15 replies to this topic

[LindaK]

Does anyone have recommendations for French cookbooks that aren’t otherwise available in English translation? I’ll be in Paris soon and would like to add to my small collection of cookbooks en français.

There’s some buzz about the forthcoming release of Les recettes du Frenchie at home by chef Greg Marchand of the Paris restaurant Frenchie. Otherwise, I’m not au courant with what might be worth buying.

Merci!

[patrickamory]

Probably not what you're looking for, but growing up we had the marvellous La cuisine est un jeu d'enfants by Michel Oliver

http://www.amazon.fr...32089219&sr=1-2

I also seem to remember there's a classic French cookbook sort of equivalent to the Italian Silver Spoon that surveys all the cuisine of the regions. It may well have been translated.

[Mjx]

If you have any friends in France who take cooking seriously (or friends who know people who take a cooking seriously), they might have some great suggestions. I'm afraid the first (and only) thing that came to mind is Dumas' Encyclopedia, not exactly contemporary cooking or detailed recipes.

[bethesdabakers]

This is probably no use to you because I am not really interested in the works of the great chefs. When I’m in France I seek out bread books, regional cookery books and unusual ones that grab my imagination.

In the first category here’s a link to bread books I looked at last year in France. If bread is your thing I can let you have a list of French books I rate.

The best regional book I came back with last year is La Cuisine du Sud-Ouest by Francine Claustres in Editions Sud Ouest. 300 recipes in a reasonably priced paperback at 13.90€. It’s worth looking at some of the cheap cookery series like Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot. I have Cuisiner les Coquillages at a mere 5€ and their Nicoise book.

My imagination was grabbed by La Cuisine Juive Tunisienne by Andree Zana-Murat published by Albin Michel. I can understand that a book about Tunisian Jewish cooking might not be at the top of everyone’s list but I found it fascinating. Also there is La cuisine des flibustiers by Mélani Le Bris, with great illustratrations by Hippolyte. I had never come across the word “filibustier” – French for buccaneer – before. Basically it’s a Caribbean cook book but it’s beautiful, fun, and I wish I had bought it for myself and not for a friend’s birthday.

I presume you are aware of La Librairie Gourmande at 92-96 Rue Montmartre 75002 Paris - http://www.librairie...de.fr/boutique/ a treasure trove of a bookshop plus you can do your homework on the website before you go..

And within a few hundred yards of it are several cookware shops: the two shops, amateur and professional of A Simon, 48, Rue Montmartre, http://www.simon-a.com/; La Bovida, 36, rue Montmartre, http://www.labovida.com/index.html; Mora, 13 rue Montmartre, www.mora.fr; and the amazing E. Dehillerin, 18 et 20, rue Coquillière - 51, rue Jean- Jacques Rousseau, http://www.e-dehillerin.fr/index.php

Have a great time.

[LindaK]

Thanks Mick. Actually, I think our tastes are very similar. I own very few "great chefs" cookbooks, though I can see how my first post might have read otherwise. I'll look for Editions Sud Ouest; I own a couple from Editions Ouest-France, with La Cuisine du Bord de Mer a particular favorite--good, simple recipes, gorgeous photography.

As for bread, I bake bread infrequently, but I'd be interested in any beginner level book you might suggest.

Patrick, the children's book sounds charming. I can't use it but I'm glad you mentioned it, I'm sure it will resonate with other members. As for the "Silver Spoon" equivalent, are you thinking of La Cuisine de Madame Saint-Ange? It's a very comprehensive book of home French home cooking. It was recently published in English, but I have an old copy that was given to me years ago. It's a great primary resource.

La Librairie Gourmande is definitely a destination and I always walk out with something interesting, though the selection can be somewhat overwhelming. As for E. Dehillerin, it is one of my favorite places ever, it's all too easy to go a little crazy and buy too much.

thanks for the ideas.

[bethesdabakers]

Hi Linda

Finding good beginners bread books in any language isn’t easy (which is why I ended up writing my own sourdough (pain au levain) primer, link here).

Anyway you made me dig out my French bread books. This needed doing - over twenty so far and there are still some hiding.

Each time I go to France there seems to be no end to the nondescript small bread books that come and go usually aimed at bread machine owners. A couple of quite reasonable examples for beginners are:
Le Pain Chez Soi – Andre Rival – Editions France Agricole
Tous les Pains – Basile Kamir – Hachette Pratique

If you buy Le Guide des Boulangeries de Paris – Augustin Paluel-Marmont & Michel de Rovira, you can check out a couple of Basile Kamir’s bakeries.

For pain au levain, Apprendre a faire son Pain au Levain Naturel – Henri Granier – Editions Ouest France.

Small, nicely produced books that are a pleasure to have around:
Le Pain – Francois Isler – Neva Artisans de le Terre
Le Pain, Recettes Dietiques pour fair son Pain – Regis Leboucq
Petit Traite de la Farine Complete – Martine Agrech – Le Sureau

I’m sure you can get Eric Kayser’s books in the States but other, larger, more serious books are:
Le Pain l’envers du décor – Frederic Lalos
Les Pains et Viennoiseries de l’Ecole Lenotre – Editions Jerome Villete
Pains d’hiers et d’aujourd’hui – Mouette Barboff – Hoebeke
Pains de Tradition – Marguerite Rousseau - Flammarion
Tours de Main, Pains Speciaux – Christian Vabret – Editions Jerome Villette

Both the Frederic Lalos and the Ecole Lenotre are bilingual which helps get a grip on some of the French technical terms.

