Ducasse Flavors of France [Hardcover]

Ducasse is a book you'll want to leave out on a coffee table. It is more than beautiful--left open, it has the power to transform the nature of a room with its exquisite photographs and recipes, which are as good to read as they are to cook from. Taken into the kitchen, the power is inherent in Ducasse to transform any meal well beyond the exemplary. But then there's the danger that a spill or greasy fingers might soil the pages, which would be tragic. And yet, this is not just another pretty book, something to thumb through and shrug off. This is a book to take to heart, starting with the first recipe--Fennel "Marmalade"--and then on to Cocotte of Young Spring Vegetables, Spiny Lobster with a Rhubarb-Ginger Chardonnay Sauce, and Chicken Fricassee with Morels, and so on, and so on, until you end up with Coffee and Chocolate Parfait with Dark Chocolate Sauce. Alain Ducasse is the only chef with six Michelin stars to his credit. In his kitchens and in his book he uses the best possible ingredients, treating each and every one with deserved respect. Recipes have been tried and tested to ensure perfection, and--reassuringly--dishes work well in the home kitchen. Ducasse is a wonderful teacher, and every page is filled with rich descriptions of flavor, color, texture, and aroma. Like so much about Alain Ducasse, it is a picture of food that defies language. You will recognize it, though, turning these gorgeous pages, plotting the next dish you choose to master. The opportunity exists with Ducasse to gain a new kind of fluency. --Schuyler Ingle

Ducasse recently became the first chef in 60 years to garner three stars in two restaurants simultaneously. If you can't take a trip to France to visit them, here is the next best option. Written for an American readership, this cookbook is, quite simply, a masterpiece by a genius. It consists of five chapters: "with aperitifs," vegetables, shellfish and fish, poultry and meat, and desserts. Most recipes are brief, reflecting an orientation rather than a formula, and many suggest wines of widespread availability. Ducasse is, above all, concerned with "clarity of taste, precision in execution, and respect for the product" yet realizes that certain French ingredients are rare in North America. Thus, there is an excellent appendix that provides hints for adaptations: ingredients, including viable substitutes, are discussed at length, as are techniques. A list of sources for kitchenware and specialty ingredients appears at the end. A beautiful and passionate book; highly recommended.?Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., KY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A stunner. People magazine (People Magazine )

Stunningly produced and poetically written. Time magazine (Time magazine )

Alluringly simple dishes, like buttery fork-mashed potatoes, peppered slices of sauted pumpkin, and a homey pear and honey cake made with big chunks of pear. The New York Times (The New York Times ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

The most anticipated and important French cookbook in many years, Ducasse Flavors of France is a new classic. Brash, driven, and dazzlingly inventive, Alain Ducasse is a larger-than-life figure. At thirty-three, he was the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, and in March 1998, he became the first ever chef in over sixty years to earn three stars in two restaurants simultaneously. In his long-awaited American cookbook debut, M. Ducasse shares the principles and techniques of a uniqely elemental cuisine that are changing the face of traditional French cooking. Ducasse Flavors of France follows the chef from his state-of the-art kitchens at the Louis XV in Monte Carlo and Alain Ducasse in Paris to his countryside auberge in Moustiers and documents, in one hundred lavishly photographed recipes, the influences--Mediterranean, Provental, and classic French--that permeate his cuisine.

