extra sweet potato? It will pair beautifully with the mash. Some peas and carrots? Throw them in with the minced meat for something closer to a shepherd’s pie. A handful of mushrooms? Why not! The possibilities are endless. You can even swap minced beef for pork for an ultra-flavourful (and slightly greener!) variation. For a vegetarian version, lentils or mushrooms bring a delicious earthy depth.
Fun Fact: The dish is named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, who used it to promote potatoes in 18th-century France. Thanks to dishes like this, the vegetable, previously considered animal feed, became a staple of French cuisine.
2. Huîtres – French Oysters and Coastal Traditions
Ah, oysters! You either love them or hate them. But one thing is certain: you will find them in France, where they are usually served on ice and eaten raw, often with just a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar. This is because the last thing the French want is to mask the merroir — the maritime equivalent of terroir, expressing the flavour of place through the sea. When cooked, oysters are most often gratinées or used in stews.
France is one of Europe’s top oyster producers, with famous farming regions such as Brittany, Normandy, the Arcachon Bay, and the Marennes-Oléron basin, known for its green-tinted oysters, the fines de claires. Oyster farming here dates back as far as Roman times.
Fun Fact: Oysters are traditionally eaten only in months with an “R”, from September to April. While modern farming has extended the season, oysters remain a Christmas staple in France.
3. Herbes de Provence – Aromatic Staples of Southern France
The term Herbes de Provence is known all over the world and immediately brings to mind lavender fields, sun-drenched terraces, and small stone houses with colourful shutters, and that image isn’t far off. Classic Herbes de Provence are made from a blend of dried Mediterranean herbs such as thyme, rosemary, and oregano.
They’re more than just a seasoning – they’re a symbol of Provence itself, evoking lavender fields, sun-drenched terraces and the slow rhythms of rural life. For more about this beautiful region, you might enjoy my guide to Provence.
These herbs thrive in dry, sunny, limestone-rich environments, making the region their perfect home. In Provençal cuisine, they are not used as delicate finishing herbs but as robust cooking herbs, added early on and able to withstand heat and long simmering.
They season grilled meats and vegetables like lamb, chicken, aubergines, and courgettes, appear in tomato sauces and ratatouille, and pair beautifully with baked fish and marinades. They also work in perfect harmony with other local ingredients such as tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil.
Fun Fact: Herbes de Provence became popular in the mid-20th century and are now heavily commercialised. Many blends sold outside France include lavender flowers but traditional Provençal cooking never uses lavender.
4. Haricots Verts Amandine – A French Green Bean Classic
Haricots verts, green beans, are a thing in France. So much so that in some restaurants, the vegetarian option is simply a plate of them. That might not sound particularly exciting at first, but special care is given to green beans in French cooking, often prepared with butter in a way that makes them delicious enough to stand alone.
Then there are haricots verts amandine. And no, that doesn’t mean green beans prepared by someone called Amandine. In French cuisine, amandine means “garnished with almonds”. The nuts add texture and a subtle sweetness.
To prepare the dish, the beans are blanched in very well-salted water, then cooked al dente (French cuisine favours vegetables with bite). Sliced almonds are gently toasted in butter and added to the beans. Simple and perfect.
Fun Fact: This dish was once used as a “test” of French table etiquette. Haricots verts can be tricky to eat neatly, so here’s how to do it: gather a few beans, fold them with your fork, lift them without cutting and if you can manage it, add an almond before taking a bite.
5. Homard – France’s Celebratory Lobster
In France, homard, lobster, was long reserved for celebrations. Before that, however, it was considered poor fishermen’s food (funny how quickly the wheel can turn). As with oysters, the best lobsters are found along the Atlantic coast, particularly in Brittany and Normandy, where they are traditionally caught using lobster pots.
These are European lobsters, known as homard bleu because of their deep blue shells, which turn bright red once cooked. They shouldn’t be confused with langoustes, which are smaller and more common in Mediterranean cuisine. Over time, homard became a cornerstone of French gastronomy thanks to chefs who developed iconic dishes and sauces around it.
Fun Fact: In French kitchens, lobster shells are never wasted, they’re used to make intensely flavoured sauces.
6. Hure de Porc – Traditional French Charcuterie
You may not be familiar with this one. Hure refers to the head of the pig, cheeks, snout, ears, tongue, skin, once again illustrating how little is wasted in French cuisine.
When we talk about hure de porc, we usually mean a terrine: a dense, gelatin-rich piece of charcuterie. Charcuterie developed as a way to preserve meat before refrigeration was invented. Meat was salted, cooked with wine, vinegar, and herbs, and could keep for weeks.
Even today, despite modern appliances, charcuterie remains central to French food culture. Hure de porc is typically served cold, sliced, with bread and pickles, as an appetiser meant to open the appetite. It can also be served as part of a charcuterie platter.
Fun Fact: Although it’s a terrine, properly made hure de porc contains no added gelatin, it sets naturally thanks to the collagen in the meat.
