| In preparing delicious french food, it really | | | | recipes. Instead, he has given the different |
| is worth the effort to spend the little extra | | | | proportions for various herbs to be employed |
| money, time and trouble in buying and cooking | | | | in their preparation. The judicious use of |
| just the required amount of top-quality food, | | | | herbs and seasoning can, and does, make such |
| instead of playing around with an unnecessary | | | | a difference to soups and stews.Many will be |
| amount of the second-best. It should be borne | | | | familiar with the great Alexandre Dumaine |
| in mind that the presentation of a carefully | | | | (one of the greatest French chefs of the 20th |
| prepared dish is of considerable importance. | | | | century). Two conclusions can be drawn from |
| For example, it can make a great deal of | | | | Alexandre's remark that "exactness in cooking |
| difference as to how a dish is arranged and | | | | is difficult to achieve". One is that the |
| set on the table. It can easily be made to | | | | difficulty resides in achieving the exact |
| look both attractive and appetizing. Lack of | | | | required result, according to the precise |
| interest or imagination will result in the | | | | indications in the recipe; the other, that |
| opposite, distressing, effect.In a recently | | | | you have to reckon with your own particular |
| rediscovered gem of a book - "The Art of | | | | taste and that of the family, or of your |
| Simple French Cookery", a few recipes state | | | | guests. We are not all born with uniform |
| that a sauce should be reduced, or cooked | | | | palates: you may like garlic, others may not; |
| gently, until it thickens, Careful and | | | | some prefer lemon juice, instead of vinegar, |
| closely watched reduction and blending of a | | | | in the salad dressing etc. There must, |
| sauce can make all the difference to a dish | | | | therefore, remain a margin in the prescribed |
| which, in itself, may have required exacting | | | | amount of herbs and seasoning to be used in |
| measurements and preparation. So, surely, as | | | | the preparation of these dishes.Alexandre |
| far as sauces are concerned, it is worth both | | | | Dumaine was, indeed, in the opinion of many |
| time and trouble to stay in the kitchen and | | | | acclaimed gourmets, the most skilled and |
| to cook the sauces cautiously without having | | | | inspired chef of his generation in France. |
| to go off to attend to other household | | | | Throughout his gastronomic investigations, |
| matters.That little extra patience in the | | | | the author of "The Art of Simple French |
| kitchen will also be rewarded if you wish to | | | | Cookery" has made the acquaintance of most of |
| please your guests by preparing your own | | | | the well-known chefs in Paris and throughout |
| Sauce Tomate, Sauce Mayonnaise, Sauce | | | | France. But none he had known were as |
| Hollandaise (according to the easy recipes | | | | impassioned with their culinary pursuit as |
| provided in the book) instead of buying | | | | Dumaine. During the numerous discussions they |
| tasteless, commercial 'concentrated' | | | | had together, concerning both simple and |
| substitutes.Whenever possible, use dry white | | | | classic French cooking, he reiterated, with |
| wine, wine vinegar, and fresh, unsweetened | | | | great solemnity that commanded respect, that |
| cream in cooking. And when butter is | | | | for him "their existed no finer |
| mentioned, it must be pure butter, and not a | | | | profession".Further information about this |
| substitute. Brillat-Savarin, the celebrated | | | | amazing book ("The Art of Simple French |
| author of "The Physiology of Taste", claimed | | | | Cookery") can be obtained via the Resource |
| that one of the basic principles of cooking | | | | Box appended to this article.We at Kersland |
| was the use, in the kitchen, of the finest | | | | Direct scour the globe, on behalf of our |
| quality table butter.The use of herbs and | | | | readers, for the very finest informational |
| seasoning is also of great importance in both | | | | products and resources. This amazing gem of a |
| simple and classic French cooking. in "The | | | | book, "The Art of Simple French Cookery", was |
| Art of Simple French Cookery", the author | | | | rescued from the dusty shelves of a forgotten |
| deliberately avoids naming, or advising the | | | | bookstore. |
| use of bottled flavoring products for these | | | | |