# French Cookbooks



## missyjean (Nov 5, 2009)

I love Mastering The Art Of French Cooking so much, I want to cook French more often. 

I would like to get another book French book.  

Any suggestions?


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

_One Pot French_, written by Jean-Pierre Challet, Sellers Publishing, 2008


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## missyjean (Nov 5, 2009)

Thank you! I would never have found that without your suggestion. I'll order it. I also ordered Jacques Pepin's  Complete Technique, based on the reviews on this forum,.. I can't wait to get it.

Any opinion on Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table?


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## kcz (Dec 14, 2006)

KYHeirloomer said:


> _One Pot French_, written by Jean-Pierre Challet, Sellers Publishing, 2008


This has some good recipes, but some have hard-to-find ingredients, especially cheeses. Also, the name is misleading, it's not really about one-pot cooking.



missyjean said:


> Any opinion on Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table?


I just bought that because I liked her other books, but I haven't had a chance to cook from it yet. First of all, it's a hefty book, not one to curl up in bed with. Most recipes are preceded by a little historical tidbit and accompanied by a color picture. The book is divided into hors d'oeuvres, soups, salads, poultry, meat, seafood, vegs/grains, desserts. I would say that the recipes look moderately "Americanized" in that they use ingredients found in the average American supermarket, not offal and obscure French cheeses. They also look like they're do-able in a reasonable amount of time, not all-day cooking marathons. I would be interested to hear from someone who's actually made some of the recipes.


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## missyjean (Nov 5, 2009)

Dorie was on Martha Stewart. Together, they made a stuffed pumpkin recipe which looked delicious. I looked through the book in the store. The recipe for a beef in casserole with a mashed potato topping (Dorie notes ground beef can be substituted) sounds like something easy and delicious to make on a hurried weeknight.

I made her French Apple Cake which was featured on David Lebovitz' blog:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/11/dorie-greenspan-french-apple-cake-recipe/

I was happy to see David gave the weight measurement of the flour.

The recipe did not look like the picture of hers in her book but it did look like the end-result of the recipe posted on David's blog.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

I'm surprised, MissyJean, that you hadn't heard of it. We reviewed it right here, in April.

Are you ordering books through our direct links? If so, you could have read the review. If you're still interested, though, you can find it here: http://www.cheftalk.com/products/one-pot-french-more-than-100-easy-authentic-recipes

KCZ, I agree, it's certainly got a misleading title. I believe that's the fault of the publisher, though, who brought it out as part of a series.

I didn't run into the hard-to-find thing as a particular problem. A very few of the recipes do have some cheeses I'm unfamiliar with. But almost everything is available in central Kentucky, and if it can be found here, it can't be rare or difficult to obtain. And, compared to books like Mario Batali's _Molto Gusto_, I wouldn't offer hard-to-find as a criticism of this book.

Not counting, but I'd say, shooting from the hip, there were maybe five or six recipes (out of a hundred) that included hard to find ingredients. And those wouldn't be difficult for anyone who lived in, or near, a big city.


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## missyjean (Nov 5, 2009)

After you mentioned it, I did remember the review here but it didn't come to mind when I was doing a search on a book site.

This time I won't be ordering through Amazon. I have a gift card elsewhere which I have to use today.

The reason I am looking for French books is because I cooked from Julia Child's book last night and instantly fell in love. It is the second recipe I made from MTAOFC. It is a perfect cuisine for my husband, who suffers from a delicate tummy. The pork was more tender than anything I ever ate before and every bite was full of flavor, without the use of garlic.

So, I will be ordering One Pot French (I got a Le Creuset for my birthday) but I need to order something else to spend this gift card because that book is $8 with my coupon /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

How about any of Julia's other books? I would prefer not to duplicate the recipes in MTAOFC


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## conch27 (Feb 22, 2011)

Ok, my first post here so I'll keep it quick and to the point.   "Steak Frites and classic french bistro cooking" by Pierre-Yves Chupin.

Soup des poissons, Jarets de porc a la biere, not to mention a damn good steak and frites.   Basic, basic, basic bristro cooking, few classic ingredients, lots of creme fraiche, butter, heavy cream, capers, shallots, great book but hard to find.  I'm sure amazon could find it though.

Cheers


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## sweetie pie (Feb 18, 2011)

[quote name="KCZ" url="/forum/thread/63452/french-cookbooks#post_334584"]
This has some good recipes, but some have hard-to-find ingredients, especially cheeses. Also, the name is misleading, it's not really about one-pot cooking.

I just bought that because I liked her other books, but I haven't had a chance to cook from it yet. First of all, it's a hefty book, not one to curl up in bed with. Most recipes are preceded by a little historical tidbit and accompanied by a color picture. The book is divided into hors d'oeuvres, soups, salads, poultry, meat, seafood, vegs/grains, desserts. I would say that the recipes look moderately "Americanized" in that they use ingredients found in the average American supermarket, not offal and obscure French cheeses. They also look like they're do-able in a reasonable amount of time, not all-day cooking marathons. I would be interested to hear from someone who's actually made some of the recipes.
[/quote]

I don't own the book yet but I made the chicken in a pot. It was easy to make. The side notes suggest you can use pizza dough but I made the dough to seal the pot. It only took a few minutes extra to make. I made a grand presentation when I put the sealed pot on the table and broke the seal. The chicken and the vegetables were tender and steaming hot. The sauce was very tasty. My husband said it reminded him of meals his grandmother made. The dinner was good though it wasn't extraordinary. It was nice home cooking with a French accent. I liked it and I will buy the book.


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