Girardet: Recipes from a Master of French Cuisine [Hardcover]

Fredy Girardet (Author), Pierre-Michel Delessert (Photographer), Joel Robuchan (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

During the heady glory days of haute cuisine in the 1970s, gourmands from around the world dined at fine restaurants in Paris, Lyons, Roanne, and other parts of France. Yet another illustrious culinary destination was located in a renovated town hall in a village outside of Lausanne, Switzerland, where Frédy Girardet was creating sublime French cuisine to international acclaim, earning three Michelin stars. Chef Girardet entered semiretirement in 1996, and now, 20 years after the publication of his landmark first cookbook, the eagerly anticipated second book has arrived. Over 100 classic recipes are presented, including signature dishes with such classic Girardet ingredients as foie gras, truffles, and citrus. Devoted followers will rejoice, while a new generation of cooks will be introduced to the passionate sensibilities of a culinary genius.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Swiss chef Frédy Girardet retired from a superlative culinary career in 1996. He earned three Michelin stars at his restaurant in Crissier, Switzerland, and received numerous prizes throughout his career, including the Gault-Millau Cle d'Or and the Grand Prix International de l'Art de la Cuisine. In Girardet, he presents some of the most sophisticated and breathtaking dishes prepared in the last 15 years of his career. His first book, La cuisine spontanee, was published in 1982 and is still selling in Europe.

In dishes such as the Lightly Jellied Chicken Bouillon with Truffled Foie Gras and Mousseline of Peas, six ingredients come together in a handful of steps to produce a silky-textured, three-layer dish of shimmering light and concentrated flavor. Cream of Broccoli Soup with Wild Mushrooms is as simple as can be, but has never looked or tasted so magnificent. This is serious food. And while many of the dishes involve myriad ingredients and steps, you can easily reduce them to the main element and a sauce, and still be left with something spectacular. Step-by-step instructions demystify dishes such as Duck Terrine with Pistachios, Confit Duckling with Spices and Lime, and Crisp Sweetbreads with Port and Ginger. Elegant desserts include Wild Strawberry and Champagne Mousseline, and Poached Pears with Orange Syrup, Plum Fritters, and Hazelnut Ice Cream. Girardet may not be cooking for us anymore, but he's left excellent instructions. --Leora Y. Bloom

From Publishers Weekly

In the world of rarefied French cooking, Girardet, chef and owner of an eponymous Michelin three-star restaurant in Switzerland (until he retired in 1996), is famous for his creations, which are fantastic and fantastically daunting. The recipes for complex and pricey dishes such as Fillets of Lamb with a Truffle and Parsley Crust and Perigueux Sauce, and Scallops in the Shell with Cockle Jus and Caviar, are admirably detailed and exacting, if intimidating. The translation is occasionally puzzling, as in several recipes, including Chartreuse of Foie Gras with a Clear Gel‚e of Vendange Tardive Wine, which calls for "Asian-style bowls," and dish names such as Epigrams of Pigeon Breast with Bacon-Stuffed Cabbage. Each recipe is divided into "Preparation" and "Finishing Touches," steps and presentation instructions but some should include a warning that only cooks with a solid base in classic French cuisine should attempt them. Fine Velout‚ of Petits Pois with Frogs' Legs and Osetra Caviar, for example, calls for both boning the frogs' legs and making mini-quenelles out of caviar. The chapters on hot and cold desserts contain some of the more accessible offerings here, like a Pineappled Dacquois with Coconut Ice Cream and Passion Fruit Coulis and Pistachio Souffl‚. Despite the level of difficulty, these are innovative and luxurious dishes.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 207 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580084117
• ISBN-13: 978-1580084116
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #886,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfection. No question about it., September 30, 2002

By 

peederj (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girardet: Recipes from a Master of French Cuisine (Hardcover)

This is without question one of the best cookbooks ever. I can't get my mind around how it is absolutely "just right". The food is lavish and beautifully presented, yet, it has this simplicity about it that brings it back from pomposity. There is a touch, a feel, that is as good as I've ever witnessed. A certain maturity that exudes extreme confidence.

Stylistically, the closest thing to this in my collection is the new edition of Larousse Gastronomique. Yet that book is full of recipes that are sloppily either over-the-top or ho-hum. Imagine that kind of cuisine taken to its absolute apex.

The descriptions are utterly clear, and detailed, and in a very helpful format of preperation, finishing touches, and presentation. This takes you through the mise en place carefully and then shows you what you need to do when ready to fire the plate and put it together. A quantum leap, IMO, in recipe presentation.

The photos are breathtaking. If you are intimidated by the recipes, you can always make yourself happy just viewing this as a picture book. But if you force yourself through these recipes a few times, you will lose the intimidation and wonder why you weren't cooking this way all along? Go ahead dive in the deep end...even a sloppy, crude rendition of these recipes will be worth every ounce of unnecessary stress.

I think Girardet has created a new watermark in cookbooks and look forward to seeing attempts to top this.

PS Serious sleuthing has revealed what "Nion" is (for the Nion Tart). Nion is the compressed nutmeat left over from creating nut oil. Girardet calls for grating walnut or hazelnut nion for his tart. It will take significantly more sleuthing to get one's hands on some nion, however!!!

