WHEN FRENCH WOMEN COOK: A Gastronomic Memoir

by Madeleine M. Kamman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1976

A matriarchal view of the French kitchen by a Boston-based chef who grew up at the knees of women who knew how to take a trout, a bit of butter, some shallots--et voila! Kamman's loving homage to Marie-Charlotte, Victoire, Mimi, Henriette, etc., is seeped in country kitchen fragrances and though you may find that she tends to be just a bit cloying remembering the dear women ""with worn hands stained by vegetables peeled""--each epitomizing a different regional cuisine--the recipes are quite marvelous. No use trying to replicate the crême fraiche of Normandy or the wild mushrooms of the Auvergne, but Kamman makes do handsomely with less exquisite American butter and cream, insisting only on an authentic veal stock and fish fumet. The cooking processes and costs are graded, easy to very difficult, affordable to very expensive, and measurements are given in metrics as well as cups. So we get. . . nettle soup from the Savoyard, Breton tinker mackerel, Alsatian patÉs and terrines. She says frankly ""these recipes are designed for entertaining"" since good food is costly in time if not always in money. Which may be why each meal is a ""celebration"" to look forward to and remember, as she does, with fond devotion to her mentors.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION