One Pot French: More Than 100 Easy, Authentic Recipes [Paperback]

Jean-Pierre Challet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2008

Classic French cuisine is paired with the perennial appeal of easy, one-pot cooking in this wide-ranging cookbook illustrated with over 75 full-color photographs. One-Pot French offers mouthwatering recipes for traditional soups and stews, fish, poultry, and meat dishes, vegetables, sauces and even desserts. Celebrated chef Jean-Pierre Challet includes more than 100 recipes that represent the Mediterranean seafood of Provence, the buttery roasts of Tours, and the cheese-and cream-based dishes of Normandy, authentic French cooking that makes the best use of a single saucepan, skillet, or bowl.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chefs taking this volume at face value may assume that Lyon chef Challet's collection is suited for a lonely Le Creuset dutch oven, but Challet's focus, confusingly, is on classic dishes (Tarte Tatin, the Croque Monseuir sandwich, basic roast chicken) prepared any number of ways (some don't even call for a saucepan or pot, others require more than one). Misleading title and cover photo aside, the recipes are a mixed bag. Some, such as Vichysoisse and Cabillaud en Papillote, in which black cod fillets are covered in pesto and baked in parchment with lemons and tomatoes, are virtually foolproof. Others, such as a carrot soup garnished with roasted pecans, are needlessly complex. Then there are the sins of omission: in his recipes for roast chicken and Chicken with Beer, Challet includes no mention of how to tell when the chicken is done cooking. Veteran cooks will find Challet's collection well within their abilities, and those interested in creating a soup-to-nuts French meal will find more than enough ideas. Novices, however, will likely find Challet's instruction lacking.
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About the Author

Author Jean-Pierre Challet is executive chef at one of Toronto's top-rated restaurants Cusine at the Fifth, and an instructor at the George Brown Chef School. He has held executive chef positions at several fine dining establishments, including his own restaurant Bouchon. Born in Lyon, France, he studied at the Ecole Hoteliere in Nice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sellers Publishing, US rights only (October 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141620525X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416205258
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,139,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not really 'one pot' cooking?, September 16, 2008

By 

Regular Amazon Customer "Simon" (Sheffield, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Pot French: More Than 100 Easy, Authentic Recipes (Paperback)

In Jean-Pierre's own words: "French cooking is about complexities ... Can this all happen in a single pot? I think it can. I admit I may bend the parameters in certain places" (Challet & Decorte, 2008: 6).

The preceding quote, taken from the introduction to this book, pretty much sums up my thoughts about it. However, I would choose to replace the word 'bend', with 'ignore' and give greater emphasis to the word 'think'. This is a recipe book that does give an excellent introduction to classic French cuisine from basic recipes, to appetisers, soups, salads and sandwiches (obviously cooked in one pot?!?), egg and cheese based dishes, potato dishes, main courses; and last but not least deserts.

However, what this book is `not' is a focussed guide to rustic `one pot' (i.e. casserole/stew style cooking) French cooking, as one may be led to believe on first impression. It is simply an introductory guide to some of France's most classic recipes, which happens to include 'some' one pot dishes.

If the title of the book had been pitched to match it's content, I would have been inclined to give it a higher score. For as an introductory guide to classic French cuisine, this book serves it purpose well.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One-pot meals can be as delicious and as culinarily elegant as any up-scale French restaurant dining, February 8, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Pot French: More Than 100 Easy, Authentic Recipes (Paperback)

One-pot cooking is a time-saver for the harried kitchen cook. But one-pot meals can be as delicious and as culinarily elegant as any up-scale French restaurant dining thanks to "One Pot French", a profusely illustrated compendium of recipes by Jean-Pierre Challet with the assistance of Jennifer Decorte. The more than one hundred speciality recipes range from Galette de Crabe Et Sar Rouille (Crab Cakes with Rouille Sauce); to Salade D'Hiver Aux Legumes Rotis (Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad); to Cassoulet (Navy Bean Stew with Duck Confit and Sausages); to Tarte Tartin (Upside-Down Caramelized Apple Tart). With its thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly', step-by-step recipes, "One Pot French" will make a welcome and sophisticated addition to any personal, family, or community library cookbook collection.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars nice book, October 8, 2009

By 

Chunga (Nevada City, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Pot French: More Than 100 Easy, Authentic Recipes (Paperback)

Had this great book but gave it to a friend as a gift. 2nd copy just as wonderful as the 1st.