We learned how to make omelets, roasts, soups like Vichysoisse (surprisingly simple potato and leek soup), and how to cook the bumper crop of garden green beans in a new and very delectable manner.
I still think that this may be one of the best cookbooks for vegetables that I have on my shelf. I prize it for the meat section, especially a veal ragout that is possibly one of the most luxurious company dishes for a dinner party. It can be made ahead, and in fact, improves if you do. There are a lot of delicious desserts, some complicated (like Creme Bavaroise) and some cakes such as Reine de Saba (Queen of Sheba), a darkly moist and modest looking little chocolate cake. This is easy to make, but so rich and delicious it should be banned by the AMA. What's not in here is French Bread. That's in Volume II.
We made French-style green beans and the Reine de Saba cake one memorable Thanksgiving when we were very young, and even the kids (seven cousins, five of which were BOYS) sat politely glued to the table for the ENTIRE meal instead of getting up and running around halfway through the feast. The food was THAT good.
While I don't make French food every day because I watch my weight, I do use this book for the princples of good food preparation, even if omitting cream or substituting lower fat choices.
Fear not...here's help! The ISBN number for the second volume is 0394721772. Search using this number to find it.must have My first cookbook was Joy of Cooking, my second, Mastering the Art of French Cooking; both were solid, basic, accessible, world-expanding, indispensable guides for me when I was young and learning to do more in the kitchen than I had grown up with. An appreciation of food and a view toward a larger world started here for me. It is an excellent place still, this set, to start an education in classic French cuisine. Julia Child wrote the recipes with an inexperienced cook and American audience in mind, and 35-40 years ago, probably, so the dishes are imminently do-able. Get all the volumes.
I love good food and enjoy cooking. The problem is, after twenty something years cooking I still have to admit that I have no natural talent or culinary instinct. EVERYTIME I use this book I am successful. Don't let the title of this book intimidate you. This book was written in large part with the novice in mind.
