Customer Reviews

The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet

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Really, you just can't go wrong. There are no 'vanity' recipes in here (you know the ones, with 87 ingredients and impossible-to-find spices), only simple and flawless dishes that have been proven over time to be winners. I first got this book on the recommendation of a professional chef, and was very suspicious that it would be completely beyond my meager abilities. I was pleased to discover that everything about this book is straightforward, and no matter what your cooking level is you CAN make EVERY SINGLE RECIPE even if you are a cooking novice. It's a little heavy on the cream in some recipes, so I recommend more for special occasions and weekends than every day cooking - although there are quite a few healthier recipes in there as well.

Favorite recipes? Chicken Scarpariello (took me all of 25 minutes, start to finish), Shell Steak in Vinager & Cream sauce (will impress big-time).

'60 Minute Gourmet' and `More 60 Minute Gourmet' are collections of New York Times columns written by the prominent French born and trained chef Pierre Franey, who attained celebrity by being the executive chef at La Pavilion, considered by Craig Claiborne at the beginning of his New York Times career as the only truly worthy `haute cuisine' venue in New York City.

On the surface, it may seem that these volumes are simply precursors to Mark Bittman's `The Minimalist' columns in the same New York Times or to Rachael Ray's very successful 30 Minute Meal genre. While there are strong family resemblences between these three writers, there are also significant differences. Most of these differences arise from the fact that While Bittman and Ray are journalist / educator / writers, Franey was a classically trained chef.

This distinction is crystal clear in the way Franey describes his audience and how they live their lives. With the greatest of respect, I sense that Franey sees his audience as just stepping out of a `New Yorker' cartoon of upper West side coop dwellers who shop at Zabars and who may expect the likes of R. W. Appel or Ruth Reichl to drop in for a quick bite on any given Thursday evening. One may be tempted to say `this is not me', but give yourself a chance to believe that you can put yourself into this picture. Franey is saying that you can be prepared to entertain elegantly with even a minimal amount of time.

Franey is crystal clear from the introduction of the first of these two books that he is not simplifying gourmet dishes, he is picking and choosing those classic French dishes which can be made in the home within 60 minutes. His message is that contrary to expectations, a lot of French cooking, even `haute cuisine' can be made very simply. And, I have no argument with this. After browsing Escoffier's big book of recipes, I find about 50 different recipes for sautéing chicken, every one of which can easily be done in 30 minutes or less.

The most valuable lessons in these books are things that a professional chef does to expedite his own work. One of the hidden tricks behind Miss Rachael's speed is that she spends no time whatsoever looking for her ingredients. Franey reveals the technique that makes this all possible. He exhorts us to always have a place for everything and keep everything in its place. The easiest way to experience the value of this lesson is to try cooking in someone else's kitchen. His second big lesson is cleanliness, as much for efficiency as for hygiene. He says clutter and debris distract from efficiency.

It is important to note that these two volumes have virtually identical tables of contents, so the `More 60-Minute Meals' is literally more of the same. It's only additional topics are on appetizers and desserts. And, unlike his La Pavilion colleague, Jacques Pepin, I suspect Pierre is not as skillful with the pastry as is Jacques. Like Rachael Ray, a very large number of the recipes in these books are for grilled, sautéed, or fried chicken, with an enormous variety of sauces. In fact, Miss Rachael just did a version of chicken Veronique that was remarkably similar to the recipe on page 22 of `60-Minute Gourmet'. I honestly prefer Franey's version, as it uses white grapes while Rachael used red, and, Franey's instructions are written in plain English while Rachael uses her Rayspeak culinary dialect for a lot of basic terms. I would suspect that Miss Rachael had cribbed this recipe from Franey except that she made a major point of stating that the recipe was acquired from her future mother-in-law.

What Rachael lacks in sophisticated technique, plain speech, and deep knowledge of French cuisine, she makes up by addressing the two of the three major issues I have with Franey. First, even 60 minutes may be a bit more than a tired Manhattenite may be able to manage, especially after a subway ride and a 5 block walk from the local supermarket. Second, Franey makes much of planning and prepping ahead of time. The fallacy of this and practically every other `quick cooking' advice is that the problem is not only that there is little time at the end of the day, there is little time throughout the week. A third potential objection to Franey's books is that if there is so many `haute cuisine' recipes which are really pretty easy, why not simply go to the mother lode and get a copy of Escoffier or Pellaprat for their 39 ways to poach eggs and 52 recipes for sautéed chicken. The problem with this solution is that the search for the good recipes takes more time and investment in studying the techniques needed to prepare the short recipe description in these texts.

Like Wolfgang Puck in a very recent book, Franey cuts down on the time required to prepare a recipe by combining into a single narrative all the steps and techniques you need so you don't have to seek out and learn a lot of ancillary recipes. Also, the classic French texts don't have the entertaining headnotes you can recite to impress your dinner guest(s).

Thus, I really think Franey's books are best used as a resource for recipes for entertaining where the plan and prep ahead time will garner big rewards with your guests. I would therefore strongly recommend Franey's books for young professional ladies or gentlemen who are out to impress a potential partner over a home-cooked dinner. I would not use these books to replace my copy of `Mastering the Art of French Cooking', as there are great realms of French cooking technique which simply lie outside Franey's 60 minutes, the most important being braising and roasting techniques.

