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Ducasse Flavors of France
Ducasse Flavors of FranceDucasse Flavors of France
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Sales Rank: 406803
Artisan
Released: 2006-09-21
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Media: Hardcover (1)
Also Available in: Paperback.
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Product Review
Amazon.com Review
Ducasse is a book you'll want to leave out on a coffee table. It is more than beautiful--left open, it has the power to transform the nature of a room with its exquisite photographs and recipes, which are as good to read as they are to cook from. Taken into the kitchen, the power is inherent in Ducasse to transform any meal well beyond the exemplary. But then there's the danger that a spill or greasy fingers might soil the pages, which would be tragic. And yet, this is not just another pretty book, something to thumb through and shrug off. This is a book to take to heart, starting with the first recipe--Fennel "Marmalade"--and then on to Cocotte of Young Spring Vegetables, Spiny Lobster with a Rhubarb-Ginger Chardonnay Sauce, and Chicken Fricassee with Morels, and so on, and so on, until you end up with Coffee and Chocolate Parfait with Dark Chocolate Sauce. Alain Ducasse is the only chef with six Michelin stars to his credit. In his kitchens and in his book he uses the best possible ingredients, treating each and every one with deserved respect. Recipes have been tried and tested to ensure perfection, and--reassuringly--dishes work well in the home kitchen. Ducasse is a wonderful teacher, and every page is filled with rich descriptions of flavor, color, texture, and aroma. Like so much about Alain Ducasse, it is a picture of food that defies language. You will recognize it, though, turning these gorgeous pages, plotting the next dish you choose to master. The opportunity exists with Ducasse to gain a new kind of fluency. --Schuyler Ingle
Product Description
Brash, driven, and dazzlingly inventive, fourteen-star chef Alain Ducasse is a larger-than-life figure. At thirty-three, he was the youngest chef ever to be awarded three Michelin stars; and in 2005 he became the first chef in the world to win three stars for three restaurants, with a staggering total of fourteen stars spread across eight restaurants in three countries. He has mentored a generation of younger chefs who have introduced his cooking around the world and he has, quite simply, changed the face of traditional French cooking.
In this, his first American cookbook, M. Ducasse shares the principles and techniques of his uniquely elemental cuisine. At its core are clarity of taste, precision in execution, and respect for the food itself, which to Ducasse means retaining its essential flavor. That respect for true taste results in a multitude of simple but striking techniques. Ducasse uses as much of each ingredient as he can—the skins, the shells, the baking juices, the pan drippings, the heads, the cooking broth, all the by-products of the process—in order to capture the truest taste. He incorporates different preparations of the same ingredient into a given dish, each revealing an individual aspect of its flavor—sliced raw artichokes, braised whole artichokes, and paper-thin slices of fried artichoke, for example, might be featured together. The brilliance of his food—apparent in recipes made with no more than two ingredients enhanced by a simple aromatic element, with seasoning reduced to a few grains of salt—explains why he is "the country's star chef" (Wine Spectator) and "the Escoffier of our time" (Le Point).
Ducasse Flavors of France documents, in more than one hundred lavishly photographed recipes, the influences—Mediterranean, Provençal, and classical French—that permeate this extaordinary cuisine. Many of the recipes are simple, others complex, but all can be perfectly accomplished with a little time and patience.With its "alluringly simple dishes, like buttery fork-mashed potatoes, peppered slices of sauteed pumpkin, swordfish with citrus, exquisite chocolate tartlets, and a homey pear and honey cake made with big chunks of pear" (The New York Times), this is the most accessible Ducasse cookbook published. Yet there are still recipes to challenge ambitious cooks and great tips that will make all cooks better in the kitchen.
In this, his first American cookbook, M. Ducasse shares the principles and techniques of his uniquely elemental cuisine. At its core are clarity of taste, precision in execution, and respect for the food itself, which to Ducasse means retaining its essential flavor. That respect for true taste results in a multitude of simple but striking techniques. Ducasse uses as much of each ingredient as he can—the skins, the shells, the baking juices, the pan drippings, the heads, the cooking broth, all the by-products of the process—in order to capture the truest taste. He incorporates different preparations of the same ingredient into a given dish, each revealing an individual aspect of its flavor—sliced raw artichokes, braised whole artichokes, and paper-thin slices of fried artichoke, for example, might be featured together. The brilliance of his food—apparent in recipes made with no more than two ingredients enhanced by a simple aromatic element, with seasoning reduced to a few grains of salt—explains why he is "the country's star chef" (Wine Spectator) and "the Escoffier of our time" (Le Point).
Ducasse Flavors of France documents, in more than one hundred lavishly photographed recipes, the influences—Mediterranean, Provençal, and classical French—that permeate this extaordinary cuisine. Many of the recipes are simple, others complex, but all can be perfectly accomplished with a little time and patience.With its "alluringly simple dishes, like buttery fork-mashed potatoes, peppered slices of sauteed pumpkin, swordfish with citrus, exquisite chocolate tartlets, and a homey pear and honey cake made with big chunks of pear" (The New York Times), this is the most accessible Ducasse cookbook published. Yet there are still recipes to challenge ambitious cooks and great tips that will make all cooks better in the kitchen.
Book Description
Brash, driven, and dazzlingly inventive, Alain Ducasse was the youngest chef ever to be awarded three Michelin stars, and in 1998, he became the first chef in over sixty years to earn three stars in two restaurants simultaneously. In 2005 he became the first chef in the world to win three stars for three restaurants (“Trois fois trois étoiles,” read international headlines).
