Best french cooking, food & wine books according to redditors

We found 60 Reddit comments discussing the best french cooking, food & wine books. We ranked the 27 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about French Cooking, Food & Wine:

u/kleinbl00 · 91 pointsr/AskReddit

Get a slow-cooker at the thrift store. Slow-cooked pintos require very little prep but a lot of time - get a bag for $nothing$, wash and soak the night before, set to low when you leave and come home and there's lots. They also freeze very well.

Whole chickens are infinitely cheaper than boneless skinless and easy to cook. You can feed two people for three days on a chicken; take the plastic off, wash it, pat it down, stuff some veggies in it for flavor (celery, half an onion, an apple) and bake it in the toaster oven (uses less juice than your range). The bones and such will make stock, but I find that I never really need "stock." That may change...

Rice cookers make rice trivial and cheep. You can get a 10lb bag of rice for 12 bux. 10 lbs of rice will last you and a friend months.

Ground turkey in bulk (5+lb) is very cheap. Buy it, take the plastic off, cut it into 1/2lb chunks, pick them up in ziploc baggies like dog poop, push out all the air and huck 'em in the freezer. Try and keep them ball-shaped if you intend to thaw them in the microwave or thin and flat if you intend to thaw them on the counter.

Any vegetables you buy at your local farmer's market will be fresher, healthier and cheaper than what you get at the supermarket. Not only that, chicks dig farmers' markets. Go every week. Find your local farmer's markets here.

Successful cooking is a blend of two important things: good ingredients and careful, light-handed preparation. Chances are you're naturally inclined to over-season the crap out of things; most people are. You will find, however, that a good cut of meat with a little salt and pepper will beat the shit out of a mediocre cut of meat slathered in K.C. Masterpiece. I recommend Edouard de Pomaine's 1930 classic French cooking in Ten Minutes not so much for the recipes but for the philosophy. Most every preparation in it is "take something, do something to it and eat it." Pomaine demystifies cooking in ways Erma Bombeck and Betty Crocker never could.


Ask at your local nursery what herbs grow easiest where you are and try and cultivate them yourself. That chicken? A sprig of fresh rosemary will make it awesome. But maybe bay or dill or rosemary or something will grow better near you. I guarantee you can grow mint where you are. Mint makes any savory dish better.

Finally, learn to appreciate the art of cooking and eating in and of itself. It's always cheaper to cook for four or six than it is for one or two if everybody chips in; inviting friends over to cook and eat makes for a cheaper meal as well as an evening of entertainment. Always seek out especially good produce, poultry, fish or meat and make it a focus of your cooking. Believe it or not, you can entertain a houseful of people for an evening over the simple fact that the raspberry harvest is in.

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(...and if that fails, you can do what my uncle did in college - he went down to the feed store and sampled. If it was palatable, he'd buy 50 lbs of it, pick the rocks out of it and chow down. If I recall correctly, there's a certain type of buffalo feed that's mostly rolled oats, molasses and vitamins. And rocks.)

(Be sure to pick out the rocks.)

u/satanmat2 · 32 pointsr/Cooking
u/Remriel · 9 pointsr/Cooking

Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is easily the best book to learn French cooking. It has very thorough instructions for techniques, authentic recipes, adapted for the American kitchen.

I also recommend Larousse Gastronomique,
Escoffier and
Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques.

You mentioned that you prefer recipes that are simple and not too time consuming. The problem with that is, most authentic French cooking is time-consuming and laborious. This is why it is so delicious and intricate. However, I do have one cookbook that I don't use too much anymore, but it features great recipes that are fairly quick and accessible.

u/KiwiLicker · 8 pointsr/Cooking

So, when you heat food up- meat especially- it has a tendency to dry out. This is very true if you're cooking past medium temps.

A reduction is a sauce made by simmering or boiling down a liquid into a strong, thick concentration, yielding an intense taste. Because there are different components in liquids, when you apply heat they can evaporate or clump together.

