Larousse Gastronomique [Hardcover]

Jenifer Lang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 1988

The ultimate guide to classical cuisine, now updated for the era of food processors and microwaves, completely freshly illustrated in full color and Americanized by the renowned author of Tastings. Over 900 full-color photographs and 70 black-and-white illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Some books hang around long enough to become part of the language, and then they're considered classics, but the real classic earns its status with overwhelming merit; such is the case with the Larousse Gastronomique. It's been around since 1938, with 8,500 recipes, over a thousand pages of encyclopedic knowledge from A (Abaisse--a pastry making term) to Z (Zwieback--a kind of biscuit), and the final word in matters culinary. Handy for cooking terms, kitchen queries, and "hey, did you know ..." Sunday afternoons, the Gastronomique deserves respect and a big place on your cookbook shelf.

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1193 pages
• Publisher: Crown (December 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517570327
• ISBN-13: 978-0517570326
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.6 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Cooking

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Essential Book on Cuisine, March 13, 2000

By 

Thomas B Dawkins - See all my reviews

This review is from: Larousse Gastronomique (Hardcover)

What makes this book an essential tome for any gourmet cook, experienced or beginner, is the simplicity. Everything is easy to find and explained fully. All too many cookbooks assume that the cook already knows the basics by heart and don't bother to mention how to start a white sauce or "sauce béchamel" with a roux, even though this only means using a base of butter and flour! Anything rudimentary that you need to know can be found here, along with hundreds of marvelous recipes that all go back to the basics. As Julia Child once said "sometimes you have chocolate, and sometimes there's fish, but the basics are the same" and indeed this book shows you how, giving several examples of what to do with each major kind of dough, sauce, bread or wine. Included also are many historical perspectives into the history of fine cooking and good eating!

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a recipe book - but an essential reference for ANY cook, January 4, 2001

By 

Alexander - See all my reviews

This review is from: Larousse Gastronomique (Hardcover)

Don't expect a great recipe book when you buy this. It includes a large number of recipes, but these are there to demonstrate the use of key ingredients rather than as recipes that you are expected to follow.

However, the book is invaluable and, I believe, unique as a reference when you come across a question about food and cuisine that is difficult to answer. I've been handed woodcock and expected to cook them - do you remove the entrails or not? You read in a recipe to use a bain-marie - what is it? What is the difference between Anna potatoes, Boulangere potatoes and Chateau potatoes? ... and so on. I don't know of any other book that can so comprehensively answer EVERY food/cooking question that I've come across.

In addition to being the best available encyclopaedia of food and cooking, the Larousse Gastronomique is FUN. It is one of those books that can sit beside your bed for browsing ... just open the book at a random page and see where you get to ... every page (and there are a lot of them) has several entries that are interesting and illuminating.

In a world that has become dominated by glossily illustrated books by designer chefs, where the typeface and photographs are more important than the contents of the book, this book is a truly refreshing, entertaining and useful volume.

53 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing, diluted version of an epicurean classic., December 12, 2001

By 

Beeblebrox (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Larousse Gastronomique (Hardcover)

Don't expect this to be the classic French Larousse, which comes in a condensed one-volume version and a full three-volume set.

The American Larousse is, as many things American tend to be, watered- and dumbed-down for our nation's less-sensitive palates.

Just as with its French cousin, the American Larousse, contains many color plates featuring dishes and ingredients featured in its pages. However, the the American Larousse appears to have approximately one-third of the content of the French version. As a purely illustrative example, the American version's section on sweetbreads is approximately two columns' worth of loosely-packed print, while the French version features six pages of dense text on the subject.

Especially in light of its cost, the American Larousse is a bitter disappointment. The epicure wishing to have ready access to a gastronomic bible would be well-advised to obtain the French version in its place.