13 5-star reviews at amazon!
Two examples:
By A Customer
This review is from: At Home with the French Classics (Paperback)
I have used this cookbook over and over again. It is perfect for someone desiring a very straightforward but elegant look into the supposed intricacies of basic French cooking. The author takes everything, from the simple to the complex, one gentle step at a time, and the results are always great. The variety of recipes is great, as well. Highly recommended!
Stephen Sykes (Rockville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: At Home with the French Classics (Paperback)
Note to the beginning French chef: begin here, not with Julia Child. In "At Home with the French Classics" author Richard Grausman presents a tutorial on French cooking that is both unified and accessible. It is unified in that the recipes all work together and make use of the same types of ingredients. It is accessible in that both the recipes and the techniques used to create them are described in an easy-to-follow manner that takes all the mystery out of French cooking. The book provides such a solid foundation to an everyday cuisine, that it could quite easily be the only cookbook you'd ever need. It will come as a relief to many readers of French cooking texts that there aren't any 'eye of newt' recipes - recipes that require you to search far and wide for some exotic ingredient. Grausman takes great pains to ensure that virtually everything you will ever need is available at your local supermarket. No trips to the gourmet store are required (though some might be desired!). For example, the brown stock essential for many red meat dishes is made from easy-to-find beef bones rather than the more traditional and exotic veal bones. And if you don't have time to make stock, Grausman presents canned equivalents along with the dilutions required for various name brands. Along with the recipes, the margins are filled with notes presenting a wealth of background information on tools and techniques. Grausman discusses which techniques are necessary and which are outdated holdovers from a different era. He frequently presents modern refinements to classic techniques that often make the recipes much easier to execute. He also respects modern dietary sensibilities by reducing or eliminating excessive butter, eggs, and cream whenever it is possible to do so without sacrificing essential flavors.
Two examples:
By A Customer
This review is from: At Home with the French Classics (Paperback)
I have used this cookbook over and over again. It is perfect for someone desiring a very straightforward but elegant look into the supposed intricacies of basic French cooking. The author takes everything, from the simple to the complex, one gentle step at a time, and the results are always great. The variety of recipes is great, as well. Highly recommended!
Stephen Sykes (Rockville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: At Home with the French Classics (Paperback)
Note to the beginning French chef: begin here, not with Julia Child. In "At Home with the French Classics" author Richard Grausman presents a tutorial on French cooking that is both unified and accessible. It is unified in that the recipes all work together and make use of the same types of ingredients. It is accessible in that both the recipes and the techniques used to create them are described in an easy-to-follow manner that takes all the mystery out of French cooking. The book provides such a solid foundation to an everyday cuisine, that it could quite easily be the only cookbook you'd ever need. It will come as a relief to many readers of French cooking texts that there aren't any 'eye of newt' recipes - recipes that require you to search far and wide for some exotic ingredient. Grausman takes great pains to ensure that virtually everything you will ever need is available at your local supermarket. No trips to the gourmet store are required (though some might be desired!). For example, the brown stock essential for many red meat dishes is made from easy-to-find beef bones rather than the more traditional and exotic veal bones. And if you don't have time to make stock, Grausman presents canned equivalents along with the dilutions required for various name brands. Along with the recipes, the margins are filled with notes presenting a wealth of background information on tools and techniques. Grausman discusses which techniques are necessary and which are outdated holdovers from a different era. He frequently presents modern refinements to classic techniques that often make the recipes much easier to execute. He also respects modern dietary sensibilities by reducing or eliminating excessive butter, eggs, and cream whenever it is possible to do so without sacrificing essential flavors.
