Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I have a 30 year old copy of this all time great, 4 Oct 2001
By A Customer
I have been using this all time great cookery book, written for serious cooks, for more than 30 years. I hope the updated version has all the information I have found in my old one and more.This book is organised alphabetically and contains excellent french recipes for every food you can think of. One of my favourite sections is the hors d'oeuvres - this book taught me to add variety and to mix and match, for example marinaded mushrooms, artichokes in vinaigrette,frog's legs a la greque. I recommend the section on presentation. Another favourite section is the one on lobster. There are 31 separate recipes for this lovely shell fish, with clear photos showing you how to cut it up for Lobster a la Americaine. I would recommend this book for every kitchen if you are entertaining or even if you want to provide your family with a really well thought through french style meal.
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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply, ' the world's most famous culinary reference book...., 5 Jun 2007
.....and this new edition reflects the culinary revolution of the closing decades of the 20th Century.'
Well, the question is how do you review a tome of no less than 1350 pages?
The cover quotes, from Jamie Oliver:-
`An all-time classic cookbook....a real must for any serious chef.'
and Gary Rhodes:-
`This new edition has taken the book even further.'
help to ease the conscience for the really serious cooks among us......and help justify the investment, too!
`This edition bears witness to the revolution in the availability of food and the art and science of cooking that has taken place over the last 30 years.
Not only does this book acknowledge our debt to the past, but it recognises the modern approach and welcomes changes that are on the horizon.
It eschews the outdated and rigid notions that inhibit creativity, while accepting that authenticity and an uncompromising approach to quality are the foundations of a reference work.
At the same time, it illustrates that gastronomy is a multilayered subject and one that repays closer study with new sources of inspiration and pleasure.'
In alphabetical order, this dictionary format book starts with `abaisse', 'abalone' , `abattoir'........and ends with.....,'zucchini', `zuppa ingles', on page 1310, with everything you can possibly think of in between, before the spectacular index kicks in.
Each definition is well written and given significant depth where required or has a link to an alternative, e.g `zucchini' sends you to `courgette`......so really useful for those more taxing crossword clues, too!
Interspersed with sumptuous photography:-
e.g.-
(1) `Ninon Langoustines' on page 671 which has a full colour plate.
(2) `Cuts of Meat`, e.g. lamb on pages 664/665 which compares British and American cuts, followed by a step-by-step guide to preparing a rack of lamb, and various recipes.
(3) Regional photographs e.g. for `Provence' and maps e.g. `The Wine-producing Regions of Italy', defining `The North`, `Tuscany and the Central Region' and `The South and the Islands' plus the seas.
(4) Techniques, such as `'Making Chocolate Shavings' on page 290, or `Cutting Up an Un-Cooked Lobster', on page 694.
(5) `Types of Tomato`, tomato products and tomatoes in cookery, pages 1216-1220.
(6) `Freshwater Fish' and `Sea Fish' on pages 486-493, including buying, preparing, filleting and skinning round fish and Dover sole.
A very small taste of the recipes within:-
French-style Double Crust Apple Pie
Macaroni with Seafood
Fish Fumet
Lemon Délice
Lobster Cardinal
Béchamel Sauce
Navarin of Lamb
Passion Fruit Sorbet
Simple Beef Consommé
Spiced Gingerbread Fruit Charlotte
Avocado Salad with Crab
Artichoke Ragout
Asparagus au Gratin
Cape Gooseberry Jam
Mushroom Purée
Foie Gras Ravioli
Boiled Salt Pork with Pease Pudding
Hungarian Soup with Liver Dumplings
Flaky Pastry
Bacchus
Mocha Cake
Compote of Prunes
Redcurrant Jelly
Linzertorte
Chicken Waterzooi
Cold Tomato Mousse
Turbot with Morels
Tarte Tatin - a very good excuse to buy a `Le Creuset Tarte Tatin Dish'!
In a nutshell, a beautifully produced slip-cased book, containing everything from simple, expected definitions such as `sundae' or `ling' or `olive', to the more unexpected - e.g. `Liquorice Water' or `Superstitions of the Table', or 'Table Etiquette and Manners' ....complete with a dark red fabric ribbon to keep your page......this is sheer luxury, and at Amazon's, GREATLY reduced price, it is 'affordable luxury'!
5th June 2007.
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57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Kitchen Bible, 12 May 2003
The essential book for any versatile kitchen is heavy to handle but is worth its weight in caviar, truffles and whatnot. Although you can't quite slip it in a pocket to help decipher cryptic menus when on the road (even the Concise edition is a bit too big for that), it comes into form in the kitchen as an accessible authoritative text on French cooking (and a few others to a certain extent). The encyclopædic nature of the book, with comprehensive descriptions of produce and dishes alike serve as an inexhaustible source of ideas as well as the settler of many a bet for those in such a way inclined.
The photography is excellent, sober and descriptive without dominating and the articles factual and to the point. Although it also includes a large number of recipes it should primarily be considered an encyclopædia rather than cookbook.
- If you have only got room for one book in your kitchen, this should be the one.
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