The Best French Cookbook...

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Despite having many, many recipe books on the shelf (both French and

English language) with more added year after year (because friends and

relatives seem to think that I am a one-dimensional, food obsessed

creature rather than a complete and balanced individual), the one I

always seem to come back to is the scandalously out-of-print "Floyd on

France". I have never had a duff dish from this book (or from any of

his others - has the man been honoured with a gong or a drape of ermine

yet?). Does anyone have anything that they would recommend more highly?

[Bob]

Yea, I know exactly where you are coming from. Most of my prezzies seem to consist of cookbooks as well.but better than the traditional hanky or socks. I also have several dozen cookery publications plus the ripped out recipe pages from waiting room mags .but I always seem to come back to a ten year old copy of Delia Smiths Complete illustrated cookery course. No nonsense, straight forward, the high priestess of the culinary world.

[Christine Animal]

That waiting room mag recipe reminds me of a French friend, always with it but rather shy and discreet, who loved to tear out recipes she found of interest when waiting at the doctor's.  She said she always made a sort of coughing noise to cover up the kkkhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrhhhhh as she tore out the recipe.   [:^)]

I have a Delia Smith recipe book that so many people swear by, but since years and years, I have never found better for me than Robert Carrier.  I have a couple, one is called "Great Dishes of the World" and his lamb curry is really out of this world.  Bon appetit.........

 

[Viv]

I love the Delia Summer and Winter collection but Floyd is truly inspired. I like Rick Stein's stuff now that I'm in France and can get good quality seafood,cheap.

[Opalienne]

But Elizabeth David is still the queen... I would beer have been even interested in cooking if I hadn't read her books.....

[Opalienne]

OK,tried to delete previous message but it didn't work.   It should have said that  I would never have been interested in cooking if I hadn't read Elizabeth David's books......

[Anton Redman]

My best cook books remain :

Brian Binns 'Feasting with Brian Binns'

Katherine Whitehorn - 'Cooking in a Bedsit' ( Wine chapter from Gavin Lyall )

Len Deighton - ' Ou ets le Garligue' et 'Action Cookbook'

All three explain how and why rather than a list of simply what to do. Never thought of a simply French cookbook, it then becomes Italien and Chinese. Then the odd bits Italy  where you speak German creep in, then you start taking about Jewish food, the Lebanon, Egypt or the Yemen.

 

 

 

[Loiseau]

Oh yes. "Cooking in a Bedsitter"!!  It was my bible when I lived in a bedsit in Paris in 1963!  I still use it for zabaglione and for pancakes; have several copies - all falling apart (which shows how much-used it is). Gave it to all the children as they set off for independent lives...  If I ever met Katherine Whitehorn, I should have been able to reel pages of it off by heart.

Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec: "Good French Cooking"; another one from the 60s still going strong. Unbeatable on quail and other then-unheard-of things.  Also the excellent "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, which guides you step by step through even the most complicated of dishes.

Elizabeth David - I can only bear to use her books when in France, as she is *so* snooty about food in England. Have had some very successful recipes from those though.  Robert Carrier I keep for England - and don't his recipes seem *rich* now?  All that cream!

Delia of course; great for cooking up traditional English food to astound the French guests.

But the one I turn to most often is Jane Grigson. I have her Fruit book, Vegetable book and Fish book. They're great for those moments when you have a glut of something in the garden, or when the neighbours have just given you half a tonne of tomatoes, beetroot, cherries or something and you want to fnd 27 different recipes for the one main ingredient! Plus she gives you all those lovely asides about the history of the dishes. Marvellous receipes; I did her apple crumble tart three times in a week recently, it was so good!

Angela

[SaligoBay]

My least-used cookbooks are the real French ones (in French, written and published by French).  They're just so uninspiring, and with no proper indexes you can't find anything anyway!

I like my Delia book, the original one that's falling apart.  I have the added thrill of not knowing whether the page I want will still be in there!

Stein and Floyd are cool.  Two others I'd keep are those multi "1001 recipes" jobs, they've always got loads of good ideas in them. 

