More 60 Min Gourmet

This is a replacement for my original copy that fell apart after 20 years of hard use. My family grew up enjoying meals I made over the years from this great collection

I work full-time and have two small children and a European husband who expects something more than pasta with jarred sauce. I recently rediscovered this book and its companion, 60-minute Gourmet, in my cookbook library and they've been wonderful. Straightforward recipes, which taste great, and are made in a short time are exactly what I need. It's not all fancy French stuff and includes suggestions for side dishes. My copies were injured in a counter flood and it's time to get new ones.

'60 Minute Gourmet' and `More 60 Minute Gourmet' are collections of New York Times columns written by the prominent French born and trained chef Pierre Franey, who attained celebrity by being the executive chef at La Pavilion, considered by Craig Claiborne at the beginning of his New York Times career as the only truly worthy `haute cuisine' venue in New York City. On the surface, it may seem that these volumes are simply precursors to Mark Bittman's `The Minimalist' columns in the same New York Times or to Rachael Ray's very successful 30 Minute Meal genre. While there are strong family resemblences between these three writers, there are also significant differences. Most of these differences arise from the fact that While Bittman and Ray are journalist / educator / writers, Franey was a classically trained chef. This distinction is crystal clear in the way Franey describes his audience and how they live their lives. With the greatest of respect, I sense that Franey sees his audience as just stepping out of a `New Yorker' cartoon of upper West side coop dwellers who shop at Zabars and who may expect the likes of R. W. Appel or Ruth Reichl to drop in for a quick bite on any given Thursday evening. One may be tempted to say `this is not me', but give yourself a chance to believe that you can put yourself into this picture. Franey is saying that you can be prepared to entertain elegantly with even a minimal amount of time. Franey is crystal clear from the introduction of the first of these two books that he is not simplifying gourmet dishes, he is picking and choosing those classic French dishes which can be made in the home within 60 minutes. His message is that contrary to expectations, a lot of French cooking, even `haute cuisine' can be made very simply. And, I have no argument with this. After browsing Escoffier's big book of recipes, I find about 50 different recipes for sautéing chicken, every one of which can easily be done in 30 minutes or less. The most valuable lessons in these books are things that a professional chef does to expedite his own work. One of the hidden tricks behind Miss Rachael's speed is that she spends no time whatsoever looking for her ingredients. Franey reveals the technique that makes this all possible. He exhorts us to always have a place for everything and keep everything in its place. The easiest way to experience the value of this lesson is to try cooking in someone else's kitchen. His second big lesson is cleanliness, as much for efficiency as for hygiene. He says clutter and debris distract from efficiency. It is important to note that these two volumes have virtually identical tables of contents, so the `More 60-Minute Meals' is literally more of the same. It's only additional topics are on appetizers and desserts. And, unlike his La Pavilion colleague, Jacques Pepin, I suspect Pierre is not as skillful with the pastry as is Jacques. Like Rachael Ray, a very large number of the recipes in these books are

I was surprised to see this classic cookbook so far down the popularity list. Checking our kitchen bookcase, where I keep the dozen or so cookbooks I use most often, I found that the copyright date on my hardback was 1981. Well, twenty-two years later, I no longer refer to it weekly because I have learned so much of it by heart, but I certainly use it monthly, and still find it invaluable.More 60-Minute Gourmet, like its companion volume 60-Minute Gourmet, is a collection of weekly "60-Minute Gourmet" columns published in the New York Times during the 1970s and early 1980s. The recipes comprise a wide variety of cuisines and are uniformly quick and uniformly light (a handful of recipes call for heavy cream, but it can almost always be dispensed with). The ingredients and techniques still work well today - perhaps not the "cutting edge" dishes and presentations one might expect from, say, a Roy Yamaguchi, but mastering the 60-Minute Gourmet recipes will make you capable of cooking almost anything. Consider these as high-quality building blocks for creating your own brand of gourmet cuisine at home.Keep an eye peeled for the late M. Franey's out-of-print volumes as well. They, too, remain fresh and tasty.

I obtained this book by a fortunate accident - I use it constantly as a reference and, sometimes when I just need to read an interesting anecdote written by somebody who loves not only food, but all that surrounds it.Pierre Franey does not talk down to his reader, but he does teach.One of my favorite passages from his book is: "When I have been asked over the years the most basic thing an aspiring cook could be taught, the answer is almost invariable. If you learn a few baic techniques of cookery, the rest is applied logic. If you can make a basic mayonnaise, for example, you can make a sauce remoulade or a sauce tartare with the simple additions of a few ingredients such as choped anchovy, capers, pickles and so on."I depend on Pierre, not only for his skill as a teacher, but just as much so for his ability to inspire.I highly recommend this book for the busy professional who desires to make their house a home.