Damien Pignolet 3 out of 5
A book on French cooking written by an Australian…..don’t let that put you off, when I had to recruit chefs when working in London kitchens being Australian was certainly a plus point for candidates. At that time Aussie chefs seemed to have more enthusiasm and understanding of food than young English cooks, maybe because of the influence of mentors such as Pignolet.
This guy loves food and it shows in his recipes, in-depth descriptions and details of the dishes he’s chosen for this book accompany great photos of food just the way I like it, simple and unfussy, without unnecessary garnish or flourish.
As he says himself in the introduction this book is written in a similar way to books written for professional chef training schools (such as Practical Cookery by Cesarini and Kinton) so why not buy just such a book instead of this one? Well if you’re looking for a dry reference book with everything you need to know and as much “basics” as you can handle then “Practical Cookery” is highly recommended. “French” is not that but it’s not a complete French cookery book either, the subject is vast and this book contains only those dishes that Pignolet himself has tried, tested and fallen in love with over many years.
Laid out in chapters similar to professional kitchen departments (entrées, eggs, soups, fish, meat, farinaceous, vegetables, pastry etc) each has it’s own introduction explaining the role of the food and discussing ingredients and their quality, especially recommended is the chapter on eggs.
Buy Now from: Amazon UK
