Larousse Gastronomique: Learning the Language of the Kitchen

The Larousse Gastronomique is a valuable addition to your kitchen library and, incidentally, makes a great gift for anyone who takes cooking seriously. Cooking, like any art-form or highly technical pursuit, comes with its own jargon, or terms which may be unfamiliar to those not formally trained. Can you cook well without knowing these specialized words? Of course, but understanding the language used by the great chefs can make following and creating recipes much easier. The Gastronomique gives easy to understand explanations for thousands upon thousands of specialized cooking words.

For example, if you go to a restaurant and have a dish called estouffade of beef and decide that you'd like to try to recreate it at home, it is helpful to know that "estouffade" means that the dish is stewed for along time. Armed with that knowledge, you'd plan for several hours of cooking time for this dish instead of getting caught short of time and going to plan B.

The Larousse Gastronomique also includes nearly 4000 recipes and 1000 illustrations which are used to add context to the definitions. In the case of the term estouffade, there is a complete recipe for estouffade of beef given along with the definition and origin of the word.

I use a 1988 edition although it has been updated and modernized several times since then. Although it is a fairly expensive book, about $60, it is one of my favorite cooking tomes. I highly recommend it as a special gift for anyone who is passionate about cooking or as a treat for yourself.

With the Larousse Gastronomique, you'll learn which cut of the duck is the magret and several ways to prepare them. You'll also know who might be going home if a judge on Top Chef refers to a contestant's lobster bisque as a brouet. Only practice will make you a better cook, but with the Larousse Gastonomique, at least you'll be able to speak the language.

Comments

Fiddlehead Fern Pesto

Fiddlehead Ferns Photo by Brad Sylvester. Copyright 2012, all rights reserved. When one orders pesto in a restaurant, one expects the flavor of fresh basil. After all the classic basil pesto recipe is simply fresh basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, a little garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Pesto, however, doesn't have to be made with basil. Parsley, cilantro, and a variety of fresh, flavorful greens can be used instead to provide twists on the classic pesto. Pesto, of course, is a thick sauce often used in place of tomato sauce on pasta, but also appropriate for many other dishes. It's great with chicken, with gnocchi, in place of mayo in a sandwich, with pork chops, in place of horseradish with beef, with fish or in almost any dish that can be enhanced by the addition of fresh garden flavors. Since it is springtime in New England, it is the only time of year that we can get fresh fiddlehead ferns. These are often available in the produce department of good grocery...

Steamed Wontons and Asian Pork Balls

Wontons folded several different ways and arranged in a bamboo steamer basket Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2012. Do not copy. There are probably as many different wonton recipes as there are cooks in China. Like curries, every cook adds their own flair. Wontons make a great party appetizer or a component of a larger meal. They can also be used to make soup. Although they can be fried, I find that steamed wontons retain more of the flavor of the ingredients. My son was home from college for the holidays and requested that we make some of his favorite meals while he was home as a refresher from college food hall fare. Dad's wontons were on his list, so I took the opportunity to jot down my recipe and take a few photos of the process for this blog. A standard package of wonton wrappers from the grocery store contains about 52 wrappers, this recipe will give you enough filling for an entire package with a little safety margin which can be made into Asian meatballs. Won...

The Chef Show on Netflix

Most of us would like to be better cooks. Most of us also have day jobs that occupy our time and most of our energy so we don't all have the ability or desire to attend culinary school. Nor do we generally have direct access to a top professional chef to oversee our efforts, provide instruction, and correct our mistakes. Our efforts to improve generally need to fall into our leisure activities: cooking, reading, or watching TV. Maybe we'll ask a friend with a particularly good barbecue sauce for his secret, but in general, if it's too much like work, well who wants more work at the end of a busy day. If, however, you're a famous actor/ director with a strong track record, you get to tell your company (the studio), that you'd like them to get you a top chef to train you and that you would like them to pay both of you. That is pretty much what Jon Favreau did with the 2014 movie Chef . I'm not going to review the movie, but I bring it up because it served as t...

Cooking Like a TV Chef

Search This Blog