Author(s): Susan Herrmann Loomis
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Publication Date: 1996-01-10
Pages: 560
Review: My husband first bought a copy of this cookbook at a yard sale. I didn’t look at it right away, fearing another overblown, complex and difficult French cookbook. Mais non! Most of the recipes are fairly easy and reflect the fresh, authentic nature of country French cooking. We now keep this cookbook at our house in Southwest France, in Wisconsin AND in Florida. This is the only book of which we have three copies!! The recipes are a delight (Loomis’ gougeres are the best and have several quite helpful hints that no other chef has given).
The food and the stories capture the essence of rural France–making the cooking, wherever you may be, pure delight a la Francais!I served for two years in southwestern France as a Mormon missionary. When I came home to Calgary, Alberta I pined for the simple, fresh, unpretentious food I’d grown used to eating in rural France. Luckily the French Farmhouse Cookbook was first published about four months before I got home, and when I stumbled on it by accident in a bookshop I was overjoyed.
Not only are the recipes authentic and accessible, but the stories Ms. Loomis tells about how food is raised and grown — how seriously the farmers and growers view their work — ring absolutely true to my experience living in France. I’ve never found another North American book so true to real French family food.
Especially useful are recipes for small things that one can take for granted at any supermarket in France — creme fraiche, sucre vanille, quatre epices, etc. — but that are hard come by in most US or Canadian stores. You can substitute other ingredients (sour cream for creme fraiche) but it’s not quite the same; the effort the author took to include everything needed to reproduce the authentic experience is another reason this is my favorite French cookbook. I can’t recommend it highly enough.My wife is French, her sole and all-absorbing passion in life is cooking. She has two armoires filled with cookbooks, including all the classics. This is her favorite. All of the recipes she has made from this book have been exquisite. Two thumbs up, and all eight fingers! This is a must-have!
Bon Appetit!The stories about the actual farms and farmers who provide the recipes and ingredients in this wonderful book are fascinating. Nothing is taken for granted, and meals are extensively discussed and savored. Memorable is the story accompanying the recipe for Duck with Prunes in which the cook providing the recipe explains apologetically that the recipe is from another region of France, but “we love it so much, we cook it all the time.”
The farmers’ pride in the quality of their produce and livestock, and the care with which Susan Herrmann Loomis specifies exactly what kind of oranges, or chickens or asparagus are to be used in each recipe inspire a very unAmerican way of viewing cooking and eating, in which only the finest ingredients are perfectly cooked. The descriptions of the walnut farms, the Bresse chicken farm, the vanishing family farms are evocative of a great foreign film. After reading this book cover to cover, I feel as though I’ve had a course in French rural culture–with refreshments. Highly recommended!This is one of the most practical and most referred to book on my cooking shelf. This book is extremely practical because Loomis uses easy-to-find ingredients and the recipees for entrees can be made in 30 minutes or couple of hours (but most of that is waiting time). The instructions are detailed but to the point and tips are delighful. There is also a good diversity in the complexity of the dishes but most are relatively simple, as they were farm-house cooking, meaning either they had to be put together very fast before dinner, or tossed into the oven or stove before doing the days’ chores, and to be enjoyed at night after a long stewing/braising/etc. The dishes (esp the basque region dishes) are very flavorful and bring out the best flavors in the ingredient. Highly recommended for enhancing/inspiring your home cooking.
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