A taste of France

LU biscuits invites you to taste the love this summer by adding a hint of French passion to every meal of the day

As a certified food lover, you’ll know that much of the satisfaction of preparing a home-cooked meal comes from sharing it with the people you love. Amidst the rush of everyday life, nothing quite beats those small moments of togetherness, whether that’s sitting down for a Sunday roast or simply chatting over a cup of tea and biscuits at the end of a long day.

LU also started with a love story, in 1846, through the union of two young bakers, Jean-romain Lefèvre and Pauline-isabelle Utile, who brought their initials together to create the iconic brand. Now, more than 170 years later, their legacy lives on in the simple, authentic ingredients and French passion that are still baked into every LU biscuit.

And while you may associate them with French holidays, LU recently launched a range of biscuits here in the UK. It includes Le Petit Beurre, which takes inspiration from the first ever LU biscuit, the Véritable Petit Beurre, to offer a wonderfully buttery flavour with a hint of salt, and Le Petit Chocolat, which combines a butter biscuit with a layer of indulgent milk chocolate.

Here are five other ways you can bring some of LU’S famous French passion to your mealtimes.

1 MAKE CROISSANTS FROM SCRATCH

2 CONFIT YOUR MEAT FOR DINNER

A much-loved French breakfast staple, traditional croissants take time and patience to perfect due to the resting needed between most of the steps – but that first bite of homemade pastry makes it all worth it. Made from butter, flour, sugar, salt, yeast and milk, the dough is combined with cold yet pliable butter in a long process of folding and rolling, which creates the croissant’s signature laminations and flaky texture. Eventually, the finished dough is cut into long triangles and rolled into that familiar ridged crescent shape before baking. Serve warm with a smear of butter and jam for a breakfast the whole family will adore. Great for when you want to make something special for someone special, confit is a traditional French cooking method that involves gently poaching fish, meat or vegetables in oil or animal fat. Originally, it referred to any food preserved through slow cooking in a liquid so, for example, you could confit fruit in sugar syrup. Nowadays, it’s used less for preservation and more for creating rich, meltingly tender dishes, especially meat. Confit duck leg is a popular choice – it’s cured in salt, cooked in rendered-down duck fat and briefly sizzled in a hot pan until the skin is crisp.

DUNK A LU BISCUIT INTO YOUR HOT DRINK

When it comes to snack time, many of us will agree, you haven’t unlocked a biscuit’s full potential until you’ve dunked it into a steaming mug of tea or coffee. The hot drink softens the biscuit, while the biscuit releases its buttery, sugary deliciousness into the liquid for added flavour – it’s a match made in heaven! The crunchy texture of LU biscuits makes them ideal for dunking, especially Le Petit Chocolat, as the chocolate melts to create the perfect mouthful. And when you share that moment with a loved one, it’ll warm you right down to your toes.

TRY A FRENCH WINE WITH YOUR MEAL

As a devoted foodie, you’ll know you can’t go far wrong with a French wine, and no one pairs wine and food better than our friends across the Channel. A chardonnay is great with chicken or scallops, while a pinot noir works well with salmon or any other fatty fish, and a bordeaux pairs perfectly with red meats like beef or lamb. Of course, if you’re celebrating, it’s got to be champagne, which is rumoured to taste just as good with fried chicken as it does with oysters, but that one’s for you to decide.

SERVE A CHEESE COURSE BEFORE DESSERT

If you’re enjoying a relaxed evening of al fresco dining with friends and family, the French tradition of adding a cheese course after the main keeps the good times rolling. There’s no shortage of options for irresistible French cheeses, from traditional favourites brie, camembert and roquefort to emerging contenders like époisses, comté and vacherin mont d’or. Serve your chosen cheeses on a rustic wooden board with crusty bread, fresh fruit, fig jam or even a charcuterie selection. Traditionally in France, the cheese course is still followed by a dessert – that’s if you have the room!