Mimi Thorisson

This is food porn. And I mean that as the highest compliment. It's absolutely the most beautifully photographed cook book I've ever seen. Every recipe has AT LEAST one photo to accompany it, but often times there is more than one. Just stunning. My mouth was watering the whole time.

This book is ingeniously divided into four sections, one for each season. The recipes in each section feature seasonal vegetables, herbs, and nuts. Each recipe is broken down and easy to follow, even for a cooking show more novice like me. Before each recipe there is loving description that absolutely makes you want to try it out. Even as a vegetarian I found plenty of recipes to try, many could easily be substituted with meat alternatives. I especially can't wait to try the chou farci, it's the most beautiful cabbage dish I've ever seen. Even though it contains meat I'd like to put my own spin on it.

This book is a must have, even for cooking beginners. It's beautiful, easy to follow, and contains soo many unique recipes. I have several cookbooks at home but most of the recipes found in this tome were completely new to me. Granted I don't cook a lot of french cuisine, but still. Buy this book! You won't regret it!

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased opinion. show less

Mimi Thorisson and her husband were house-hunting without much success until their realtor took them to a house that was nothing like what they thought they wanted. So of course, because this is how life goes, it was perfect. Perfectly run-down and in disrepair, but perfect in so many other ways, too. A big, sprawling house for her and her big, sprawling family. Its slightly and delightfully semi-scandalous origins and its history as a B&B just added luster. Of course, they opened a show more restaurant.

While the first recipe is a gorgeous apple pie, the first chapter of recipes is full of cakes! In celebration of l’heure du goûter when folks enjoy their cake and eat it too, a special time of day, usually after school for a tasty reward for the day’s work. Thorisson is not hiding dessert at the end, but front and center.

Thorisson is not doctrinaire about the lines on the map of French cuisine and includes recipes from other cuisines. The emphasis is on fresh, seasonal ingredients and on accenting the natural flavors with spices and herbs that enhance the natural flavors, rather than transform the flavors. She points out you can make steak and potatoes anywhere, but it was invented in France and no one does it better.

Mimi Thorisson is the sort of person who might inspire envy. She is extraordinarily beautiful with a clutch of seven children, an amazing home, a successful restaurant and a life of travel and adventure. Worse, she makes it seem easy, but you can read between her lighthearted descriptions of cleaning up and repairing their home and the haps and mishaps of opening their restaurant and recognize that her success and happiness come from the family working hard together to succeed. There is not one gram of smug self-congratulation in this warm-hearted book that celebrates the history of her home, but also her neighbors and friends. Recipes that came from neighbors are credited with little stories about them.

The photos are taken by Thorisson’s husband Oddur, an Icelandic professional photographer. They are stunning, infused with light. I think the entire family is captured working in the kitchen or restaurant and even the family pets are there. There is a lot of love in those photos. The food is delicious looking and the photos do not have that over-saturated appearance that is common in cookbooks. When the skin on a chicken is pale because it was simmered, not roasted, as in the poule-au-pot, it stays pale. The picture of the Country Terrine is downright frightening though, that hornet is huge! The fashion of strewn tabletops continues, but with a welcome restraint. I did not once think with pity of the poor person who had to clean up after the photos.

All in all, this is a lovely book that is mostly about the delicious, rustic foods of rural France, but it also about a lovely family who are living their dream with joy, gratitude, and love. It is a book about a style of living. So there are lots of photos of the countryside, the raw ingredients, the family. Fewer photos and more recipes might please some folks, but I enjoyed it just the way it is.

I received a copy of French Country Cooking from Blogging for Books.

★★★★

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I loved this cookbook! Firstly, its big and beautiful, just like a good coffee table book should be. The recipes were mouthwatering with clear cooking instructions and lots of gorgeous photos. Many of the recipes are recognizable from standard French cooking but, the recipes in this book often have a little twist which makes them more interesting to modern cooks.

I also liked the organization of the book. The fact that it begins with a section titled Goûter full of cakes and other afternoon show more pastries just whets the appetite for more. But in my opinion, what makes this book really good is the story the author tells throughout. It's so interesting and full of memorable characters that I couldn't help thinking that it would make a very entertaining film. Really I think No. 1 Rue de Loudenne reminded me of Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence film because it seems to have all the elements, location, characters, good food and lots of fun. I don't think this is something that can be said about most cookbooks. So if you are looking for some great recipes but also some entertaining reading about how one family bought an old manor house and turned it into a restaurant, bringing back some of it's infamous past then this in one you will not want to miss.

Thanks to Blogging for Books for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
More reviews at: www.susannesbooklist.blogspot.com show less

Mimi Thorisson’s cookbooks are a marvelous ménage of memories combined with the current everyday experiences of food, family, and friends. With “French Country Cooking: Meals and Moments from a Village in the Vineyards”, readers are once again treated to the epicurean expertise of Ms. Thorisson accented by the beautiful color photos captured by her husband, Oddur. In this book, the family and their dogs move to the small village of St. Yazans in the Medoc region of France. The show more historic chateau which becomes their new home bears a rich legacy as a former renowned hotel and restaurant. The locale of the chateau offers a bounty of resplendent resources as friendships are made with “winemakers, hunters, vegetable growers, and local gourmands”. Each new find inspires creativity in the kitchen and a growing sense of familial contentment. Reading the book, savoring the recipes and the photos, and dreaming of such a life in the French countryside is glorious feast for lovers of good food and the “good life”. Here is a sampler of the wonderful recipes you will find: “Fig and Pistachio Cake”; “Rhubarb and Raspberry Cordial”; “Pumpkin Quiche with Bacon”; “Cassoulet”; “Black Peppered Filets Mignons with Cognac”; “Roast Chicken with Chestnuts and Cabbage”; “Wine Harvest Pot-Au-Feu”; “Ham and Spring Onion Omelette”; “Wise Guy Chicken”; “Garlic Potato Chips”; “Salted Butter Chocolate Cake”; “Walnut Tart”; and “Orange Blossom Cake”. MIMI THORISSON is the author of A Kitchen in France and Manger, a blog devoted to French cooking and her life in the French countryside. She is the host of the French cooking shows La Table de Mimi and Les Desserts de Mimi. She lives with her husband, their children, and their smooth fox terriers in an old château in St Yzans, in the Médoc region of France.

Book Copy Gratis Clarkson Potter Publishers via Blogging for Books show less