Grand Livre de Cuisine: Alain Ducasse's Culinary Encyclopedia Book

An Alain Ducasse Book

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, Ducasse feeds his passion for cooking through restaurants all over the world and a professional-level cooking school. He is now ready to bring his know-how and enthusiasm to American 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 encyclopedia of ingredients as well as 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.

Author Bio: Alain Ducasse is regarded throughout the world as one of the most prominent French chefs. Along with three gourmet restaurants, Restaurant Plaza Athénée 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.

Library Journal

Those expecting a "culinary encyclopedia" along the lines of Larousse Gastronomique or Alan Davidson's The Oxford Companion to Food will discover this is nothing like those basic cooking references. Instead, it is a guide for professional chefs and experienced cooks to re-create 700 of French chef Ducasse's signature French- and Mediterranean-inspired dishes. Arranged alphabetically by primary ingredient, the recipes range from Bresse Poultry in a Black Truffle and Foie Gras Jelly to Snap Pea and Vegetable Risotto; each dish is accompanied by at least one gorgeous color photograph and tips on how to "finish and present." Though the book includes a glossary of ingredients and a collection of basic recipes, novice cooks will find that, unlike other chefs' cookbooks (e.g., Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook), Ducasse's requires an existing level of culinary skill. While the book is visually stunning, its price tag puts it out of the league of most libraries. Recommended for academic libraries with strong culinary arts programs and large public libraries with generous materials budgets.-John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.