"Based on the book given to all students at aEcole de cuisine La Varenne: La Varenne basic recipes (1978)"--T.p. verso.

Abstract: A cookbook for beginners presents the philosophy of cooking as taught at the Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris. The comprehensive course teaches first a mastery of the fundamentals, and then more complicated procedures which can be put together to produce the famous works of French classic and nouvelle cuisine. There are 35 lessons, each dealing with a food ingredient (eggs, cheese), a prepared food (soups, salads) or a technique (sauteing, boning). Each lesson has an introductory statement plus a discussion of utensils and ingredients needed, and preparation techniques, and possible variations. The 250 recipes included give both American and metric measurements and Farenheit and Centigrade temperatures. Color photographs illustrate techniques. (kbc).

During almost two decades of catering everything from the Academy Awards to a fete for Queen Elizabeth to an intimate dinner for Julia Child to a “Roller-Disco” Bat Mitzvah, Nicole Aloni has learned more than a few tricks-of-the-trade. And whether you’re planning your umpteenth dinner for twelve, or you’ve only just figured out that there’s a kitchen in your apartment, Secrets From a Caterer’s Kitchen is the manual on entertaining. This comprehensive, accessible and easy-to-use book offers insider tips and guidance about: Menu preparation for both large and small gatherings Finding special locations for events Decorating advice for “theme” festivities Creating invitations Maintaining a budget Over 125 tried-and-true party recipes Whether it’s a candlelight dinner, a kid’s birthday party, or a holiday extravaganza, you can put on a show like a pro—and keep your guests guessing—with Secrets from a Caterer’s Kitchen!

Renowned for her cooking school in France and her many bestselling cookbooks, Willan combines years of hands-on experience with extensive research to create a brand-new classic. Sprinkled with more than 250 recipes and 270 enchanting photos, this cookbook is an irresistible celebration of French culinary culture.

"Anne Willan, multi-award-winning culinary historian, cookbook writer, cooking teacher, and founder of La Varenne Cooking School in Paris, explores the lives and work of women cookbook authors whose important books have defined cooking over the past three hundred years. Beginning with the first published cookbook by Hannah Woolley in 1661, up to Alice Waters today, these women, and books, created the canon of the American table. Focusing on the figures behind the recipes, Women in the Kitchen traces the development of American home cooking from the first, early colonial days to transformative cookbooks by Fannie Farmer, Irma Rombauer, Julia Child, Edna Lewis, and Marcella Hazan. Willan offers a short biography of each influential woman, including her background, and a description of the seminal books she authored. These women inspired one another, and in part owe their places in cooking history to those who came before them. Featuring fifty original recipes, as well as updated versions Willan has tested and modernized for the contemporary kitchen, this engaging narrative seamlessly moves through history to help readers understand how female cookbook authors have shaped American cooking today"--Amazon

A follow-up to the author’s acclaimed Bon Appétit, Y’all, featuring 150 recipes that combine Southern flavors with time-honored French technique, and include a sophisticated variation that kicks each dish up a notch to make it brilliant. Virginia Willis has a knack for giving French recipes a downhome Southern feel. In Basic to Brilliant, Y’all, she builds on her signature style by offering 150 dual recipes: a soul-satisfying basic recipe accompanied by a technique, garnish, additional step, or short recipe that transforms a wonderful dish into a show stopper. A weeknight classic like Mama’s Chicken Pot Pie becomes sophisticated dinner party fare when it’s baked in a winter squash, and Old Fashioned Stove Top Low-Country Broth can be transformed into a Bouillabaisse-style broth with just a few simple changes. Throughout the book, Virginia paints a vivid picture of her Southern upbringing, drawing readers in with her vibrant tales of food and friends.

How does one become an Iron Chef and a Chopped judge on Food Network—and what does she really cook at home? Alex Guarnaschelli grew up in a home suffused with a love of cooking, where soufflés and cheeseburgers were equally revered. The daughter of a respected cookbook editor and a Chinese cooking enthusiast, Alex developed a passion for food at a young age, sealing her professional fate. Old-School Comfort Food shares her journey from waist-high taste-tester to trained chef who now adores spending time in the kitchen with her daughter, along with the 100 recipes for how she learned to cook—and the way she still loves to eat. Here are Alex’s secrets to great home cooking, where humble ingredients and familiar preparations combine with excellent technique and care to create memorable meals. Alex brings her recipes to life with reminiscences of everything from stealing tomatoes from her aunt’s garden and her first bite of her mother’s pâté to being one of the few women in the kitchen of a renowned Parisian restaurant and serving celebrity clientele in her own successful New York City establishments. With 75 color photographs and ephemera, Old-School Comfort Food is Alex’s love letter to deliciousness.

Featuring new recipes and photographs, this revised and updated edition of Virginia Willis’s best-selling culinary classic also features new variations and commentary on the original recipes plus options using healthier ingredients. More than two hundred heritage and new recipes seamlessly blend into a thoroughly modern Southern cookbook. The daughter and granddaughter of consummate Southern cooks, Willis is also a classically trained French chef and an award-winning writer. These divergent influences come together splendidly in Bon Appétit, Y’all, a modern Southern chef’s passionate and evolving homage to her culinary roots. Espousing a simple-is-best philosophy, Willis uses good ingredients, concentrates on sound French technique, and lets the food shine in a style she calls “refined Southern cuisine.” Approachable recipes are arranged by chapter into starters and nibbles; salads and slaws; eggs and dairy; main dishes with fowl, fish, and other meats; sides; biscuits and breads; soups and stews; desserts; and sauces and preserves. Collected here are stylishly updated Southern and French classics (New Southern Chicken and Herb Dumplings, Boeuf Bourguignonne, Fried Catfish Fingers with Country Rémoulade) and traditional favorites (Meme’s Biscuits, Mama’s Apple Pie, Okra and Tomatoes), and it wouldn’t be Southern cooking without vegetables (Cauliflower and Broccoli Parmesan, Green Beans Provençal, and Smoky Collard Greens). More than one hundred photographs bring to life both Virginia’s food and the bounty of her native Georgia. You’ll also find well-written stories, a wealth of tips and techniques from a skilled and innovative teacher, and the wisdom of a renowned authority in American regional cuisine, steeped to her core in the food, culinary knowledge, and hospitality of the South. Bon Appétit, Y’all is Virginia Willis’s way of saying, “Welcome to my Southern kitchen. Pull up a chair.” Once you have tasted her food, you’ll want to stay a good long while.

The author, born in Shenandoah, Iowa, moved to France and eventually had to learn to cook "à la française." She shares her adventures and misadventures and many recipes.

“You can almost taste the food in Bill Buford’s Dirt, an engrossing, beautifully written memoir about his life as a cook in France.” —The Wall Street Journal What does it take to master French cooking? This is the question that drives Bill Buford to abandon his perfectly happy life in New York City and pack up and (with a wife and three-year-old twin sons in tow) move to Lyon, the so-called gastronomic capital of France. But what was meant to be six months in a new and very foreign city turns into a wild five-year digression from normal life, as Buford apprentices at Lyon’s best boulangerie, studies at a legendary culinary school, and cooks at a storied Michelin-starred restaurant, where he discovers the exacting (and incomprehensibly punishing) rigueur of the professional kitchen. With his signature humor, sense of adventure, and masterful ability to bring an exotic and unknown world to life, Buford has written the definitive insider story of a city and its great culinary culture.