This book is one of a series of "foolproof" cookery guides, and it reads like it. Nice pictures and instructions making great classic French recipes fairly easy to follow. But at times it feels a little like it has been written to spec.The cookbooks that inspire me, that I constantly refer back to, are ones which have an indefinable passion to them. Although it's obvious from this book that Raymond Blanc loves his food, it feels a little like he's writing the book just because he's been contracted to, not because he has an uncontrollable urge to teach the world about great cooking.
The description above probably sounds a little over-negative. There is nothing inherently wrong with this book, it just doesn't set me on fire. It would probably be best to say that it does exactly what it says on the cover, and little more.
This book is superb!Why do I like it so much? The recipes are not earth-shatttering, you've probably tried most of the stuff included many times before but it is the approach that is excellent and the tips on where things could go wrong.
Each receipe is broken down into easy to manage steps with pictures, the narrative helps explain how to handle each stage. This is great for a novice cook such as myself.
I also find that because Raymond Blanc has avoided the temptation to overfil the book with recipes I don't find it intimidating. It's a book that I have come back to time and again for inspiration.
This book has given me a grounding in classic recipes that I know I will be using for years to come, whilst most of the recipes are designed to be straightforward (let's face it they wouldn't be foolproof otherwise)the sheer qualilty of the end result will attract more advanced cooks.
This book has become one of my three favourite cookbooks (the other two being Nigella Lawson's How to Eat and Annie Bell and John Pawson's Living and Eating).
I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I have.
