"Traditional Recipes of the Provinces of France Selected by Curnonsky" 1961 Lavin, Edwin [Translated and Edited By]

Details

Description

A Guide To Cooking, Wine, & Travel

LAVIN, Edwin [translated and edited by]

[494] pp.

Doubleday & Company, Inc.

1961

… Read more A Guide To Cooking, Wine, & Travel

LAVIN, Edwin [translated and edited by]

[494] pp.

Doubleday & Company, Inc.

1961

8 1/4" x 7 3/4"

Until his death in 1956, the man who bore the name Curnonsky probably was the most celebrated epicure of this century. He spent the greater part of his eighty-four years eating and drinking in the grand manner. In 1927 he was awarded the signal title "Prince of Gastronomes." Thus, on his shoulders fell the mantle of the bon vivant that in previous generations had been borne by princes and kings, by such men as Brillat-Savarin, Alexandre Dumas, La Reynière and the Baron Brisse. Curnonsky, nom de plume of Maurice-Edmond Sailland, was bald and paunchy and prior to World War II he weighed nearly 300 pounds. Almost until his death he possessed a Gargantuan appetite and it is said that when he was not engaged in eating or drinking he talked or wrote about food incessantly. He was a Bohemian and a friend of the wealthy and worldly and was almost perpetually a guest from meal to meal. Curnonsky is supposed to have had an incredibly accurate and discerning palate and, in jest no doubt, warned young and aspiring gourmets that they should eat only the left leg of the woodcock, adding that the bird habitually stands on its right leg, which thereby possesses a firmer muscle. Although he could not cook, his election as Prince of Gastronomes came about as the result of a referendum involving 5,000 chefs and gourmets, and thereafter Curnonsky referred to himself in the third person as "the Prince." During his lifetime he was involved in the production of several books on food, including "Cuisine et Vins de France" and "Recettes de Provinces de France." The latter is the inspiration for one of the handsomest, most lavishly illustrated books on food ever produced. It is "Traditional Recipes of the Provinces of France" (Doubleday & Co., $12.95) selected by Curnonsky, recently translated and edited for the American edition by Edwin Lavin. Book Is Illustrated The photographs in this work are a visual delight from the cover illustration of mussels with an egg sauce to a view of the old Palais de Justice in Rouen that graces the last chapter. Most of the photographs are in full color and many of them, that of the apple tart taken in the author's home, for example, have a most stimulating effect on the palate. "Traditional Recipes of the Provinces of France" is divided into thirty sections, which describe in fascinating detail the specialties of each region. In the section on Paris, for instance, the origin of sole Marguery and sole Dugléré are considered; in Touraine, the potted meats known as rillettes; and in the county of Nice the famed pissaladière, an onion- and-anchovy pie. And yet, while the volume succeeds admirably as a pictorial and gastronomic guide to the foods of France, it fails woefully as a cookbook. There are stunning inaccuracies from beginning to end and pointing them out is like shooting fish in a loaded pond. The fault probably lies in the translation from French into English. Was there ever a recipe for pigs' feet à la Sainte-Menehould without breadcrumbs as a coating? "Traditional Recipes of the Provinces of France" has a preface by Henri Soulé, proprietor of New York's Le Pavillon restaurant. The volume may not add luster to the kitchen shelf, but it certainly will be impressive in the living room. See less