De v À/Aux

Question

In regards to the last section about food, when do you use 'À/Aux' compared to when you should use 'De'?

Accepted Answer

Hi Sorelle,
You will use 
à la, à l', au, aux 
to mean the food is  flavoured with, made with :

Une glace au chocolat = a chocolate ice cream
une glace à la vanille = a vanilla ice cream
un poulet au curry = a chicken curry
une omelette aux champignons = a mushroom omelette
une soupe à l'oignon = an onion soup

You will use 'de' when it is the main ingredient or content of a dish as in -

soupe de poisson = fish soup
jus de citron = lemon juice
fromage de chèvre = goat's cheese
huile d'olive = olive oil
pâté de canard = duck paté

I hope this helps!

Answer

The preposition à is used if something is one (among several) ingredients or provides the main flavor of a dish. You would use de only if some dish was made exclusively of some ingredient (e.g., jus de pomme -- apple juice)