Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 Page 3

  1983 EDITION

  THE FIRST EDITION of Mastering was conceived and written in the late 1950s, and many changes, particularly in kitchen equipment, have taken place since then. Probably the most significant has been the appearance of the electric food processor, which has made amazingly light work out of many formerly long and arduous cooking procedures like the mincing of mushrooms and onions, the slicing of potatoes, the making of mayonnaise, pie doughs, many yeast doughs, as well as purées and mousses. We have redone numerous recipes here to include the processor, but had it been around when we began, we would have had a host of dishes created because of it. No-stick pans were not available then. All-purpose flour needed sifting, and that required a cumbersome measuring system, which we have eliminated here. Chocolate has changed character, and that gave rise to a different melting technique as well as a new chocolate soufflé recipe. Rice is now enriched and takes shorter cooking, and we have revised a number of meat-thermometer readings. Little details here and there wanted fixing, little remarks now and then needed updating, and a few drawings have been added or improved.

  On the whole, however, it is the same book, written for those who love to cook—it is a primer of classical French cuisine. And no wonder that cuisine has always been and will always remain so popular, said a friend of ours; it just makes such wonderfully good eating!

  S. B. and J. C.

  Bramafam and Santa Barbara

  February 1983

  FOREWORD

  THIS IS A BOOK for the servantless American cook who can be unconcerned on occasion with budgets, waistlines, time schedules, children’s meals, the parent-chauffeur-den-mother syndrome, or anything else which might interfere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat. Written for those who love to cook, the recipes are as detailed as we have felt they should be so the reader will know exactly what is involved and how to go about it. This makes them a bit longer than usual, and some of the recipes are quite long indeed. No out-of-the-ordinary ingredients are called for. In fact the book could well be titled “French Cooking from the American Supermarket,” for the excellence of French cooking, and of good cooking in general, is due more to cooking techniques than to anything else. And these techniques can be applied wherever good basic materials are available. We have purposely omitted cobwebbed bottles, the patron in his white cap bustling among his sauces, anecdotes about charming little restaurants with gleaming napery, and so forth. Such romantic interludes, it seems to us, put French cooking into a never-never land instead of the Here, where happily it is available to everybody. Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere, with the right instruction. Our hope is that this book will be helpful in giving that instruction.

  Cooking techniques include such fundamentals as how to sauté a piece of meat so that it browns without losing its juices, how to fold beaten egg whites into a cake batter to retain their maximum volume, how to add egg yolks to a hot sauce so they will not curdle, where to put the tart in the oven so it will puff and brown, and how to chop an onion quickly. Although you will perform with different ingredients for different dishes, the same general processes are repeated over and over again. As you enlarge your repertoire, you will find that the seemingly endless babble of recipes begins to fall rather neatly into groups of theme and variations; that homard à l’américaine has many technical aspects in common with coq au vin, that coq au vin in turn is almost identical in technique to boeuf bourguignon; all of them are types of fricassees, so follow the fricassee pattern. In the sauce realm, the cream and egg-yolk sauce for a blanquette of veal is the same type as that for a sole in white-wine sauce, or for a gratin of scallops. Eventually you will rarely need recipes at all, except as reminders of ingredients you may have forgotten.

  All of the techniques employed in French cooking are aimed at one goal: how does it taste? The French are seldom interested in unusual combinations or surprise presentations. With an enormous background of traditional dishes to choose from (1000 Ways to Prepare and Serve Eggs is the title of one French book on the subject) the Frenchman takes his greatest pleasure from a well-known dish impeccably cooked and served. A perfect navarin of lamb, for instance, requires a number of operations including brownings, simmerings, strainings, skimmings, and flavorings. Each of the several steps in the process, though simple to accomplish, plays a critical role, and if any is eliminated or combined with another, the texture and taste of the navarin suffer. One of the main reasons that pseudo-French cooking, with which we are all too familiar, falls far below good French cooking is just this matter of elimination of steps, combination of processes, or skimping on ingredients such as butter, cream—and time. “Too much trouble,” “Too expensive,” or “Who will know the difference” are death knells for good food.

