Cooking with Les Dames D’Escoffier, a New Read

When Tess sent me the copy of Secret Suppers she also sent a fascinating book called Cooking with Les Dames D’Escoffier.

This is more of a cookbook/who’s who list than anything.  I really enjoyed it.  The book is broken into sections as any cookbook would be but then each section is broken down into recipes by certain Dames d’ Escoffier…Julia Child, Dorie Greenspan,  Joanne Weir, Marcella Hazan…the list goes on.

But it doesn’t stop there. There is a little triva about each of these amazing ladies to go along with the recipes.  I did not know, for example, that Dorie Greenspan was in a doctoral program for gerontology when she abandoned it in favor of becoming a food writer!

This is not a small book with twenty pages of recipes.  This is a serious work, a fantastic anthology if you will, of some of the best in the history of food.  320 pages!

Some of the recipes are:

• Winter Minestrone with Butternut Squash and Kale from Abby Mandel
• Phyllo Fontina Cheese Bites from Linda Hopkins
• Scandanavian Cardamom Braid from Beatrice Ojakangas
• Catalan Pasta with Garlic Sauce from Marilyn Tausend
• Burgundian Spiced Caramels from Jennifer McGlinn
• Gingered Sweet Potato Parsnip Puree from Lee Wooding

I have made a few of the recipes, and I have played with a few of the recipes.  The Anise & Vanilla carrots were based on the Anise carrots in the book.  The recipes are easy to follow and interesting but not so unusual that you would not actually make them.  This is real food, stuff the husband and kids will eat without making weird jokes and odd remarks..and fixing themselves peanut butter and jelly instead.

So, what do you think? Is this something you think you would want to add to your collection?

Feel free to ask questions about it and I will try to answer…

Image:MaryeAudet