La Varenne Pratique

La Varenne Pratique by Anne Willan bristles with more than 2500 full-color photographs. Willan is the founder of the famed Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris. Her standard are high, yet the text is as crystal-clear as her consommé. I opened the book at random just now to be dazzled by a two-page, twelve-photograph spread on just how to remove lobster meat from the shell. The instructions for complex operations like boning a leg of lamb, shaping a braided loaf of bread, baking fish in parchment paper, share quarters with basics like properly shelling peas, lining a pie mold, or testing the doneness of pan-fried meats.I have bypassed wedding gift registries three times now and given brides La Varenne Pratique; two of these brides have already validated my boldness by doing the same.Open randomly again, behold: color photos of fourteen types of root vegetables. So that's what salsify and scorzonera (vegetables common in Italy) look like! With photographs like these (eight varieties of beans, ten of rice, eleven of lettuce varieties) I am amazed that some magazines have to resort to publishing photographs of naked people in order to coax people into reading their trenchant articles.Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com

I got this book as a freebie when I worked in publishing, and after ten years using it I'd be glad to go back in time and pay full price.Clear, well-directed photography shows you exactly what to do and what your ingredients should look like. The focus is on methods and techniques, not recipes, though there are some recipes too. The skills described range from boiling an egg to making the most sophisticated souffle, so there is useful information for really plain cooking to fancy gastronomie and everything in between.The only area this book falls short on is the nitty-gritty basics like how to measure flour or bake a potato or calculate how many tablespoons in a quart. For that, get yourself a copy of the Joy of Cooking (1962, 1963, 1964 or 1975 edition much better than modern "improvements"). With these two you'll have virtually all the info on how to cook (aside from specific ethnic cooking techniques), and can focus on collecting recipes to your liking.

If faced with having only one cookbook, this would be it. I have seen no better reference for finding not only the answers to the simple day-to-day questions, but also, the answers to those wierd questions questions that crop up from time to time. I believe that this book is the perfect book for the beginning cook with step-by-step instructions for making omeletts, peeling shrimp, chopping onions, etc...I also believe that this is the perfect book for even the most experienced cooks as it demonstrates complex techniques in very straight-forward, illustrated terms. Topics like making aspics, pastries, cleaning monkfish, piping chocolate decorations...This is the book I go back to time and time again. Pretty enough to be on the coffee table as long as your living room is close to the kitchen!

I'm a complete novice to cooking. On the advice of the local chef academy, I picked up this book along with my first real set of cutlery and cookware. It's fabulous! To paraphrase the introduction, success in the kitchen is predicated upon a mastery of ingredients and a mastery of technique. This huge tome covers both in fine detail, with exquisite photography and clear prose.It covers a vast array of ingredients, from selection at the market all the way through preparation, presentation, and (my favorite) potential problems with each.This is a truly encyclopedic volume and the finest instructional book I've seen on any topic. Bon appetit!

The book itself is an outstnding guide to understanding techniques that are time honored traditions as well as adaptability to newer methods and styles of cuisine. This book more than any that I have used before attending the C.I.A, as well as during my education here has been a device that I have used to reference frequently. It not only has practical methods but suggestions so as not to intimidate the non-professional cook. This is really the only way I know how to thank Anne Willan for creating such a lovely instrument of cuisine.