Thursday, June 12, 2014

French Cooking in Ten Minutes by Edouard de Pomiane

This book is small, 4 x 7 inches and only 142 pages. You can read it in one sitting. It was written by a scientist a long time ago when there were only gas stoves and those were small too, and there were no frozen foods around nor microwaves so the recipes are a bit out of date. The guy is actually Polish and he is not actually a cook but he became famous in France anyway for his wit and his wisdom, so there you go.


The idea, is who has time to mess around anymore? Even back then in the 30's they were thinking that way, and now the situation is even more intense. The recipes inside are all fast and easy to manage, there are no strange exotic ingredients, except for truffles. He is thinking you have an hour or so for lunch, so get on with it, have the job over with quickly, and relax for the rest of your lunch. He suggests, come home and before taking your coat off, put on a pot of water to boil. What will you do with the pot of water? He doesn't  know, but it will be useful for one thing or another. Due to the premise being based upon speed, nothing is including that involves more time than that, techniques are left out such as braising. Everything in the book is fast. It will change your attitude about French cooking, if your attitude is not already aligned toward insouciance. The book and its author do have their critics, but who cares?

You can buy the little book used as if it were new for a few dollars on Amazon and on Abebooks.

For an example of how one recipe comes out, you can check out bitocks à la russe.

19 comments:

XRay said...

What a great, well composed, picture at the link... made me hungry!!

Trooper York said...

You are killing me dude.

Another cookbook I have to buy!

Darcy said...

Oooh. Yum.

I buy.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I should learn how to cook.

It must be a very rewarding... what's the word I'm looking for?

Darcy said...

Delicious?

Trooper York said...

Comida?

Trooper York said...

Cuchi Cuchi?

Michael Haz said...

What Trooper said. Must buy another cookbook.

Really enjoying The Fort cookbook, by the way.

Michael Haz said...

It must be a very rewarding... what's the word I'm looking for?

...thing to not eat take-out.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Deleitoso.

Delightfully pleasing.

What I imagine ChipA feeling when feeding his neighbors... I think I read that in one of his posts.

deborah said...

Ordered.

Michael Haz said...

Chip, I'd like to make the meatballs you featured on your blog. Can you post the recipe?

Thanks.

Chip Ahoy said...

Haz, it's already posted. Nearly the whole book is. Here.

Michael Haz said...

Thanks, Chip!

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I highly recommend Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way. There's a TV series and a sequel, I'm pretty sure.

It's not so French, per se, but he does a great job of striking the right balance between time-consuming and tasty, IMHO.

"Let the supermarket be your prep cook!"

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There's probably lots of Jacque Pepin "Fast Food" material on YouTube, as well.

For example, he'll make a sauce for hard-boiled eggs using ingredients you've already got in your refrigerator, like mustard and catsup and mayonaisse and capers.

Stuff like that.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I remember watching a cooking show from years back. I think it was Pierre Franey.

Real French, but my God! These guys would parboil cloves of garlic, ice them, and then they'd use a paring knife to remove the little green part that's in the center. Only then was the garlic a suitable ingredient for some other use.

Who has time for that?!

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I love the photos that you take of your meals and food compositions. Yummmmm!

I collect cookbooks and have about 50. Some of them are contemporary, but when I'm "thrifting" or browsing through junk stores I'm always on the lookout for older and unique cookbooks.

Perhaps you can steer me to a good Chibata Bread recipe. The last one I made was just OK but didn't have that chewy air pocket filled texture. Maybe the bread flour I used was substandard?