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Essentials of Cooking by James Peterson  (27)

Fish & Shellfish: The Definitive Cook's Companion by James Peterson  (12)  $26.40

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Splendid Soups: Recipes and Master Techniques for Making the World's Best Soups by James Peterson  (21)  $29.70

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Amazon.com
In Glorious French Food, James Peterson argues that once you understand a recipe's "logic and context," and the techniques required to follow it, you actually have something much more valuable than the recipe itself--you have the knowledge to create variations, make simplifications, and cook with spontaneity. Although French cuisine is often accused of being fussy and time-consuming, Peterson's clear instructions demystify many traditionally finicky recipes, and in the process, teach us how to cook anything.

The hundreds of recipes presented here are a pleasure to peruse; kitchen novices can work their way through this hefty volume and come out the other end accomplished cooks. Peterson details necessary equipment, techniques, and ingredients for each recipe so that by the time you start making it, you're fearless. Some of his dishes are remarkably simple, like the beautifully fresh, ready-in-minutes Shaved Fennel Salad, or the richly aromatic French Onion Soup. Others are more complicated, but all teach a lesson: In the Roast Chicken chapter, learn to roast without a thermometer, truss without a needle, make gravy, and then succeed at Roast Chicken Stuffed Under the Skin with Spinach and Ricotta. Learn to make pasta dough, and then re-present leftover Provençal Lamb Stew (if there's any of this heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth tender, orange-scented stew left) as Meat-Filled Ravioli. Perfect for fans of French cuisine, this is also a remarkably handy reference guide for any kitchen. --Leora Y. Bloom

From Library Journal
Cooking teacher Peterson is the author of several other big cookbook/reference works, including Fish & Shellfish and Splendid Soups. The recipes in those books reflected influences from cuisines all over the world, but here Peterson, who worked in France and had his own French restaurant in New York's Greenwich Village, turns to his first culinary love. He has chosen 50 classic recipes as the starting point for his wide-ranging exploration of French food and techniques; each recipe serves both to demonstrate a variety of techniques and as the inspiration for a diverse collection of other recipes related to it in one way or another. Thus, the bouillabaisse chapter, for example, shows how to thicken a sauce with a beurre manie, intensify flavor with herbs, and work with eel and octopus; the spin-off recipes include French-style fish and shellfish chowder and pureed fish soup from Marseille, among others. One of Peterson's aims is to inspire his readers to use his recipes as a starting point for their own creations, so each chapter includes boxes and charts on improvising with different ingredients and flavors. The suggested variations for individual recipes, often mini-essays in themselves, open up dozens of other possibilities. Peterson is both passionate and knowledgeable about his subject, and his new book is an essential purchase. [Good Cook Book Club main selection.]
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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First Sentence:
WHEN LIVING IN PARIS IN THE 1970S, I'D TAKE PILGRIMAGE TO THE countryside and spend and spend a week's wages from my low-paying restaurant job on lunch in some famous extravagant restaurant. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
bagna caouda, aromatic garniture, mulard breasts, crustacean butter, lightly syrupy consistency, island duckling breasts, brown chicken broth, meurette sauce, other poached fruits, burgundian garniture, mousseline mixture, coarse forcemeat, degreasing cup, stewing liquid, plastic vegetable slicer, white chicken broth, mussel steaming liquid, octopus daube, white waxy potatoes, wine fish broth, fatback strips, small bouquet garni, prosciutto end, black winter truffles, fine forcemeat Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, New Zealand, Richard Olney, Pepperidge Farm, Yukon Golds, Georges Blanc, Golden Delicious, Larousse Gastronomique, New World, Classic Vanilla, East Coast, Great Northern, New England, Poulet Paranoia, Poire William, Squab Salmis, Anne Willan, Austin de Croze, Claude Peyrot, Know When Fish Is Done, Les Plats, Middle Ages New!
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