Pierre Franey's Cooking In France - Hardcover

Franey, Pierre

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679431578 ISBN 13: 9780679431572

Publisher: Knopf, 1994

Synopsis

In this companion book to Pierre Franey's new Public Television series, he revisits his native land to bring to the American home cook some of the classic regional specialties of France -- and to search out some of the latest and most brilliant culinary refinements.

Franey reports on each of France's major gastronomic areas. He includes his own recipes as well as specialties confided to him in grand restaurants, bistros, and out-of-the-way villages: such mouth-watering delights as cassoulet and confit from Languedoc, hearty choucroute from Alsace, ratatouille from Provence, coquilles Saint-Jacques from Normandy. He revels in foie gras in Gascony and visits the luxuriant grazing land of Charolles that produces the famous charollais beef. We watch the harvesting of truffles in the Perigord, discover the secrets of the rich sauces of Burgundy, and relish the culinary wonders of Lyon. We discover the Cognac country of Charente, the vineyards of Bordeaux, and the precious caves of Champagne.

The France we visit here is a land flourishing with cooks of every category, from the practitioners of traditional peasant cuisine to the most innovative chefs at work today. Franey meets -- and presents recipes from -- the legendary Pierre Troisgros and Alain Ducasse, as well as Pierre Gagnaire, whose restaurant in St. Etienne recently received a coveted Michelin third star. We share the secrets of Jean-Marie Miquel, whose restaurant in the town of Najac is one of France's newly discovered treasures, and of Marceline Jacomet, a fabulous cook in a rustic corner of Provence, who prepares duck as you've never tasted it. In Paris we learn about the explosion of new bistro cooking from great chefs like Joel Robuchon and Michel Rostang, whose hearty stews, pates, and roasts are taking on new and deserved cachet.

In this book, the American cook (and reader) gains a greater appreciation of the French ardor for produce -- cheese, wine, meat, fish, herbs, vegetables, everything that makes eating in France the great joy it is today -- which underlines the principle, too often paid only lip service, that at the heart of great cooking is the use of the best possible ingredients, fresh as can be and with a minimum of processing.

Here we have the very best of French cooking from one of America's great chefs.

About this title

About the Author:

Pierre Franey was the executive chef of the legendary restaurants Le Pavilion and La Cote Basque in New York City and created the "60-Minute Gourmet" column in the New York Times. He has written Fourteen books, including his recently published memoir, A Chef's Tale: A Memoir of Food, France and America. Pierre Franey's Cooking in France is his third series for public television. He lives with his wife in East Hampton, Long Island, and New York City.

Richard Flaste spent twenty-eight years with the New York Times in various positions, including science and health editor and deputy editor of the Sunday Book Review. He has collaborated on Four other books with Pierre Franey, including Pierre Franey's Cooking in America. He lives with his wife in Brooklyn, New York.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this companion book to the new PBS series of the same name, frequent collaborators Franey and Flaste (Pierre Franey's Cooking in America) make a wide-ranging gastronomic tour of France. They visit Michelin-star chefs who are infusing new life into haute cuisine and humbler cooks, too. They also drop in on the farmers and vintners who provide the ingredients that go into making regional fare. Readers will find everything from the humble croque monsieur to medaillons de veau a la chablisienne. The common thread is use of the best and freshest ingredients. The book is divided into 19 chapters; each covers a particular region of France. Franey lists the region's specialties at the beginning of each chapter-e.g., the kouigh-amann butter cake of Brittany-but, alas, does not always provide a recipe for those mentioned. Major recipes are accompanied by a brief introduction. The authors have done a superb job of adapting regional recipes to the American kitchen and grocery store. Experienced cooks can plunge right in. There also are plenty of recipes that won't tax the inexperienced cook's abilities. An appendix lists the hotel-restaurants, bistros, vintners and suppliers Franey and Flaste visited, in case you plan your own gastronomic invasion of France. Photos not seen by PW. 50,000 first printing; BOMC Homestyle alternate.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0679431578
• ISBN 13: 9780679431572
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 322