Customer Reviews

Bistro Cooking: 200 Recipes Inspired by the Small Family Restaurants of France Celebrate a Return to Generous, Full-flavored Cooking

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I received this book as a present nearly 10 years ago. In my library of over 200 cookbooks, this is the absolute champion when it comes to simple, very "French bistro" dishes to prepare for family & friends. Recipes are easy to follow and use easy to find ingredients, and I have yet to flub a dish out of this book. The pie/tart shell recipes included in the basics section, in particular, are definite staples to any cooking-lover's repertoire (I have them memorized -- I've made them so many times). I frequently give this book to friends who "want to learn how to cook".

My wife and I own many cookbooks, but none has come close to giving us the pleasure we have found in so many of the recipes in Bistro Cooking. We are both rank amateurs in the kitchen, but we have been able to handle virtually every recipe we've tried in this book (I did give up after three attempts at the potato pie from L'Ami Louis). The book includes Ms. Wells' favorite recipes from France's great bistros. Mind-blowing potato gratins, delicious fish recipes, hearty stews, unbelievable roast chicken, a strange but fantastic dish of poached eggs served with a simple red wine sauce, winning desserts, it really goes on and on. Ms. Wells is a great writer, very entertaining, and the book is full of wonderful tips. Even seven years or so after we bought our copy of Bistro Cooking, it's always a special day at our home when we make something from this cookbook.

If you only own five cookbooks, this should be one of them. The recipes are pure pleasure -- comfort food at its finest. I have taken years of French cooking lessons and still turn to this book every time I want to make a simple meal for my husband & I to enjoy after work. If the only recipe you tried were the one for Mme. Caretet's potato gratin, it would be worth the purchase of the book. Everyone that tries them says they are the best potatoes they have ever had. But don't stop there -- the book presents you with a wealth of eating adventures.

I bought this on a lark, since I was interested in a French cookbook that served real, down to earth French food. And I found it.

The section on gratins is great. The seafood section will have you screaming for more. In the book there is a recipe for a roast chicken that is covered in herbs...that one is to die for. it's been out Christmas dinner for 4 years running.

Most of the recipes are simple; many use off the shelf items you'd find in most pantries. Her instructions are a breeze to follow, and the little insights about the origin of the recipes add something to the way the book reads.

I like it and use it often. Several folks are getting this one for Christmas this year!

What a great cookbook: clear instructions and fanstastic results. I have not been disappointed with a single recipe. At least 10 recipes from this book have become mainstays for me--more than any other cookbook I own. I rave about this book all the time. Several friends also own this cookbook and have a similar opinion.

This is Patricia Wells' third book on French cooking and the fourth of her books I am reviewing. Of her four books I have seen, this seems the most accessible and most useful to the largest number of people. This book presents recipes from small eating establishments from all regions of France, including Paris, Lyon, Provence, and southwest France. Therefore, it's contents are a much broader sampling of recipes than the books I have seen on Joel Robuchon, Paris restaurants, and Provence home cooking.

Like all of her other books, the table of contents and selection of recipes therein follows a conventional pattern with chapters on Appetizers, First Courses, and Palate Teasers; Soups of the Day; Market Basket Salads; Pastas; Seasonal Vegetables; Potatoes; Eggs, Cheese, Terrines, and Tarts; Fish and Shellfish; Poultry, Chicken, Duck, Guinea Hen, and Rabbit; Meats, Roasts, and Daily Specials; Homemade Desserts; and Pastries, Bread Dough, Sauces, and Stocks.

The first thing that stands out is the wide variety of dishes. The next is the relative simplicity of the recipe techniques without sacrificing anything to quality and respect for ingredients. I compared Wells' pot-au-feu recipe in this book with the recipe in Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking' and found the attention to detail was as good or greater in Wells' book. At the same time, Wells is not entangling us in a lot of complex preparations. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Wells and Child agree on a method for making Crème Fraiche that does not require day or more to wait for the result.

Wells succeeds in evoking the feeling of the bistro experience in the selection of her recipes, the chatter in the headnotes explaining the source of the recipes, the consistent presentation of a French title for each recipe, even if the dish is a local favorite at a small establishment (such as `Maggie's Roasted Red Peppers') and not an established standard dish. The photographs and layout of the book also enhance the subject, making the book a lot of fun to read without going too far, destroying the utility of a book you have to read and follow it's directions.

The emphasis on simplicity and utility extends to the pantry recipes in the last chapter. I especially like the distinction between the three different types of pastry crust. If you are new to pastry, however, I recommend you consult a book such as Alford and Duguid's `Home Baking' specializing in a discussion of pastry to become aware of the subtleties of pastry dough. I also suggest that for stocks, the reader consult a fuller discussion of the subject such as Cooks Illustrated's volume `The Best Recipe'.

One thing I did not find in this book which I expected was an explanation of the distinction between a bistro and a brassiere. Wells cites several recipes that originate from brassieres and includes bistros, brassieres, and restaurants in her list of establishments in the back of the book.

Three other small aspects of the book did annoy me. One was the numerous references on unfamiliar terms to an index which, in some cases, did not include the term on which the reference was made. Another was the inaccuracy of some English to metric unit conversions. I found a few which were consistently off by about 10%. A third was the use of the metric unit centiliters in place of milliliters. Almost all American metric measuring devices for the kitchen are graduated in milliliters. I can anticipate a lot of blank stares at the abbreviation `cl' for metrically challenged cooks.

All of these caveats are small matters when weighted against the great good fun to be found in preparing recipes from this book. This book will go to the top of my list when I am looking for ideas to fill out a menu and I have no clue to what I want to eat. At the list price of less than $14, the cachet of genuine bistro food makes this book a real gem.

Highly recommended to all.

Worth buying for the excellent Chicken Bouillabaisse alone, which is sublime. However, note that the recipies are hit or miss. For example, a rabbit stew with olives is sub par.

This is one of my favorite French cookbooks. This is not haute cuisine, but instead is the friendly family cooking of France's famous bistros. This is roast chicken and beef daube, potato gratin and vegetable tian. This is hearty, earthy delicious food to feed your soul as well as your stomach. Patricia Wells has lived long enough in France to know the ins and outs of French cooking, but still retains her American perspective. Scattered throughout the book are trucs or tips on everything from how to tell if your eggs are fresh to how to store leftover peeled garlic. Not to be missed:
Sauteed Potatoes with Garlic and Walnut Oil, Bistro d'a Cotes Chicken in Wine Vinegar.

This is my all time favorite french cooking cook book. I know there are other better books, including some of the author's other books, but for all around cooking, this is the one I turn to the most. My favorite are the potato dishes. Amazing how subtle differences in the recipes yield such wonderfully different and delicious results. The roasted tomatoes recipe is worth the price of the book alone. I've actually made a tomato tart using the recipe for the roasted tomatoes to make a tart that has people wetting their forks to get every last crumb. The very simple Chicken Sauteed with Shallots recipe is another example of how simple technique can have a huge payoff. I hate onions but love shallots, especially with garlic. Two tablespoons of brandy in the dish really elevate it.

For everyday French cooking, this is the book I buy as gifts to other people. If you're just starting out with French cooking, or want everyday meals with the French flair, this is the book to buy.

This is an outstanding cookbook which I have owned since it first appeared several years ago. Classic French bistrot fare but adapted so that anyone can successfully re-create the dishes. Outstanding salads, stews and, above all, potato gratins and desserts.