With its “alluringly simple dishes, like buttery fork-mashed potatoes, peppered slices of sauteed pumpkin, swordfish with citrus, exquisite chocolate tartlets, and a homey pear and honey cake made with big chunks of pear” (The New York Times), this is the most accessible Ducasse cookbook published. Yet there are still recipes to challenge ambitious cooks and great tips that will make all cooks better in the kitchen.
With its “alluringly simple dishes, like buttery fork-mashed potatoes, peppered slices of sauteed pumpkin, swordfish with citrus, exquisite chocolate tartlets, and a homey pear and honey cake made with big chunks of pear” (The New York Times), this is the most accessible Ducasse cookbook published. Yet there are still recipes to challenge ambitious cooks and great tips that will make all cooks better in the kitchen.
Product Details
Ducasse Flavors of France
- Hardcover: 264 pages
- Publisher: Artisan; 2006-09-21
- Label: Artisan
- Format: Deluxe Edition
- Studio: Artisan
- ISBN: 1579653197
- Average Customer Review: based on 9 reviews
- Sales Rank in Books: #406803
Customer Reviews
Avg. Customer Review:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: You won't be disappointed whether it's in your kitchen or coffee table 2009-01-03
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Chef, Beautiful Cookbook, Beginners need not apply 2004-01-11
Comment: I purchased this book on sale for $24.95, however I would have paid the list price of $60 because I feel it is worth it.
The photography is absolutely stunning. If you are familiar with Roger Verge's "Entertaining in the New French Style", the photographer is the same.
Recipes I have tried with success:
Dark Chocolate Tart with Rich Pastry Dough Crust
Pear Tart: Raw and Caramelized
Jasmine Pots de Creme
Criticisms
-Many of the recipes require ingredients unavailable in this country.
-Many times, the pictures do not quite match up with the recipes, which is very frustrating when looking for visual clues.
Overall, this book is for serious chefs or those who want to look like serious chefs by putting this book on their coffee table. Many of the recipes are simple: the filling for the chocolate tart only contains 4 ingredients, but this makes them all the more challenging: there is nothing easy about the recipes.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Coffee Table Cookbook 2001-02-12
Comment: Big, bold and beautiful describe this volume.
From one of the greatest French chefs, too much of this fare is unavailable to the home gourmet. However, savory and well done is this book with its exceptional photos and stylish intros to setup this exquisite cuisine.
Some of the soups and simple seafood dishes are about all anyone except the pros could attempt due to lack of ingredients and guts to go after some of these rather complicated recipes.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great chef, average cookbook. 2000-12-06
Comment: There is no denying Alain Ducasse is the chef of the moment. However, this book was somewhat of a disappointment. The recipes are interesting, the photography decent. But the problem lies in the ingredients. Too many recipes call for ingredients that are flat out impossible to find - and he offers no alternatives. It is one thing to ask for truffles, caviar, or duck confit. It is another to require specific mediterranean fish that are not found in this country, or obscure wild game and offal that cannot be had. Substituting chicken, or even quail or pheasant just doesn't cut it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Blue... blue.... this book is blue (popular french song)... 2000-05-19
Comment: Blue are the pages of this book ... blue like the sea in Monaco where the three Michelin stars shine on Louis XV first Alain Ducasse restaurant. Three other stars were offered by Michelin to the same Alain Ducasse for his second restaurant in Paris in 1998. He became the only chef in the world to be granted with 6 stars by famous Michelin France Red Guide Book. Everything is beautiful in this book. Linda Danneberg explains how she installed a photographic studio in the barn close to the third restaurant "La Bastide de Moustiers". There, on the straw from the Alpes de Haute-Provence, she helped Pierre Hussenot, photographer, to install freshly made preparations under the sun of Midi (and projectors). I did not try the recipes. This is why I will not comment them. They are detailed in plain english. Comments on Alain Ducasse 9-days-a-week lifestyle bring value to this book. It is not only a collection of recipes. It is a comprehensive deep analyis of success-factors from the king of chefs. This book is a monument as his model.
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Ducasse Flavors of France
Pluses:
Beautifully photographed, excellent page and binding quality, useful glossary (which includes substitutions for things like the seafood and mushrooms) and a section on basics like stocks, jus, etc. Techniques are very useful even without his exact ingredient list- just cook with what you have fresh and with good ingredients you have access to and you won't go wrong. Add a teaspoon of Grand Marnier to his french bread soaking mixture for a delicious twist, for example. Very good selection of recipes, and recipe quality and accuracy is great.
Negatives:
Some recipes can be costly to put together, and others will require substitution which may be a drawback to cookbook purists. If you don't like sweetbreads, foie gras, etc., a number of recipes also feature those, so be aware. You'll want to be friends with a good butcher/fish monger to get the most out of the book, but if you're reading a book like this, you already know that. Also, he features some "menu porn" which describes and pictures a tasty looking dish with no actual recipe measurements to recreate it, which was personally frustrating because the sour cherry clafloutis looked amazing. Considering the high level the rest of the book achieves, those recipes could've still added something had they been included.
Overall, I rated the book 5 stars because I've found it accomplishes what every cookbook of it's kind sets out to do; it makes itself as at home in the kitchen, wide open, waiting for the home chef to double check recipe steps, as it does on the coffee table to look good. I bought a used copy for $12, and I still would've been satisfied had I sprung for the new version. Regardless of which version you get, if you're a fan of Ducasse or good cooking, I genuinely think you'll enjoy it, too.