Product Description: “Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for forty years, has been teaching Americans how.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. This beautiful book, with more than one hundred instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach because:
• It leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a recipe, to the final creation of a delicate confection. • It breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound to increase anyone’s culinary repertoire. • It adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to modern American conveniences. • It shows Americans how to buy products, from any supermarket in the U.S.A., that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients: equivalent meat cuts, for example; the right beans for a cassoulet; the appropriate fish and shellfish for a bouillabaisse. • It offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines.
Since there has never been a book as instructive and as workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable. In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to find the place of honor in every kitchen in America.
masrtering the art of french cooking Wonderful book especially as it is up-dated for current use since new equipment has been introduced as well as new products. Even if I don't use it to cook, it makes wonderful reading.
A Classic This is the classic cook book, and anyone building a library should have it. More easily digestible than other classics like Larousse's Gastronomique; while less rudimentary than The Joy of Cooking. I covers essential culinary classics and maintains the original recipes' integrity. This book is the jumping off point for those whose want to create the classics, and have the fundamentals to add their own flavors and flair. Julia is all about loving to cook.
Volume Two makes great bread Continuation of Volume I. This volume has breadmaking for one that wants to duplicate wonderful French bread. Unless you live near a fabulous bakery, the recipes in the bread and pastry section will make life better.
Both Volumes I and Volumes II are must have and make absolutely wonderful gifts for any new bride.
French cooking for french cooks also! Being french and a lover of cooking, and living in United States for the last 15 years, I was intimidated by this thick and presumably academic American Cook Book, until I read "my life in France" also written by Julia Child. In this book,the way she describes how she wrote "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" was so lively and appealing that I decided to give it a try. And I was not disappointed. Not only she gives all the equivalent proportions, quantities and temperatures, but she explains very clearly and simply how to make a dish a success. I tried several of the recipes, my best being a "souffle with orange and Grand Marnier" . To get the most of her explanations I also borrowed a couple of DVDs of her first cooking shows from my local library, and I got the same good feeling. The reason I gave only 4 stars is because of the presentation of the recipes, with a very detailed master recipe, and just a few lines for the variants. That makes a little bit uneasy to go back and forth during my usual rush cooking time. But that is part due to my own lack of organization. I was so thrilled by this book that I also gave it , as a gift , to a friend who loves cooking.
A Perfect Way to Learn French Cooking Julia's book was recommended to me by a French Chef we met in the Caribbean. It is the perfect book from which to learn French cooking. Julia's instructions are very detailed and make it easy to prepare each recipe. I highly recommend this book.
Anything Goes Trivia
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