Reductions (and other sauces) add another layer of flavor to the dish. If a meat or veggie is bland, not well seasoned enough, or too gamey, the sauce will tend to help liven it up.

I'm a huge fan of red wine and shallots, and bourbon-honey-butter reductions. Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook is a wonderful reference to have in the kitchen and living room.

Tons of cooking videos on yourtube! Here's one with sprouts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LhZpTqWCMc

You should also check out mother sauces. Your taste buds will thank you.

u/EpigenomeEverything · 6 pointsr/recipes

This is worthy of plate licking.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-in-red-wine-vinegar

I know the idea of a red wine vinegar sauce doesn't sound appetizing, but this is one of the best chicken dishes that I've had. It was also my gateway drug into french home-style cooking which led me to buying the bonne femme cookbook which I use almost exclusively now.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bonne-Femme-Cookbook-Splendid/dp/1558327495/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413829788

It has tons of great ways to make chicken. The chicken thighs stuffed with bacon and rosemary... amazing. I didn't even know I could enjoy chicken the way I did with the coq au vin recipe.

u/tanglisha · 6 pointsr/TwoXChromosomes

I've worked gradually over time to build a nicer wardrobe. I also used to be a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl.

I started by getting some plain fitted t-shirts that flattered my figure. Old Navy often has sales on these where you can get 2 for $10. I dunno if they have ON in the UK, but you can probably find a similar chain. I've since moved into pretty patterns and more dressy tops, these tend to cost more. I don't buy many things like this because I don't like empire waists, these still seem to be most of what's available. You could also go for blouses if you find some that fit you well - I've got fit problems with button-down shirts.

Next came pants. I presume you already have some jeans that you love and love you back, there's no reason to change that kind of combination. Get some nice belts to go with them. Look for slacks in the same brand, they will probably fit you in a similar way. Skirts that are a length you are comfortable with go nicely with a plain t-shirt.

Get some comfortable shoes that look nice. I like Naot for this. They are expensive, but my planar fasciitis went away when I started wearing them. If you have any foot pain and can find the right shoes, you'll find yourself walking much more than you do now.

Next comes accessories. I get a lot of compliments on my plain, long sleeved t-shirts and colorful scarves in the winter. I acquired the scarves one at a time over the course of a couple of years. I can often find nice silk ones on sale for around $10. I have a couple of cute hats as well, I burn easily in the summer, and live in Seattle, where it rains all winter. I found some beaded necklaces and earrings I liked at World Market. Once I started wearing this type of jewelry, people started giving more to me. I now have a nice little collection of 4-5 different colored necklaces, a couple of bracelets, and lots of earrings. If you're crafty, it might be fun to make this sort of thing. Big, chunky beads are flattering on a plus figure.

I happen to think this sort of style will work for any body type. The most important thing is fit, don't buy anything that is too tight, but try to find figure-flattering clothing.

You can do all of this gradually, there's no need to try to replace everything at once. I'm thinking my current style is actually kind of a halfway, but I'm not sure where it's going to end up leading. I do know that my taste in shoes has changed immensely since I found that good shoes makes my foot pain go away, and they can be found in really cute styles. Once I started dressing nicer, makeup followed as a kind of natural step. I never used to wear it, now I usually wear something on my eyes and lips when I go out.

I had an odd catalyst for all these changes, I started taking dance lessons and going out to social dances. While sitting and watching, I started noticing what women were wearing: what I felt worked and what I didn't like. I also lost a bit of weight from the exercise, which made me feel even more confident in my new style. I find myself paying more attention now to what the people around me are wearing. They usually shop wherever you happen to be, so it's easy to find the things you like.

