French Cooking for Beginners: 75+ Classic Recipes to Cook Like a Parisian

After a visit to France, my son and husband were excited to try home cooked French meals. I have been going through several well known books over the last year: My Paris Kitchen, many of Julia Child's, and I picked up several books by famous classic French chefs from the library. However, so far this is my favorite French cookbook. I found this book to be particularly good. The ingredients and techniques are straight forward but produce great flavor and results. After trying multiple cassoulet recipes this book seems to produce the closest to what my son fell in love with at a small family cafe in Paris. I have a batch of the duck confit prepping as we speak. I am really looking forward to making the Provencal style beef stew. It looks like it could a similar flavor profile to another recipe I have been trying to recreate. I think this is the book to turn to for great french food at home. It covers all the classics. It is also nice reading about the authors connection to French Provencal cooking growing up. Much appreciated.

Good recipes

For my first time cooking French food, this cookbook was a decent collection of French recipes that were easy to make and well-flavored, albeit difficult for people with dietary restrictions. The recipes I tried were well-written, easy to follow, and richly flavored. However, my main takeaway from this cookbook is that it is not for anyone with significant dietary restrictions (Kosher, in my case). While I enjoyed the recipes I made from the cookbook, there may are not very many recipes I could cook without substituting a lot of the ingredients. If you don’t have dietary restrictions, you may get more out of this cookbook more than I did because the recipes are ultimately quite tasty.In the introduction, the author explains some of the philosophy behind French cooking, and explains the ingredients that are essential to building up French cuisine. To be clear this is not a primer on French cooking, and is mostly a collection of recipes for French food that are relatively easy to cook. Also, despite the implication of the subtitle, the recipes are from all over France and not exclusively Parisian. To that end, I appreciated the variety of recipes in each section: breakfasts, salads, soups, entrees, and desserts. The only section that I felt was lacking was the side dishes section. I would have appreciated more recipes for vegetable side dishes to go with the entrees. There is also no specific section on sauces and broths/stock, and – if a sauce is called for in a dish – the recipe will usually be detailed alongside the main recipe. Organizing the sauces and soup broths into a single section would be helpful for referencing. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the recipes in the book can be difficult for people with dietary restrictions like me. Very few recipes are vegetarian, many call for dairy products, and plenty call for pork products. I had to make many substitutions, but was able to cook a few recipes.As for the recipes I tried, I found that they were all very tasty and some were easy (some were not). The author does a great job of writing the recipes so that they are extremely easy to follow, even if some are labor-intensive. Coq au vin was my favorite of the recipes taste-wise, although it required a rather ridiculous number of dishes to wash. The roast chicken recipe was absolutely delicious, and took almost no time to prepare. I then used the remains in the soup stock recipe, which emphasizes the repurposing of kitchen scraps to get more use out of your ingredients. Chickpea salad and the pistou soup were tasty and easy, but not particularly memorable. Lastly, the chocolate pots de crème were very rich and a delightful experience.Overall, I would consider this book if you have a desire to try out a basic introduction to French cooking without getting too into the weeds. The recipes are easy to follow, and all of the ones I tried tasted good. Best for people without too many dietary restrictions, though.

This book has already inspired some really nice meals at our home. If, like me, you've ever felt both tempted and daunted by the sometimes intricate recipes of Jaques Pepin or Julia Child or if you are an experienced cook just looking for some new ideas for a weeknight, this is a great book for you. Many of the recipes have only a few ingredients, but each one I've tried has introduced me to a new idea that I can use elsewhere. (My daughter is now making the simple raspberry sauce from the peach melba recipe whenever we have both raspberries and ice cream in the fridge.)de Melogue is a talented writer as well as a great chef (his restaurants in Chicago were among our favorites) and his love of cooking shines through the unpretentious recipes.

I have so many cookbooks, this by far is the best I have ever owned! I read it cover to cover like a novel. Easy to read, informative, easy to follow, an delicious recipes. I love French food but always thought it was super hard to cook. This book makes it seem absolutely doable and fun to do! I can't wait to start cooking, I want to make every dish in the book! Highly recommend

Lovely book! Had many of the classic French standards and many wonderful surprises. I will enjoy this book for years to come!

I had the pleasure of eating Francois' cooking at my first restaurant job when he was in New York. I never stopped working in the restaurant business after that. He is inspiring, humorous, and amazing. His recipes are easy to follow. I highly recommend this book, as well as his first, Cuisine of the Sun.

More pictures would be nice but it is stil a great cookbook! Very informative and instructions are straightforward. It’s all about fresh ingredients and loving the process.

A good mix of simple info and classic recipes. Tips on what to have in the store cupboard.

After savouring his duck confit YouTube video I was compelled to add this to my cart. The typography, photography, and instruction are élan. He provides a broad range of recipes salted with variations, culture, and anecdotes. I hope he is working on a sequel.

For me personally not enough pictures of the dishes. Probably 3 or 4. You eat with your eyes 1st and if you know what a dishes looks like it gives you a better idea of the dish.Some recipes are useless like pork fillette and duck confit. No one does this. In France you can buy fresh hammed pork rillettes at butchers which are so good. Duck confit (cassoulet) have you ever tried ? I have! I’ve made it requires huge amount of oil that take hours to cook and make your home smells for days !! What the point when againyou can it in a tin or jar already cooked then just add your ingredients to make the cassoulet. They are so many French dishes you can make that are classic without the faff!The use of different measurements is slightly confusing as well (cups/grams etc )Not a great book in my opinion.