The Food of France: A Regional Celebration

Picked up this book looking to add to my collection and I was pleasantly surprised. Lots of regional history and history of the dishes in this book, as well as a nice selection ranging from all regions of France (and the Caribbean) in a multitude of dishes. Made some of the dishes in this book and they turned out excellent and made quite an impression on my guests! My one complaint is that a some of the ingredients are not what you would find in your average grocery store (i.e. Wild Boar, endive, some cheeses, etc). However, she does list alternate ingredients in some cases and to be fair I would feel cheated since I did ask for as close to authenticity as I could get. But, I put the comment out there for those who made not be as driven as other to make trips to specialty shops for some of the recipes.

Although she was born British, Sarah Woodward by instinct and desire must be at least half French. An accomplished French chef and living in France for much of the time, she travelled over the whole contry, visiting each of the major regions and carefully selecting samples of their particular style of French food. She has distilled this down to some 175 recipies that cover the whole country. And surprisingly, whether by intent or possibly luch, I do not find these recipies scattered with all kinds of unobtainable spices and ingredients. To be sure, a few, but only a few. Some like creme fraiche can't be purchased locally, but it is not difficult to make. In addition to the regions of France, the end of the book also has a section on French cooking as practiced in the Caribbean.