Edit: I'm 32. Also, I got the t-shirt/scarf idea from French Women Don't get Fat.

u/[deleted] · 6 pointsr/Paleo

There are several sauce recipes in this old school French cooking book. A lot list flour as a thickener, but of course we could try almond flour or potato starch instead.

http://www.amazon.com/French-Cooking-Ten-Minutes-Adapting/dp/086547480X

u/drwormtmbg · 5 pointsr/meat

Also The River Cottage Meat Book although it is extra British, I consider it to be an essential read. Also, Pork & Sons is my favorite meat subject.

u/sn0wdizzle · 5 pointsr/ArtisanVideos

His cookbook is written in a similar manner as well.

u/lordbathos · 5 pointsr/books

Cook books are a great idea. I did just pick up the new English translation of 'I Know How To Cook!', the most comprehensive and, quite frankly, incredible cookbook I've found.

It'll do me well for a long time - highly recommended!

u/rboymtj · 3 pointsr/Cooking

I Know How To Cook is my kitchen bible.

u/Applejack13 · 3 pointsr/travel

This is so great - I did Paris over NYE a couple of years ago and booked a place through airbnb in the Latin Quarter. If you're interested in great food - check out this book: was a great reference for my trip and had incredible meals as a result!


EDIT because I can't help myself: if you're interested, some great eats: L'Aoc, La Fontaine de Mars, Au Pied de Fouet

Thanks again - excited to look at Prague and Budapest. Let me know if you have any Paris questions :)

u/vandaalen · 3 pointsr/asktrp

I am a professional chef and while watching people prepare food is entertaining and sometimes also educating I actually recommend you to buy books and learn the basics first.

You can then use youtube pretty well in order to watch how to do specific things, like i.e. deboning a whole chicken for a gallantine, or how to trim certain pieces of meat.

Start with french cuisine. Once you have understood how things are connected you'll actually understand everything else.

If you want something simple and entertaining for the start I'd choose Anthony Bourdaine's Les Halles Cookbook. It's amusingly written and the recipes are fairly easy and they are all legit.

Then there is Paul Bocus. Living legend with three long-term girlfriends.

And of course you want to have Escoffier at your home. Doesn't get much more classic than that.

If you want to get a sense of what drives a top notch chef, watch In Search of Perfection by Heston Blumethal. Very very good stuff.

And finally, if you want to learn something about culinary history I highly highly recommend Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany and to learn about our lifes as a chef you need to read the (admittedly exaggerated) autobiographicly Kitchen Confidential by Bourdain.

All this provided, you won't learn cooking without actually doing it.

Edit: Depending on your budget, I also heavily recommend Alain Ducasse's Grand Livre de Cuisine.

u/matt2500 · 3 pointsr/Cooking

Anthony Bourdain already wrote it.. Great cookbook, by the way. But it's all French food, so Nucleix still can do the Italian version.

u/obvioustricycle · 3 pointsr/recipes

I have mixed feelings about celebrity cookbooks, but nevertheless I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. It's fairly unpretentious French bistro fare, but a lot of the recipes require a decent amount of prep, a lot of trial and error, and sometimes recipes stages that span multiple days. Not all of the recipes are tough, but as an intermediate cook myself I really think that some of these will be a pleasant challenge. Plus it's a very aesthetically pleasing book imo.

u/Chefaholic · 2 pointsr/Chefit

My favorite cooking related book to give as a gift, just because it's so joyful and a lot of younger cooks don't know about it: Ma Gastronomie by Ferdinand Point. So many great musings and quotes.
https://smile.amazon.com/Ma-Gastronomie-Fernand-Point/dp/1585679615/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481405420&sr=1-1

u/1point618 · 2 pointsr/Cooking

A good cookbook isn't just about the recipes, or even primarily about the recipes. It's about the photos, the techniques, the flavor pairings, the curation. A good cookbook should be like looking into the head of a great chef.

We almost never cook from recipes, but my roommate and I own ~20 cookbooks between us.