Brash, driven, and dazzlingly inventive, Alain Ducasse was the youngest chef ever to be awarded three Michelin stars, and in 1998, he became the first chef in over sixty years to earn three stars in two restaurants simultaneously. In 2005 he became the first chef in the world to win three stars for three restaurants (Trois fois trois toiles, read international headlines). With its alluringly simple dishes, like buttery fork-mashed potatoes, peppered slices of sauteed pumpkin, swordfish with citrus, exquisite chocolate tartlets, and a homey pear and honey cake made with big chunks of pear (The New York Times), this is the most accessible Ducasse cookbook published. Yet there are still recipes to challenge ambitious cooks and great tips that will make all cooks better in the kitchen. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Brash, driven, and dazzlingly inventive, six-star-chef Alain Ducasse is a larger-than-life figure. At thirty-three, he was the youngest chef ever to be awarded three Michelin stars, and in March 1998, he became the only chef in our time to possess six stars. He has mentored a generation of younger chefs who have introduced his cooking around the world and has, quite simply, changed the face of traditional French cooking. In his long-awaited American cookbook debut, M. Ducasse whares the principles and techniques of his uniquely elemental cuisine. At its core are clarity of taste, precision in execution, and respect for the food itself, which to Ducasse means retaining in a multitude of simple but striking techniques, such as combinng in the same recipe raw and cooked, hot and cold, fruits and vegetables. Ducasse uses as much of each element as he can--the trimmings, sometimes the skins, the shells, the baking juices, the pan drippings, the heads, the cooking broth, all the by-products of the process--in order to capture an ingredient's precise taste. He incorporates different preparations of the sam product into a given dish, each revealing an individual aspect of its flavor--sliced raw artichokes, braised whole artichokes, and paper-thin slices of fried artichoke, for example, might be featured together. The brilliance of his food--apparent in receipes made with no more than two ingredients enhanced by a simple aromatic element, with seasoning reduced to a few grains of salt--explains why he is "the country's star chef" (Wine Spectator) and "the Escoffier of our time" (Le Point). Ducasse Flavors of France documents, in more than one hundred lavishly photographed recipes, the influences--Mediterranean, Provencal, and classical French--that permeate this extraordinary cuisine. Many of the recipes are simple, others complex, but all can be perfectly accomplished with a little time and patience.

Six-star cooking from the world's only Michelin six-star chef. And "the brightest seventh star: Ducasse himself" --The New York Times

Linda Dannenberg, a contributor to Town Country, The Los Angeles Times, and Wine Spectator, has worked with and written about many of Frances great chefs and bakers. Her love for the art of French cooking finds expression in her numerous books, among them Paris Boulangerie-Patisserie, Paris Bistro Cooking, and French Tarts.

When offered the position of chef de cuisine at the Louis XV in the Htel de Paris in Monte-Carlo, not only did Alain Ducasse accept the challenge, but he also committed himself by contract to obtaining three Michelin stars within four years. He beat his own deadline, then went on to receive three stars for his flagship New York and Paris restaurants. At present he has 14 Michelin stars.

Pierre Houssenot is a Paris-based photographer who specializes in culinary subjects. His credits include Roger Verg??'s New Entertaining in the French Style and France, The Beautiful Cookbook. His work appears regularly in such international magazines as Elle and Marie Claire.

Crostini de Pain Perdu, Fruits de Saison Poeles BRIOCHE FRENCH TOAST WITH SAUTEED SEASONAL FRUITS In this version of the simple pain perdu, the bread is heavily sugared, so when it is sauted, it gets encased in a thin shell of buttery caramel. The sweetness of the bread is offset by a mixture of sauteed fruits sauced with reduced rum and orange and lemon juice. Here the choice of fruits is autumnal. In the summer, you can add or substitute a couple of fresh fig halves, a half cup of whole strawberries, or a quartered peach. For the fruit: 1/4 cup currants 1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 Reinette apples, peeled, cored, and quartered (see page 237) 1 Bartlett (Bartlett-Williams) pear, peeled, quartered, and cored 1/2 small pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick rings 1/2 quince, peeled, cored and quartered 1 pomegranate, peeled and seeds scooped out Juice of 1/2 orange Juice of 1/2 lemon For the French toast: 2 large eggs 1 large egg yolk 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 vanilla bean, split, or 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup milk Four 3/4-inch-thick slices brioche loaf 4 to 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 to 1/2 pints rich vanilla ice cream (optional) To prepare the fruit: In a small bowl, soak the currants in the rum to soften. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the sugar and cook, sitrring, until it begins to dissolve, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the apples, pear, pineapple, quince, and pomegranate seeds, stir with a wooden spatula to coat with butter and sugar, and cook until softened, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in the currants with the rum and the orange and lemon juices and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Remove from the heat and set aside. To prepare the French toast: Beat together the eggs, egg yolk, and sugar. With a sharp knife, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the bowl; or add the extract. Add the milk and stir until blended. Soak each slice of bread thoroughly in the egg mixture (about 2 minutes). Then remove with a slotted spatula and place on a platter. Using a fine strainer, sift confectioners' sugar over the top of each slice of bread to cover evenly. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the brioche slices, sugared side down, and cook until lightly browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Sift confectioners' sugar over the tops, turn and brown on the other side, adding a tablespoon or two more butter if necessary. Remove from the heat and place each slice in a shallow serving bowl. Spoon the fruit over the French toast and top, if you wish, with the vanilla ice cream. Serve immediately. Serves 4