Parisian Home Cooking: Conversations, Recipes, And Tips From The Cooks And Food Merchants Of Paris by Michael Roberts

Parisian Home Cooking: Conversations, Recipes, And Tips From The Cooks And Food Merchants Of Paris Reviews

• 
  Constantine Alexander

  How To Enjoy Every Day. It Is Easier Than You Think.
  
  Michael Roberts, the author, writes in the introduction to his book as though he were speaking to you at a small, outdoor table at a local café while dunking a biscotti into his espresso. His message is simple and insightful. His advice is worth hearing.
  
  To begin with, you should know that Michael Roberts moved to Paris in 1975 and earned his professional certificate from the Ecole Superieure de Cuisine Jean-Ferrandi. He lived and worked in Paris before returning to the U.S. and opening his own restaurant Trumps in Los Angeles in 1980. He has since that time returned to Paris for several extended visits. He brought his experiences of everyday life in Paris to this book that reveals how the average, working person in Paris shops for food and prepares meals at home. In his introduction to the book, you instantly recognize yourself because he explains how people in the everyday Parisian culture share virtually the same food varieties, cooking equipment, busy schedules and lack of time that people in every other metropolitan area of the world also share.
  
  The discovery that I made is based upon an admission by the author in the opening of his book when he speaks of his youth and says "The realization that I had learned to cook but not to nourish, that I hadn't grasped the gastronomic world of the average Parisian, disheartened me." So, he set upon a course to correct that oversight and wrote about his experiences that revolve around one simple philosophy from which we can all profit. You start with fine ingredients. You cook things in a way that coaxes out the flavors. No need to complicate a recipe with many ingredients, because they only end up fighting each other. Let the ingredients speak to you. He goes on to say "The charm of a French meal lies in their insistence on quality ingredients and balanced flavor, in respecting those ingredients by not overcomplicating the cooking." I enjoyed and wholeheartedly agree with his comments that shopping for flavorful ingredients should be a delight, not a chore; that cooking delicious meals doesn't really take very long; that the resulting enjoyment breaks up the tension of the day from which we can all benefit; that the devotion to this splendid ritual of eating well should become part of the rhythm of life; and, finally, that families who share this pattern of living will pass on the gift of memories of yesterday so that familiar flavors or aromas will unlock the memory of childhood, what most Parisians do nearly every time they sit down at the table.
  
  The book's 175 recipes that reflect the author's philosophies are easy to prepare and suit a variety of tastes for various courses of a meal, including soups, salads, entrees, and desserts. My copy of the book has already shown wear on its edges and stains on its most used pages which, if you will pardon the expression, speaks volumes about what I think of this book.
• 
  Garrett Swearingen

  Food, France, anectodes about shopping for groceries and cooking in Paris. Good photos of Paris markets. Something of a limited cookbook, but I visit it frequently just for pleasure. Like a little vacation! Tasteful and well-designed.
• 
  Diane

  Buy the book for the turkey thigh recipe alone. My husband gets weak in the knees at the mention of my making it. I have not had good luck with the vegetable and soup recipes I have tried so far but the meat and poultry ones receive raves from my family.
• 
  Naulayne Raiche Enders

  I loved this cookbook. The recipes are easy to accomplish since the focus is cooking at home. French kitchens in Paris are very small so most of the recipes require few dishes to make and only a few ingredients.
  
  Now, I just want to do my grocery shopping in France!
• 
  Carol Adams harpole

  Accessible, straightforward, insider look at what it's like to cook at home in Paris. Most recipes are doable on a weeknight, or fun enough to entertain on the weekend.