The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes [Hardcover]

Auguste Escoffier (Author), Charlotte Adams (Technical Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 2000

An American translation of the definitive Guide Culinaire, the Escoffier Cookbook includes weights, measurements, quantities, and terms according to American usage. Features 2,973 recipes.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

From the Inside Flap

An American translation of the definitive Guide Culinaire, the Escoffier Cookbook includes weights, measurements, quantities, and terms according to American usage. Features 2,973 recipes.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 923 pages
• Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.; Edition: 55th edition (November 13, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517506629
• ISBN-13: 978-0517506622
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 2.3 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > French
  • #33 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > French
  • #72 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Reference

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

288 of 295 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If it looks too good to be true, it probably is., April 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes (Hardcover)

I'm a Chef, and have borrowed copies of Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire from friends whenever I need it. On a lark, I ran a search on Escoffier here at Amazon.com. I was stunned to find this book for the low cost of $12 or so, knowing that every other copy I had seen cost $60 or $70. So I ordered it and paged through it. Well, it only prints 2300 or so of over 5000 recipes in Escoffier's treatise. Admittedly, probably more than the home cook actually *needs*, but nowhere does the book say that it has been abridged.

But, like many Amazon.com customers, I found myself in the position of thinking "but it'll cost me half the price of the book to send it back." So I wound up giving it to a friend who likes to cook, but doesn't need the "real thing."

Suffice it to say that if you want the real Esoffier, you're still going to have to drop the $60+ for the Van Nostrand Reinhold edition. Sorry, culinary students, you didn't luck up on a deal.

ToqueBlanc

86 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating to read, but not a "cookbook" in the modern sense, August 14, 2005

By 

Charlene Vickers (Winnipeg, Manitoba) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes (Hardcover)

"The Escoffier Cookbook" is a heavily abridged American version of Auguste Escoffier's 1903 book "Guide Culinaire". It is a fascinating look at the art of professional European cookery at the beginning of the 20th century.

However, to appreciate this book fully, it's important to understand exactly who it was written for. Escoffier's original guide was never for a second intended for the home cook. Escoffier was a pioneer with respect to the education of professional chefs, and originally wrote this book for the use of those working in grand houses, in hotels, on ocean liners, and in restaurants who might not have had access to contemporary recipes. Accordingly, the original book does not attempt to teach basic cooking or food preparation techniques. The American translation does include some details on cooking techniques and utensils unfamiliar to the average American chef (such as poeleing, worth the cost of the book alone, and the old French form of braising), but even in the translation it is assumed that the reader is a trained, experienced chef.

The recipes themselves are clear and simple to follow, but represent only a small subset of French cooking of the early 20th century. An earlier reviewer mentioned that there was no recipe for onion soup; this is true, but it should be understood that onion soup would never have been accepted by the class of restaurant patron Escoffier cooked for. Much of what has arrived on this side of the Atlantic as "French cooking" - dishes such as pot-au-feu, onion soup, and steak frites - is distinctly middle-class, and consequently would have been rejected by the clientele of quality restaurants of the time as being unspeakably boorish. Escoffier personally enjoyed bourgeois cooking, but as an astute, intelligent businessman he provided the haute cuisine his clients demanded.

One interesting difference between modern cooking and the cooking featured in this book is that Escoffier uses few spices, and indeed declaims on the foolishness of using large amounts of spices in meat dishes. This appears bizarre from our vantage point, but Escoffier had sound economic reasons for his proscriptions. Most diners of the time grew up in the days before refrigeration, when old deteriorating meat was heavily spiced to make it palatable. Fresh, unspiced meat was a sign of the highest quality. The association between strong spices and poor quality was powerful enough to survive long into the 20th century, as any reader of a 1950s American cookbook can attest.

As for the recipes themselves, I doubt that many of them could be prepared by the North American home cook. Most of us cannot afford (if we can even find) foie gras, truffles, or capons, and few have espagnole sauce or fish fumet available at all times. However, many recipes can be adapted for the modern cook - using cepes or porcini mushrooms for truffles, for instance - and those that can be prepared really are delicious.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tired of chefs ommitting that one little step?, June 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes (Hardcover)

This book, published in the 1890s, is an excellent resource for those who aspire to cook great french food. Too often cookbook authors insult readers by leaving out key steps for fear that they may be 'too complicated' or call for veal stock when chefs use demi-glace. This book is complicated, poorly organized and difficult, but it WILL tell you the proper way to make french sauces (an incredible section, and well worth the price of the book in itself) and how best to lard a joint of beef. Treat yourself and buy this book to learn the proper way to prepare traditional french cuisine.