| If you are a food connoisseur or a culinary student, | | | | book might not be the best of ideas; you may end |
| the Escoffier cookbook, le guide culinaire is probably a | | | | up creating less of dishes and more of confusion! |
| Bible for you; maybe even referenced on such a | | | | For one, the 5000 something recipes included in the |
| regular basis that it perennially resides on your bed | | | | latest edition make it that much difficult to identify |
| stand. But for the rest of us lesser mortals, not so | | | | what you are looking for. One has to commit to an in |
| gastronomically inclined, planning a meal on the basis | | | | depth study of the book and its sections to get a |
| of this book could prove to be a daunting task. | | | | grasp of how recipes are sequenced and referenced. |
| Written by renowned chef and restaurateur, Auguste | | | | It is definitely not one for a quick search. Besides |
| Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire, first published in 1903, | | | | that, the way the recipes are presented assumes |
| has since earned legendary status; its content having | | | | that the reader already possesses some knowledge |
| formed the basis of French cuisine as we know it | | | | of French cooking, using terms that like releves, |
| today. An English translation of the French book | | | | braise and croquette, unfamiliar to most of us. |
| came out in 1907 making it accessible to a wider | | | | That being said, the Escoffier cookbook remains |
| readership. However the copies you find in | | | | highly esteemed in academic and professional circles, |
| bookstores today are the 4th edition, revised in 1921. | | | | regarded by many to be the last word in French |
| The English version of the same was published in | | | | cooking. The famous Gordon Ramsey himself has |
| 1979. | | | | admitted to using this book saying, "I will always |
| The Escoffier cookbook is no doubt a treasure trove | | | | refer to authority like Escoffier." So if you serious |
| of recipes, comprehensive to such an extent that | | | | about learning how to cook French food the right |
| possessing it would render useless any other | | | | way you can depend on le Guide Culinaire. After all |
| cookbooks you may have on French cuisine. But if | | | | what better way to learn the art of haute cuisine |
| you are an amateur cook, setting out to prepare a | | | | than from the words penned by "the chef of kings |
| nice fancy meal to impress your friends, following this | | | | and the king of chefs! |