  Cooking is not a particularly difficult art, and the more you cook and learn about cooking, the more sense it makes. But like any art it requires practice and experience. The most important ingredient you can bring to it is love of cooking for its own sake.

  SCOPE

  A complete treatise on French cooking following the detailed method we have adopted would be about the size of an unabridged dictionary; even printed on Bible paper, it would have to be placed on a stand. To produce a book of convenient size, we have made an arbitrary selection of recipes that we particularly like, and which we hope will interest our readers. Many splendid creations are not included, and there are tremendous omissions. One may well ask: “Why is there no pâte feuilletée? Where are the croissants?” These are the kinds of recipes, in our opinion, which should be demonstrated in the kitchen, as each requires a sense of touch which can only be learned through personal practice and observation. Why only five cakes and no petits fours? No boiled, souffléed, or mashed potatoes? No zucchini? No tripe? No poulet à la Marengo? No green salads? No pressed duck or sauce rouennaise? No room!

  A NOTE ON THE RECIPES

  All of the master recipes and most of the subrecipes in this book are in two-column form. On the left are the ingredients, often including some special piece of equipment needed; on the right is a paragraph of instruction. Thus what to cook and how to cook it, at each step in the proceedings, are always brought together in one sweep of the eye. Master recipes are headed in large, bold type; a special sign, , precedes those which are followed by variations. Most of the recipes contain this sign, (*), in the body of the text, indicating up to what point a dish may be prepared in advance. Wine and vegetable suggestions are included with all master recipes for main-course dishes.

  Our primary purpose in this book is to teach you how to cook, so that you will understand the fundamental techniques and gradually be able to divorce yourself from a dependence on recipes. We have therefore divided each category of food into related groups or sections, and each recipe in one section belongs to one family of techniques. Fish filets poached in white wine, are a good example, or the chicken fricassees or the group of quiches. It is our hope that you will read the introductory pages preceding each chapter and section before you start in on a recipe, as you will then understand what we are about. For the casual reader, we have tried to make every recipe stand on its own. Cross references are always a problem. If there are not enough, you may miss an important point, and if there are too many you will become enraged. Yet if every technique is explained every time it comes up, a short recipe is long, and a long one forbidding.

  QUANTITIES

  Most of the recipes in this book are calculated to serve six people with reasonably good appetites in an American-style menu of three courses. The amounts called for are generally twice what would be considered sufficient for a typical French menu comprising hors d’oeuvre, soup, main course, salad, cheese, and dessert. We hope that we have arrived at quantities which will be correct for most of our readers. If a recipe states that the ingredients listed will serve 4 to 6 people, this means the dish should be sufficient for 4 people if the rest of your menu is small, and for 6 if it is large.

  SOME WORDS O
F ADVICE

  Our years of teaching cookery have impressed upon us the fact that all too often a debutant cook will start in enthusiastically on a new dish without ever reading the recipe first. Suddenly an ingredient, or a process, or a time sequence will turn up, and there is astonishment, frustration, and even disaster. We therefore urge you, however much you have cooked, always to read the recipe first, even if the dish is familiar to you. Visualize each step so you will know exactly what techniques, ingredients, time, and equipment are required and you will encounter no surprises. Recipe language is always a sort of shorthand in which a lot of information is packed, and you will have to read carefully if you are not to miss small but important points. Then, to build up your over-all knowledge of cooking, compare the recipe mentally to others you are familiar with, and note where one recipe or technique fits into the larger picture of theme and variations.

  We have not given estimates for the time of preparation, as some people take half an hour to slice three pounds of mushrooms while others take five minutes.

  Pay close attention to what you are doing while you work, for precision in small details can make the difference between passable cooking and fine food. If a recipe says, “cover casserole and regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly,” “heat the butter until its foam begins to subside,” or “beat the hot sauce into the egg yolks by driblets,” follow it. You may be slow and clumsy at first, but with practice you will pick up speed and style.

  Allow yourself plenty of time. Most dishes can be assembled, or started, or partially cooked in advance. If you are not an old campaigner, do not plan more than one long or complicated recipe for a meal or you will wear yourself out and derive no pleasure from your efforts.

