Learn to COOK - Simply French

I am always suspicious of a book's quality when I can't find something new or remarkable to me in the first few pages. I had no such problems with this book. The depth of insight into fine cooking from Robuchon was easily equal to some of the best I have seen from Thomas Keller, Jeremiah Tower, and Richard Olney. Robuchon's contribution to the words `simple' and `French' together is an emphasis on a style of cooking which preserves and enhances the flavors of each individual ingredient rather than letting their properties be lost in a great gemish (that's German, not French) of indistinguishable flavors. Robuchon cites this as one of the great contributions of `nouvelle cuisine', although he claims that French cuisine has moved on from the excesses of this movement and now seems to be on more rational ground. He makes the remarkable observation that French cuisine before 1950 was intent on making food soft enough to satisfy a population with poor teeth. This is the reason for all the thick, smooth sauces and probably the reason why the braise is the most distinguishing method of French cooking. One may say that the braise is to French cuisine as stir frying is to Chinese cuisine.

This book is filled with little techniques that seem so unusual at first encounter. Given the least amount of thought, the methods become so obvious one cannot see why they (I) did not think of them ourselves. One example is in the preparation of a simple pastry crust (Pate Brisee). The problem is that no matter how closely I follow Martha Stewart's or Wayne Harley Brachman's or Nick Malgieri's instructions, I always seem to get some shrinkage of crust when I blind bake it in a tart pan. Robuchon's solution, which I have seen nowhere else, is to begin the blind baking BEFORE trimming of the excess dough around the edge of the crust. By baking with the overhang still on, the shrinkage will draw in some of the overhang to compensate for shrinkage in the pan. On the other hand, the recipe for Pate Brisee in general is not nearly as fussy as many other techniques when it comes to quickly working with cold butter. I will have to try this on my next crust.

There is no lack of truffles and foie gras in these recipes, although one of Patricia Wells' objectives in translating these recipes from the French restaurant kitchen to the American home is to remove as many of the hard to find and expensive ingredients as possible. My impression is that she has done a brilliant job of making the recipes accessible to the home cook. That is not to say that these recipes are easy. As Wells says on the first page of her essay on the cuisine of Robuchon, `good food is no accident', meaning that it takes work to achieve good food. She immediately says also that good food is not impossibly difficult.

The recipes in the book all seem to be classics. There is no evidence of fusion ingredients or techniques and there is little evidence of any other type of invention. The chapter contents are purely traditional, being: Salads, Warm First Courses, Cold First Courses, Fish and Shellfish, Poultry and Meats, Vegetables, Side Dishes, and Pasta, Desserts, Basic Recipes (Pantry), and Basic Pastry Recipes. The procedure description for many recipes is fairly long. For poultry, this may be simply because poultry techniques can be tricky. For many other dishes, it may be because the preparation of a vegetable garnish may be included with the preparation of the protein. In all cases, the recipes are a bit longer than most due to the extra attention to maintaining ingredients' integrity.

The recipe for the old standard Ratatouille is a perfect example of Robuchon's attention to detail and his devotion to bringing out the best in fine ingredients. One difference from conventional wisdom is that he does not draw moisture out of vegetables (disgorging) with salt, as he claims this makes the vegetable too soggy. Typical techniques that mark the gourmet dish are slicing vegetables to fine sticks and cooking vegetables separately to preserve their individual flavors.

The book contains several sidebars on general techniques. These notes are rich in explanations for why particular techniques are important. Each course includes a modest little wine suggestion. These will certainly be useful to anyone who uses this book as a resource for entertaining; however, making the most of these suggestions may require an exceptionally well-stocked and knowledgeable wine merchant. Residents of Pennsylvania with our rather ill informed State Store clerks might have a problem with this.

This book is a `must have' source for anyone who wishes to improve their understanding of fine food preparation. It is a fine resource for anyone who is looking for small dinner party dishes. It is a fine companion to works by Julia Child, Richard Olney, and Elizabeth David. It is probably the next best thing to being able to read Robuchon's works in French. I am looking forward to seeing what Patricia Wells can do in her later books on less demanding subjects.

Very highly recommended.

The book is worth every penny just to read the interview with Patricia Wells; and Joel Robuchons' thoughts in the introduction. I've been re-reading just these two sections for over ten years now and am continuosly inspired.

The photographs are amazing, even frameable. One in particular I have removed and used as a cover shot for my private notebook. Its of a bottle of wine, a piece of cheese and loaf of bread. But oh..... what wine, cheese and bread! I always look at that picture to remind me whats its all about.

My copy has fallen apart long ago. The pages are now in clear sheet protectors and I travel with this book in this condition all over the world. I never leave home without it.