7. Hareng Fumé – Smoked Herring and the English Expression “Red Herring”
Hareng fumé, or smoked herring, is one of the great pillars of northern French cuisine, especially in coastal towns such as Boulogne-sur-Mer, a historic herring port. The fish is lightly salted, then cold-smoked over wood, and often enjoyed simply with potatoes, butter, and sometimes a touch of mustard.
Fun Fact: When you hear “red herring” in English, you’re indirectly talking about hareng fumé. The original red herring was literally a smoked herring, used in the 18th and 19th centuries to train hunting dogs by creating strong scent trails and deliberately misleading trackers. Now for the red part, in France, heavily smoked herring is called hareng saur, as opposed to hareng fumé doux, which is more lightly salted and moist. The word saur doesn’t mean sour, in old French, it means smoked. Because hareng saur turns dark and reddish-brown, it’s closely linked to the English expression “red herring”.
8. Hors-d’Œuvres – The Art of Beginning a French Meal and The Last of our A to Z of French Food: Letter H
You may have heard the term hors-d’œuvre at a fancy dinner party. Think of them as a culinary prologue, perfectly illustrating the French belief that pleasure grows through anticipation.
The term literally means “outside the main work”, and that’s exactly what they are: small dishes served before the meal to stimulate the appetite and set the tone for what follows. They should never be filling (though that does depend on how many you eat).
Hors-d’œuvres can range from simple charcuterie for a rustic, convivial meal to refined seafood for something more formal or festive. They differ from the apéritif — one of France’s most cherished social rituals — in that they are food-focused and carefully thought out.
Even though they’re elegant, they’re less about impressing and more about preparing the palate.
Fun Fact: In 19th-century France, especially under Napoléon III, meals followed service à la française, where all dishes were placed on the table at once. Guests often filled up on hors-d’œuvres, leaving the hot dishes untouched. This frustration led to service à la russe, courses served one after another, the system we still use today.
9. Hypocras – Medieval France’s Spiced Wine
Now onto drinks, one of France’s favourite culinary traditions, and possibly the oldest. Hypocras takes us back to medieval France, where this sweetened, spiced wine was believed to aid digestion and restore strength thanks to its sugar content. It was served at the end of meals, making it an ancestor of the digestif.
Hypocras could be made with red or white wine, sweetened with sugar or honey, and infused with spices such as cinnamon and cloves. These spices made it a drink of prestige, as they were expensive and imported through long trade routes.
By the 17th century, hypocras fell out of favour, replaced by clearer wines, eaux-de-vie, and liqueurs. Today, it feels surprisingly close to the vin chaud served at Christmas markets.
Fun Fact: The name comes from Hippocrates, not because he invented the drink, but because it was filtered through a cloth called the manche d’Hippocrate (Hippocratic sleeve).
10. Haut-Médoc – A Classic Bordeaux Wine Appellation
An article about French cuisine wouldn’t be complete without wine. Haut-Médoc is a wine appellation within the larger Médoc region, located on the left bank of Bordeaux, north of the city, along the Gironde estuary.
An appellation is not a single wine, but a legally defined wine-producing area with strict rules governing grape varieties, farming methods, yields, alcohol levels, and ageing. Haut-Médoc is part of the AOC system (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée), meaning only wines that meet these criteria may use the name.
So Haut-Médoc isn’t a wine, but Château Belgrave Haut-Médoc is. In France, people often order wine by appellation rather than by brand.
Fun Fact: Until the 17th century, much of Haut-Médoc was marshland. Dutch engineers were brought in to drain it, digging canals and revealing the gravel soils underneath, soils that turned out to be perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon.
FAQs: A to Z of French Food: Letter H
Q: What are some traditional French foods beginning with H?
A: Traditional French foods beginning with H include hachis Parmentier, huîtres (oysters), herbes de Provence, haricots verts amandine, homard (lobster), hure de porc, hareng fumé and hors-d’œuvres
Q: What is Hachis Parmentier?
A: Hachis Parmentier is a classic French comfort dish made from seasoned minced meat topped with creamy mashed potatoes and baked until golden. It was traditionally created to use leftover roast meat.
Q: Are oysters popular in France?
A: Yes. Oysters are an important part of French food culture and are especially popular during the colder months and festive season. They are often served raw with lemon or vinegar to highlight the flavour of the sea.
Q: What are Herbes de Provence used for?
A: Herbes de Provence are used to season grilled meats, vegetables, fish, tomato dishes and marinades. They are designed to withstand long cooking and bring Mediterranean flavour to French dishes.
Q: What are hors-d’œuvres in French cuisine?
A: Hors-d’œuvres are small dishes served before the main meal to stimulate the appetite and introduce the flavours of what follows.
Final words about A to Z of French Food: Letter H
So there you have it: a letter that may be silent in French, yet speaks volumes at the table. From humble charcuterie and smoked fish to noble wines and celebratory shellfish, the French foods of Letter H reveal the full range of French cuisine!
If you are interested in discovering more about French Gastronomy, you might also enjoy our curated selection of wine and cook books.
I hope you enjoyed this feature about the A to Z of French Food : Letter H and we will be back soon with more French Food and Drink inspiration.
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