To understand what a good cookbook can be, I recommend getting the NOMA cookbook and Fernand Point's Ma Gastronomie

u/redux42 · 2 pointsr/Cooking

IIRC, this is the book M. F. K. Fisher thinks is the end-all-be-all of cooking... Tangentially related, I believe this is the "Joy of Cooking" for the French:

http://www.amazon.com/Know-How-Cook-Ginette-Mathiot/dp/071485736X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293757218&sr=8-1

u/vapidscreenname · 2 pointsr/konmari

Pare it down. Good cooks don't really need a "wide variety" of implements and tools. You can make great food with very few tools. Especially if you love to cook (as do I), you should rise to the challenge. Pare down the silverware too. Just minimize the entire kitchen.

Check out The Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook for ideas. Rachel Khoo moved to Paris to go to culinary school and was cooking up five-course French meals in her kitchen that consisted of something like one hot plate and a college size fridge.

u/jtr99 · 2 pointsr/recipes

If you like the sound of it here's a fantastic French bistro recipe that uses the idea. It's from this book by Patricia Wells.

u/badge · 2 pointsr/Cooking

How is "I Know How To Cook" not on there? It's solid gold: http://www.amazon.com/Know-How-Cook-Ginette-Mathiot/dp/071485736X

u/riding_a_zephyr · 2 pointsr/keto
u/dilithium · 2 pointsr/food

For me it was French Cooking in Ten Minutes. Before it, I was fumbling through recipes. It is so brief, lacking detail and had such attitude that it gave me the confidence to just try.

u/MagicWeasel · 2 pointsr/france

C'est de cette livre : https://www.amazon.fr/fran%C3%A7aise-tradition-fa%C3%A7on-vegan/dp/2825145017

Mais je l'ecrerais en anglais pour mon mari à faire, alors quand je l'ai fait je vais le partager avec toi. Et c'est pas les champignons exactement, c'est fait par des pleurotes.

Merci pour la recette !

u/munga · 2 pointsr/food

i suggest les halles cookbook

i have it, most of the recipes are reasonable and the end results are fantastic.

u/KUROKOCCHl · 1 pointr/Cooking

I would recommend French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David. Unlike most other French cookbooks you'll find, she strays away from haute cusine. These recipes are more traditional and probably more like what your grandparents probably cooked.

u/kayoss · 1 pointr/books

Do PDF's count? I randomly came across a dl link for a super expensive cookbook while looking up recipe conversions. I can't read a lick of French, but it makes me ridiculously happy knowing I have the book. :D

u/insomniatica · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I'd love this 99 cent Kindle cookbook (it's in my 0-$6 list, along with my email address)

I LOVE Steven Universe! Dogcopter is awesome!

u/doggexbay · 1 pointr/Cooking

Basically gonna echo most of the answers already posted, but just to pile on:

  • 8" chef's knife. 10" is longer than may be comfortable and 12" is longer than necessary, but 7" may start to feel a little short if she's ever slicing large melon or squash. I'm a casual knife nerd and I have knives by Wusthof, Victorinox, Shun and Mac. My favorite.

  • This Dutch oven. Enameled and cast iron just like the Le Creuset that a few other comments have mentioned, but much, much cheaper. I own two and they're both great. I also have the non-enameled version for baking bread, but I don't recommend it for general use unless you're a Boy Scout. Here's an entertaingly-written blog post comparing the Lodge vs. Le Creuset in a short rib cookoff.

  • This cutting board and this cutting board conditioner. The importance of an easy and pleasant to use prep surface can't be overstated. I'm listing this third on purpose; this is one of the most important things your kitchen can have. A recipe that calls for a lot of chopping is no fun when you're fighting for counter space to do the chopping, or doing it on a shitty plastic board.

  • A cheap scale and a cheap thermometer. Seriously, these are as important as the cutting board.

