Product Description

World-renowned French chef Alain Ducasse believes that food arouses all the senses. In this sumptuous book, he takes us on a culinary journey for both eye and palate. Here he shares the culinary experience, knowledge and love of ingredients he has refined over the past 25 years. Today, Ducassse feeds his passion for cooking though restaurants all over the world and a professional-level cooking school. He is now ready to bring his know-how and enthusiasm to all professional chefs and experienced home cooks, providing 700 recipes from French and Mediterranean cuisine that incorporate 100 basic ingredients and use 10 major cooking styles.Each dish is described in full, with recipes for accompaniments included; complete instructions for plating the entire dish are given as well. An appendix offers an encyclopaedia of ingredients in addition to basic recipes (sauces, stocks and so on). Illustrated with more than 1,000 photographs and original drawings, "Grand Livre de Cuisine" will be an indispensable reference and inspiration for years to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #209359 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1080 pages

About the Author
Alain Ducassse is regarded throughout the world as one of the most prominent French chefs. Along with three gourmet restaurants - Restaurant Plaza-Athenee in Paris, Le Louis XV in Monaco and Alain Ducasse at the Essex House in New York - he has also created more than 15 new concept restaurants worldwide and a professional-level cooking school. He lives in Paris.

Customer Reviews

great book for the price!
i first saw this book about a year ago. the chef at the restaurant i work at has a copy and after allmost an hour of looking at it decided i needed it, only problem was the price tag which was £160. when i saw this book in a revised edition for only £40 i didnt know quite what to think. at first i thought it must be paperback but then found out it was hardcover. well....it came today and i can tell you the only difference is the page size. no, i'm not talking about the ammount of pages but only the actual size of the page. its about the size of A4 paper, but i see that as a plus not a minus!
the book is layed out alphabetically and goes by ingredient. its ONLY recipes though. nothing inspirational as far as quotes of philosophies but if you looking for recipes you can adapt to somthing of your own then this is the ticket. it's all very ducasse in style. very minimalist and lets the products speak for themselves. the only thing that i think may be a bad point to the home cook is the reaccuring theme of truffles, foie gras ect. it's food thats decadent and not really home cook kinda stuff. if your someone in the professional world though its a keeper and well worth the £26.

An impressive attempt at putting Ducasse's culinary artistry into a book
This is a beautifully presented book showcasing hundreds of creations to come out Ducasse's kitchens. It is not for nothing that this man has three triple-starred restaurants; the quality of his work is extraordinary.

It is probably fair to say that most people wouldn't buy this for the recipes (if you are looking to attempt many of the dishes, you'll need deep pockets, excellent local food suppliers and a well-equipped kitchen, not to mention an extraordinary amount of skill). However this doesn't detract from its beauty as a book for the coffee table and to promote discussion.

My only negative point is that this edition is probably too small to do many of the pictures justice - if you are willing to pay the price for the upgrade to the large format edition it is probably worth it.

Mavellous book at a great price
What a beautiful book! I have coveted the large format version of this book for some time Grand Livre De Cuisine: Alain Duccasse's Culinary Encyclopedia but I could not justify the price. In this format the book is just as beautiful and now affordable.

It is presented as an encyclopaedia of ingredients with recipes to cook them. Beginning with Acacia blossom, artichokes and asparagus ending with wood pigeon, woodcock and zucchini. There are for example 20 individual Asparagus recipes each complete with full colour pictures, a huge 29 Sea Bass recipes.

The recipes are clearly presented, well laid out, each one with a picture of the finished dish with presentation instructions. The book does assume a high level of culinary skill, there are no descriptions of techniques.

On the down side, mistakes in the translation from French to English are not uncommon. Sometimes it means you need to read the text through again to extract the meaning, other times there are errors translating the units. For example one recipe calls for a 73lb (3.5kg) Sea Bass or 1 3/4 fluid ounces is repeatedly translated as (50 CL) which is half a litre. You have to read the recipe carefully to work out which is correct.

Would I recommend this book? Oh Yes! If you have a foodie in the family this is the ideal gift, especially at this price. For anyone with a good level of culinary skill this book is an essential addition to the cook book library. I would have given five stars but for the errors in translation.