- Hardcover: 752 pages
- Publisher: Random House USA Inc; 40th Anniversary Ed edition (28 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0375413405
- ISBN-13: 978-0375413407
- Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 4.2 x 26.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 320,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
The most instructive book on fine French cooking written in the English language (Elizabeth David )
This book fundamentally altered the way a basic human activity was preceived and pursued (A. O. Scott The New York Times )
Has been described as being the best book about French cooking in English ... I agree (Ambrose Heath Guardian )
As close to a divine text as you can get (Matthew Fort Guardian ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
This book fundamentally altered the way a basic human activity was preceived and pursued (A. O. Scott The New York Times )
Has been described as being the best book about French cooking in English ... I agree (Ambrose Heath Guardian )
As close to a divine text as you can get (Matthew Fort Guardian ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Product Description
This is the classic cookbook, in its entirety—all 524 recipes.
“Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for more than forty years, has been teaching Americans how.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. This beautiful book, with more than 100 instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach because:
• it leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a recipe, to the final creation of a delicate confection;
• it breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound to increase anyone’s culinary repertoire;
• it adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to modern American conveniences;
• it shows Americans how to buy products, from any supermarket in the United States, that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients, for example, equivalent meat cuts, the right beans for a cassoulet, or the appropriate fish and seafood for a bouillabaisse;
• it offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines.
Since there has never been a book as instructive and as workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable. In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to find the place of honor in every kitchen in America.
Bon appétit!
“Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for more than forty years, has been teaching Americans how.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. This beautiful book, with more than 100 instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach because:
• it leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a recipe, to the final creation of a delicate confection;
• it breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound to increase anyone’s culinary repertoire;
• it adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to modern American conveniences;
• it shows Americans how to buy products, from any supermarket in the United States, that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients, for example, equivalent meat cuts, the right beans for a cassoulet, or the appropriate fish and seafood for a bouillabaisse;
• it offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines.
Since there has never been a book as instructive and as workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable. In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to find the place of honor in every kitchen in America.
Bon appétit!
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
123 of 126 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have been using this book, and it's companion Volume 2, for over 20 years. It is by far the best cookbook for French cuisine on the market. The clear, step-by-step directions, with extensive illustrations, carefully guide you through each recipe. It teaches all of the basic techniques required to become proficient in the greatest cuisine in the world.
Try Julia's chocolate mousse and you'll never use another recipe,(but you will have to walk it off). I'm ordering a replacement copy from Amazon because my original is has been so used the binding has fallen apart! I wouldn't be without it.
100 of 103 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This paperback version is not as clear and as well laid out as the hardback. I've compared both and the paperback version is flimsy, the writing is very small and the layout of the ingredients is not as clear. Whereas the ingredients in the hardback are grouped together on the left of the technique (and written in the order that they will be used), in the paperback version they will put some ingredients (written in bold), then the technique, then other ingredients etc (so the ingredients are actually written as you use them)... some may prefer this but personally i prefer to see the ingredients grouped together, which makes the preparation process far easier.
It seems like such a wonderful cookbook but such a book, it would be better to invest in the hardback which is more likely to stand the test of time, easier to read as you cook (bigger font, more spread out on the page) and clearer ingredient layout.
A couple of people complained of missing pages, my book was fine, so the publishers must have corrected that.
Happy cooking...
It seems like such a wonderful cookbook but such a book, it would be better to invest in the hardback which is more likely to stand the test of time, easier to read as you cook (bigger font, more spread out on the page) and clearer ingredient layout.
A couple of people complained of missing pages, my book was fine, so the publishers must have corrected that.
Happy cooking...
111 of 115 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
On the cover of this hardcover classic is the following statement: "The only cookbook that explains how to create authentic French dishes in American kitchens with American foods". I think this was key to the success of this cookbook; you could use what you could find and not have to scour the earth for the right ingredients.
I was looking at the copyright on the book. My mother gave me hers about two decades ago; but the original date on her edition was October 16, 1961 (amazing) and this book is every bit as useful for me today as it was for my mother.
The chapters are laid out as follows:
Kitchen Equipment
Definitions
Ingredients
Measures
Temperatures
Cutting
Wines (offering the right accompaniment to each dish)
Chapter I - Soups (onion, potato, cream of sorrel, cabbage, fish)
Chapter II - Sauces (white, brown, tomato, hollandaise, vinagrettes, etc.)
