Product Description

A collection of 200 recipes to celebrate both the classics of the French table and newer earthy dishes from bistros all over France. The recipes are not only from bistro owners, but also from housewives, farmers, wine-makers, bread-bakers and many others who contribute to the bistro way of life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #329624 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 292 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In this warm look into the world of French bistro food, eminent food writer Patricia Wells reveals her love for this simple, robust cuisine in a collection of recipes garnered from France's best bistros. From "Warm Potato Salad with Herbed Vinaigrette" to "Lamb Stew in White Wine" to "Pear Clafoutis", Wells admits her preference for hearty, homey bistro dishes. Through clearly written recipes, Wells encourages cooks to buy the best ingredients and turn them into fragrant, warming dishes. Each recipe has a headnote telling where it came from and alluding to its flavour. Pithy quotes throughout the book relate to bistro style--in cooking, serving and eating--and historical quotations give a cultural connotation. Wine choices reach deep into the heart of France, from a crisp white from Provence such as a Chateau Simone with lamb, to a good Cotes du Rhone (Cru du Coudelet) with guinea hen. From the introduction to the last dessert recipe (for "Prunes in Red Wine"), Ms. Wells and Bistro Cooking is sure to please not just the novice in the kitchen, but the experienced cook as well. The recipes have been carefully selected to appeal to the reader and cook who want to set wonderful food on the table with a minimum of fuss. --Susan Loomis

Review
American food writer Wells has toured the length of her adopted country France collecting over 200 of her favourite dishes from bistros - those wonderful family restaurants where the food comes without frills or fuss, denoting a very special way of life. From hors d'oeuvres and seasonal vegetables to seafood and pastries, this no-frills book (if you're expecting glossy pictures - forget it) is peppered with regional tips, suggested menus and mouthwatering recipes from a country which really knows its cooking. Choose from Grilled Country Bread with Pesto and Smoked Trout or Braised Lamb with White Beans, rounded off with Pear Clafoutis or Golden Cream and Apple Tart. Thoroughly recommended for the serious food lover. (Kirkus UK)

Wells, a former New York Times food writer who now lives in Paris and Provence and writes on French food (The Food Lover's Guide to France, 1987) defines bistro food as that very simple, traditional French "home cooking" served in little neighborhood restaurants that "warm our souls with copious, hearty meals and good times among friends." As presented here, it's full-flavored, unpretentious fare that seems right for the times. (As Wells describes the informal service, many of us will find that we've been eating bistro style, if not bistro food, all along.) And in keeping with the hallmark generosity, Wells gives us a substantial collection - with, for example, countless potato gratins and fruit tarts and many ideas for rabbit, one of them a microwaved terrine with hazelnuts. Just reading her special versions of dishes as simple and satisfying as smoked herring with potato salad, salt cod gratin, and salt-cured duck with cabbage, we forgive her for calling an inordinate number of them her "favorites." (One suggestion, though: Isn't it time to ban the word "marry" from cookbooks? Wells resorts to this un-bistro-like term a good dozen times.) Anyway, she proves an excellent ambassador for this very appealing food. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

Brilliant French cookery book
This book is quite hard to find, but well worth hunting down - one of the best French cookery books around. Clear reciopies for delicious dishes, Bistro cooking works well as home cooking.

fabulous recipes, horrid book
this book is a classic - the recipes are superb, there are some really "wow" dishes that i use again and again... true - the writing, layout and trite little comments are horrid - but if you're a proper cook and not a browser it doesn't matter! Can't recommend it highly enough - great idea's for dinner parties and more informal gatherings.

Excellent read and great recipes
A true taste of France right here in the Jungles of Borneo! Whenever I'm fed up of jungle fern and dried fish "blachan", I reach for this masterpiece to give me inspiration! The dishes are wonderfully easy to prepare and the Chocolate cake is the most divine ever created. For those who painstakingly tried to make the River Cafe's Chocolate Nemesis, look no further then this book-the recipe works EVERY time!