  • Just gonna crib this one right off /u/Pobe420 and say cheapo 8–10" (I recommend 10–12" but that's my preference) nonstick skillet. One note I'd add is that pans with oven-safe handles are a bit more dual-purpose than pans with plastic or rubberized handles. You can't finish a pork chop in the oven in a skillet with a rubberized handle. But one could say you shouldn't be cooking a pork chop on a nonstick pan to begin with. The important thing is to keep this one cheap: you're going to be replacing it every couple of years, there's no getting around that. For my money $30 or less, and $30 is pretty expensive for these things.


  • Cookbooks

    Nothing inspires cooking like a good cookbook collection. The great news about cookbooks is that they're often bought as gifts or souvenirs and they make their way onto the used market cheap and in great condition. Here are my suggestions for a great starter shelf:

  1. The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt. I kind of hate that this is my number one recommendation, but I don't know your wife and I do know J. Kenji López-Alt. This one is brand new so you're unlikely to find it used and cheap, but as a catch-all recommendation it has to take first place. Moving on to the cheap stuff:

  2. Regional French Cooking by Paul Bocuse. This is possibly the friendliest authoritative book on French food out there, and a hell of a lot easier to just dive into than Julia Child (Julia is the expert, and her book is an encyclopedia). Bocuse is the undisputed king of nouvelle cuisine and people like Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain (so maybe a generation ahead of you and I) came from him. Paul Bocuse is French food as we know it, and yet this book—an approachable, coffee-table sized thing—still has a recipe for fucking mac and cheese. It's outstanding.

  3. Theory & Practice / The New James Beard by James Beard. These will completely cover your entire library of American cooking. Nothing else needed until you get region-specific. When you do, go for something like this.

  4. Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. When she died, the NYT ran a second obituary that was just her recipe for bolognese.

  5. Christ, top five. Who gets 5th? I'm going with From Curries To Kebabs by Madhur Jaffrey. Don't get bamboozled into buying "Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Bible" which is the same book, repackaged and priced higher. You want the one with the hot pink dust jacket, it's unmistakeable. This is one of those end-all books that you could cook out of for the rest of your life. It covers almost every diet and almost every country that Beard and Bocuse don't.

  6. Honorable mentions: Here come the downvotes. Pok Pok by Andy Ricker. If you're American and you want to cook Thai, this is the one. Ten Speed Press can go home now. The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Rosen (so close to making the list). I shouldn't need to say much about this; it's the book of diasporic Jewish food, which means it covers a lot of time and almost every possible country. It's a no-brainer. Thai Food by David Thompson (a perfect oral history of Thai food for English speakers, only it doesn't include Pok Pok's precise measurements, which in practice I've found important). Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish. Not for someone who just wants to become a baker, this book is for someone who wants to make Ken Forkish's bread. And for a casual bread baker I can't imagine a better introduction. Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham. Andrea Nguyen is out there and Andrea Nguyen is awesome, but I really like Mai Pham's book. It's accessible, reliable and regional. You don't get the dissertation-level breakdown on the origins of chicken pho that you get from Andrea, but the recipe's there, among many others, and it's fucking outstanding. Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. This vegan cookbook is dope as hell and will really expand your imagination when it comes to vegetables. This could actually have been number five.
u/Charlie628 · 1 pointr/Baking

I don't have the recipe to hand, but it was from this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Patisserie-Mélanie-Dupuis/dp/1743790945/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478714410&sr=8-1&keywords=patisserie

Basically two macaron shells, a raspberry puree jelly, a diplomat cream and raspberries, then sandwiched together.

I had to freeze the cream and jelly insert to be able to handle it. First of all, I made a 24cm ring and inserted a 20cm ring inside, and piped diplomat cream in the doughnut shape, froze it, removed the inner ring and poured the jelly insert, and froze again until I was ready to make the shells.

u/Garden_Weasel · 1 pointr/Cooking

I like to cook French and Asian/Indian foods the most. Here's my base list for any type of cooking: kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, olive oil, canola oil, eggs, flour, potatoes, onions and shallots, cream, butter, bacon, cheese, rice, canned diced tomatoes, garlic bulbs, red and white wine, vinegar (rice wine or balsamic). Root vegetables can be added too, but I prefer to get them specific to the meal.
A few extras I tend to use a lot are ginger root, oyster sauce, and red cabbage. Not exactly stock-worthy to some people though.

