The Basque Kitchen: Tempting Food from the Pyrenees [Hardcover]

Gerald Hirigoyen (Author), Cameron Hirigoyen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 1999

"To know how to eat is to know enough."

-- Old Basque Saying

Nestled among the Pyrenees, on both sides of the French-Spanish border, the Basque country is renowned as much for its fine culinary traditions as for its rugged terrain and the independent spirit of its people. Basque cooks are widely considered among the best in Europe, combining their love of fresh, simple ingredients with time-honored techniques. The joy of cooking and eating are central to Basque culture. In San Sebastián and throughout the region, men belong to cooking clubs, dedicated to the preservation of their outstanding cultural and culinary heritage. Outside the cooking societies, simple family meals turn into feasts of mammoth proportions, and everywhere conversation invariably turns to good food and the pursuit of it.

The Basque Kitchen, lusciously illustrated with photographs of the Basque region as well as its famous dishes, is the first major cookbook to explore Basque cooking on both sides of the border. Basque native Gerald Hirigoyen, named one of America s best chefs by Food & Wine magazine, celebrates the food and memories of his beloved homeland. He shares recipes for his favorite Basque specialties, from traditional renditions of Salt Cod "al Pil-Pil" and Pipérade to sumptuous soups, salads, meat, poultry, game, and of course, more seafood, all built on a bounty of fresh ingredients and carefully presented for the home cook. Hirigoyen's splendid interpretations have made his two San Francisco restaurants, Fringale and Pastis, critical favorites.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sometimes, when you are Basque, you speak English with a French accent. Sometimes, that accent will sound a little more Spanish than not, and yet you are still Basque. Such are the complications of one of the more peculiar pockets of humanity to be found. For the country occupied by the Basque people is in both France and Spain while remaining unique unto itself. The Basque language is like no other, and no one knows where it comes from. Even Basque DNA is different than the DNA of other Europeans. Food--the taking of meals--is central to the culture. In some places it's a little more French than Spanish; in other places in Basque country, just the opposite is likely to be true.

Chef and restaurant owner Gerald Hirigoyen invites the reader into The Basque Kitchen. In page after delicious-looking page, Hirigoyen presents what he most loves about the cuisine. And rather than suggest that what he so loves remain frozen in a museum of cuisine, he embraces the foods and cooking techniques he has encountered in Paris and California. His Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks with Onion Marmalade honors his uncle's tuna and onion casserole. But instead of covering a tuna steak with onions and olive oil in a casserole and cooking a long time, Hirigoyen prepares an onion marmalade, then pan sears thick ahi steaks until they are hot and rare, and serves it all on a bed of lentils. He's saying that you have to be Basque to get there, but now that we have all arrived, we're somewhere else, yet connected.

And what a marvelous connection. The vast majority of the foods to be encountered between the covers of The Basque Kitchen are simple in nature, yet complex in the flavors they deliver. Potato and chorizo tortilla, an omelet of onion, potato, chorizo, salt, pepper, and parsley, gains added radiance with a little piment d'Espelette, powdered small, dried red peppers with a distinct flavor. Steamed mussels are prepared with tomatoes, crusty bread cubes, white wine, parsley, and chives. It's a dish from St.-Jean-de-Luz, over which the author proposed to his wife.

Gerald Hirigoyen brings to life the foods of his youth and family, as well as foods he has created from experience and whimsy. Refusing to be confined by tradition, Hirigoyen takes inspiration from Basque tradition and demonstrates the timelessness of the Basque kitchen. The benefits for one and all are right there, page after page after page. --Schuyler Ingle

Review

"To know how to eat is to know enough." -- Old Basque Saying

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1st edition (April 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0067574610
• ISBN-13: 978-0067574614
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Spanish

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars OK French-inspired California cuisine. Basque? Not much., October 1, 1999

By 

Victor de la Serna ([e-mail]) (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Basque Kitchen: Tempting Food from the Pyrenees (Hardcover)

So Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks with Onion Marmalade and Lentils is Basque? Because there's tuna in it and the Basque dish, Marmitako, is also based on tuna (bluefin tuna, by the way)? No. Mr. Hirigoyen's dish, which can be perfectly OK, is the typical French/Californian concoction with maybe a touch of Asian in it. Again: very fine, but Mr. Hirigoyen should avoid using the misleading word, "Basque", in the title. The Basque Country is about 85% on the Spanish side of the border, south of the Pyrenees and the Bidasoa river. While the "Spanish Basque" chefs have remained adamantly Basque, and have indeed "Basquified" to a large extent all of modern Spanish cookery, the "French Basque" chefs have let themselves, for many decades, become thoroughly "Frenchified", learning in French culinary schools and following the edicts of classic French cuisine. This becomes apparent in Mr. Hirigoyen's constant use of butter, not to mention many of his techniques.

One of the top two chefs now working in Iparralde (i.e. the French part of the Basque Country), Christian Parra of L'Auberge de la Galupe in Urt (the other is Firmin Arrambide, of Les Pyrénées in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port), once told the French magazine Gault-Millau: "You know why the Spanish Basque chefs are better and more creative than we are? Because we all have a well-worn copy of Escoffier's cook next to our kitchen, and the Spanish Basques haven't even heard of Escoffier."

Jokes aside, Parra and Arrambide are now the leaders because they have rejoined the overall Basque movement led by Juan Mari Arzak of Donostia (San Sebastián): a return to the Basque sources (and some important Spanish ones, like Jabugo ham and virgin olive oil) to start creating from them and not from Paris-inspired fashions, products and techniques.

I have the impression that Mr. Hirigoyen left the Basque Country before this movement took off on the French side of the border, before French Basque chefs became Basque again. His ignorance of southern (Spanish) Basque recipes and culinary traditions, which represent a large majority of the Basque cooking heritage, is rather amazing, as other reviewers have pointed out.

By the way, in case anyone's interested: I am a journalist, and occasionally a wine and food writer, based in Spain, but with extensive experience in France and the United States. So I think I know what I'm writing about in this case.

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps okay for French Basque food, but not Spanish, August 29, 1999

By 

Gerry Dawes (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Basque Kitchen: Tempting Food from the Pyrenees (Hardcover)

I scanned Mr. Hirigoyen's book and did not buy it, even though I am always on the lookout for books on the cuisines of Spain and Spain's Basque Country. What put me off was the recipe for patatas a la riojana, which called for no chorizo and included butter and white pepper (as did many of the so-called Spanish Basque recipes). Patatas a la riojano just happens to be one of my favorite folk dishes in Spain. As the name implies, it comes from the great Spanish wine region, La Rioja, which also has a Basque section, La Rioja Alavesa. In my trips to La Rioja, probably 30 by now, I have had patatas a la riojana numerous times, never without chorizo. In fact, patatas a la riojana is also known by its more common name, patatas con chorizo. I have also helped make bacalao al pil-pil and I can assure you, there is nothing easy about the versions I have seen made, contrary to Mr. Hirigoyen's assertions. As a widely-published writer on the wines of Spain, I was shocked by Mr. Hirigoyen's lack of knowledge about the wines of the Spanish Basque Country. As to French Basque food, perhaps the book is much stronger, but I know little about the subject. Spain and France, Basque or not, are much different in their approach to food, IMHO

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful, January 19, 2000

By 

M.A. (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Basque Kitchen: Tempting Food from the Pyrenees (Hardcover)

I'm a tough customer for cookbooks, but this one is a winner on many fronts for me. The recipes are exciting and different from the many other European regional cookbooks, the history is interesting, the photos are beautiful, and best of all for me, the recipes are nearly fool-proof. I delighted my friends one night recently with the lamb stew - fabulous - and my husband has made the haricots verts salad a staple in our home. The gateau basque and chocolate "rocks" are both unforgettably wonderful. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in adding some wonderful new flavors to their kitchen.