Time for a Book Review
My goal with this humble blog is to talk about two passions of mine: poker and cooking. In reality, as much as I love playing poker (and making money doing so) I could live without it if for some reason I had to do so. Not with cooking. Cooking is so much more than just preparing food to eat. It's what a cook puts into it that makes it special. I'm not talking about ingredients, I'm talking about heart, soul and love. Yes, as much as that sounds like hippy bullshit it's true. I love the menial tasks such as peeling potatoes and dicing onions as well as advanced shit like making caramel and picture perfect baguettes. You have to start with the basics, and when it comes to cookbook reviews, you have to start with the roots of all modern cookbooks, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck.
What it's got: Classic French Cuisine
What it's missing: Pretty Photos
The short synopsis of how the book was written is that after WW II Julia and her husband Paul moved to Paris so that Paul could take a job in the foreign office and Julia fell in love with the food during her very first meal on French soil. She then spent a year studying at Le Cordon Bleu and eventually started a small cooking school with Louisette and Simone (Simca). The two french women had already started writing a book on French cooking but they knew nothing about American markets or ingredients. Julia was obviously the perfect addition to the team and they they spent the next 10 freaking years testing, tasting, editing ad nauseum until they finally had their book published in 1961. Julia then went on to culinary fame but I'll stick to reviewing just the book itself.
The contents of the book include chapters on Soups, Sauces, Eggs, Entrees and Luncheon Dishes, Fish, Poultry, Meat, Vegetables, Cold Buffet and Desserts and Cakes. Perhaps the greatest feature of the book is it's obvious from first glance how painstaking the authors were with each recipe. When you follow a recipe you're not stuck wondering if some kitchen lackey for a famous chef actually came up with the recipe and then the celebrity chef put their name on it without ever trying it. I've gotten that feeling more than once when I've followed a recipe to a tee only to have it come out terribly wrong. Sure, I'm not a perfect cook but with some recipes there is no way they can come out as advertised.
I don't know how to describe it but when I'm preparing dishes from this book I can almost sense Julia standing over my shoulder prodding me with comments and encouragement. Nothing ever seems too intimidating or unreachable in this book, whether you're prepaing something simple such as Leek and Potato Soup (do yourself a favor, make this....NOW!) or something more extravagant such as Coquilles St. Jacques A La Parisienne (Scallops and Mushrooms in White Wine Sauce). You CAN do it. You don't have to settle for the mediocre crap that the average American accepts.
Are there any flaws in the book? Well, there aren't any photographs any just a few illustrations, but that was due to the era the book was published. Yes, it would be helpful to see what the final dish should resemble but in all honesty I don't miss the photographs. Besides, have you ever seen photos of food from the 1960's? Usually the picture quality is so terribly bad that it's almost repulsive. But hey, I'm a guy who prefers to listen to baseball on the radio vs watching it on TV so I guess I like to use my imagination to draw my own pictures. Other than this one aspect the book is nearly flawless.
One question some people might raise is how about all that butter and fat in the recipes? Yes, there's no doubt about it that many of the recipes would make dietitians cringe. I say fuck 'em. I live by Julia's philosophy of small portions and no seconds. I would rather eat the smallest portion of a chocolate souffle vs a huge helping of diet ice cream. Don't be afraid of your food. Eat smaller portions and you can eat ANTHING.
Is this a perfect cookbook? No, as good as it is it still only covers one aspect of cooking: French cuisine. There's no Chinese, Greek, Italian, American, German, or any other cuisine presented here so it's not the only cookbook you should have on your shelf...but it should be the first. It's the most important cookbook ever published. Poker Chef Rating: 6 Stars (out of 6)
What it's got: Classic French Cuisine
What it's missing: Pretty Photos
The short synopsis of how the book was written is that after WW II Julia and her husband Paul moved to Paris so that Paul could take a job in the foreign office and Julia fell in love with the food during her very first meal on French soil. She then spent a year studying at Le Cordon Bleu and eventually started a small cooking school with Louisette and Simone (Simca). The two french women had already started writing a book on French cooking but they knew nothing about American markets or ingredients. Julia was obviously the perfect addition to the team and they they spent the next 10 freaking years testing, tasting, editing ad nauseum until they finally had their book published in 1961. Julia then went on to culinary fame but I'll stick to reviewing just the book itself.
The contents of the book include chapters on Soups, Sauces, Eggs, Entrees and Luncheon Dishes, Fish, Poultry, Meat, Vegetables, Cold Buffet and Desserts and Cakes. Perhaps the greatest feature of the book is it's obvious from first glance how painstaking the authors were with each recipe. When you follow a recipe you're not stuck wondering if some kitchen lackey for a famous chef actually came up with the recipe and then the celebrity chef put their name on it without ever trying it. I've gotten that feeling more than once when I've followed a recipe to a tee only to have it come out terribly wrong. Sure, I'm not a perfect cook but with some recipes there is no way they can come out as advertised.
I don't know how to describe it but when I'm preparing dishes from this book I can almost sense Julia standing over my shoulder prodding me with comments and encouragement. Nothing ever seems too intimidating or unreachable in this book, whether you're prepaing something simple such as Leek and Potato Soup (do yourself a favor, make this....NOW!) or something more extravagant such as Coquilles St. Jacques A La Parisienne (Scallops and Mushrooms in White Wine Sauce). You CAN do it. You don't have to settle for the mediocre crap that the average American accepts.
Are there any flaws in the book? Well, there aren't any photographs any just a few illustrations, but that was due to the era the book was published. Yes, it would be helpful to see what the final dish should resemble but in all honesty I don't miss the photographs. Besides, have you ever seen photos of food from the 1960's? Usually the picture quality is so terribly bad that it's almost repulsive. But hey, I'm a guy who prefers to listen to baseball on the radio vs watching it on TV so I guess I like to use my imagination to draw my own pictures. Other than this one aspect the book is nearly flawless.
One question some people might raise is how about all that butter and fat in the recipes? Yes, there's no doubt about it that many of the recipes would make dietitians cringe. I say fuck 'em. I live by Julia's philosophy of small portions and no seconds. I would rather eat the smallest portion of a chocolate souffle vs a huge helping of diet ice cream. Don't be afraid of your food. Eat smaller portions and you can eat ANTHING.
Is this a perfect cookbook? No, as good as it is it still only covers one aspect of cooking: French cuisine. There's no Chinese, Greek, Italian, American, German, or any other cuisine presented here so it's not the only cookbook you should have on your shelf...but it should be the first. It's the most important cookbook ever published. Poker Chef Rating: 6 Stars (out of 6)
posted by Eric at 10:35 PM
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