Product Description

Have you ever read a recipe that called for artichokes and wondered just how to trim them, or wanted to learn the proper way to use a pastry bag? While most cookbooks provide home cooks with only recipes, The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook provides recipes and detailed cooking techniques -- it's like going to cooking school without ever leaving your home. With more than 250 delicious yet approachable recipes and countless techniques, The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook enables readers to become familiar with the basics of cooking and then encourages them to improvise. Because the recipes have been tested in the San Francisco kitchens of Tante Marie's by hundreds of students, home cooks can be assured that they are virtually foolproof.

Having guided thousands of students through the world of French cooking for the past thirty years, renowned cooking teacher Mary Risley is well aware of common mistakes made in the kitchen. Risley troubleshoots a multitude of problem areas for cooks (such as what to do if your soup is too thick, or not thick enough), allowing home cooks to avoid common pitfalls. With variations provided for many dishes and instructions on how to cook without recipes, more advanced home cooks can start to create dishes on their own.

From delicious hors d'oeuvres like Fava Bean Crostini with Pecorino and Miniature Shrimp Quiches and Asparagus-Fontina Pizza with Truffle Oil, to enticing entrees like Roast Chicken with New Potatoes and Olives, Halibut Baked with Warm Shallot Compote, and Herbed Rack of Lamb with Béarnaise Sauce, Risley presents an impressive array of French-inspired recipes for contemporary American tastes. Classic recipes are updated with modern twists in dishes such as Fresh Pea Soup with Cilantro and Meyer Lemon Crème Brûlée. Delectable dessert recipes include Grand Marnier Soufflé, Gingerbread Napoleon with Poached Pears and Caramel Sauce, Compote of Fresh Berries with Lemon Verbena Ice Cream, and classic Tiramisù.

Additional chapters on first courses, soups, salads, pasta and risotto, fish and shellfish, vegetables, breads, cookies, chocolates, cakes, and pastries offer the home cook a recipe for every occasion. Risley also provides in-depth discussions on ingredients such as cheese, chocolate, truffles, and planned leftovers. A section of Suggested Seasonal Menus as well as a chapter of foundation recipes for accomplished cooks complete this wonderful volume.

Illustrated with gorgeous black-and-white drawings, The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook will become the cookbook you can't live without. It's the next best thing to having a cooking instructor cook right beside you.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #490570 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Operating a full-time cooking school in San Francisco since 1979, Risley brings an authoritative voice to her serious instructive approach. Don't even think of cooking leeks al dente, she declares, due to their fibrous quality. Eschewing the chumminess prevalent in cookbooks today, she resolves to teach the user every home cooking technique necessary. After proceeding through the book, cooks of any stripe can learn hors d'oeuvre from the simple Parmesan Cheese Twists to Caviar in Beggar's Purses, a first course like Whole Artichoke Filled with Roasted Garlic Souffl‚ and entrees as uncomplicated as Linguine with Roasted Peppers and Sausage or as sophisticated as Magret of Duck in Cassis Sauce. As the title suggests, French is the dominant accent, but international favorites appear throughout, as in Osso Buco with Risotto Milanese, Paella and Chicken Saute with Preserved Lemons and Olives. The fat police should beware of such dishes as Mushrooms Filled with Garlic Butter, and Mussels with Mashed Potatoes Gratin‚e, each of which contains three sticks of butter and serves four. Sidebars appear frequently to describe how, for example, to deep fry properly or butterfly a leg of lamb. Desserts run the gamut from the familiar Blueberries in Lemon Mousse to the far more demanding Hazelnut Dacquoise. Directing with a firm but gentle hand, Risley has earned the mantle of culinary tutor.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook similarly grounds itself in classic French cuisine, but San Francisco cooking teacher Mary Risley expands the traditional repertoire to include currently popular pasta and risotto among her recommended recipes. In fact, Risley draws on other national cuisines as well. Her Spinach Triangles may use a cream-cheese pastry instead of phyllo, but the feta-cheese filling reflects Greek inspiration. Her Poulet au Vinaigre couldn't be more classically French, but Chicken Pot Pie uses artichokes and shiitake mushrooms instead of the usual vegetable complement. A pair of ducks becomes two separate meals, one with the breasts in sweet cassis sauce, a second with legs and thighs braised into an earthy bacon and lentil casserole. Juniper-scented rabbit stew crowns cakes of polenta enriched with both Parmesan and Gruyere cheeses. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Heidi Insalata Krahling Chef-owner, Insalata's Restaurant This outstanding cookbook celebrates the technique, recipes, and wisdom of Tante Marie's founder and culinary force, Mary Risley, who has truly been an inspiration to me and thousands of other passionate cooks. The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook is filled with practical, sage instruction and luscious recipes that faithfully capture Mary's voice and spirit as she spreads her philosophy, "Cooking is fun!" -- Review

