Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One

“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 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 one hundred 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 U.S.A., that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients: equivalent meat cuts, for example; the right beans for a cassoulet; the appropriate fish and shellfish for a bouillabaisse.
• It offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines.

Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One Review

When you start to use this cookbook, it is easy to understand why it has remained a classic since 1961. It is not like the usual cookbook with big, beautiful photographs, a long list of ingredients and directions on putting everything together. It includes commentary by Julia Child that is really funny sometimes and very useful in understanding how the various ingredients work to make the dish. And, not all the recipes require hours to assemble. The vegetable dishes, in particular, are fairly easy. I just made Boeuf A La Bourguignonne (Beef Stew) from this book that is included in the movie, “Julia & Julia”, for a pre-theater gathering at my house. I served the dish as an appetizer so my friends would know what it tasted like when we went to see the movie. Everyone loved it. When you make this dish, it is easy to see why it is so different from most other beef stew recipes. Each of the ingredients–stew beef, pearl onions, mushrooms, carrots, onions– is treated individually to get the most flavor and then combined at the end to make the dish. Fantastic flavor! It is so rich that it just melts in your mouth. If you love French food and want to make some in your home, get this book. This is the definitive book on the subject and it is not that hard to make incredible dishes. I have made these dishes: Salade Nicoise, Ratatouille, Whole Baked Tomatoes, Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream, Fish Filets poached in White Wine and Eggs Baked in Ramekins. I highly recommend each.

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