best cookbooks for learning french and italian cooking

[GQgeek]

I'd like one for french and one for italian since those are my two favorite cuisines. I need books that cover technique in a thorough manner and not just a bunch of recipes.

For french the choices seem to be Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child or the Larousse Gastronomique. I'm sure a lot of people will say both, but I just ordered several hundred dollars worth of cookware so i want to take it easy; i still have to buy food ;p Is one better than the other for learning technique? And is there something comparable to those works for italian cooking?

 

[horton]

For French, the Bocuse (sp?) book -- I forget title -- is tough to beat. If you love to cook you'll want to read it from cover to cover. Be sure to read the into though as they'll provide explanation, e.g., Bocuse recommends larding certain meat because in France it is leaner; in U.S. you won't need to lard.

If you can handle that book, the next leap is to Kellher (sp?) French Laundry, which is not meant for beginners or novices (other than for the pictures).

 

[DocHolliday]

This may not be quite as specific as you're looking for, but the one cooking book I consider truly indispensable is Anne Willan's "La Varenne Pratique." It's huge, beautiful and contains most every cooking technique you'll ever need, all illustrated in full color.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...73830?v=glance

 

[chorse123]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

For french the choices seem to be Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

We have a winner!

Yes, this is what you want.

 

[pejsek]

The one book you--and everyone else!--really needs is Edouard de Pomiane's French Cooking in Ten Minutes. First published in 1930, it's a fun and witty book that takes the charge of its title seriously. Amazon has excerpts up on its site. I really can't recommend it highly enough. Elizabeth David's books on French and Italian cooking are also very good. Like Edouard de Pomiane, she's a great writer who really gets to the core of things in an economical way. I'd also put in a word for Waverly Root and his large book, The Food of France, and his even larger one, The Food of Italy. These aren't really cookbooks as much as travelogue, history, and descriptions of food, but they really put it together so you understand how and why the people of these various regions cook things the way they do.

 

[Edward Appleby]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

I'd like one for french and one for italian since those are my two favorite cuisines. I need books that cover technique in a thorough manner and not just a bunch of recipes.

For french the choices seem to be Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child or the Larousse Gastronomique. I'm sure a lot of people will say both, but I just ordered several hundred dollars worth of cookware so i want to take it easy; i still have to buy food ;p Is one better than the other for learning technique? And is there something comparable to those works for italian cooking?
The Gastronomique, while a fascinating volume that makes great reading with a cup of tea, is not exactly didactic. Still, I highly recommend it.

 

[LabelKing]

How about Auguste Escoffier's original, The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery?

This is seminal material.

 

[acidboy]

for italian, i think 'the silver spoon' (phaidon) is complete.

 

[Stax]

For technique, the best cookbook out there, hands down, is the The Essentials of Cooking by James Peterson. It covers over 250 core techniques and recipies. It includes tons of photos, as well.

 

[alflauren]

If you have a week or two on your hands, there's always the Ritz school in Paris. You can take their cooking course one week at a time, and get a certificate after completing all parts of the 6-week series.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by alflauren

If you have a week or two on your hands, there's always the Ritz school in Paris. You can take their cooking course one week at a time, and get a certificate after completing all parts of the 6-week series.

That would certainly be interesting. It's not in the cards in the immediate future though ;p

I bought Mastering the Art of French Cooking and Joy of Cooking last night. Mastering is great. I read through a few chapters and it really makes everything easy to understand. It's very clear and concise, unlike a lot of cookbooks I've looked at in the past. You never have to guess what they mean.

Once I've made some headway in to that, I'll definitely be getting The French Laundry. It's an absolutely gorgeous book, but right now I think the recipes are a bit out of my reach so I'll wait until I've got some experience before attempting any of them.

As for Escoffier, I'll probably get it eventually but for learning the basics I couldn't be happier with MtAoFC, plus it has new techniques for old recipes, like a foolproof way to do Hollandaise in a food processor, which will be helpful when I go back to Escoffier. The really cool thing however is that it suggests you learn the "old-fashioned" way because every good cook needs to become intimately familiar with the properties of eggs and how they react to different techniques.