  If food is to be baked or broiled, be sure your oven is hot before the dish goes in. Otherwise soufflés will not rise, piecrusts will collapse, and gratinéed dishes will overcook before they brown.

  A pot saver is a self-hampering cook. Use all the pans, bowls, and equipment you need, but soak them in water as soon as you are through with them. Clean up after yourself frequently to avoid confusion.

  Train yourself to use your hands and fingers; they are wonderful instruments. Train yourself also to handle hot foods; this will save time. Keep your knives sharp.

  Above all, have a good time.

  S. B., L. B., J. C.

  July 1961

  Acknowledgments

  OUR FRIENDS, students, families, and husbands who have gracefully and often courageously acted as guinea pigs for years are owed a special thank you from the authors. But there are others toward whom we feel particular gratitude because of help of a different kind. The Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been one of our greatest sources of assistance and has unfailingly and generously answered all sorts of technical questions ranging from food to plastic bowls. The Meat Institute of Chicago, the National Livestock and Meat Board, and the Poultry and Egg National Board have answered floods of inquiries with prompt and precise information. Wonderfully helpful also have been the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, and the California Department of Fish and Game. Sessions with L’École Professionelle de la Boucherie de Paris and with the Office Scientifique et Technique de la Pêche Maritime have been invaluable in our research on French meat cuts and French fish. During our years of practical kitchen-training in Paris, Chef de Cuisine Max Bugnard and Chef Pâtissier Claude Thillmont have been our beloved teachers. More recently we have also had the good fortune to work with Mme Aimée Cassiot, whose long years as a professional cordon bleu in Paris have given her a vast store of working knowledge which she has willingly shared with us. We are also greatly indebted to Le Cercle des Gourmettes whose bi-monthly cooking sessions in Paris have often been our proving grounds, and whose culinary ideas we have freely used. We give heartfelt thanks to our editors whose enthusiasm and hard work transformed our manuscript-in-search-of-a-publisher into this book. Finally there is Avis DeVoto, our foster mother, wet nurse, guide, and mentor. She provided encouragement for our first steps, some ten years ago, as we came tottering out of the kitchen with the gleam of authorship lighting our innocent faces.

