French cookbook.

[cc2003btw]

Hi all.

I've decided i want to get into French cookery a bit more, i'd like to get into cooking small tasting menu kinds of food, á la Fat Duck perhaps. Anyone got a reccomendation for a book to start off with?

Cheers.

[BreezyCooking]

Well, you certainly can't go wrong with any of Julia Child's books - particularly her first 2-volume set on traditional French cooking. They can be found very reasonably in 2nd-hand bookshops - in the flesh & on-line.

After that, if you can find - again in 2nd-hand shops - the French volumes of the two Time-Life series on international cooking, once again you'll be both lucky & well-taught. In fact, even after many, many years of making it, I still use the Time-Life French cookbook version as a base for making my own adaptation for an annual traditional New Year's Day French Cassoulet.

Third, France The Beautiful Cookbook is another standby of mine for authentic, if newer, French recipes.

[jennyema]

"Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by the master herself, Julia. That is the first of Breezy's recommendations and I totally agree.

[BreezyCooking]

And I forgot to add that I did notice you were interested in developing "tasting menus". Even using the old traditional cookbooks, most recipes can easily be divvied up into portions suitable for the current "tasting menu" interest.

[Ishbel]

Anything from Raymond Blanc, Jean-Christoph Novelli and Elizabeth David.

[Diane1415]

Also I would recomend
The Making of a Cook by Madeleine Kamman ISBN 0-688-15254-6
as well as
The Escoffier Cookbook by Auguste Escoffier ISBN 0-517-50662-9

Both excellent books to learn from in addition to Julia Child's collection.

[corazon]

Escoffier is very classic french cooking, I'd recommend that also.

[ironchef]

If you want to focus on a degustation type menu, I would get "Flavors of France" by Alain Ducasse. He focuses on not only classical French cooking, but contemporary as well, which it seems you want to focus on due to your interest in The Fat Duck.

[cc2003btw]

Thanks for the suggestions, when the money for the cash strapped student that i am comes in, i'll be investing in the reccomended.

[Corey123]

Originally Posted by BreezyCooking

Well, you certainly can't go wrong with any of Julia Child's books - particularly her first 2-volume set on traditional French cooking. They can be found very reasonably in 2nd-hand bookshops - in the flesh & on-line.

After that, if you can find - again in 2nd-hand shops - the French volumes of the two Time-Life series on international cooking, once again you'll be both lucky & well-taught. In fact, even after many, many years of making it, I still use the Time-Life French cookbook version as a base for making my own adaptation for an annual traditional New Year's Day French Cassoulet.

Third, France The Beautiful Cookbook is another standby of mine for authentic, if newer, French recipes.

Also, if you can still get them, I don't know.

But I also have Julia Child's six-volume series on VHS called "The Way to Cook".

She takes you stap-by-step though each hour-long tape, showing you just how to master the beautiful art of French cuisine & cooking. They might be available on DVD by now.

But the volumes are titled as follows:

1. Vegetables.

2. Fish & Eggs.

3. Poultry.

4. Soups, Salads & Bread.

5. Meat.

6. First Courses & Desserts.

Each volume comes with a little cookbooklet containing the recipes for each dish
demonstrated. I've tried several of those recipes, and they came out great!!!

She also wrote and published a big thick super-duper cookbook, possibly her last one, I think, by the same title! Barnes & Noble or Borders should have it. It's expensive though - costing $40.00 or more. And she also published Mastering the Art of French Cooking; Volumes 1 & 2. Good luck!!

~Corey123.