Does the world need another French

[chefzadi]

Oui? Non? Explanations for either answer would be appreciated.

[malcolmjolley]

Mais, pourquois pas?

[chefzadi]

I just got the impression from some of the posts here that French cuisine has been covered exhaustively or at least very expansively.

[mikeycook]

I would say Oui! At least as far as English translation goes.

To be sure, there is a lot of ground that has already been covered, but I have definitely found more regional texts in English to be lacking. Also, I think books that are about how techniques have changes are lacking. The reason I wanted a Bernard Loiseau book was that I was hoping his rapid reduction techniques would be more fully explained. I bought Pierre Gagnaire's book and was very disappointed. Too many of the offerings are a) just collections of recipes or b) dated - i.e. refer to more outdated approaches (e.g. escoffier, novelle cuisine). I have more interest in contemporary french techniques that is currently represented in translated cookbooks.

[chefzadi]

I bought Pierre Gagnaire's book and was very disappointed. Too many of the offerings are a) just collections of recipes or b) dated - i.e. refer to more outdated approaches (e.g. escoffier, novelle cuisine). I have more interest in contemporary french techniques that is currently represented in translated cookbooks.

I've noticed that too. Even in some of the professional books. But then again, what do I know? I think of jus (as described in Ducasse's book) as being old fashioned, but some folks were raving about how refreshing and different it was from stock reduction sauces.

When I do serve a heavy meat jus I always cut it with a reduction sauce, otherwise it's too heavy for me.

Another point about some of these books being dated, I think it perpetuates an incorrect image of contemporary French cooking on multiple levels. I still have a copy of Escoffier of course. But the thing is a dinosaur, I never actually cook from it. I think that maybe some people still think French chefs do.

[bleudauvergne]

There are lots of different kinds of cookbooks on my shelf, and I'm certainly willing to add a few more. There are:

Cookbooks that teach technique and basics

Compendiums of recipes for the experienced cook

Regional tomes

Cookbooks that inspire with photos

Ones that sell a lifesyle

The "chef books" (like Spoon) which I am learning are not as useful as they seem at the start but give ideas from time to time

Historic cookbooks

Coffee table cookbooks with lots of yummy photos that cover one dish only (soups, tarts, cakes, etc.)

oh and my favorite -

Cookbooks that include stories and lore in between recipes. I can't get enough of those.

Yes, I think we need some more.

[mikeycook]

The "chef books" (like Spoon) which I am learning are not as useful as they seem at the start but give ideas from time to time

←

The only two chef books (i.e. a book related to a specific restaurant) that I find consistently useful are The French Laundry Cookbook and Les Halles. Most of the rest I have bought are a waste of money.

[carswell]

There's certainly room for regional volumes. Montreal is the second largest francophone city in the world and, taking the population as a whole, one of the most food-aware communities in North America, yet you will not find here a single decent tome in French or English devoted to the cooking of, say, Alsace, Normandy, Brittany, Franche-Comté, the Auvergne or Corsica. Part of it is a distribution problem: good cookbooks for those regions are available in France (I have a few in my collection) but not as many as there should be. And the English-language pickings are poor. For anglophone audiences, I suspect the ideal approach would be a guide to the food and wine of the region plus recipes, kind of like Friedrich's A Wine and Food Lover's Guide to the Loire meets Wolfert's The Cooking of Southwest France and maybe Wells' Food Lover's Guide to Paris.

Edited March 18, 2005 by carswell (log)

[chefzadi]

I'm tempted to write (with a lot of ghost writing help from my wife) a Lyon regional one. But my maman would kill me if I published pork recipes. But then again she never watches TV or goes to bookstores nor does she read French or English. Highly doubtful that she would ever even find out. Another option would be Rhone/Burgundy, Country French Beaujolais.

So another question what are the cookbooks published on Lyon, Rhone/Burgundy, Beaujolais, Country French...?

[carswell]

The only two chef books (i.e. a book related to a specific restaurant) that I find consistently useful are The French Laundry Cookbook and Les Halles.  Most of the rest I have bought are a waste of money.

←

The Chez Panisse books, especially Bertoli's Chez Panisse Cooking, are among the most used in my collection. Wells/Robuchon's Simply French is simply excellent. Frédy Girardet's Émotions gourmandes (can't recall the English title) is inspiring and useful. Some of Trotter's books — in particular and somewhat to my surprise, Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home — have kicked my cooking's butt into the 21st century. Kochhar's Indian Essence has opened windows I never knew were there. I'm really looking forward to delving into a recent acquisition, Aquavit. And many friends, virtual and otherwise, swear by The Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

[mikeycook]

The only two chef books (i.e. a book related to a specific restaurant) that I find consistently useful are The French Laundry Cookbook and Les Halles.  Most of the rest I have bought are a waste of money.

←

The Chez Panisse books, especially Bertoli's Chez Panisse Cooking, are among the most used in my collection. Wells/Robuchon's Simply French is simply excellent. Frédy Girardet's Émotions gourmandes (can't recall the English title) is inspiring and useful. Some of Trotter's books — in particular and somewhat to my surprise, Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home — have kicked my cooking's butt into the 21st century. Kochhar's Indian Essence has opened windows I never knew were there. I'm really looking forward to delving into a recent acquisition, Aquavit. And many friends, virtual and otherwise, swear by The Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

←

Have considered buying a Chez Panisse book several times, but it just hasn't happened yet. I have the Trotter book at home, but I personally haven't been inspired to cook from it much (seemed like more of a recipe book to me). I know Girardet has an English translation book called "Girardet: Recipes from a Master of French Cuisine" that is in print and an out of print book called "The Cuisine of Fredy Girardet". Don't know if either is a translation of Émotions gourmandes (there is nothing with a similar English title).