Customer Reviews

Not just recipes, but how to cook!
If Mary Risley had stopped after training some of my favorite San Francisco chefs, she would earn my undying gratitude. But what she's done with this book is invaluable. It's so much more than a book of recipes. She really teaches you how to cook -- with a recipe or off the cuff.

Tante Marie's Cookbook sits on our kitchen counter as a constant checkpoint, no matter where we get recipes from. I always use it as a cross-reference against other books. I'll open a recipe in the Silver Palate, but I'll check Mary's techniques for cooking that kind of meat, fish or vegetable. When I incorporate her suggestions, it always comes out better - and I understand more thoroughly the principle behind the recipes. So this is a cookbook that will enhance every other cookbook you own.

We are passionate cooks, but this book has taught us what we've never been able to do before -- cook without a recipe. In fact, at the beginning of every chapter Mary tells you how to select the discussed meat, fish or vegetable, what cooking methods are best for it, and how to cook it without a recipe. Mary straddles the difficult divide of providing a resource that teaches the experienced cook but is accessible enough to the beginner. In fact, if you own only one cookbook, this is the one to get.

In addition to wonderful recipes, tricks, techniques and the how-tos that change okay to fabulous, this book is filled with great anecdotes and recipes from some of the Bay Area's best restaurants. All made accessible by Tante Marie herself, patiently explaining the difficult, offering alternatives for when you can't find some exotic ingredients, but firmly telling you when you simply can't compromise. (Mary declares "seared tuna has no place in Salad Nicoise!")

We have a new vocabulary in our kitchen: "What does Mary say?" and "Mary says. . ." I promise you, if you let Tante Marie guide you, you'll never eat another so-so meal at home.

Wonderful gift
I bought this cookbook on a caterer's recommendation as a high school gift for a young man who is living with my family and hopes to become a chef. It was perfecto! I'm grateful he leaves it in my kitchen so I can make use of it, too. I've been cooking for 40 years, but I learned many new tricks and absorbed into my DNA several new recipes from just leafing thru these pages while sipping a latte in the morning.
A must-buy for the serious but casual cook.

A Great Must Have Cookook
I love a cookbook like this! As a good cook who is completely self taught, I love how easy this is to use and how enjoyable it is to read. The recipes I tried are well written and delicious.

This book is laid out really well. The "Contents" lists each food section in red and all the recipes that follow with page number in black. This makes it easy to find what you want to cook. Few cookbooks offer this helpful layout.

The recipes are explained well and easy to follow. Again, the 2 color format really helps make this cookbook user friendly.

I like how each chapter starts with an informative overview of the food and cooking techniques. It includes a paragragh called "The Big Problem". Here you'll get tips on what problems you could encounter and how to avoid them. Boy, is that a big help. Then the last paragraph is "How to Cook Without A Recipe". This is a great help so you can improvise and not be a slave to the recipes. Then all the recipes follow.

After each recipe are helpful tips and information that can only come from lots of experience. This is where a cooking instructor like the author really shares all her knowledge.
The recipes I tried were simply delicious and simple to follow.
Some recipes require more work but they are still easy to do. The instuctions are so well written it makes it fun to cook.
This is a "MUST HAVE" book!