Simple French Food Review

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(More customer reviews)Olney is acknowledged by the best in the food field (like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley) as an unimpeachable source of excellence in understanding, tasting, and (by the way) cooking French food. He is, I must acknowledge, opinionated, even arrogant -- he is also almost always right. This book should be read as well as cooked with; absorb it through the skin if you can. My favorites include roasted calf's liver -- absolutely sublime -- and lamb shanks with garlic (unforgettably good). As a european, I acknowledge his view of scrambled eggs as they should be -- soft and creamy, not the overcooked, dried-out buffet eggs of the american breakfast table. And his recipe for poached eggs is perfect -- boil water, turn off the flame, break in eggs, cover, leave.
Simple french food doesn't mean simple cooking; it actually takes real work. But this is the best overall treatise I have read (among hundreds). My second copy is falling apart, I have given it to many friends and I will go on buying it until they take me to the great restaurant in the sky. Don't be without it.

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Simple French Food"For twenty years Richard Olney's Simple French Food has been one of my greatest sources of inspiration for cooking at Chez Panisse." --Alice Waters"I know this book almost by heart. It is a classic of honest French cooking and good writing. Buy it, read it, eat it." --Lydie Marshall"I need this new edition badly because Simple French Food is the most dog-eared, falling-apart book in my library. Here it is newly bound to enrich one's life." --Kermit Lynch, author of Adventures on the Wine Route"Simple French Food has the most marvelous French food to appear in print since Elisabeth David's French Provincial Cooking.... The book's greatest virtue is that the author...really teaches you to cook French in a way I've never seen before. Here you acquire the methods, the tour de main, the tricks that are the heart and essence of French food, unforgettable once acquired in this book because of their logical, well-explained presentation." --Nika Hazelton, The New York Times"I am unable to find an ad equate adjective to express my enthusiasm.... I find Simple French Food marvelous. I have never read a book on French cuisine that has so excited and absorbed me." --Simone Beck

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CUISINE OF THE SUN: CLASSICAL FRENCH COOKING FROM NICE AND PROVENCE (Fireside Cookbook Classics) Review

