French Cook

Soufflés are light and airy, flavored baked dishes with a creamy texture. Greg Patent has been baking them for decades. Through soufflé basics, a lesson on beating egg whites, and a review of sauce bases, Patent develops the home cook's skills and confidence in creating a wide array of hot and cold, savory and sweet, molded and unmolded show-off dishes following basic French culinary techniques. Savory recipes include Leek and Pancetta, Fennel, Salmon and cheese soufflés. Sweet recipes begin with some classic hot renditions of Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, Fresh Strawberry, and Grand Marnier Soufflé, then move into scrumptious cold recipes of Passion Fruit, Ste. Germaine Lime, Almond and Praline Soufflé Floating Islands!

Holly Herrick loves France and French cooking. And in this cookbook ( her third in The French Cook series), she jumps into bowl after bowl of glorious French soups with inspired abandon and a generous dose of classical technique. Le Cordon Bleu trained chef and former resident of France focuses on the nuances and techniques for expertly layered flavors. Beginning with stocks, she continues with cold soups, classic soups and stews, creamy soups, and consommes in ensuing chapters, each one as delicious as the next. Similar to sauces (Herrick also penned The French Cook: Sauces), soups are the ideal conduit for creating maximum texture and flavor. Only, with soups and stews, the cooking canvas is much broader and there is a precise yet playful emphasis on presentation and garnishes. Whether a sumptuous French Onion Soup topped with croutons and bubbling Gruyere, or a riff on a classic sauce in the creamy, velvety Soup Soubise topped with fried shallots, all you need to know about making perfect French soups is neatly tucked between 128 beautiful pages.

The second book in The French Cook series, following The French Cook: Sauces, classically French trained author Holly Herrick dips into the marvelously versatile world of choux pastry, or pâte à choux. The buttery, nutty, even-flavor of this dough invites myriad flavors, in both sweet and savory categories and in many shapes - cream puffs, éclairs, rings, and more. Whether it be a savory petit éclair filled with an avocado mousse layered with bacon and tomatoes, choux "gnocchi" with a buttered herb sauce, three cheese gougères with black pepper, a sweet Dreamsicle orange cream puff with a dark chocolate sauce, a salted caramel macadamia ice cream filled profiterole with a warm caramel sauce, an Almond Joy cream puff, or a hot-from-the-fryer beignet with a cool, fresh raspberry sauce, taste delights are found all along the way. Holly also provides tips and recipes for assembling classic cream puff cakes such as the croquembouche and Gâteau St. Honoré. Holly dedicates the front of the book to the art of demystifying the "puff," making choux pastry an easy and accessible medium for every cook, novice, professional or anyone in-between. There is a chapter on sweet sauces to go along with the sweet cream puffs and éclairs and expert tips on piping, baking and garnishing these uniquely French delights.