Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes From My Home To Yours (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
I totally bow to The Tipsy Baker's opinion on this one--great recipes, detailed instructions, and comments in the margins that answer your questions before you even ask them. I loved the occasional descriptions of her shopping adventures in France and wished there were more of them.Since it is a cookbook, and a hefty one, I didn't force myself to read every word. But I did turn every page, read all of the comments in the margins, and skim each recipe to see if I could or couldn't live without cooking it, immediately. There were only two such recipes--her Beef Daube looks like a sensible replacement for the over-complicated Beouff Borgiononne (plus, I never have been able to spell it). And a baked cauliflower dish looks so scrumptious I'm probably going to try it for Thanksgiving. One invaluable tip I found was how to make my own Creme Fraiche. Next time I need the finicky stuff, I'll think two days ahead and make a batch with the leftover heavy cream in the refrigerator and the plain yogurt I buy for the dogs. [4.5]This book is so lovely, so classic, so exciting to cook from, although entirely too large for its own good. It was a relief to see that a solid three or four sections out of the 7 or so were meat sections, because I rarely cook meat and so just skipped over them.I've already made several things - the cheesy brulee, which sounds like it should be strange but is utterly delicious, but needs to be cooked SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER and also hotter than the recipe says, at least in my oven; the Gateau Basque, which I probably won't make again but was fun and delicious, and made with pastry cream that I DEFINITELY will make again because I wanted to just eat it all straight off the stove with a spoon; and the cocoa sables, which are the first cocoa cookie I've ever tried (and I've tried many) that I actually liked and wanted to keep around! They're spectacular for ice cream sandwiches or even just for munching!P.S. I think it's hilarious how once you start reading a lot of cookbooks, you start noticing all the cookbook authors referencing each other! Dorie Greenspan mentions David Lebovitz, who mentions Alice Medrich... I feel so in the know!
What do You think about Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes From My Home To Yours (2010)?
The recipe, "A Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good" alone justifies the purchase of ths book!
—WaterLover
An inspiration! Wonderful writer - will certainly work through these recipes.
—pervzilla