  CONTENTS

  Other Books by This Author

  Dedication

  Introduction to the Anniversary Edition

  Foreword to the 1983 Edition

  Foreword

  Acknowledgments

  Illustrations

  KITCHEN EQUIPMENT

  DEFINITIONS

  INGREDIENTS

  MEASURES

  TEMPERATURES

  CUTTING: Chopping, Slicing, Dicing, and Mincing

  WINES

  CHAPTER I – SOUPS

  CHAPTER II – SAUCES

  White Sauces

  Brown Sauces

  Tomato Sauces

  The Hollandaise Family

  The Mayonnaise Family

  Vinaigrettes

  Hot Butter Sauces

  Cold Flavored Butters

  List of Miscellaneous Sauces

  Stocks and Aspics

  CHAPTER III — EGGS

  Poached Eggs

  Shirred Eggs

  Eggs in Ramekins

  Scrambled Eggs

  Omelettes

  CHAPTER IV — ENTRÉES AND LUNCHEON DISHES

  Pie Dough and Pastry Shells

  Quiches, Tarts, and Gratins

  Soufflés and Timbales

  Pâte à Choux, Puffs, Gnocchi, and Quenelles

  Crêpes

  Cocktail Appetizers

  CHAPTER V — FISH

  Fish Filets Poached in White Wine

  Two Recipes from Provence

  Two Famous Lobster Dishes

  Mussels

  List of Other Fish Dishes

  CHAPTER VI — POULTRY

  Roast Chicken

  Casserole-roasted Chicken

  Sautéed Chicken

  Fricasseed Chicken

  Broiled Chicken

  Chicken Breasts

  Duck

  Goose

  CHAPTER VII — MEAT

  Beef

  Lamb and Mutton

  Veal

  Pork

  Ham

  Cassoulet

  Liver

  Sweetbreads

  Brains

  Kidneys

  CHAPTER VIII — VEGETABLES

  Green Vegetables

  Carrots, Onions, and Turnips

  Lettuce, Celery, Endive, and Leeks

  The Cabbage Family

  Cucumbers

  Eggplant

  Tomatoes

  Mushrooms

  Chestnuts

  Potatoes

  Rice

  CHAPTER IX — COLD BUFFET

  Cold Vegetables

  Composed Salads

  Aspics

  Molded Mousses

  Pâtés and Terrines

  List of Other Cold Dishes

  CHAPTER X — DESSERTS AND CAKES

  Fundamentals

  Sweet Sauces and Fillings

  Custards, Mousses, and Molded Desserts

  Sweet Soufflés

  Fruit Desserts

  Tarts

  Crêpes

  Clafoutis

  Babas and Savarins

  Ladyfingers

  Cakes

  INDEX

  A Note About the Authors

  Illustrations

  Kitchen Equipment

  How to Measure Flour

  How to Use a Knife: Chopping, Slicing, Dicing, and Mincing

  Two Omelette-making Methods

  How to Make Pastry Dough and Pastry Shells

  How to Beat Egg Whites

  How to Fold Beaten Egg Whites into a Soufflé Mixture

  Soufflé Molds

  Puff Shells

  Forming Quenelles

  Making Crêpes

  How to Truss a Chicken

  Chicken on a Spit

  Filet of Beef

  The Bone
Structure of a Leg of Lamb

  How to Prepare Whole Artichokes

  How to Prepare Artichoke Hearts

  How to Prepare Fresh Asparagus

  How to Peel, Seed, and Juice Tomatoes

  How to Mince, Slice, Quarter, and Flute Mushrooms

  How to Bake a Stuffed, Boned Duck in a Pastry Crust

  How to Line a Dessert Mold with Ladyfingers

  Decorative Designs for Fruit Tarts

  Baba Mold

  Savarin Molds

  How to Ice a Cake

  Mastering the Art of French Cooking

  THIS SYMBOL preceding a recipe title indicates that variations follow.

  (*) WHEREVER you see this symbol in the body of recipe texts you may prepare the dish ahead of time up to that point, then complete the recipe later.

  KITCHEN EQUIPMENT

  Batterie de Cuisine

  THEORETICALLY A GOOD COOK should be able to perform under any circumstances, but cooking is much easier, pleasanter, and more efficient if you have the right tools. Good equipment which will last for years does not seem outrageously expensive when you realize that a big, enameled-iron casserole costs no more than a 6-rib roast, that a large enameled skillet can be bought for the price of a leg of lamb, and that a fine paring knife may cost less than two small lamb chops. One of the best places to shop for reasonably priced kitchen-ware is in a hotel- and restaurant-supply house where objects are sturdy, professional, and made for hard use.

  STOVES AND OVENS

  For top-of-stove cooking you want to switch from very high indeed to very low heat with gradations in between, which a restaurant gas range can provide if you have the space and gas pressure for one. Otherwise a good modern electric cooktop is far better than weak domestic gas burners.

  Electric ovens give more even heat for pastry baking (especially meringues) than gas, which has surges of heat. Gas is desirable for broiling, but electricity does well especially if you have a rheostat heat control setting. One of each is ideal!

  POTS, PANS, AND CASSEROLES

  Pots, pans, and casseroles should be heavy-bottomed so they will not tip over, and good heat conductors so that foods will not stick and scorch. With the exception of heavy tin-lined copper (expensive to maintain), enameled iron or stainless-steel-lined heavy aluminum is our choice. The smooth surface does not discolor foods, and it is easy to clean. Stainless steel with a wash of copper on the bottom for looks is a poor heat conductor—the copper bottom should be ⅛ inch thick to be of any value. Stainless steel with a cast aluminum bottom, on the other hand, is good, as the thick aluminum spreads the heat. Glazed earthenware is all right as long as it has not developed cracks where old cooking grease collects and exudes whenever foods are cooked in it. Pyrex and heatproof porcelain are fine but fragile. Thick aluminum and iron, though good heat conductors, will discolor foods containing white wine or egg yolks. Because of the discoloration problem, we shall specify an enameled saucepan in some recipes to indicate that any nonstaining material is to be used, from enamel to stainless steel, lined copper, pyrex, glazed pottery, or porcelain.