[Carlsbad]

I have quite a few French cookbooks, some more useful than others, but I think we can always use more.

By the way, I like Chez Panisse Cooking, and I like Alice Water's Chez Panisse Vegetables even better, but I don't consider either of them really French. I also like eating at Zuni (the cookbook is not my favorite), but I don't think of them as French either.

[SuzySushi]

I'm tempted to write (with a lot of ghost writing help from my wife) a Lyon regional one. But my maman would kill me if I published pork recipes.  But then again she never watches TV or goes to bookstores nor does she read French or English. Highly doubtful that she would ever even find out.  Another option would be Rhone/Burgundy, Country French Beaujolais.

So another question what are the cookbooks published on Lyon, Rhone/Burgundy, Beaujolais, Country French...?

←

Regional cookbooks are definitely needed in English. With lots of photographs of the finished dishes and (if possible) cooking techniques.

[Ptipois]

I'm tempted to write (with a lot of ghost writing help from my wife) a Lyon regional one. But my maman would kill me if I published pork recipes.  But then again she never watches TV or goes to bookstores nor does she read French or English. Highly doubtful that she would ever even find out.  Another option would be Rhone/Burgundy, Country French Beaujolais.

←

Use a pen-name, or do it with a co-author who would endorse the responsibility for the porky parts.

[chromedome]

I don't think that there will ever be *too many* good French cookbooks. Whatever the trend of the moment, modern haute cuisine is a French creation/codification, and the wellspring of the industry. It will be revisited, and revised, and deconstructed, and re-interpreted, and occasionally reviled and railed against, but it is the mountain upon which we all stand.

There is certainly a paucity of good regional cookbooks; perhaps excepting Provence in its current incarnation as the "flavour of the month." Lyons is justly renowned as one of the great centres of French cuisine, but often the indigenous "cuisine bourgeoise" is overlooked. Georges Blanc touched on it a bit (IIRC) in his Simple French Cooking: Recipes from our Mothers' Kitchens; but there is little enough out there as far as I've been able to determine. If you want to "go regional," that's probably a good choice.

Personally, I tend to favour books with a strong authorial voice. Someone opinionated, passionate, shamelessly willing to TRUMPET the joys of his/her particular favourites. I also like lots of text, especially personal narrative. One of the reasons I enjoy the cookbooks of Duguid and Alford is that the recipes are accompanied by anecdotes explaining their connection to the dish or to the underlying culture. The gloriously beautiful photos don't hurt, either!

A final point that might make your book interesting to potential purchasers is your roots in the former French colonies. In the literary world, some of the English language's finest writing is being done now by authors from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. Similarly, I think you might be able to present both an insider's depth of knowledge and an outsider's clearer perspective of the associated culture.

And of course, you'd have a great base of potential buyers to build on, right here at the Gullet. Talk about yer "viral marketing" potential...

[chefzadi]

Chromedome-

I'm blown away by your thoughtful and supportive words. Interesting that you should mention insider/outsider. Albert Camus is my favorite writer. He is the opposite of me in one way, born in Algeria to a French father (I'm not sure where his mom is from, French too or other European). But I am the same as him in another way. My recipes are a bit like the Myth of Sysphus. Do you think that there is a market for such a cookbook?

[mikeycook]

I would certainly purchase a copy.

[Jon Tseng]

James Petersons recent(ish) French Cooking tome is a good affirmative answer

J

[touaregsand]

As far as Lyon is concerned I can see a beautiful collaboration between Chef Zadi and Lucy. Native son/chef and passionate homecook.

EDIT: Lucy probably already has an album full of postcard photos.

Edited March 22, 2005 by touaregsand (log)

[chromedome]

I'm trying to imagine what a Sisyphean cookbook would be like. Every time I shelve it, it rolls onto the floor and I have to try another recipe? Hmmm.

This is tangential and may sound silly, but reading Frederick Forsyth's thriller "The Day of the Jackal" as an adolescent started several trains of thought which still occupy my mind. At the time (11 years old, I think, or 12) I had little knowledge of the French, and none of Algerians, but I was intrigued by the notion of national identity as it applied to the colonizers and the colonized. French considering themselves Algerians, Algerians considering themselves French, and of course the others to whom it was quite the opposite.

I grew up in Nova Scotia, a place where the French and English colonial empires clashed memorably, and where even today there is something of an old-country tie. Reading Forsyth first led me to ponder how Canadians had identified ourselves, over the years, by distancing ourselves (politely) from the imperial Brits; and from our potentially imperial neighbours to the south. This may not be especially coherent (I've had a long day) but I'm sure you get the gist of what I'm trying to say. Reading Forsyth also led me to Camus and Malraux about seven years earlier than most of my peers...

At any rate, I am professionally interested in all things pertaining to French cuisine, and personally interested in the styles of "home cooking" to be found there. I'm also personally passionate about middle eastern cooking, though I don't know nearly as much as I'd like...and especially the cooking of the Maghreb. So, on all fronts, I'm interested in what you have to say. I've been following your posts since you arrived here at the Gullet.

So as long as we avoid the subject of tourneed vegetables, I'm sure we'll get along fine...

Before I go to bed tonight I'll be putting on Cheb Mami and looking at those photos in your Algerian thread again. Yowza.

[Adam Balic]

There are too few English language regional cookbooks. Several exist, but although very good many of them pick a few examples from several regions, rather then concentrating on one region. This means that there is a lot of repetition in the recipes and sometimes a lack of details in the text.