At Home in France: Eating and Entertaining with the French [Paperback]

Christopher Petkanas (Author), Jean-Bernard Naudin (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

Invited to venture beyond the portals of 18 very different houses from every corner of France, Christopher Petkanas describes his hosts - countess and dairy farmer, gardener and cookery writer, wine grower and decorator - their homes - from a Provencal farmhouse to a Parisian apartment - and their food - from foie gras to saucisson. Accompanied by anecdotes and illustrations, the book celebrates the French traditions of cookery and entertaining. Each chapter concludes with a set of recipes from the menu described and pictured in the text.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you've been to France and sampled the legendary hospitality of the French, At Home in France will trigger a sensual, nearly palatable nostalgia. If you've never been, this is the next best thing to actually sharing a well-laid table in Provence or at an ancestral vineyard in the Beaujolais.

Though raised in New York, author Christopher Petkanas has lived in France since 1982 and has cultivated a gourmand's taste and an artist's discerning eye. In At Home in France, he takes us to 18 different homes and regions to discover the art of entertaining and eating with the French. Disdaining the Western luncheon practice of eating "a nasty sandwich ... while polishing off at least two other tasks," Petkanas revels in the French "atmosphere of care, respect, and attention that is all the more engaging for being automatic."

We visit the home of Simone "Simca" Beck, a chef, author, and colleague of Julia Child, at her home behind the Riviera and learn the secret to her Fricandeau de Veau de la Ferme aux Champignons. Later we tour a cottage on Ouessant, a remote island in Brittany, where furniture was often made with the wood of shipwrecks and learn authentic recipes for mussels filled with anise-flavored butter and pollack steaks en papillotte with dried island seaweed.

The hospitality of the people who opened their lives to Petkanas is simply amazing and their histories as are fascinating as the ease with which they entertain. The photographs by Jean-Bernard Naudin are as beguiling and sumptuous as the meals and the homes themselves must be. Spend a few hours with At Home in France and learn for yourself l'art de recevoir. --Dana Van Nest

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix House (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753807084
• ISBN-13: 978-0753807088
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #985,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious and Insightful, December 26, 2000

By 

Jeffrey Steingarden (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At Home in France: Eating and Entertaining with the French (Paperback)

No need to buy a ticket to France.....this book takes you there in ways only MFK Fisher and possibly Richard Olney managed. I loved it and continue to mine its rich vein of recipes. It seems extraordinary that an American could so truly and sensitively capture the culture of France.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic and Fabulous Recipes!, December 31, 2008

By 

Mrs. Stephanie Mckeon "stephanie de Leng" (Liverpool) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At Home in France: Eating and Entertaining with the French (Paperback)

I have had this book for many years and tried most of the recipes. None has disappointed and many have become a staple of our own family cookbook. This book is re-visited by my husband and myself time and time again, as it evokes a romantic feeling for this wonderful country and informs in an interesting and real way. The photographs are fantastic and in fact one house pulled at my heart strings so much that the words "I am going to buy a house like that" popped unbidden out of my mouth. Indeed I did buy a house, clutching this book as guide, companion and inspiration, reading about all the regions of France and gaining a valuable insight this way. I urge anyone who has casually considered buying At Home In France to stop hesitating and do so before it disappears from print. A jewel in the midst of many other mediocre offerings.