Books for Cooks

A Guide to all the Riches Of Rustic French Cuisine

By Holly Rowland

The Country Cooking of FRANCE
by Anne Willan.

Chronicle/Raincoast Book $65

This visually stunning, comprehensive guide to French cuisine is the only up-to-date cookbook that covers all the regions of France. “After Julia Child, Willan, by dint of her books alone, has done more to illuminate French cooking for home chefs than any other woman in America or England (Washington Post). She is well known for her many best-selling cookbooks, as well as her highly regarded cooking school in France, La Varenne, which she founded with Julia Child and James Beard in 1973.

More than 200 recipes from this classic cookbook held me captive just like a very small mouse with a very large chunk of cheese, or should I say “rat” in honour of Chinese New Year? However I say it, it is a treasure trove of her years of experience writing about French cuisine with extensive research, hands-on expertise, and a deep appreciation of the current culinary trends in France from historical tidbits about individual regions and the people who make French food so irresistible to the recipes written by a master-teacher, to the gorgeous photos of food markets, villages, harbours, fields, and home, make this a book as beautiful to look at as to cook from.

Quiche Lorraine, Souffle Au Fromage De Francoise, Le Vrai Coq Au Vin, plus so many great and grand offerings you have enjoyed in French and “High Scale” Restaurants, plus Rustic Sauces, and everything else you would expect and love from rustic French cuisine. Our own Vancouver Island is blessed with so many small farms where we lucky ones may snap up fresh vegetables and fruits when each season dictates. The choice of a recipe was most difficult; they all tempt the taste buds, so I decided to surprise you with a sorely neglected recipe, namely, Foie De Veau Lyonnais Calf’s Liver with Onions! So many people HATE liver! Hate it with a vengeance. But no wonder, they have been offered OVER-Cooked liver, and it is tough as an old boot and just as tasteless, so this recipe may open a new world of delicious liver to their repertoire.

Foie De Veau Lyonnaise
Serves 5 or 6

6 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
6 large onions (about 2 ½ pounds/1 kg total) sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons sugar

*Bouquet Garni. A tied bundle of aromatic herbs for flavouring braises, ragouts, stocks, and sauces. It should include a sprig of fresh thyme, a dried bay leaf, and several sprigs of fresh parsley. Leek greens and celery tops may also be included.

salt and pepper
1 bouquet garni*
5 or 6 slices calf’s liver ( about 1 ½ pounds/675 g total)
¾ cup/175 ml chicken broth

1. Melt 4 tablespoons/60 g of the lard in a frying pan over low heat.
2. Stir in the onions, garlic, sugar (the sugar helps the onions to brown and caramelize), salt, and pepper and tuck in the bouquet garni.
3. Press a piece of aluminum foil down on the onions, cover the pan, and sweat the onions over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until very soft, 25 to 30 minutes.
4. Remove the lid and foil, turn up the heat to medium, and continue cooking until the onions are caramelized and golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes longer.
5. Stir them often so that they do not scorch.
6. Discard the bouquet garni, taste, and adjust the seasoning
7. Set the onions aside and keep warm. They may also be refrigerated for a couple of days and reheated on top of the stove just before serving.
8. To finish, pat the slices of liver dry on paper towels and season them lightly with salt and pepper.
9. Heat the remaining lard in another frying pan over high heat.
10. Add the liver and sauté until browned, 2 to 3 minutes.
11. Turn and brown on the other side, one to two minutes longer. DO NOT LET THE LIVER OVERCOOK or it will be tough; it is at its best pink in the centre.
12. Transfer to 5 or 6 warmed plates and pile the onions on top.
13. Discard the excess fat from the pan.
14. Add the broth and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the pan juices.
15. Taste for seasoning, then spoon the pan sauce over the liver and onions and serve at once.

N.B. Anne Willan’s recipes look long, but she writes with such clarity that even the beginner will be able to follow and complete each recipe with success.

Bread To Get Your Teeth Into

CRUST
by Richard Bertinet

Kyle Cathie Ltd./Raincoast $ 34.95

Before you open a single page of Crust, play the accompanying DVD. If you are the proud owner of “Dough”, Richard Bertinet’s revolutionary and simple approach to bread making, you will know just what to expect.

Incidently, Richard Bertinet’s revolutionary and simple approach to bread making in his first “Dough”, won him so many accolades and front-cover treatment in Gourmet magazine. He now introduces recipes that require a little more understanding but still inspires readers with the confidence to create them at home. A handy DVD is enclosed to help you on your way.

Those of us who were lucky enough to have mothers or fathers who made bread will remember the smooth, rhythmic action of hands, arms, and shoulders turning a sticky mass into a soft pillow of pliable dough. We are now able to watch this malleable magic happen as Richard shows us the way. It will open the door to sourdough, croissant, brioche and many breads that are influenced by international flavours. Whatever you favour, “Crust”, Richard Bertinet’s latest cookbook will inspire to you to all the heights that mere dough can rise.

Recipes Menu