Chapter III - Eggs (poached, shirred, scrambed, omelettes)
Chapter IV - Fish (even recipes from Provence)
Chapter V - Poultry (roasted, casserole, sauteed, duck and goose, etc.)
Chapter VII - Meat (beef, lamb, veal, ports , kidneys)
Chapter VIII - Vegetables (greens, carrot, cabbages, etc)
Chapter IX - Cold Buffet (aspics, mousses, pates, etc.)
Chapter X - Desserts and Cakes (souffles, tarts, savarins, and much more)
The recipe for the bouillabaisse alone (page 52 and 53) is well worth investing in this cookbook. Julia Child knew what she was doing and the adaptation of these classic techniques to the American kitchen is stunning. I noticed that there was a paperback available as well; the hardcopy is the one that I would get so that it could stand the test of time like mine has. Bon appetit.
Bentley/2007
I was looking at the copyright on the book. My mother gave me hers about two decades ago; but the original date on her edition was October 16, 1961 (amazing) and this book is every bit as useful for me today as it was for my mother.
The chapters are laid out as follows:
Kitchen Equipment
Definitions
Ingredients
Measures
Temperatures
Cutting
Wines (offering the right accompaniment to each dish)
Chapter I - Soups (onion, potato, cream of sorrel, cabbage, fish)
Chapter II - Sauces (white, brown, tomato, hollandaise, vinagrettes, etc.)
Chapter III - Eggs (poached, shirred, scrambed, omelettes)
Chapter IV - Fish (even recipes from Provence)
Chapter V - Poultry (roasted, casserole, sauteed, duck and goose, etc.)
Chapter VII - Meat (beef, lamb, veal, ports , kidneys)
Chapter VIII - Vegetables (greens, carrot, cabbages, etc)
Chapter IX - Cold Buffet (aspics, mousses, pates, etc.)
Chapter X - Desserts and Cakes (souffles, tarts, savarins, and much more)
The recipe for the bouillabaisse alone (page 52 and 53) is well worth investing in this cookbook. Julia Child knew what she was doing and the adaptation of these classic techniques to the American kitchen is stunning. I noticed that there was a paperback available as well; the hardcopy is the one that I would get so that it could stand the test of time like mine has. Bon appetit.
Bentley/2007
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Must have classic French cookbook
I have been using this book since it was first published in the U.K. in the 1960's. I have worn out two paperback versions so have opted for this hardback copy. Read more
Published 4 months ago by AnnieO
translate from American!
Dear UK cook - one trouble is language: our courgettes are US zucchini or various types of squash. Similar confusion with other vegetables names too. Read more
Published 6 months ago by starling
The book is great, the printing less so
I bought the paperback edition of this book a few months ago, after having watched the film (of course!). Read more
Published 10 months ago by Veverita
Content fabulous, format disappointing
For me, browsing cookbooks for inspiration is half the fun. The recipes in this book are classic and put together with years of experience and obsession. Read more
Published 10 months ago by BethanyJ
phenomenal basic reference
I have used this book for a number of years. It has absolutely wonderful ideas of basic french recipes, including the needed techniques and equipment. Read more
Published 10 months ago by rob crawford
The best cook book
This is, in my opinion, the best cook book ever written My copy was falling to pieces through lots of use . Read more
Published 11 months ago by Soul Singer
Vivent Bertholle, Beck et Child
First used this book many years ago. It has been my bible during all this time.
Over recent years it has got browner and browner and disintegration set in-
quite... Read more
Over recent years it has got browner and browner and disintegration set in-
quite... Read more
Published 13 months ago by sommervieu
Julia Child - a life work
An excellent kitchen primer but it should be partnered by her 'My life in France' which details how the book was written and is more entertaining than the film 'Julie and Julia'.
Published 14 months ago by Bradda
Buy it and try it!!!!
Got this for my husband after watchin Julie and Julia, he is cooking new recipes each weekend! Love it! Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Published 15 months ago by AllyP
The best cookery book ever
I first purchased both volumes in paperback 30 years ago. They are quite simply the best cookery books I have ever had and I have a huge collection now. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Richard
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