Slow-Cooked Comfort: Soul-Satisfying Stews, Casseroles, and Braises for Every Season

I'm usually delighted if I find even just one outstanding recipe in a cook book, and this little gem of a book has surpassed my expectations. I had never heard of Ms. Marshall, but Slow-Cooked Comfort has made a fan of me!

The recipes in the book are really good. The but, is that there are only 120, which does not seem very many for the price charged. What is here, is good; also as long as you do not mistake this for a slow cooker book. It is slow cooking, dishes that simmer for a time and improve their flavor, which also means you can use economical, cheaper cuts of meat and have them taste superb. There is a well written introduction on braising and simmering these types of dishes. The section containing basics has one of the best white sauce recipes I've run across. It's simple and sadly lacking in many modern cook's repertoire. The noodle recipe; Aunt Chick's is similar to one my grandmother made, that I've always wanted to find, it was a highlight of her luncheonette meals. There are many basics in here that far surpass those in other cookbooks, including how to make bread crumbs. Highlights include steak and kidney pie, beef in blueberry sauce, chicken Marengo and zucchini and tomato custard. There is an index, but there are no pictures, which really aren't needed for these dishes. Recipes include: beef and veal, lamb, pork, poultry and game, fish, vegetables and desserts. If you wish some wonderful recipes to simmer and make your whole house smell amazing, this might be worth the price.

Haven't used the recipes yet but Lydie Marshall is one of my favorite French Chefs. You may not necessarily like every recipe but there's usually a few that really grab you and will want to make them over and over again.

`slow-cooked comfort' by noted cookbook author and cooking teacher, Lydie Marshall is an excellent little book which will probably be overlooked by everyone except Lydie Marshall fans. This is a shame, because the book teaches recipes built around slow cooking techniques which all serious amateur cooks should know. The problem is that as good as this book is, there are several recent books on this subject, which are more complete and simply better. I would wonder if this book is a lightweight offering because Ms. Marshall didn't have the time to do a more complete book or if her publisher wanted to do a small book and rely on Ms. Marshall's good name from earlier books to carry the day. Ms. Marshall's primary subject is basically the braise and related types of dishes such as stews, casseroles, and gratins. The design of the book is to present the techniques by presenting a lot of classic recipes which use these methods. Her chapters are: Basics with recipes for bechamel chicken stock, pastry dough, noodles, marinated prunes, breadcrumbs, and the famous French braise, Pot-au-Feu. Beef and veal including beef stew, Belgian carbonnade of beef, beef bourguignon, chili, osso buco, and poached veal. Lamb including braised lamb shanks; curry lamb stew, Moroccan lamb, and moussaka. Pork including pork stew with apples, ragout of curried pork, pork roast braised in beer, pot-au-feu of pork, cassoulet, choucroute (sauerkraut) garni, and stuffed cabbage lasagna. Poultry and Game, including chicken a la grecque, coq au vin, chicken Marengo, squab en cocotte, duck confit, and braised duck with young turnips. Fish including daube of tuna, kedgeree, salt cod a la Florentine, oyster chowder, lobster stew, and paella. Vegetables including creamed broccoli, braise of fennel, spinach gratin, mixed vegetable casserole, and braise of leeks in red wine. Desserts with apple crumble, berry, crumble, apricot Clafouti, and flan with maple syrup. One sees the names of lots of famous dishes here. The problem is that if one already owns a good selection of cookbooks, especially cookbooks covering French Bourgeoise (such as Julia Child) cooking and French Provincal (such as Elizabeth David and Paula Wolfert) cooking, you pretty much have this territory already covered by some of the greatest cookbook authors in the business. Not only that, there is a recently published book by Molly Stevens, `All About Braising' which covers exactly the same techniques in much greater detail with what appear to be frankly somewhat better recipes. I compared the coq-au-vin recipes in the two books and found Stevens' recipe more interesting and more doable. I also compared Ms. Marshall's pot-au-feu recipe with Paula Wolfert's rendition in `The Cooking of Southwest France' and while both are excellent, Ms. Wolfert's offers a greater insight into techniques involved in the dish as is at the same time more interesting in that it is embedded in a classic book on a very interesting cuisine. Ms