The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

by Alain Sailhac (Author), Jacques Pepin (Author), Andre Soltner (Author), Jacques Torres (Author), French Culinary Institute (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The chefs at the French Culinary Institute believe that people have switched to Italian cooking because they do not realize French food can be just as light, fresh, and healthy. Jacques Pepin and his cohorts, Alain Sailhac, Jacques Torres, and Andre Soltner, are out to prove that French cooking really can be deliciously low in fat in The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking. At the stove, Pepin and company offer 40 low-fat menus, all luscious three-course meals made with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Dishes are prepared using familiar classic French techniques like poaching, braising, and roasting. First courses range from a light Watercress, Chicory and Radish in Beet Vinaigrette salad to elegant Leek and Roasted Pepper Tartlets. Main courses feature meat, poultry, or seafood. Desserts are for the most part fruit-based, although chocolate gets its due in a soufflé and a rich flourless torte.

Few people will make the entire menu for a week-night dinner, but even a singular dish, like salmon cooked in its own juice with broccoli florets, would be fine served with your own green salad and fruit for dessert. Even when you bring home roast chicken or plain grilled fish, adding the earthy Mushroom Sauce or zesty Tomato Vinaigrette will add immeasurably to your meal. --Dana Jacobi

From Publishers Weekly
Culinary authority doesn't come much higher than these four chefs associated with the New York school founded in 1984, who offer 150 seasonally arranged recipes offered in three-course menus for health-conscious home cooks. In general, their collective approach calls for less saturated fat, less meat and more fruits and vegetables. Key techniques include cooking in nonstick pans with a minimum of fat (11/2 pounds of meat are sauteed in one teaspoon of olive oil for Lamb Stew with Glazed Turnips and Pearl Onions, serving four); making use of vegetable essences?water in which a flavoring agent is simmered for 45 minutes and then often reduced (Breast of Chicken with Fennel essence); using nonfat dairy products (Low-Fat Caramel Cream made with 1% milk). Large flavors also disguise the decrease of fat in such dishes as Baked Cod with Tomatoes, Capers and Turmeric on Sauteed Spinach and Roasted Chicken with Grapefruit and Pink Peppercorn Sauce. Sauces are another focus, as with the almost fat-free Spinach and Watercress Sauce, with chicken stock thickened with potato. Phyllo dough replaces the traditional pate brisee (e.g., Apricot Tart). When Basic Pastry is a necessity, the solution is one made with a tablespoon of canola oil and 1/4 cup of low-fat cottage cheese. These are generally easily rendered recipes that retain a French air even though calories and fat grams are listed. Photos by Maria Robledo.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books; 1st edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875964400
• ISBN-13: 978-0875964409
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #883,313 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great promise; poor delivery, March 19, 1999

By	Stephen Sykes (Rockville, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's an original thought - you can't judge a book by its cover. On the surface, "The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking" would appear to be just what the doctor ordered - a beautiful book of health conscious recipes compiled by perhaps the four most prominent French chefs living in the US. With glossy photographs of many it's 150 recipes and a layout that emphasizes seasonal menu planning over individual dishes, the book gives a wonderful first impression. But things grind to a halt quickly when you start to cook. I'm sure there are many wonderful creations contained in these pages (and low fat versions of all the big hitters in the French lineup are here). And, honest, I promise to keep trying. But even in experienced hands, so many are outright clinkers that one rapidly looses faith in the entire collection. The recipe for asparagus soup (pg.60) illustrates the book's underlying central theme: if you're going to reduce the fat, you'd better concentrate the flavors. The recipe calls for 5 cups of white chicken stock -- not unusual until you look at the book's recipe for white chicken stock (pg.37). Eight pounds of chicken bones plus mirepoix and herbs yields just 4 cups (yes, cups, not quarts) of stock. At that concentration, the soup would require the 10 lbs. of bones just to made the base. That's one concentrated stock. OK, then skip the recipes that call for chicken stock. Unfortunately, in true French style white chicken stock is required for fully 22 recipes. Fortunately, brown stock is required for only four, and the formulation is a little more reasonable. But even this recipe requires hard-to-find veal bones and yields a demi-glace strength stock. Best to own a butcher shop. I won't comment on the health claims except to ask a question. If French cuisine is so inherently healthy, why have all the recipes been changed from their classic origins? Frankly, if it's healthy high cuisine you're looking for, I'd suggest either of Graham Kerr's first two Mini-Max cookbooks before this one. Kerr's recipes are at least executable and often produce astonishing results. If you insist on traditional French, it's difficult to beat Richard Grausman's "At Home with the French Classics."

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm using this book to save our marriage., April 20, 1999

By A Customer

My wife has a demanding job - so demanding in fact that I have started cooking. And with bathing suit season coming, she's concerned about her weight - so I've glommed onto The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking. It's a lifesaver because it gives menus - I've never been good at figuring out what to serve with what. And the food is so delicious, we can't believe it's pretty low in calories and fat. The Warm Chocolate Tortes on page 101 is amazing - although I don't use a pastry bag to make it. Just spoon it in. Now we don't order in pizza so often!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY -- fabulous French cuisine that is simple to create!, October 12, 1998

By A Customer

I love this book! The food tastes wonderful and is good for you. I'll be honest -- at first I wanted the book because it looked beautiful. I wasn't sure that I could cook good French food, but I did and it was easy. My friends and family loved it! In fact, all of my neighbors are talking about my dishes. I can't wait to show off the Cauliflower Soup this weekend!