French Classics with Matthew Ryle

From learning to cook aged 13 to two million followers on Instagram, chef Matthew Ryle tells Gill Harris about his deep-rooted love of French cuisine and his new cookbook, French Classics…

When Matthew Ryle talks about French food, he does so with the sort of warmth usually reserved for childhood memories – which, in his case, is exactly where the story begins. Not in a bucolic corner of rural France, as he jokes in the opening pages of his new book, French Classics, but in Purley on Thames, near Reading, where supermarket crème caramel and the discovery of a croque madame on a family ski holiday lit the first sparks of a lifelong passion for French food.

Now Executive Chef and Chef Partner at London’s Maison François and Café François, and a familiar face to his two million Instagram followers. Ryle has just published what he describes as a modern, approachable guide to the dishes that shaped him-and it’s already a bestseller. French Classics, complete with a foreword by his mentor Raymond Blanc, gathers the recipes Ryle loves most, from onion soup to boeuf bourguignon, with the aim of proving that French food “is – and always has been – for everyone”.

An early love of cooking Ryle’s earliest memories of cooking are from school food technology classes: baking cakes. making simple dinners, and crucially discovering the pleasure of cooking for other people. “Around age 13, this was the first time I experienced cooking for my family and making people happy through food,” he recalls. “From this stage I’d cook as much as possible at home.”

After school, he studied at a French-focused cooking school in Bournemouth, where he learned about landscapes, products and classic dishes, alongside the fundamentals of stocks, knife skills and mother sauces. “It’s the best course in the country and you start your career on such a good foot,” he says.

French Classics grew out of Ryle’s desire to demystify a cuisine he believes too many home cooks shy away from. “There is a stereotype of French food being hard to cook: I don’t think enough people cook it at home.” he says. His online recipe videos were the first step in challenging that perception; the book, he felt, was the natural next one. “I wanted to create something that anyone can refer to in years to come and gain confidence in French food, and cooking in general.”

Back to basics

In French Classics, he strips back haute-cuisine associations and restores dishes to their domestic roots-a philosophy he illustrates with boeuf bourguignon, a peasant stew long before Escoffier refined it for restaurant kitchens. For Ryle, making these dishes accessible is essential: “French food is your friend.. the ultimate home cooking.”

The book has a foreword by Raymond Blanc: as a teenager, Ryle worked in his kitchen at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire. “Since then Raymond has been back to my restaurants to eat a handful of times,” he says. When Ryle explained his vision for the book. Blanc offered to write the introduction. Blanc remains his biggest inspiration. “He’s someone I watched on the TV as a young boy. He’s the main reason I fell in love with food and perhaps French food too.” Ryle says.

So what about a favourite French dish? Ryle answers without hesitation: French onion soup. His first taste, on a childhood ski trip, left him with a burnt tongue and a lifelong affection. “I have so many fond memories that are tied to it,” he says. “It’s delicious, warming and nourishing, a hug in a bowl. French food is all of those things. always reliable, you know you’re in for a good meal and will leave feeling satisfied.”

And what’s his guilty pleasure? “Croque madame. Whenever I’m feeling a little under the weather I make one. You can make a slightly healthier version but I always go for the one covered in cheese sauce and gratinated. A sandwich that you cannot eat with your hands is a pretty naughty one.”

The magic of simplicity

Off duty, he leans towards dishes that are a little more hands-off. “I love cooking dishes that spend a lot of time in the oven and require me doing very little-dauphinois or bourguignon are good examples. Easy to get into the pot, then into a low oven and that’s where the magic happens.”

With two restaurants, a bestselling book and a huge online audience, Ryle’s ambitions remain grounded in sharing the food he loves. In 2026 he hopes to launch long-form YouTube content and begin work on a second book. Ultimately, he says, the goal is simple:

“Get as many people cooking and eating French food as possible.”

www.matthewryle.com

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Lead photo credit : French_Classics_Portrait_Duck_a_l’orange_087_Patricia_Niven_Patricia_Niven