Customer Reviews

Anne Willan: From My Chateau Kitchen

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While I was honored to be a student at Le Fey at La Varenne the summer of 99, I was also delighted to see the approval copy of this book on her coffee table. The books reads just as she speaks. Her extensive knowledge gains respect with anyone who has been in any kitchen, and her personable style makes it a delightful journey to France for those who have traveled there, or those who hope to soon. The recipes are very straighforward, and I can affirm how well the recipes are tested before they go out of her kitchen. [For example: The most helpful section of the Cook It Right book is when she tells you what has gone wrong, and how to fix it.] Her thoroughness is so appreciated by those of us who continue to learn throughout our lives. The Chateau Kitchen will be an absolute favorite, on your coffeetable, or kitchen shelf alike.

This book is a great example of why the Internet recipe sites will never replace cookbooks. Nowhere can you find such beautiful pictures, and wonderful recipes as this book. Ms. Willan has written a meticulously researched cookbook that is just as much at home on the coffee table as it is on the kitchen counter.

I must respectfully disagree with a previous reviewers comments. The "Gateau le Fe˙" does work exactly as written. I've created this beautiful dish a couple of times now with no problem. I could see how this might not turn out if your oven temperature is incorrect, so it might be a good idea to test your oven with an oven thermometer prior to starting this dish. As for the point to wait until they do a new printing with corrections, it should be noted that if there were corrections to be made, you'd think that Ms Willan would have done so when she appeared on Martha Stewart the first week of February 2001, and made this dish, just as it is written.

The creamy potatoes with bacon (near the front of the book) is the best potato dish I have ever eaten. I served it at a dinner party recently and the comment was: "awesome". Also, recently I had the twice baked spinach omelet except mine was made with gruyere cheese only, no spinach. It was cooked one day and re-cooked the next. It was fabulous and it is great to know that it can be made ahead. I love Anne Willan!!

Served traditional beef bourguignon to 16 people for New Year's Eve dinner last night using the recipe on pages 26-27 of this book.

The recipe is a bit complicated because of all the separations (liquid, meat, vegetables), and you definitely need to plan in advance, but the results were superb. None of our guests had ever had this dish with as much flavor as this version, so it was a big success.

I used top sirloin, marinated in an inexpensive Cotes du Rhone for two days (yes - two days), browned the beef (big job since I just about doubled the recipe) one evening, and then simmered it in the oven at 300 degrees F the next morning. After letting it cool a bit, I put it in the refrigerator for two days (yes - two days), and then reheated it before our guests arrived.

Did I mention the flavor was wonderful? And since I made a ton of it, we'll be able to have it now and again as we take frozen portions out of the freezer.

Be sure to make lots - if a recipe is as time-consuming as this is to make, you'll want to have a lot of it that you can later just warm up if you want to.

Exquisite and sumptuous describes both this cookbook and food from it. The layout, accompanying text and color photos are just fabulous, showing the history of Ann and her family moving to the Chateau in the French Burgundy area, and the subsequent game, produce and food products of the area which she utilizes in her cooking, in her cooking school and for these recipes.

Each recipe is given after its introduction into Ann's life, and this is just so unique in the delightful manner that she presents it. Just a sampling of such: Gratin of Potatoes with Bacon and Cream (and Monsieru Milbert's potatoes); Poached Figs with Pistachio Frangipane (and Madame Andrea's discovery of "blindness" in fig trees); Poached Trout in White Wine with Spinach (and her fisherman/carpenter foriend Henri); Goat Cheese Puffs (and their accompanying Chablis from Laroche); Crustades of Red Peppers with Goat Cheese (and The Owl's Loft restaurant); and my favorite=Snails with Anise en Croute (and Chef Claude's hunting them in the woods); Whole Tangerine Souffle (which is how I discovered this wonderful lady, seeing her do this with Martha Stewart).

Will now want to sample some of her other cookbooks which the other reviewers rave about as well.

