Pedaling Through Burgundy Cookbook [Paperback]

Sarah Leah Chase (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 1995

Rolling vineyards with world-famous names. A wave from the gardener tending her potager. Pan bagna in the village square for lunch, and the prospect of dinner at a three-star inn to get you through those last five uphill kilometers. Bicycling through France brings you into intimate contact with the land, the people, and the food-especially the food. It's an experience that Sarah Leah Chase, acclaimed cookbook author, gourmet food-shop owner, and, since college, bicycle tour guide for Butterfield & Robinson, celebrates in Pedaling Through Burgundy.

Illustrated in full color and peppered with anecdotes and travel writing, cooking tips and wine notes, the book is a personal cookbook with a select but dazzling collection of recipes. It evokes the famed land of big red wines with hearty food to match: a classic French Onion Soup Gratine, Boeuf Bourguignon with a twist-the meat is grilled- Venison Ragout with Whole cloves of Garlic and Dried Fruits, and desserts including Pinot Noir Gratine, Warm Chocolate Boules with Strawberry Beaujolais Sauce, and Colette's Lemon Tart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chase (The Open-House Cookbook; Cold-Weather Cooking) biked for a living before she cooked. The college summers she spent as a bicycle tour guide in the countryside of France fostered her appreciation for fine country-style fare that led to the opening of her catering shop, Que Sera Sarah, in Nantucket. Years later when looking for a break from the kitchen, she took up guiding bike tours again, resulting in the happy blend of authoritative, entertaining culinary travel writing here and in the companion volume, Pedaling Through Provence, being published simultaneously. Exploring the wine-growing province of Burgundy, Chase is an upbeat, knowledgeable guide whose recipes are infused with the earthy spirit of the region. Fare ranges from Frogs' Legs with Pouilly Fuisse and Parsley to Boeuf Beaujolaise to Dijon Deviled Chicken and Spring Rabbit with Mustard and Cornichons. Other specialties include Pain d'Epices, the regional gingerbread made with spices and rum; Oeufs en Meurette (poached eggs in a red wine sauce with onions, mushrooms and bacon) and Raspberry and Cassis Bavarian Cream. As she has in her previous books, Chase inspires innovative home cooking based on fresh ingredients. The sparkling brief travel essays?from a tribute to the Beaune to "Burgundy 101" about viticulture?double this collection's pleasures and value.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Rolling vineyards with world-famous names. Sleepy hamlets. Farmers in sky-blue overalls. Green pastures dotted with Charolais cattle. And a celebrated cuisine based on butter, cheese, and cream. Burgundy is the quintessential France, and PEDALING THROUGH BURGUNDY is a quintessential taste of France from one of our most acclaimed cookbook writers.

From Warm Potato and Sausage Salad Lyonnaise to French Onion Soup Gratinee, Sarah Leah Chase spectacularly recreates the best of Burgundy. Sarah's Boeuf Bourguignonne a Ma Facon is grilled instead of stewed for a delicious summer meal. White wine transforms Coq au Vin. Mushrooms are coated with escargot butter before grilling, Dijon mustard turns a potato gratin deliciously piquant, and there are no less than six variations on the fluffy gougeres always present at Burgundy wine tastings.

With more than 60 recipes in all (including Cassis Crisp and Colette's Lemon Tart), much ado about wine, and moments from the road, this enchanting memento is for every food lover who has bicycled through Burgundy and for every cook in love with the flavors of the French countryside.

Sarah Leah Chase is a caterer, cooking teacher, and author of the PEDALING THROUGH PROVENCE COOKBOOK, NANTUCKET OPEN-HOUSE COOKBOOK, and COLD-WEATHER COOKING. When not guiding bicycle tours through Europe, she teaches cooking, and writes and creates recipes at her home on Nantucket.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (January 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563053594
• ISBN-13: 978-1563053597
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,161,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Twists on Traditional French Recipes, September 28, 2003

By 

alg99 (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pedaling Through Burgundy Cookbook (Paperback)

Sarah Leah Chase is my favorite cookbook author, and while this isn't her best effort (Nantucket Open House Cookbook is *essential* for anyone who loves food), it contains plenty of excellent French provincial-inspired recipes while avoiding the stodginess of that traditional fare. Chase uses French cooking standbys, butter and cream, along with Burgundian ingredients like Dijon mustard, Chablis and red Burgundy wines. But she also spices things up with a liberal use of Creme de Cassis--the recipe for Candied Shallot and Walnut Croutes is worth the price of the book alone. Other outstanding recipes include one for Baked Oysters, a lovely Pain d'Epices and Potato Gratin Dijonnaise. If the book has a weakness, it's probably in the meat dishes. Most are pretty similar to recipes found in other French Bistro or Americanized French cookbooks. But this is still a very worthy, not to mention beautiful looking, cookbook that belongs on the pantry shelf of any serious cook or cookbook aficionado.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How much you like this depends on what you are looking for, July 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Pedaling Through Burgundy Cookbook (Paperback)

I agree with the reviewer below: the author takes frequent liberties with traditional recipes. I, however, think this is a good thing. It's analogous to the difference between dining out at a traditional French bistro vs. a French inspired more nouvelle cuisine type of restaurant. They each have their place, they're just different.

It's totally understandable to expect this book to have traditional Burgundian recipes and it largely doesn't. But this doesn't mean that it, and the companion Provence cookbook, are unworthy of spots on your cookbook shelf. The recipes are creative and come out consistently well, plus the book is a good read. I made the asparagus in aigrelette sauce last night and served it with seared salmon as the recipe suggested-- incredibly fast, easy, different, and delicious. You can't ask for much more in a cookbook, assuming you are not looking for 100% traditional recipes. There are are plenty of books with those, so kudos to Ms. Chase for providing us with something different and doing it very well.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As a travel guide to Burgundy, it's wonderful!, July 27, 2004

By 

mmcra2 (East Hampton, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pedaling Through Burgundy Cookbook (Paperback)

When I was looking for guidebooks for an upcoming trip to France, the librarian suggested this cookbook and, oh, what a wonderful suggestion it was! While the recipes were interesting looking and we learned much about the cuisine we would soon be tasting, it's value for us was the marvelous overview and incredible font of information it provided on the Burgundy region. It introduced us to the wines, the food, the villages and the little out-of-the-way places that made our trip so incredibly memorable. We used it constantly, met many of the people she wrote about and stopped in the restaurants, shops and sites she recommended. For anyone who is contemplating a visit to Burgundy, loves the French countryside or wants to experience it vicariously, this is just the book to do it with.