Ma Cuisine [Paperback]

The dust jacket of this book proudly proclaims: "written with the average housewife in mind". Well, not exactly.

Escoffier authored Le Guide Culinaire, the big Kahuna of professional reference books on proper haute cuisine. On the down side, it contained many sophisticated, hard to do assembly dishes requiring teams of talented chefs that even world class restaurants that charge $500+ per person would find hard to accomplish correctly. This book, Ma Cuisine, has simply left out these difficult and expensive recipes (what used to be called the "piece de resistance").

Simply leaving out the complicated recipes does not make a home kitchen friendly cookbook. Most of the recipes, even the simple ones that are within reach of the typical home cook, consist of a couple of terse sentences of instructions. It is something like the instructions a head chef would give to a veteran sous chef or prep cook. If this is your skill level, then this book is for you (if you are a foodservice professional, you should obtain a copy immediately, and let the learning begin). For the rest of us workaday home cooks, better to avoid this book. On the good side, it is a complete cookbook covering all subjects you are ever likely to want to do. It is illuminating to see how the great master chef of all times treats rather simple recipes that are so often thoughtlessly executed by poorly paid kitchen staff even in expensive hotels and prestigious restaurants charging a c-note or more per diner.

If you have even a modicum of cooking skill, this book is actually rather valuable. In today's parlance, most of the recipes in this book would be classified as bistro cooking. True, many recipes are either too complicated or too expensive to do, but many others are wonderful, simple recipes describing how something should be properly done (this is particularly true of basic recipes like cooking vegetables or dealing with fruit based desserts, or cooking and serving various proteins). Problem is, you need to have enough skill to recognize which is which just by reading the recipe on the printed page. Most recipes assume a vast experience of cooking, like how to make meringue or cook en cocotte; this cookbook supplies none of the ancillary directions. Many recipes use relentless portions of truffle, pate, meat glaze (glace de viande), demi-glace and its array of secondary sauces. None of the recipes specify specific stove flame strengths, or oven temperatures. Proper cooking times are usually not listed, nor how to tell when something is done; it assumes you already know these things, especially vexing if you are not that experienced and are trying to follow a seafood, poultry, or meat recipe that simply says "cook in the usual manner".

Typical example: "Sauce au Chocolat".

8 oz. chocolate

¾ pint (U.S. 1 7/8 cups) water

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

3 tablespoons cream

butter

"Dissolve the chocolate in water. Add sugar and cook over low heat for 20 - 25 minutes. Add cream and a piece of butter the size of a walnut." Several questions come to mind: is he referring to regular eating chocolate, cocoa powder, or unsweetened bitter chocolate? Is the water cold, room temp, hot, or boiling? Is the translation "dissolve" really what Escoffier meant to imply? In this case, this is what I conclude: he is referring to regular semisweet chocolate (since the additional sugar is only I T, the chocolate must already be sweet). It does not sound like he is referring to cocoa powder (although cooking for almost a half hour and additional fat in the form of butter argues for cocoa powder, but again it does not contain the necessary sugar, unless he is referring to hot chocolate mix; besides, current hot fudge sauces usually call for added butter, arguing for the bar chocolate again). And, the water must be hot or boiling, or the bar chocolate will not melt. Also, a teaspoon of vanilla extract plus regular sugar supplies the necessary seasoning in place of vanilla sugar, and the extract would have to be added at the end after the heat is turned off. And, does the cream and butter require additional heating, or can you just turn off the flame, add then stir them in? This is actually one of the better chocolate dessert sauces I have made, but doing the recipe correctly requires a bit of previous culinary skill that Escoffier does not supply.

One important complaint is the virtually non-existent table of contents. Typical example: the Fish and Shellfish chapter is thoughtfully arranged by the author according to type of seafood, but the TOC simply lists the chapter title and none of the subsections. So, you are obligated to flip through 90 pages to find what you want.

The index in back is not a big help: it has a curious structure that can be frustrating to use, especially if you know exactly what you are looking for, but not sure what the translator lists it under. The recipes are listed either by French or English titles, sometimes both, sometimes one and not the other, and sometimes not at all. Some recipes are listed only under the type of dish it is, sometimes the recipe title, sometimes both, sometimes neither. Plus, the English translation of the French is often not literal, meaning you have to second guess how the authors have translated a particular French title. Many classic French recipes are present, but not under the title you might expect. In summary, you must rely upon the index for your primary look up tool, but it is inconsistent and difficult to use.

As far as cook books go this is a fantastic book to opt for. It ranges from delicate sauces to the most complex of deserts. This book has only two flaws which in a sense are not real flaws. The first is that this book is definately designed for the experienced cook. Though it offers an explantion of many of the complicated tasks in its recipes, there is a lot of knowledge it takes for granted. So while this book is definately not for the rank amateur, with a combination of other books this could be a fantastic referece book to own. As for the second flaw, the ingredients required are not always the easiest to find. Some of the things neccessary for the recipes can not be found in your everyday super-market. But if you have access to some specialized markets you will be cooking like a professional in no time at all.

Bearing in mind that this book was written in the era of Mrs. Beaton, when home cooks knew how to cook and when an author could use words like "veloute" without wondering if his audience would understand them, this is a fantastic cookbook. Yes, the recipes are a bit more complex than Betty Crocker, but the rewards are vast for the educated, refined palate. The recipes are antiquated, as they are aimed at the tastes of the 1930's, and, as such, they are not daily fare, but they will be valuable additions to a well rounded repertoire of cuisine.