Of course, no gourmet cookbook would be complete without calling for a tablespoon or two of pure unobtainium.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great exemplars of haute cuisine recipes. Highly recommended, December 9, 2004

By 

B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Girardet: Recipes from a Master of French Cuisine (Hardcover)

`girardet, Recipes From a Master of French Cuisine' written by retired Swiss master Fredy Girardet is this renowned chef's second book, being published eight years after he retired from professional cooking and more than twenty years after his first publication, `Spontaneous Cooking'. In a totally uncharacteristic show of unity, Girardet is lauded as the foremost master of French cooking by both Paul Bocuse and Joel Robuchon.

In evaluating this book, I felt the weight of having given Charlie Trotter's latest book on fine dining recipes a poor rating, in spite of the obvious quality of the recipes in this `Workin' volume. Ultimately, Girardet's book validated my rating of Trotter's effort in showing how fine dining recipes should be written, thereby earning my high praise.

For starters, Trotter's recipes are touted as being improvisations, while Girardet's recipes have probably been prepared for years in exactly the same way at his restaurant. Among other things, that means they have been thoroughly tested by years of practice by dozens of line chefs. Girardet also has a distinct way of writing recipes, which is great for both restaurant practice and for entertaining. All of his procedures are divided into at least three sections, Preparation, Cooking, and Presentation. Preparation is everything that can be done hours or even days in advance, with intermediate results stored in the fridge. Unlike virtually every other cookbook I have seen, Girardet specifies exactly how to best store these intermediate preparations, citing which need to be covered and refrigerated if they are not used immediately. This simple addition literally doubles the value of the recipes for entertaining. Although Girardet does not tout this aspect of his recipe writing, he actually embodies the very good practice demonstrated in Wolfgang Puck's new book of laying out all the techniques needed for each recipe within that recipe. For example, everywhere it is needed, the recipe repeats the technique for skinning tomatoes by cutting a cross in the bottom and blanching.

Like most cookbooks for major restaurants, this one includes a large section on pantry preparations. This selection is as larger than Trotter's offering and, to my eyes, much better in that veggies are not chopped, but simply `cut large' and simmered for no more than three hours rather than Trotter's six. In only one stock recipe is the mirepoix diced, suggesting a ¼ inch dice. At the same time, Girardet is not overly fussy. I have seen more detailed recipes for exactly the same product from the CIA, Judy Rodgers, and Thomas Keller. Of all chapters I have seen on pantry preparations, I think Keller's work in `Bouchon' is the best, but Girardet comes close. He especially offers recipes for three different gelees; close relatives to stocks where veal shins and feet are added to extract their gelatin.

The organization of recipes is very conventional, which is quite reassuring. One is not disoriented as you encounter all the familiar subjects of Cold Appetizers; Hot Appetizers; Fish; Shellfish; Poultry, Rabbit, and Feathered Game; Meat and Furred Game; Variety Meats; Cold Desserts; and Hot Desserts. The first thing you may notice is that there are no meze, tapas, sandwiches, or other species of finger food evident in this list. This is FINE DINING! There are also no easily recognizable classic Bistro salads here. Most of the appetizers are soups or small dishes of fine shellfish.

One of the most difficult aspects of these recipes is that many use a principle ingredient that may be difficult to find in the average supermarket. There are many recipes involving rabbit, venison, boar, langoustines, scallops in the shell, cockles, crayfish, frogs legs, skate, and sweetmeats. And, there are no suggestions for substitutions. The scallops in the shell are not simply a conceit or a decoration. The leftovers after excising the scallop from the shell are used to create a broth, in much the same way as lobster shells are used to create a stock for bisques and other seafoody stuff.

And yet, there were still lots of recipes which not only impressed me with their quality, but which I actually looked forward to making in my own kitchen. A recipe for tuna fish tournedos with Ratatouille and green peppercorn vinaigrette may sound daunting, but the instructions are so straightforward and the result looks so delicious that I am certain I will try this little gem very soon. While all the photographs are expertly done, and there is a full-page photograph for practically every dish, I did detect a few where the photographed dish did not exactly match the description in the recipe. I rarely weigh this against a book, as I generally pay little attention to fancy plating or to using the pics to pick a dish to make, but you may feel differently, so I'm compelled to mention this.

The author claims he will avoid technical cooking terms as much as possible, but I sense he put this objective out at the beginning of the book and quickly forgot it. I forgive him on this, because I would be annoyed to see words such as Aiguillettes, Gelee, Veloute, Chartreuse, Chaud-Froid, Galantine, Terrine and Frivolity replaced with any circumlocutions. And that is just from the names of the recipes in the hot appetizers.

I have seen English translations of books by both Bocuse and Robuchon and this volume joins them as evidence that the leading Europeans really know how to do cookbooks. The binding is of a very high quality, the book lays flat where you open it, and an integrated ribbon bookmark is added for good measure.

This book may only appeal to professionals and foodies, but it is a very, very good embassy to this interest indeed. Highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Master, September 3, 2009

By 

Babs53 (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girardet: Recipes from a Master of French Cuisine (Hardcover)

While more difficult than his first book, this is lovely and offers incredibly creative recipes.