Adventures in cooking: Potato croquettes

[cjsmith]

I have had this book since 1989 and finally agreed to attempt a recipe from it.

https://www.amazon.com/Grande-cuisine-traditionnelle-Escoffier/dp/2082005615

I had a ton of help. I don't cook, you see. But my partner in crime doesn't read French, so I did contribute to the overall project! I did!

Yes, the recipe was a total pain in the ass. Raise your hand if you're shocked. On the other hand, it did indeed taste good when it was done. Potato croquettes. Secret power = nutmeg. Challenges included the lack of quantities for seasonings, including the nutmeg.

It amuses me that there are no reviews at all of this book on Amazon. It would also amuse me if the first review were created by an English-speaking non-cook... but not enough for me to go write a basically useless review.

Comments

[allanh]

Oh sweet baby Jeebus, you STARTED with an Escoffier cookbook? And it turned out well?

You are destined for great things in the kitchen, my sweet.

[cjsmith]

Is that bad?

The cookbook did note it was trying to make its recipes accessible to the novice cook. (Rough translation.)

Also, I didn't do anything. I'm not qualified. I read the French and made random semi-parsable English out of it. :) :) :)

[allanh]

The only American cookbook that I know of that's as difficult as the Escoffier cookbook (because my mother mastered recipes from both) was the Settlement Cook Book, a traditional gift to young Jewish brides in Chicago in the 1950's, which was something of a white elephant. The Settlement Cook Book had amazingly delicious recipes and fucking vague and badly written instructions. It was a rite of passage for new brides to struggle through (or help each other to struggle through) mastering the recipes in Settlement. This cookbook was so hard, it (among others) was said to have inspired a wave of "easy" cookbooks, such as the "I Hate To Cook Book" (1960).

[hitchhiker]

hah :) i kind of want to see this book now!

[cjsmith]

All this time I thought you weren't a masochist!