Best recipes recently have come from a series of French books called "Cordon Bleu", which I can no longer find in the shops.  I have the ones for Soupes, Sauces, Regional, and Poulet.  French?  Yes and no.  I knew that I'd seen them in English somewhere, and after racking my brains I realised it was at a book fair in Sydney.  So I finally looked at all the publishing info, and to be sure, my super "French" cookbooks come from none other than the great Rupert Murdoch's publishing house!

There are a lot of Aussie-based cookbooks on the market in France now,  including the Women's Weekly type ones, which I love.

French cookery writers need a good boot up the bum.  

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="SaligoBay"]

My least-used cookbooks are the real French

ones (in French, written and published by French).  They're just

so uninspiring, and with no proper indexes you can't find anything

anyway!

[/quote]

I would not disagree: the style of writing seems to be in general very

dry, and indexing a somewhat misunderstood art. The only French French

cookbook I've bought so far that I would actually recommend is "Le

Livre de Cuisine" by Andrée "Zana" Murat which is one of those 1001

(well, 1500) recipe tomes - very clear, step-by-step instructions for

all the classics. Dull as diswater, though.

I like Elizabeth David. I'm not sure if I like her more or less now

that I've discovered more about her "interesting" personal life...

Back to Floyd: if anyone has Floyd on Fish and feels like a bit of

brill, then try the recipe for brill in creamy tomato sauce. Served

with gnocchi, this is heaven and a great winter fish dish. Even my

children ate it, though it was neither rectangular nor coated in

suspiciously orange crumbs. If you don't have the recipe and would like

it, let me know and I'll post it. Does anyone know who might own the

copyright of Floyd's older books? I'm thinking of getting up a petition

to get them republished in the interest of the food-eating public.

[Blanche Neige]

I too have quite a collection of cookery books.

Elizabeth David lives in my French house, well her book does! I find this one useful and it is an interesting read but yes, her comments about English cuisine are scathing; however she was writing a good many years ago when food and veg in particular were not imported, lots of things were just not available in the U.K.

I have bought several paperback, cookery books in French, one on how to cook fish, another on using vegetables from the markets and so on, all quite useful. Recipes from Super-U publicity leaflets have been good and worked for me.

I have two books by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde, they are simple to follow and I have cooked recipes from these with success. The pictures are lovely.

Rick Stein's book  has been ordered for me and is due to arrive anyday now!

 

[Viv]

Check out UK Ebay for Floyd on France, there are a couple on there.

I like the sound of the Brill Recipe but I have only had gnocchi once and I wasn't sure what it was supposed to taste like and it has put me off because it was bland and I mean absolutely no taste at all and chewy.

I love the Aussie Women's cookbooks aswell, from what I've seen on TV it seems as though Australian chefs are really creative and willing to blend ideas and flavours from loads of cultures.

[JulieR]

Delia has got to be my favourite and I know I will always find a recipe

that works in my Delia 'bible'.  though absolutely love Nigel

Slater's style of cooking and his books are such a great read.  I

find Jamie oliver uses ingredients I have never heard of and just can't

get.  Not usually keen on  Gary Rhodes but has some good

recipes in his food with friends book.  I tend to adjust the

recipes to what I cook anyway depending on what is in the cupboard!!![6]

Not got any french language ones yet but that will be my next book purchase.

Julie

[Patf]

Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cookery is my favourite. If you

come across a new ingredient eg topinambours, pintade - what are they?

- she will tell you how to cook it. There has been a repeat recently on

sky TV of Floyd in France. And I have a collection of the Australian

Women's Weekly series with their fabulous photographs. Can't think of

any new ones to add to the list, except a book in french which I got

with my Champion reward points and they recommend a suitable wine to go

with each dish, which is something british food writers don't do. Pat.

[Lizzie15]

Mmmm, I have most of the books you've all recommended but how about Nigella? Her summer cookbook is great!!

 

[Loiseau]

Sorry, can't be doing with Nigella at all!  Or at least not with the only one of her books that has made it onto my shelf (Christmas present a few years back).  Any book that gives you loads of blank pages for your own notes seems to be a huge cop-out. If I want to make comments on a recipe I have cooked, I'll do so in the margins, thanks (and I do!). Just because Nigella can't be bothered to fill them, I don't see why I should pay for the extra sheets of paper.  [:@]

Angela