Simple French Cookery by Raymond Blanc

Book Review of Top French Chef’s Classic Recipes

Mar 13, 2009

Straightforward recipes for fabulous French food clearly explained by the owner of UK Hotel Restaurant Le Manoir aux Quatr' Saisons.

Classic Traditional Recipes for French Food can be hard to find. Many chefs and writers simply cannot help adding a little flourish to vary a well loved dish. While this may make for adventurous cuisine, it is refreshing to find so many classic French dishes described in loving detail in Raymond Blanc’s book Simple French Cookery.

Raymond Blanc Explains French Cuisine Ingredients

Raymond Blanc begins by describing some key ingredients used in good French cookery. Goose fat and unrefined sea salt are all the rage in the UK at the moment, but they have been well known, and widely used, in France for centuries. Raymond Blanc explains how the quality and choice of ingredients is fundamental when cooking a delicious French meal.

Raymond Blanc’s Simple French Recipes

While the recipes are always clearly explained, along with step by step instructions and wonderful photographs, some of the recipes do call for considerable attention to detail. For example, few recipes for Coq au Vin call for oven toasted flour when making the sauce, but no doubt it is this attention to detail that transforms the simple, high quality ingredients into something truly special.

Other recipes, such as Chocolate Mousse, and the classic shellfish dish, Moules Marinières, couldn’t be easier to make, each dish is described in a delightfully accessible couple of pages of instructions, dominated by reassuringly simple photographs.

Some recipes are deceptively simple; who would have thought that simple mashed potato could be transformed into a gourmet dish, worthy of the attention of such a feted chef? The detail is in the choice of potato variety, how they are cut and cooked, and how butter and milk is added to the finished dish.

Simple French Cookery is more than just a recipe book

The book includes delightful insights into Raymond Blanc’s philosophy and life; references to his much loved “Maman Blanc” abound in his recipes, and he refers to the many mushroom hunting expeditions of his youth when describing his ingredients.

Straightforward Recipes from a Michelin Starred Chef

Perhaps the recipes in Raymond Blanc’s Simple French Cookery reflect the menus of his acclaimed chain of UK Brasseries, Brasseries Blanc, more closely than those of his luxury Hotel Restaurant Le Manoir aux Quatr’ Saisons. But Simple French Cookery gives a hint of the joy of eating in any half decent basic restaurant in France: good quality seasonal ingredients cooked well. Bon Appétit.

The copyright of the article Simple French Cookery by Raymond Blanc in Classical French Cuisine is owned by Joanne E. Brannan. Permission to republish Simple French Cookery by Raymond Blanc in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.