I can't wait till my pots and pans get here! I cooked cheap supermarket steak yesterday and it was rare in the center and well-done around the edges...

 

[tattersall]

Originally Posted by acidicboy

for italian, i think 'the silver spoon' (phaidon) is complete.
Got this book last Christmas and have made many dishes from it - an excellent book with many simple receipts. Also for Italian, the River Cafe (in London) series is worth a look.

 

[esquire.]

It really depends on what type of french and italian cooking you like to eat. There's a big difference between classical french cooking with its heavy sauces vs. nouvelle french cuisine just like there's a big difference between french haute cuisine vs. bistro food vs. hearty food of the countryside you'd find in Provence.Your book choice should recognize that as there's not one single book that can effectively teach you all those different styles.

For example, LabelKing's suggestion, Escoffier wrote back in the early 1900s and he's a source you'd use if you were more interested in classical french cooking. I haven't read Julia Child's work, but I would believe she would also fall into the category of more classical french cooking. Personally, I don't know if I'd want to eat that much classical french food with all that butter every day at home. And, I wouldn't even bother with the expensive Larousse Gastronomique- its really for a hardcore chef; its more of an encyclopedia than a teaching tool or cookbook. For example, here's a typical entry:

"CAT - Domestic cat whose edible meat has a flavour halfway between that of rabbit and that of hare. Cat's meat has often been eaten in periods of famine or siege. Legend has it that in the cook-shops the cat is often used in the making of rabbit fricasses. Examination of the bones would easily enable one, in case of doubt, to distinguish between the one animal and the other."

Like I said, LG is encyclopedic. I wouldn't even be surprised if they had an entry on MAN as well.

If you really like Julia Child, then you should also try Marcella Hazan for Italian cooking. The similarities are pretty eerie. They were both women who didn't show that much interest in cooking until they were married and had to learn how to cook for their husbands. What Julia Child did to French cooking, Hazan did to Italian cooking. Before Hazan, the American perception of italian food was limited to spaghetti and pizza. She popularized balsmic vinegar among other things.

 

[romafan]

Originally Posted by esquire.

It really depends on what type of french and italian cooking you like to eat. There's a big difference between classical french cooking with its heavy sauces vs. nouvelle french cuisine just like there's a big difference between french haute cuisine vs. bistro food vs. hearty food of the countryside you'd find in Provence.Your book choice should recognize that as there's not one single book that can effectively teach you all those different styles.

For example, LabelKing's suggestion, Escoffier wrote back in the early 1900s and he's a source you'd use if you were more interested in classical french cooking. I haven't read Julia Child's work, but I would believe she would also fall into the category of more classical french cooking. Personally, I don't know if I'd want to eat that much classical french food with all that butter every day at home. And, I wouldn't even bother with the expensive Larousse Gastronomique- its really for a hardcore chef; its more of an encyclopedia than a teaching tool or cookbook. For example, here's a typical entry:

"CAT - Domestic cat whose edible meat has a flavour halfway between that of rabbit and that of hare. Cat's meat has often been eaten in periods of famine or siege. Legend has it that in the cook-shops the cat is often used in the making of rabbit fricasses. Examination of the bones would easily enable one, in case of doubt, to distinguish between the one animal and the other."

Like I said, LG is encyclopedic. I wouldn't even be surprised if they had an entry on Man as well.

If you really like Julia Child, then you should also try Marcella Hazan for Italian cooking. The similarities are pretty eerie. They were both women who didn't show that much interest in cooking until they were married and had to learn how to cook for their husbands. What Julia Child did to French cooking, Hazan did to Italian cooking. Before Hazan, the American perception of italian food was limited to spaghetti and pizza. She popularized balsmic vinegar among other things.

I like the green M. Hazan book ('The Essentials of Italian Cooking'?). A friend once saw her in a restaurant: she was eating corned beef and drinking bourbon (w/ a lit cigarette in the ashtray)!

 

[Fabienne]

Don't buy anything yet. Go to your local library, get the Larousse gastronomique, the Escoffier if they have it, a bunch of others on French and Italian cuisine, and try them for a while. See what fits your style and needs best.

I do that with various cuisines, and if a book has repeatedly excellent recipes, I buy it. This does not happen very often.