These books are excellent introductions to how French cooking can be easy. Recommended.

The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet by Pierre Franey was the first cookbook I ever bought for myself--literally. Now I own about 7 cookbooks or so, and this one is still by favorite.

Every dish I tried from the book was enjoyable, and in most cases absolutely delicious. And remember, before this book I knew NOTHING about cooking. (Well, I did know how to fry water.) The directions are easy to follow, and recipes for great tasting side dishes are included with each entree.

My guests usually raved about the dishes I prepared, including both main and side dishes. For some strange reason, as instructed in the recipes, I enjoy having to add a specific ingredient, wait a couple of minutes, add another one, etc. and etc. until every element of the dish is "just right." Kinda adds a bit of fun to the process.

Some of Franey's dishes can be calorie laden, however, which can be especially trying for Americans with large appetites. But just cut back a little on that portion of the meal (eating some fat, but not too much, will hold you a lot longer).

One of my favorites: His spaghetti dish with large shrimp and capers. My guests went bonkers over it!

Does it really take only 60 minutes to create one of Franey's meals? Well not me, as I tend to overthink the process, or just lose things behind the stove. But if you are an experienced, well-organized cook (or chef), a 60 minute preparation time for wonderful, interesting meals sounds totally right by me.

Wolfy

I have had this for 20+ years and I rank it my #1 favorite cookbook tied with Cook's Illustrated "Best Recipe". The recipes are truly simple, easy, fast, & delicious. And elegant.

These are not "low cal" recipes but are so packed with flavor that you could pair the main meat or seafood dishes which will probably include cream & butter, with low-cal, low-fat sides.

This is a very instructive book & is great for beginners, which I was when I first bought it. Basically each recipe calls for fresh, high-quality cut of fish/meat/poultry which is then cooked with several complementary herbs, spices, aromatic veges, & that's it.

I have found that this may not be the best everyday family type cookbook because the high quality may be expensive. But I think many of the recipes are transferable to other more available fish, etc.

I'm so happy they have reissued this book! I cooked many of these recipes when they were first published in the New York Times, but my yellowed clippings were hard to keep track of. Now with these recipes all neatly in one book I can jettison the stacks of paper. These are tasty and easy recipes, and call for ingredients you have on hand or can find easily. These are the recipes that taught me how to cook. Each selection features an opening comment from Mr. Franey, including advice on timing. He also suggests simple accompaniments, including the recipe when necessary, which is a great help since I am usually in a hurry and don't have time to think of side dishes. Together the suggested menu can be produced in an hour! Try the Filet Mignon in Madeira sauce, Veal with Mushrooms in Cream Sauce, Shrimp Greek Style with Rigatoni (the first time I cooked with feta cheese!), Grilled Chicken with Mustard Sauce and Curried Chicken. I have made these dishes regularly and now don't refer to the recipes!

My copy of this book is falling apart from the use it has had, so I would like a new copy. Can we get the publisher to reprint it? It has by far the highest proportion of great recipes of all the cookbooks I have seen. Dishes tend to be a bit on the heavy side (butter and heavy cream in many of them), but are absolutely delicious--whenever I want happy guests this is the book I pull out. All recipes for a single meal are laid out on 2 facing pages so no turning pages while you are cooking.

Quite simply, Pierre Franey taught me how to cook - that is - how to combine ingredients that together transcend the sum of the parts. I came across Pierre Franey's column in the NY Times in the early nineties, and the recipes were a revelation. The techniques I learned from the recipes in this book, his column in the NY Times, and the follow up book, I use repeatedly. Unlike many other recipes, I continued cooking Franey's recipes after my kids were born. As youngsters, they would eat many of the things I prepared from this book, including the Poulet Saute Beausejour (chicken with wine and herbs) and the basic saute of fish. Franey also raised my standards of what to expect from a cook book! Very rarely does anything from his cookbooks fail to be delicious when I cook it.

This is the second time I am purchasing this book. My original book is falling apart and covered in food stains from so much use. I've shared recipes from this book with everyone. The recipes are easy and delicious. You will use this book often, buy two!

Pierre will help you to prepare the juiciest chicken you'll ever taste. We substitute breasts for whole chicken recipes and they come out marvelous. His side dishes are basic, simple and delicous. My favorite recipe is parsleyed chicken. Enjoy.

This is a great cookbook. The recipes are easy to make, don't require a lot of ingredients, and the results are outstanding. Many of the recipes use common ingredients, so I can look at the stuff in my refrigerator and flip through the book to find a recipe matching the ingredients. It's surprising how good the recipes are and the variety of flavors even though the instructions are so simple.

Admittedly, some of the recipes take longer than 60 minutes, but I've done enough cooking to know that many other cookbooks have recipes which take much longer for only ordinary results. This is a great book for people who want gourmet meals without spending a lot of time or money.

(In fact, I liked this book so much that I went and bought all of the 60 minute gourment cookbooks.)