After looking through "From My Chateau Kitchen," I decided to make the Pineapple Sputnik. A pineapple is studded with pieces of vanilla beans (I found cutting them in fourths with a scissors worked well and I used about 6) and baked with a citrus syrup (you have to baste it at least four times). The entire house was scented with pineapple and vanilla and the baked pineapple tasted delicious without any need for ice cream, although that would be a good accompaniment.

For the most part this book is a more a pleasure to read than to cook from. Many of the recipes require hard-to-find ingredients like wild mushrooms, celery root, crème fraiche, Epoisses cheese, fresh chestnuts, quail, Soumaintrain, black trumpet mushrooms, truffles and snails. I obviously don't live near any store that carries these items so I'd have to order them all online.

Some of the recipes you might want to try include:

Twice-Baked Spinach Souffles
Fresh Mincemeat Pies
Tangerine Souffle
Caramel Rice Pudding
Sorrel Soup
Apple Tart Tatin
Pumpkin Soup
Cheese Puffs
Venison Stew with Black Mushrooms
Pistachio Cakes with Raspberry filling and Chocolate Buttercream

The recipes are not organized in a normal way, instead they are inserted after delicious descriptions to whet the appetite. All of the pictures are wonderful, especially the picture of cookbooks that date back to the 1500s. The woodlands also look mysterious and inviting, especially with snow on the ground. One thing I found strange is that there are step-by-step instructions with pictures for making croissants but no recipe. For that recipe you might want to try French Women Don't Get Fat.

~The Rebecca Review

Ms. Willan ranks right up there with the best of the chef/authors today. Her recipes are concise and her techniques are some of the easiest to follow while producing some of the best results. I cut my culinary teeth on the her book on French Regional Cooking and still consider it to be one of the best books on French cooking written. This books not only charms, it informs and really brings the feeling of living in the French countryside to life as no other cookbook/decor/biography does. I have to say, the Tarte Tatin in the French Regional Cookbook is, in my opinion, preferable to the one contained in Chateau.

This is a lovely book: stellar photography, an engaging text and interesting lay-out make it a pleasure to peruse. The indigenous culinary culture of Burgundy, exquisite taste, a good dose of leisure, and the appropriate worldly means to support all that in style combine into a dream of chateau life that one can vicariously enjoy spending a quiet Sunday afternoon with this volume. Inspired by these visual feasts, I did a spot check on the recipes that are scattered throughout the book, choosing the banner dish "Gateau le Fe˙" (a kind of apple confit) that adornes the jacket. Alas, total disaster. The cooking temperature given in the recipe is evidently wrong: don't let anybody try to persuade you that by keeping apple slices at 150 degrees F, even for 14 hrs, you will end up with something that is "meltingly soft" and "translucent"! So much for a book that boasts a separate recipe editor, a kitchen director, and a whole team for recipe testing. So, if you want a romantic coffee table book, by all means get it, but if you are after the occasional culinary pleasure as well, wait for a paper back edition that (one hopes) will correct deficiencies. In the meantime, when you need a working recipe for apple confit, go to Jean-Georges, Cooking at Home With a Four Star Chef. Alternatively, you might even consider applying with Anne Willan for the position of chief recipe tester. A month free room and board in a Burgundian chateau would sound great, and she obviously needs good people.

Beautiful full-page color photos of French settings and completed dishes accompany dishes from the celebrated 17th century chateau Le Fey, in Burgundy. Anne Willan's life in the chateau accompanies a treatise on classic French cooking and the cuisine of the surrounding region, making for a personal and appealing guide.

This is the best cookbook I have ever read. What an interesting combination of wonderful recipes and a beautiful travelogue.
I made a small change to the Flammiche recipe (forgive me Anne). I made the bread dough on the dough cycle of my bread machine. It worked wonderfully well and saved a lot of time. Everyone who has tasted the flammiche has raved about the flavour and the wonderful appearance.