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(More customer reviews)From the blurb, Mireille Johnston was born in Nice [naturellement] and educated in France and the USA. She translated the script for the classic film "The Sorrow and the Pity" - directed by Marcel Ophuls - and also hosted a superb series on regional French cooking that was shown here in Canada on TVO (TV Ontario, a publicly-funded educational network).
This easy-to-follow cookbook includes the classic Nicoise recipes such as bourride (creamy garlic fish soup),soupe de pistou (vegetable soup flavoured with pesto (basil paste)), hors-d'oeuvres such as anchoiade (anchovy and garlic spread), pan bagna (classic sandwich with tomatoes, anchovy fillets, and a bit of tuna, etc.), pissaladiere (onion tart), tapenade (anchovy, olive, garlic, and capers spread), salads such as salades blanches (warm bean, cauliflower, and potato salad dressed with a spicy vinaigrette), salade de haricots verts (warm green bean salad with a vinaigrette composed of crushed garlic, good vinegar and olive oil, and salt and pepper), the classic "salade nicoise" (includes tomatoes, cucumbers, lima beans, purple artichokes, green or red peppers, onions, hard-cooked eggs, anchovy fillets (again!), basil or mint, radishes, and tuna - all artfully arranged (compose) on an attractive plate), sauces such as aioli (garlic mayonnaise), beurre d'anchois (anchovy butter), coulis (a warm tomato sauce, sauce aux noix (walnuts, garlic, and olive oil sauce), pistou (superb basil, garlic, olive oil,and cheese sauce), rouille (thick cayenne pepper and garlic sauce), basic vinaigrette (olive oil and very good red wine vinegar), fish dishes such as court-bouillon (fish stock), gigot de mer (fish baked with onion, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and white wine), moules de pecheurs (steamed mussels with mayonnaise, mustard and served cold), sardines grillees (grilled fresh sardines with parsley and garlic), thon provencale (fresh red tuna cooked with vegetables and white wine).
Ms. Johnston also include recipes for boeuf mironton (boiled beef baked in vinegar and caper sauce), daube d'avignon (lamb, vegetable, and herb stew), estouffade (lamb and beef stew), pietsch (poche de veau farcie - breast of veal stuffed with vegetables and simmered in white wine), pot-au-feu provencale (boiled beef, lamb, and vegetables), poulet a la nicoise (chicken cooked with onion, tomato, olives , and white wine), roustissouns (pork sauteed with herbs and red wine vinegar), vegetables such as beignets de legumes (vegetable fritters), celeri paysanne (celery braised in white wine), courgettes rapees (grated zucchini sauteed in olive oil), farcis a la nicoise (lightly stuffed vegetables such as green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, chopped beef, lamb, or ham, rice, garlic, parmesan cheese, etc., etc.), ratatouille nicoise (vegetable melange simmered with herbs), crespeou (tomato omelet), troucha (spinach omelet), pois gourmands a la paysanne (snow peas sauteed with lean salt pork and chives), tian d'artichauts (baked artichoke hearts).
Also included are pasta and grain dishes such as barba jouan (pastry filled with cheese,ham, rice, herbs, and pumpkin[!]), panisses (chickpea "french fries"), pates rouges et vertes (noodles with ham and herbs), polente aux champignons (corn meal mush with mushroom sauce), ravioli a la nicoise (beef and spinach ravioli), tout-nus [all-naked] (spinach, rice, and meat balls), festive dishes such as aioli monstre (rich variety of vegetables, fish, and meats served with a garlic mayonnaise), bouillabaisse [!] (superb fish and vegetable stew), desserts such as beignets de fruits (apple raisin fritter or doughnuts), cloche amandine (bell-shaped almond brittle), compote d'abricots, de peches, et de prunes (apricot-peach-plum compote cooked in lemon and orange juice), galette des rois (crown-shaped brioche with candied fruits), glace a la fleur d'orangers (orange blossom water ice cream), nougat blanc (honey, almond, and egg-white confection [candy]), petits biscuits aux noix (crumbly walnut cookies), poires au vin rouge (pears in red wine and lemon juice), tian au rhum (rum and milk custard), tourte aux noix et au miel (walnut and honey pie).
The witty and fun illustrations are by the inimitable Milton Glaser and Mireille Johnston includes a table of classic ingredients from the Nice district, a table of techniques and tools, and mail order sources.
This tremendous chef died in October of 2000 at the very early age of 65 and it is not well-known that she was a former aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy. She is sorely missed but anybody who wants to savour the sights and smells of summer only has to refer to this cookbook and enjoy the memories. Very, very highly recommended and almost a necessity in any well-appointed kitchen. It superbly complements Julia Child's classic books on French cooking and is a joy to read and is admirably produced.
Timothy Wingate, Ottawa CANADA

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PATRICIA WELLS AT HOME IN PROVENCE: Recipes Inspired By Her Farmhouse In France Review

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(More customer reviews)This cookbook is full of country food. Most of the flavors come from herbs and olive oil and the recipes call for very fresh ingredients, so they are fun right from the beginning. If you live near a farmer's market, these recipes will do justice to the produce there.
The recipes are laid out well, with measurements given in both metric and imperial notation, and there are plenty of substitutions listed for the more obscure ingredients. Be warned, though. . . this is not a beginner's cookbook. Each recipe uses a lot of ingredients and assumes a) that you know what all the ingredients are (lamb's lettuce? orange flower water? sheep cheese?) and b) that you know to prepare each ingredient to the point where it joins the rest of the recipe (grating zest, stemming thyme, cutting basil into chiffonade). The recipes also benefit from close reading and planning beforehand. For this reason, even though the style is "country food," I mostly end up using this book for somewhat fancier dinners.
Once you've started, though, the resulting food is truly superb. No one has ever complained when fed a dish from this book. The Tomato Clafoutis is a summer standard at my place. I served the Winemaker's Grape Cake at a party today, and it was gone in fifteen minutes. There is also a nice section at the back for sauces, relishes, homemade liquors and pantry items called for in the main body of the book. These recipes are simple and keep for a while, so if you are in a place where you can't nip out to the local French-Arab market for preserved lemons, you can put your own up for when you need them.
A word to the wise, though. Spring for a hardbound edition. Although the paperback is lovely, the binding is terrible. The spine glue is weak, and your pages will start falling out in clumps, starting with the two glossy photo sections. It started to fall apart the moment I opened the book, and it just can't hack the heavy kitchen use that cookbooks tend to get.

