Ginette Mathiot (1907–1998)

This re-vamped edition of a French classic is BIG and encyclopedic. And anachronistic in many ways . . . on the other hand, carrying this home from the library probably earned me something cooked in butter and served with a dollop of cream.
I enjoyed reading through the recipes to get a sense of what French woman of a certain era (think Betty Crocker/Fanny Farmer with snails) would have received as a wedding present . . . but, even I, an inveterate francophile and pretty kick-ass cook (and show more food porn connoisseur) was was overwhelmed by the sheer number of recipes per foodstuff. show less

This is an interesting book, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

The good: it's an update of a historical French volume on preserving, and it's pretty comprehensive. It's supposed to have been updated to cover current knowledge of canning times,etc., but some of the hot-bath canning times, in particular, look far shorter than ones I usually see for similar items. it is also very comprehensive, with specific details and recipes to cover pretty much everything one might encounter.

The problems: show more generally, what's available in the USA is rather different from what the French countryside had to offer 60+ years ago, and it would be hard to source many of the main ingredients. Also, see above about the updated times; I am not sure I'd trust the canning times without a separate confirmation for a similar recipe from a known, reliable source.

Another negative- and this could be serious!: even a fairly casual reading found many, many errors in the text, even including mis-titling at least one recipe. This makes me even more concerned about trusting the canning times, etc.

It's interesting, but more as a historical inspiration than a go-to for actual preserving. If you want something that's more relevant for us in the USA today, I'd really recommend Alice Water's "My Pantry". show less

One of these days I'm going to try making brioche, cream puffs and eclairs, but it probably won't be with the help of this book. It's an exahustive compendium of recipes for French sweets, but only experienced bakers need apply. Instructions are minimal and there are no iillustrations of technique. Many of the recipes require specialized ingredients and some specialized equipment (which you only discover when the directions tell you to generously butter a charlotte mold or a mini tart pan). show more It does have beautiful photographs of many of the finished recipes. show less

Move over Julia, there'a another French cook in town! A Wonderful literary feast! Ginette Mathiot has been teaching French cooking to beginner cooks for over 75 years! I Know How To Cook is filled with over 1400 easy tasty well written recipes. Not only is this a cookbook, but it's a wonderful reference book too. Visually beautiful with wonderful graphics, the recipes are printed in bold type to make it easier to read, plus there is room below and in the margins of the recipe to make any show more personal notes about how you tweaked the recipe. This cookbook makes French cooking fun! show less