This is Patricia Wells' third book on French cooking and the fourth of her books I am reviewing. Of her four books I have seen, this seems the most accessible and most useful to the largest number of people. This book presents recipes from small eating establishments from all regions of France, including Paris, Lyon, Provence, and southwest France. Therefore, it's contents are a much broader sampling of recipes than the books I have seen on Joel Robuchon, Paris restaurants, and Provence home cooking.

Like all of her other books, the table of contents and selection of recipes therein follows a conventional pattern with chapters on Appetizers, First Courses, and Palate Teasers; Soups of the Day; Market Basket Salads; Pastas; Seasonal Vegetables; Potatoes; Eggs, Cheese, Terrines, and Tarts; Fish and Shellfish; Poultry, Chicken, Duck, Guinea Hen, and Rabbit; Meats, Roasts, and Daily Specials; Homemade Desserts; and Pastries, Bread Dough, Sauces, and Stocks.

The first thing that stands out is the wide variety of dishes. The next is the relative simplicity of the recipe techniques without sacrificing anything to quality and respect for ingredients. I compared Wells' pot-au-feu recipe in this book with the recipe in Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking' and found the attention to detail was as good or greater in Wells' book. At the same time, Wells is not entangling us in a lot of complex preparations. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Wells and Child agree on a method for making Crème Fraiche that does not require day or more to wait for the result.

Wells succeeds in evoking the feeling of the bistro experience in the selection of her recipes, the chatter in the headnotes explaining the source of the recipes, the consistent presentation of a French title for each recipe, even if the dish is a local favorite at a small establishment (such as `Maggie's Roasted Red Peppers') and not an established standard dish. The photographs and layout of the book also enhance the subject, making the book a lot of fun to read without going too far, destroying the utility of a book you have to read and follow it's directions.

The emphasis on simplicity and utility extends to the pantry recipes in the last chapter. I especially like the distinction between the three different types of pastry crust. If you are new to pastry, however, I recommend you consult a book such as Alford and Duguid's `Home Baking' specializing in a discussion of pastry to become aware of the subtleties of pastry dough. I also suggest that for stocks, the reader consult a fuller discussion of the subject such as Cooks Illustrated's volume `The Best Recipe'.

One thing I did not find in this book which I expected was an explanation of the distinction between a bistro and a brassiere. Wells cites several recipes that originate from brassieres and includes bistros, brassieres, and restaurants in her list of establishments in the back of the book.

Three other small aspects of the book did annoy me. One was the numerous references on unfamiliar terms to an index which, in some cases, did not include the term on which the reference was made. Another was the inaccuracy of some English to metric unit conversions. I found a few which were consistently off by about 10%. A third was the use of the metric unit centiliters in place of milliliters. Almost all American metric measuring devices for the kitchen are graduated in milliliters. I can anticipate a lot of blank stares at the abbreviation `cl' for metrically challenged cooks.

All of these caveats are small matters when weighted against the great good fun to be found in preparing recipes from this book. This book will go to the top of my list when I am looking for ideas to fill out a menu and I have no clue to what I want to eat. At the list price of less than $14, the cachet of genuine bistro food makes this book a real gem.

Highly recommended to all.

Julie Child taught you to cook French food. In Bistro Cooking, Patricia Wells teaches you to fall in love with it.

I bought this book on a whim about 20 years ago when I was starting out on my own, and today I credit it with teaching me to cook. This book caused me not just to like, but to love, French cooking, which I had previously regarded as either too tyrannical or just not that interesting. Thanks to this magnificent little volume, French cooking is now a very easy and natural part of my life.

This book absolutely oozes charm, and Mrs. Wells' enthusiasm and joy on the pages of it are infectious. One of the best things she does is to just plain motivate you to get in the kitchen and start cooking. The spirit of this book is light-hearted and fun, but make no mistake, Mrs. Wells' knowledge of French food, and of cooking in general, is anything but light. Bistro Cooking is the reference I turn to again and again when I want an honest-to-goodness recipe for a dish such as a roast chicken, a potato gratin, a chocolate cake or a fruit tart. (The chocolate mousse on page 244 is the most divine thing I have ever tasted.) The recipes are authentic, tried and true, and cannot be beat.

