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Bistro is warm. Bistro is family. Bistro is simple, hearty, generous cuisine-robust soups and country omelets, wine-scented stews and bubbling gratins, and desserts from a grandmother's kitchen. Researched and written by Patricia Wells, author of The Food Lover's Guide to Paris and The Food Lover's Guide to France, together with over 220,000 copies in print, here is a celebration of the no-nonsense, inexpensive, soul-satisfying cuisine of the neighborhood restaurants of France. BISTRO COOKING contains over 200 scrumptious bistro recipes made lighter and quicker for the way we cook today. Warm Poached Sausage with Potato Salad. Benoit's Mussel Soup. Guy Savoy's Fall Leg of Lamb. Beef Stew with Wild Mushrooms and Orange, Chicken Basquaise, Pasta with Lemon, Ham, and Black Olives, L'Ami Louis' Potato Cake, Provencal Roast Tomatoes, Pears in Red Wine, and Golden Cream and Apple Tart. Throughout, lively notes and sidebars capture the world of bistro owners in the kitchen, les grands chefs, and more. Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Winner of the 1989 IACP Seagram Food and Beverage Award. Over 166,000 copies in print.… (more)
User reviews
Wells' book is an excellent teacher for the home chef and I have learned a good deal about French cooking from her. She shows techniques learned from kitchens that must serve a discerning public. These are far easier than Julia Childs' painstaking classics. A one-time food critic, Wells has chosen well from the bistro repertoire.
This is not a book for the busy. Many of its recipes require planning ahead (the beef daube must be marinated in red wine for a day in advance) and longer cooking times (again, a few hours for the daube). But it is a godsend for a special Sunday dinner or a party.
Wells’ book Bistro Cooking encourages you to keep great ingredients on hand in order to quickly put together satisfying meals that don’t require the fussy handling and intricate preparation we often associate with French cooking. I love turning my kitchen into a French bistro.