But actually, I think this is the wrong approach. I suggest finding a good cook book, perhaps Ad Hoc at Home, and just start reading it. I did this with Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles book and it revolutionized how I think about cooking. I wish I had done it from the start to develop the thought process first, which then leads to better food preparation. When you cook a specific meal you can go to the store and look at each food separately for the meal you're preparing. When I'm at the market looking for specific ingredients and not "grocery shopping" I'm able to think about the food in a different way. Gradually, you can build up foods and spices over time, but in doing so you'll build good habits, good recipes, and a more mature approach to food in general. My approach before was very much like a shotgun blast of spices, whereas now I'm able to more precisely pinpoint the flavor profile I'm going for.

A word on spices: Buying in bulk will save you lots of money. People suggest dating them, so as to know when they're going bad, but this might be out of your scope right now. I know Central Market here in Texas has a pretty nice bulk spice section, and I imagine other whole foods places do as well.

Herbs: Fresh herbs are key. You want something to have at the ready? Fresh herbs you can get from the store. But really you should invest in a $.25 pack of basil seeds, rosemary seeds, and thyme seeds. These plants are hardy and tough to kill (maybe not so much with basil) and will make everything taste more expensive.

u/dnomseDtehC · 1 pointr/UIUC

Start with this cookbook

Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking https://www.amazon.com/dp/158234180X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_pyWeAbK4J2TDM

u/jaymz168 · 1 pointr/Cooking

Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells is a good one for Provençal food, which tends to be more down-to-earth and simpler. It's basically country food and I believe has some food from Nice and Lyons in there. Speaking of which, Nice is the big French coastal city, so if you're looking for French dishes incorporating fish, try cookbooks about Niçoise cuisine.

u/russellh · 1 pointr/food

yes, how true, but Joy is like the annotated reference manual for every other cookbook. Personally, the most influential cookbook for me has been the classic French Cooking in Ten Minutes for its attitude and severe lack of detail.

u/Wavyhill · 1 pointr/personalfinance

There are loads of dishes that you can cook a pile of that will last several days, but keep it interesting by varying them. Just pick a country at random and google some of the dishes. You won't always have the ingredients at hand (you'll struggle to create an authentic Burmese dish, for example) but Spain, Italy and France all have cheap regional dishes that are easy to make and tasty.

Sounds obvious? Maybe it is, but there are a lot of dishes that are under the radar. So don't do spag bol, knock up Tagliatelle Amatriciana - tomato, bacon, onions and a bit of garlic. Bing bong.

This is also a great source of easy meals: http://www.amazon.com/French-Cooking-Ten-Minutes-Adapting/dp/086547480X

And don't overlook less obvious countries! Finland, for example, has a ton of nutritious and awesome food: http://thedomesticman.com/2014/09/16/nakkikastike-finnish-hot-dogs-in-sauce/

u/Saan · 1 pointr/food

Je Sais Cuisiner English version

It is pretty much the bible of french cooking. Massive book and covers everything you would ever need to know about french cooking, basics to the complex.

u/Mykmyk · 0 pointsr/AskCulinary

In addition to the above books...

English translation of Fernand Point's, Ma Gastronomie was rereleased a few years back.

Great book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1585679615/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/184-4633697-1538367

Keep meticulous notes: writing everything down you learn and things yet to learn. When watching vids or reading and you encounter something that is unfamiliar make note of it in a journal and reference it for later.

Edit: sorry, you were more so requesting resources as to what to cook. I would suggest finding a chef that interests you who has published a cook book buy it and start with the recipes in there. If you have no idea what chefs interest you choose a cuisine or region and find a book by a chef that is outstanding in that particular area of interest.