Then there’s Recettes au Pain Perdu – Les Editions du Curieux, for what to do with all the left over bread when the baking bug takes over your life and Les Fours a Pain – Michel Marin – Rustica Editions, for when you decide authenticity demands a wood burning oven.

That should slow you down a bit.

Mick

Edited by bethesdabakers, 22 March 2012 - 03:38 AM.

[weinoo]

On our last trip to Paris, I just had to buy this...



It's really good.

[FrogPrincesse]

On our last trip to Paris, I just had to buy this...



It's really good.

That looks like an interesting book. I have seen it on amazon but there is no preview, so it's hard to get an idea of the contents. Can you please tell us a bit more about it? What recipes have you made so far that you liked?

[patrickamory]

Hi Linda - La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange - that's exactly what I was thinking about.

Worth picking up? I have Child and Olney. I realize this is something different, probably a reference work as much as anything else.

[LindaK]

Hi Linda - La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange - that's exactly what I was thinking about.

Worth picking up? I have Child and Olney. I realize this is something different, probably a reference work as much as anything else.

It's very much a comprehensive book on French home cooking. My copy is almost 1,200 pages (small pages, tiny print, few pictures). I use it mostly as a reference but my copy was already well-worn when it was given to me by a French friend, who cooked from it often. Think of Joy of Cooking or Fanny Farmer. Begins with a good glossary of culinary terms and is chock full of techniques that you rarely see elsewhere (how to purge fresh snails for cooking, for example). Also well-labeled illustrations of meat cuts, helpful if you cook from French cookbooks, since meat is cut differently than in the US.

[bethesdabakers]

Didn't find much to grab me in France this year. I was amazed to find two new UK bread books translated and published in French editions. Are they losing their confidence? With the Olympics and the queen's jubilee there are acres of Buckingham Palace cookery books, and food in London is suddenly in fashion, but bread?

Then I found this gem at the Bordeaux Fete du Pain: Dictionnaire Universal du Pain - Jean-Philippe de Tonnac - Bouquins - ISBN 978-2-221-11200-7. I cheated and ordered it from Amazon UK when I got back.

With over 1000 pages of information it should keep any budding baker quiet for a very long time especially if their French is anything like mine.

Attached Images

• 

[mkayahara]

You'll have to let us know what you think of the Dictionnaire universel du pain, Mick. It got a mixed review in Art of Eating magazine.

[janeer]

I bought this pamphlet on Breton pastries on my last trip to Normandy; my French is limited, and I keep meaning to have my son translate, but the photos are so excellent and enticing that I figure this must be quite a good book for authentic Breton sweets.

[bethesdabakers]

What is there to compare it to, Matthew (serious question)? Given the dearth of good bread books, 1000+ pages of information with entries by bakers from around the world is a pretty wonderful thing, regardless of whether some of it is patchy or eccentric. A little dangerous to claim an “Index de tous les pains des monde” and even a brief skim showed up at least one spelling mistake (bram bread) but where’s the competition? And it will give my French a severe stretching.

I’m quite used to being in a minority of one in believing that a bit of commercial yeast in an otherwise naturally leavened bread is totally misguided – there are around thirty recipes in the book by eminent international bakers none of whom seem to agree with me – so I tend to “interpret” what I read anyway.

It will do me for the time being.

Mick

[mkayahara]

Well, to be sure, I haven't seen the book myself; I was merely referencing the Art of Eating review from memory. And faulty memory, at that: I just re-read the review, and it's decidedly more positive than "mixed." It does observe that there are a couple of minor errors, but calls it more valuable than not. Enjoy!

[Dave Hatfield]

I can recommend 3 from my bookcase:

- Au Coeur de la France des 1000 Fromages; Editions Ouest-France, 2003, ISBN 2-7373-3268-0. This is a very nicely produced book going around France talking about my favorite subject - cheese. Not truly a cook book, but very interesting & informative.

- recevoir autoour d'une soupe, Editions du Rouergue, 2000, ISBN: 2-841-562-55-7 . A whole book of soup recipes. There are some classics plus some very interesting ones. Most ingredients are available stateside.

- Les Bonnes Recettes de la Truff. Aubanel (Guy Moier) ,2002, ISBN: 2-7006-0279-X. A whole book of truffle recipes. Having this in your bookcase is a great way to impress your friends.

A don't have a lot of cook books in French because its far easier to buy cooking magazines. Any French tabac will normally have racks & racks of magazines. The number devoted to cooking is large. They range from the frivolous to the very serious. Additionally, many of the magazines are online these days.

Finally, this linkhttp://www.atelierdeschefs.fr/. will take you to a nice cooking site. You might even want to join one of their lessons while in Paris! They have a dynamite little cooking gadgets shop as well.