Parisian Home Cooking [Hardcover]

I made a wonderful discovery the other day that I would like to share with you because its simplicity can bring so much happiness no matter how busy you are.

During a recent torrential rainstorm that brought down a hail of branches and partial tree limbs on my roof that's a bit wobbly to begin with, I decided that venturing outside might be dangerous to my health. And so it would have been because just as I was thinking of going to retrieve my mail, a one and a half foot long tree limb bearing a striking resemblance to the leg bone of a long extinct animal, fell to the ground next to my welcome mat, of all things. This rather impolite gesture on the part of nature hurled this soaking wet limb to the ground with such force that it looked as though some wayward golfers completely bereft of any ability whatsoever had moments before been just "playing through" and left deep pockets suitable for billiards on my front lawn.

It was at that moment that I realized the virtue in tending to neglected work ... indoors, of course! So, I put on the kettle, made a steaming cup of cinnamon orange tea on this dreary afternoon and nestled into the soft cushions of my old, familiar couch with Parisian Home Cooking by Michael Roberts. The sheer delight of this experience overcame the heavy feeling brought on by the storm and I reveled in the visions of what I would prepare for dinner the next few days.

Michael Roberts, the author, writes in the introduction to his book as though he were speaking to you at a small, outdoor table at a local café' while dunking a biscotti into his espresso. His message is simple and insightful. His advice is worth hearing.

To begin with, you should know that Michael Roberts moved to Paris in 1975 and earned his professional certificate from the Ecole Superieure de Cuisine Jean-Ferrandi. He lived and worked in Paris before returning to the U.S. and opening his own restaurant Trumps in Los Angeles in 1980. He has since that time returned to Paris for several extended visits. He brought his experiences of everyday life in Paris to this book that reveals how the average, working person in Paris shops for food and prepares meals at home. In his introduction to the book, you instantly recognize yourself because he explains how people in the everyday Parisian culture share virtually the same food varieties, cooking equipment, busy schedules and lack of time that people in every other metropolitan area of the world also share.

The discovery that I made is based upon an admission by the author in the opening of his book when he speaks of his youth and says "The realization that I had learned to cook but not to nourish, that I hadn't grasped the gastronomic world of the average Parisian, disheartened me." So, he set upon a course to correct that oversight and wrote about his experiences that revolve around one simple philosophy from which we can all profit. "You start with fine ingredients. You cook things in a way that coaxes out the flavors. No need to complicate a recipe with many ingredients, because they only end up fighting each other. ... Let the ingredients speak to you." He goes on to say "The charm of a French meal lies in their insistence on quality ingredients and balanced flavor, in respecting those ingredients by not overcomplicating the cooking." I enjoyed and wholeheartedly agree with his comments that shopping for flavorful ingredients should be a delight, not a chore; that cooking delicious meals doesn't really take very long; that the resulting enjoyment breaks up the tension of the day from which we can all benefit; that the devotion to this splendid ritual of eating well should become part of the rhythm of life; and, finally, that families who share this pattern of living will pass on the gift of memories of yesterday so that familiar flavors or aromas will "unlock the memory of childhood, ... what most Parisians do nearly every time they sit down at the table."

The book's 175 recipes that reflect the author's philosophies are easy to prepare and suit a variety of tastes for various courses of a meal, including soups, salads, entrees, and desserts. My copy of the book has already shown wear on its edges and stains on its most used pages which, if you will pardon the expression, speaks volumes about what I think of this book.

Description: Roberts starts off with advice on how to shop Parisian style in your hometown (frequent small markets; develop relationships with purveyors), then launches into recipes for every course, which are appended with kitchen tips and trenchant tales of marketing and cooking in Paris. Assessment: During this vogue for all things Italian, Roberts clearly wants to rescue French food from its current reputation as fussy and outdated. He absolutely succeeds with this well-written collection of vigorous, straightforward recipes. The book also paints a vivid picture of Roberts' Parisian crowd, urbane professionals who happen to whip up fabulous meals in their tiny kitchens. -Erica Marcus .

The new rush-to-the-stoves book is Parisian Home Cooking: Conversations, Recipes and Tips From the Cooks and Food Merchants of Paris......a collection of recipes lovingly and cannily collected from Parisians young and old-- a concierge, a hip friend and his mother, a fellow American in Paris, the butcher at the street market and many other garrulous vendors. Roberts, a longtime Los Angeles restaurant chef and (with Barbara Kafka) one of the country's few truly original thinkers about cooking, returned to Paris 20 years after receiving his culinary schooling there, armed with a student's enthusiasm, an anthropologist's curiosity, a born schmoozer's way of eliciting cooking secrets and a sensational sense of taste. He rediscovers techniques born of Parisian practicality in the face of minimal burners and unreliable ovens: duck cooked and defatted in a pressure cooker before being finished in the oven, chicken roasted in a closely covered casserole, steak seared in a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Techniques and recipes like this will make cooks who cut their teeth on Julia Child and then moved on to Italy fall in love with French cooking all over again.