A sudden flurry of French-inspired cookbooks means you can channel your favorite bistro or brasserie with recipes for coq au vin, croque monsieur and more. Here’s what lies in store.
Emily in Paris: The Official Cookbook
TV show-based cookbooks often leave something to be desired — how many “Downton Abbey” goose recipes do you really need? Luckily, “Emily in Paris: The Official Cookbook” (Weldon Owen, $32.50) sucks you in with stunning stills from the Netflix comedy, which is shot on location in the City of Light.
Author Kate Laidlaw’s 75-plus recipes include homey staples (Ratatouille), lavish entrees (Beef Bourguignon) decadent desserts (Pierre’s Cracked Crème Brûlées) and classic cocktails (Aperol Spritz) plucked straight from Emily Cooper’s adventures.
Who could forget her first French omelette — made by chef neighbor and crush, Gabriel — or the coq au vin at Gabriel’s girlfriend’s chateau (oh dear). Even if you haven’t watched the bingeworthy show, your tastebuds will be transported to Paris, Provence and beyond with these classic and contemporary offerings organized by Le Bistro, Le Brasserie, Le Restaurant and so forth. Dig in to the drama.
Gateau
Did you know that French children learn how to bake cake in nursery school? That’s because the best of French baking — from citrusy olive oil cakes to herb-flecked yogurt cakes and even dense, flourless chocolate creations and layer cakes — are deceptively easy and require few ingredients.
In “Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes” (Scribner, $30), James Beard Award-winning author Aleksandra Crapanzano reveals the surprisingly simple cakes that Parisians and other French home cooks bake at home. (They know better than to compete with the neighborhood patisserie.)
The 150-plus recipes in “Gateau,” which include everything from fruit tarts and madeleines to nut tortes and savory loaves, can be whipped up on weeknights. The book includes cakes for winter holidays (Bûche de Noël au Chocolat), dinner parties (spiffed-up yogurt cake) and savory school lunches (Cake D’Alsace, a bacon, caramelized onion and gruyere loaf). There’s even a whole chapter on regional classics, from Gâteaux Basque to Gâteaux Breton.
Modern Bistro
America’s Test Kitchen’s latest title brings French bistro favorites into the home kitchen. “Modern Bistro: Home Cooking Inspired by French Classics” (America’s Test Kitchen, $35) offers 150-plus classic and modern recipes that put you right there on the Rue Cler in Paris. With chapters focused on snacks and small plates, soups and salads, poultry, vegetable mains, desserts and cheese dishes — yes, cheese dishes, like don’t-call-it-a-grilled-ham-and-cheese croque monsieur — you’ll master all the techniques and tips to conquering French cuisine.
What the ATK editors do so well, here and in general, is test, test, test until they’ve created accessible recipes that empower the home cook. That croque monsieur is not made individually with a griddle and broiler, as is traditional, but in the oven, for a family of four. They provide foolproof coq au vin recipes using red or white wine (use what you have, right?) and they’ve adapted chocolate pot de crème so it can be easily made on the stovetop. Seriously, merci, ATK.
