Books For Cooks Archive

January 11, 2008

If There Could Only Be Five

If you keep an eye on my book list, you may have noticed I am currently reading Michael Ruhlman's recently published, orange book*. In The Elements of Cooking, he proposes to break down and discuss the building blocks of the cooking craft, like William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White did for writers in their classic little volume The Elements of Style, t...

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November 14, 2006

Soupe de Haricots Verts aux Amandes

[Green Bean and Almond Soup] None of my friends need to be reminded how I feel about Rose Bakery, their salad plates, their assortment of British goods (including Neal's Yard cheeses), and their superb sweets that one simply must try and reproduce at home. "Where should we go for lunch in your neighborhood?" they ask. "I like Rose Bakery," I rep...

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November 10, 2006

Scones au Gouda Vieux et Poires Séchées

[Aged Gouda and Dried Pear Scones/Biscuits] Before we begin, I would like to address the scone/biscuit question. To Americans, a biscuit is the hand-held version of a quick bread, leavened with baking powder. Usually round and savory, the American biscuit may be served in place of bread to accompany a main course, especially if said main course ...

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November 6, 2006

Chocolate & Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen

[Click here to enlarge.] As those of you who subscribe to the C&Z newsletter already know, my upcoming cookbook is now available for pre-order on Amazon (and on Amazon.fr, too). It feels quite peculiar to see it there, as does each step that leads to the book's release* and makes it more real: I have seen the production schedule, I have gone ov...

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September 1, 2006

Cantines

Cantine is French for school cafeteria*, and it is hard to find a grown-up that doesn't have a story or two to recount about his cantine days. These memories are often a mix of the bitter (the food was less than stellar, and the atmosphere was one of constant struggle for social survival) and the sweet (petit-suisse fights were fun, and if you kn...

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May 8, 2006

Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking

I have a special bookshelf where I keep the books I plan to read. Some of them I've bought myself, and some of them I've borrowed, mostly from my mother or from my neighbor Patricia. At latest count -- let me get up from the couch and count them for you -- there are thirty-two books there. As you will infer, I am a bit of an unread-book hoarder, ...

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March 9, 2006

Cookies, Muffins & Co.

Those of you who read a little French have no doubt happened upon Pascale's food blog, called C'est moi qui l'ai fait! (which means "I made it myself"). I first met Pascale some two years ago at a food show, and we have been very good friends ever since, meeting on a regular basis for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or silicon molds home sales -- as yo...

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January 23, 2006

Mes Recettes Pour Votre Ménage

[My Recipes For Your Home] When my grandmother gave me her superb edition of L'Art Culinaire Moderne, she also entrusted me with two much-loved little books, which had belonged to her mother before her. Mes Recettes Pour Votre Ménage and Mes Recettes Pour Votre Dessert ("My recipes for your home" and "My recipes for your dessert") are two book...

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September 1, 2005

L'Art Culinaire Moderne

I have written about my grandmother on a few occasions in the past. She is my father's mother and she lives not too far from me, which allows me to visit and bask in the glow of her tenderness and her general wisdom on all things life. In the past few years, my ever-growing passion for food and cooking have definitely brought us closer: as a de...

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February 15, 2005

Mary Frances! I've heard so much about you!

I had been told wonderful things about MFK Fisher (1908-1992, full name Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher), but had never had a chance to read the work of the brightest shining light in American food writing. I had been looking for her books in the English-language bookstores I frequent, but they never seemed to have them in stock and since I wasn't su...

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July 13, 2004

Pastelarias, Here I Come!

Last year, Maxence and I went on a little week-end getaway to Lisbon. A blissful, dazzling few days of walks along the narrow little streets, funicular rides up and down the hills, stunning views of the city, and sunny drives along the beautiful coast. But all of this wouldn't have been quite as magical without the stupendous Portuguese cuisine...

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May 12, 2004

Le Ventre de Paris

Le Ventre de Paris, translated into The Belly of Paris, is a novel written by Emile Zola in 1873. It is the third of the twenty novels of his naturalist cycle of books, Les Rougon Macquart. The series is about two branches of a large family and their members -- the rich and powerful Rougon, and the poor and miserable Macquart -- whose lives inter...

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January 26, 2004

Kitchen Confidential

[Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly] Anthony Bourdain attended the Culinary Institute of America 25 years ago, has been in the restaurant business ever since, and is currently the executive chef of the restaurant "Les Halles" in New York. His book "Kitchen Confidential" is both an autobiography and an essay on the world of restaurants, and is...

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January 23, 2004

In Which She Finally Gets Her Hands On Pierre Hermé's Book

Last fall, I met the friend of a friend at a party and discovered to my great excitement that he worked for none other than pastry chef Pierre Hermé, at his rue Bonaparte pâtisserie. I had been coveting his new recipe book called "Mes Desserts Préférés" for a little while, and when I mentioned that to my new friend, he said he could try and have ...

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January 8, 2004

The Cookbooks To End All Cookbooks

Introducing the most beautiful cookbooks of all times : Le Grand Livre de Cuisine d'Alain Ducasse and his little brother Le Grand Livre de Cuisine d'Alain Ducasse - Desserts et Pâtisseries, both generous Christmas gifts from my parents. Alain Ducasse, for those of you who may not be familiar with the character, is one of the greatest (and probab...

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October 20, 2003

Les Desserts Préférés de Pierre Hermé

[Pierre Hermé's Favorite Desserts] Pierre Hermé is a world famous pastry chef. His stores in Paris, New York and Tokyo are designed like jewellery stores and are constantly crowded, with lines often going around the corner. He is a very prolific and inventive chef, who actually imagines new pastry lines twice a year, a spring/summer collection, ...

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