| | |  | NY Times Holiday '09 | Home » » » French Feasts: 299 Traditional Recipes for Family Meals and Gatherings | | | | | | | Description: | | In France, where eating is a national pastime, the long, leisurely Sunday lunch is a feast for the senses. It is this quality that acclaimed chef and author Stéphane Reynaud captures so perfectly in his paean to traditional French cooking. Rustic and approachable, humorous and convivial, French Feasts features 299 recipes for beloved dishes like patés, gratins, savory tarts, and braised meats that are the essence of French weekend fare. From classic stews like navarin and boeuf bourguignon, to foie gras prepared six different ways, to crème brulée and gâteau Basque, the recipes come from all over France and even some former colonies (couscous is a national favorite). The book also includes beautiful, earthy photographs, whimsical illustrations, profiles of local producers, and fact-filled sidebars—a guide to cognac and Armagnac, how to make the perfect croissant, and much more—that evoke the considerable pleasures of the French table.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Stephane Reynaud | | Hardcover:
| 480 pages | | Publisher:
| Stewart, Tabori & Chang | | Publication Date:
| October 01, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1584797940 | | Package Length:
| 10.7 inches | | Package Width:
| 8.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 2.3 inches | | Package Weight:
| 5.6 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 11 reviews |
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| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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Tre'sor for the home French cookAug 22, 2010
FINALLY a "hit" gift for my francophile friend. The illustrations are worthy of any coffee table or space on the nightstand (so she says, and I agree). Most of the recipes are practical (even with some out of the ordinary ingredients, like certain animal parts).
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Pretty, but impracticalAug 04, 2010
I am somewhat surprised by all the glowing reviews for this book. Yes, it's a very nice-looking book. Lovely photographs. It's cute and whimsical. But this is supposed to be a cookbook, so the big question is, how well does it serve that purpose?
This is a very frustrating book to use. Other reviewers have raved about the design, but from a usability standpoint, I think the design is awful. There are now some pictures of the inside pages available, so you can look for yourself and see if you agree. As you can see, there are multiple recipes per page. The name of the recipe appears twice, once in French in a cursive font, and once in English in all caps. Font size in both cases is fairly small, not much larger than the font of the recipe text. Any designer should know that cursive is not easy to read at a glance. Nor is all caps. What this means for someone trying to find a recipe in this book is that it is not easy to skim through the titles quickly to find something to make.
There is also a picture above of the table of contents. Yes, that's right, those pages that look like a picture of writing on a chalkboard, that's the table of contents. Once again, not easy to find something at a glance.
Then there are the recipes. Now we are getting down to the meat of the matter. Unfortunately the recipes in this book are vague in the extreme. Basic instructions are left out such as whether a dish should be cooked covered or uncovered, or cooked over high or low heat.
All of these problems combined make the book pretty useless as a cookbook. If all you want is a coffee table book, then this might be for you. If you want to cook, I'd suggest any of Richard Olney's books for delicious French recipes that work.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
YEAHHH!!!!!Jun 21, 2010
So glad to have found this great big book for such a little price. Cheers!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Absolutely beautiful book that will delight any French foodie!May 29, 2010
I was very pleasantly surprised at the size and breadth of this book! It was so much more than I expected. Not only are the recipes wonderfully authentic, but the foods are well paired with suggested wine selections. There are beautiful pictures of each dish, along with much information on various ingredients, techniques, a little history, etc. Very creatively compiled, in an unfussy, approachable way, with a great padded cover, witty yet refined artwork and attached ribbon bookmark. An extra treat was the section on aperitifs, including the proper way to make a pastis (a personal favorite). Probably the only two books, of French cuisine, one will ever need in the kitchen are this marvelous book and Julia Child's. Makes a gorgeous and practical gift to family and friends!
Bon appétit!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Rustic beautyApr 08, 2010
Whoa, I'm actually blown away by the quality of this cookbook, and I have a lot of cookbooks. The cover is slightly three dimensional, a little plush, and the book has real heft. The photography is insanely lovely. Most dishes have full page photo spreads, and the food styling is minimal. She uses the same beat up pots, pans, and gratin dishes for a lot of recipes. However, if you're not an experienced cook (especially of French food), you'll have to decide whether you can deal with the bare bones recipes in which precise ingredients are listed but actual cooking method is roughly summarized. I like the premise there, but I'd want to look carefully online before trying any of the recipes. But this book does truly inspire and make me want to cook. Just beautiful.
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