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Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz: A New Orleans Seafood Cookbook Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used this book fro over a decade and am about to order a fresh copy. It is a great read and a great, practical cookbook. I have used it constantly.

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This delicious compilation is cooked with aroux of raconteur Howard Mitcham's wit and served with a side dish of jazzhistory and lyrics.As an appetizer, Mitcham traces the development of thecuisine that made New Orleans famous and the history of the people who broughttheir native cookery to the melting pot that makes New Orleans a living gumbo.For the main course, he puts together a cornucopia of local delights that areready to prepare in any kitchen.A dazzling array of photos, foods, and far-out folklore, spiced up withtidbits of jazz history and lyrics, comprises a seafood cookbook thatcelebrates the world-famous cookery of New Orleans. Howard Mitcham offers morethan 300 enticing dishes, from crab gumbo and shrimp-oyster jambalaya tobarbecued red snapper and trout amandine.Mitcham traces the development of sophisticated Creole cooking and itsrambunctious country cousin, Cajun cooking, with innumerable anecdotes,pictures, and recipes. Along the way, he offers a list of substitutes forhard-to-find seafoods, a bibliography, and a guide to the best mail-orderseafood markets in New Orleans.Howard Mitcham, renowned chef, poet, artist, and storyteller, has practicedthe inventive art of New Orleans cuisine for three decades."A delightful book with excellent recipes..."Mimi Sheraton, The New York Times" Creole Gumbo is more than a cookbook. It isa history book, a music lesson and a personality profile of greatjazzmen."The Today Show

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The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet Review

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(More customer reviews)Really, you just can't go wrong. There are no 'vanity' recipes in here (you know the ones, with 87 ingredients and impossible-to-find spices), only simple and flawless dishes that have been proven over time to be winners. I first got this book on the recommendation of a professional chef, and was very suspicious that it would be completely beyond my meager abilities. I was pleased to discover that everything about this book is straightforward, and no matter what your cooking level is you CAN make EVERY SINGLE RECIPE even if you are a cooking novice. It's a little heavy on the cream in some recipes, so I recommend more for special occasions and weekends than every day cooking - although there are quite a few healthier recipes in there as well.
Favorite recipes? Chicken Scarpariello (took me all of 25 minutes, start to finish), Shell Steak in Vinager & Cream sauce (will impress big-time).

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A Master Chef's Signature BookAvailable in paperback for the first time in a decade, The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet is the bestselling cookbook that catapulted Pierre Franey into the front ranks of American chefs. After a successful career as a restaurant chef, Franey became a food writer for The New York Times in 1975, accepting the challenge to write a regular column featuring recipes that would take less than an hour to prepare. Through his column and the cookbooks that soon followed, Franey created a national sensation with his revolutionary style of cooking, and American kitchens haven't been the same since. The presentation of quick, healthy, and enjoyable meals was a revelation, introducing the home cook to choices beyond spending hours in the kitchen or settling for "fast food." This cookbook -- the first that collected his New York Times recipes -- captures all that was great about Pierre Franey's cooking: fresh, flavorful, low-fat ingredients, ease of preparation, and the injunction "Don't spend all evening in the kitchen!" As a step-by-step guide to better cooking and delicious eating, this great cookbook allows all cooks to employ Pierre Franey's signature methods and create memorable meals in their own homes.

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