The French Chef Cookbook

I purchased this one to replace a disintegrating old copy of the mass paperback printed in acidic paper. It is a great cookbook. My only gripe is that the old one had a foreword on measurements and tables of equivalents. Gone in this edition. Otherwise, it is fine.

You need this book if you are a fan of the French Chef TV show The book is a collection of all recipes from the French Chef, it is a great help if you want to cook any dish from that show. The recipes are very precise and follow the the TV recipes exactly. No inconsistencies. If you purchase this book and want to cook something French but you do not have the French Show dvds, I recommend to purchase them, since many details (how to eval the quality of materials, how to mix, cook etc) are omitted from the book or are hardly understood from the book without video guidance

In this day and age, when there are so many cooking shows that they have their own channel, I remember my far-away youth, when you could choose between Graham Kerr and Julia Child and not much of anyone else . . . Kerr was the one who always had a glass of wine at his elbow and looked as if he might invite a lucky member of his audience to a bottle party at the local wife-swapper's club. Julia Child was like the big goofy aunt who got all enthusiastic about things and transmitted that to you. Between them, I learned to love food (too much) and discovered that cooking, while undeniably work, was also a lot of fun. And now you too can do it at home. Lots of beef in wine and sauces with cream and dry white vermouth, many onions and scallions and mushrooms. The occasional dish you're required to set on fire. And always more butter. There are also lots of patient, common-sense instructions on such sticky subjects as folding omlettes, whipping egg whites, and, horror of horrors, making hollandaise sauce from scratch. In print, as on television, there is Child's supportive, can-do attitude--you ARE going to make mistakes along the way, but a lot of them can be corrected, and with experience, these things will become easier. Just keep doing. And follow the technical rules, which are there for a reason. And after some effort, you can fold an omlette, the egg yolks in the hollandaise don't scramble, and you can even roll up a sponge cake. The souffles even rise. Oh, and by the way, only make POT -A-FEU if you are serving an army and have a week to cook it . . .

I came home from kindergarten every day and watched Julia while I had my cookies and milk; when this book came out my mother and I started cooking in earnest from it. Julia wrote this just for people taking the first serious plunge into the kitchen and you will need other cookbooks, but this one taught me several good things. First, the basics of serious cooking at the age of ten. Second, how to read instructions and follow them. I have overhauled tractor engines because Julia Child taught me basic cooking as a small child. It's a lot of the same critical thinking and ability to read an instruction manual. It's still a simple enough cook book though. So that's where this book really shines, as a great start for novice cooks and a good reference for a lot of classic recipes. I still think it's good for the kids too. Mine are experimenting with it at ages ten and twelve. Why waste time on underpowered kiddy cookbooks when a pared down classic will do the job so much better? I still grab it for quick and easy dinner and I highly recommend it for anyone taking the first plunge into the kitchen.

Though you would not want to cook like this everyday, it does produce delicious food with emphasis on proper technique presented in an informal and laid back manner that is unique to Julia Child. A new forward is written by Julia Child explaning the changes in attitudes on food between the late 1960s (when the book was originally published) and the 1990s. A must for all serious about cooking. Though it lacks the in depth explanations of her other books, it is still a great resource for serious cooks. Anyone who grew up or ever watched Julia Child as the French Chef will especially love this book ( come on, you KNOW you have made the roasting hen dance to the French Chef Theme song at least ONCE before trussing it!!).