Mastering the Art of French Cooking or PDQ

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1

Author: Julia Child

“Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for forty years, has been teaching Americans how.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces
to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. This beautiful book, with more than one hundred instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach because:

• It leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a recipe, to the final creation of a delicate
confection.
• It breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound to increase anyone’s culinary repertoire.
• It adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to modern American conveniences.
• It shows Americans how to buy products, from any supermarket in the U.S.A., that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients: equivalent meat cuts, for example; the right beans for a cassoulet; the appropriate fish and shellfish for a bouillabaisse.
• It offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines.

Since there hasnever been a book as instructive and as workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable. In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to find the place of honor in every kitchen in America.

New interesting textbook: Movie Menus or A Guys Guide to Great Eating

PDQ (Pretty Darn Quick) Vegetarian Cookbook: 240 Healthy and Easy No-Prep Recipes for Busy Cooks

Author: Donna Klein

More than 240 healthy and easy no-prep recipes for creating delicious meals-in 30 minutes or less.

No chopping, peeling, slicing, coring, seeding, whipping, or blending required!

From appetizing hors d'oeuvres to impressive desserts, from casual weeknight suppers or elegant dinner parties, The PDQ Vegetarian Cookbook is bursting with great-tasting recipes that eliminate the prep work by taking clever advantage of the best new convenience foods and innovative time-saving techniques.

The PDQ promise:

- More than 240 nutritious recipes for appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, main courses, side dishes, brunch, and desserts
- No cutlery, graters, juicers, electric mixers, blenders, or food processors required
- Tips on using convenience foods like ready-washed salad greens, pre-cut fruits and vegetables, jarred sauces, and ready-made crusts
- Most dishes ready in 30 minutes-with minimal kitchen clean-up
- Nutritional analysis of calories, protein, total fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and sodium for every recipe
- More than 100 egg-free, dairy-free vegan recipes with no tofu or other substitutes needed

Author Biography: Donna Klein has contributed to the Washington Post, Vegetarian Gourmet, Veggie Life, Herb Companion, Body and Soul, and Yoga Journal. She studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and is the author of The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen.

Library Journal

Klein (The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen) promises that her recipes require "no chopping, peeling, slicing, coring, seeding, whipping, or blending." Instead, they are based on convenience foods of all types, from the precut vegetables available at salad bars to canned and bottled sauces and condiments. Many of her recipes are vegan and use low-fat products, which will appeal to some cooks but not to others. The somewhat similar Lorna Sass' Short-Cut Vegetarian relies less heavily on prepared products, but Klein's book contains more than twice as many recipes. For most vegetarian collections. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.