Recipe Weekend: Book Review and Giveaway: French Classics Made Easy by Richard Grausman

** this giveaway is closed **

Today we have a superb cookbook for review and giveaway! It is the perfect cookbook to celebrate this blog's birthday, as I have long loved Julia Child and her introducing America to French cooking! If you thought her books were too hard, THIS is the book for you!

Synopsis: Classic French food is hotter than ever. But one thing hasn’t changed—few of us have the time, the patience, the technique, or the cream and butter allowance to tackle the classics as presented by Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The good news is—we don’t need to. 


For the past 40 years Richard Grausman, America’s premier culinary teacher, has been training American chefs in a simpler, better way of French cooking, and in French Classics Made Easy—a refreshed and updated edition of his original collection, At Home with the French Classics—he shares all of his extraordinary innovations and techniques. 


Golden soufflés in ten minutes. A light and luscious chocolate mousse that can be made as a cake, a chocolate roll, soufflé, or pudding. Plus Cassoulet, Boeuf Bourguignon, Coq au Vin, Bouillabaisse, Poached Salmon with Beurre Blanc—in all, 250 impeccably clear, step-by-step recipes in range of anyone who knows how to boil water or dice an onion.

When a step isn’t critical, Grausman eliminates it. If something can be done in advance, he does it. Plus he’s cut the amount of butter, cream, egg yolks, salt, and sugar; the result is health-conscious recipes that don’t compromise the essential nature of the dish. Techniques are illustrated throughout in line drawings. It’s the grandness of French cuisine, made accessible for both entertaining and everyday meals.




About the Author: Richard Grausman, one of the country’s premier cooking teachers, holds the Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, for which he became the first exclusive U.S. representative. He’s contributed articles and recipes to Food & Wine, New York, House Beautiful, and other magazines. He is the founder and president of the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), a nonprofit that works through public schools to prepare underserved high school students for college and careers in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Mr. Grausman and his wife live in New York City.


Review: I LOVE this book! It is SO SO SO easy to follow along and made items from! I am still working my way through it (cooking), but I am SO thrilled to offer a copy to one of you because I know that this is one of those books that will be a go-to book for you!


Grausman really has made the classics SIMPLE. His mayonnaise recipe is 6 ingredients and 3 steps, and yes, even a 4 yr old can make it with very little help! Having read all of Julia's books, I can tell you he has really pared the recipes down to their essentials and they are still wonderful! For each recipe he has sidebars with techniques VERY easily explained, or cooking terms described in simple terms. 


Sometimes the simplest recipes are the ones that show more genius. A good example is how he has you make traditional French scrambled eggs. So I wanted to share it with you and how mine turned out!

Slow Scrambled Eggs:
8 eggs
2 tbsp butter
pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper


1. In bowl, beat the eggs with fork or whisk.
2. in 10 inch skillet melt the butter over medium heat. Add the egg mixture and cook,
stirring gently with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. As the eggs heat up you will find them thickening. KEEP the liquid moving in the pan, and turn the heat to low if eggs begin to thicken too quickly. Just when you think the eggs will start setting, they will all of a sudden become watery again.
3. Shortly after they start to thin, you will see that they are starting to set on the bottom of the pan. NOW is the time you should stir and scrape the pan constantly, so as not to allow large curds to form.
4. The eggs are done when they are thick, shiny, sot and creamy, about 10-15 minutes.


Note: i got a little distracted so I had some larger curds then normal, but kiddo prefers them that way, so we rolled with it. Plus I added a pinch of cheese during the last step of Step 3, as that is also her preference. As you can see though, they are picture perfect! And they taste that way too!


Again, this is the perfect book for ANY cook in your family- from beginner to advanced, there is something, be it a technique, new ingredient, or recipe, that they can learn about. Definitely put this on the Christmas list for gifts, for bridal showers or housewarmings!

Giveaway:

Winner will receive their OWN copy of French Classics Made Easy!

 Entries:

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If I don't have a way to contact you, you will forfeit your win!

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Contest will end on July 8th, at midnight. Winner will be picked by Random Number (random.org) on July 9th, and emailed. As soon as winners' info is received, I will email their info to Workman, who will mail the winner their info!

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book for review purposes on this blog, free of harge, from Workman Publishing Company .No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.