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.

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