What is it that makes this book so special? Maybe it is the vintage-looking black and white photos, the charming illustrations or the quaint French menus. Maybe it is the total do-ability of the recipes, for surely there is not a reason in the world why you couldn't make any of them? It's not really a question of whether you CAN make the recipes in this book, it is a question of whether you can RESIST making them. Maybe it is all the helpful advice that is so comfortably offered throughout that gives one the sense that they would acquire more practical culinary know-how by using Bistro Cooking than they would if they were to enroll in cooking school for a year. Maybe it is the feeling you get when you sit down in your favorite chair and open the book that you are stepping right through its pages into another time and place. Yes, I admit that armchair travelers such as myself will love it, but they will also love knowing that Mrs. Wells is an absolute authority on French food and that the recipes in this book are so good they should be considered the standard by which other recipes for the same dishes ought to be judged. Or maybe it's the feeling you get from reading her description of a dish that the recipe that follows for it is not just a formula for making very good food but surely for happiness itself. Maybe it's everything.

I can promise you this: This is a cookbook unlike any you have ever owned and if you acquire it, it will occupy a very special place, not only on your bookshelf, but in your life and in your heart.

What is a bistro? Patricia Wells, the author, says (Page x): "Most simply, a bistro is a small neighborhood restaurant serving home-style, substantial fare."

The book is divided into a number of sections: hors d'oeuvres and first dishes, Soups, Salads, Pastas, Seasonal vegetables, Potatoes, Eggs (cheese, tarts), Fish and shellfish, Poultry, Meat, Desserts, and Pastries.

The recipes provide hearty food. Soups? An onion soup; Monkfish soup with garlic cream; Leek, potato, and bacon soup. Fish? Codfish with herbed tomato sauce is intriguing (tomato and fish don't seem to go well together to me--based on some unfortunate dining experiences--but this works! Other examples: Smoked haddock with Savoy cabbage; Oven-roasted scallops. Poultry? Chicken with tarragon vinegar; Chicken sautéed with scallops; Roast duck with olives. And on it goers.

The recipes are easy to understand. Not all are quite so simple, but the array of recipes provides a good resource for the kitchen.

All in all, a nice work.

This is an excellent collection of recipes that aren't overly demanding or time consuming yet are delicious and authentic. I got this book when I moved to France and would cook for our French friends from time to time and they were so tickled with the food and the selection. for instance - garlic anchovy spread (anchoiade) - they knew and loved the dish but almost never saw it served anywhere; or grilled tuna with an herbed tomato sauce - savory and flavorful . These dishes are straightforward but so good. The only challenge cooking these recipes in the US may be getting the high quality fresh produce that one finds in Europe. Worth having the book and systematically working your way through it according to seasonal produce available.

We are going to France in a few months. Bought a few books to get in the mood and feel on the food. Only made a few items so far but they have been winners. Also, just fun to read the book. Stories and recipes. Enjoyed

The recipes are written clearly, and most are fairly simple. You get amazing results for little work. Patricia Wells is a fine chef, and translates French cooking for busy Americans. Substitutions for hard-to-get ingredients like rabbit (just use chicken) are delicious. In fact, I recommend making every single rabbit (chicken) recipe in the book. So tasty.

The recipes are great. The quality of this book is probably the worst of any book I’ve ever owned. Print quality is terrible and like someone else said, looks like photocopies. The pages are so uneven it difficult to even turn to a page that you want. It’s so bad it deters me from even using it.

Do-able recipes.

Gifted this one… my favourite cookbook for over 25 years, and I have over 200.

This is one of my treasured cookery books.

Not only do I use it for the recipes, but as a frequent visitor to provence, I adore reading the introductions to each recipe. I imagine myself visiting the many markets and purchasing the ingredients required, then strolling back to the kitchen to prepare the meals for my family. Heavenly...

The book is more than a collection of recipes. Patricia Wells has a way that takes you along with her on her journey through France visiting the many bistros and markets.

The recipes are fantastic and the helpful hints and tips `truc' makes it a joyous read.

Buy it now...

Really great recipes!

I had the paperback edition for years. When it disappeared I wanted to replace it because it is such a treasure trove of classic dishes that always turn out well and are clearly explained. The beauty of a Kindle version is that you don’t have the problem of getting the pages to lay flat in the middle of boning out a chicken!

recu tel que décrit.