Another book about French cooking, when so many are published? But this one is a little different since Michèle Roberts is the daughter of a French mother and an English father — it is essentially a culinary memoir.
French Cooking for One — illustrated with the author’s original ink drawings — is a good introduction to the essentials of delicious, easy-to-prepare meals to create for yourself and eat as you like, when you like, with no obligations to anyone else. It is perfect for anyone interested in expanding their gastronomic knowledge and skills.
“Cooking for others is a source of inspiration, delight, and sensual satisfaction. Cooking for yourself can become so too. All that generosity and creativity you lavish on others can also nurture you,” from the Introduction
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Elizabeth David introduced the joys of French home cooking to the post-war generation, since which time an array of French food and cooking methods have been adopted by the British. French chefs Michel Roux and Raymond Blanch living and working in the UK are culinary gurus to many, while the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson have incorporated Gallic flair into their own delectable brands of cooking.
However much as every culture has its egg dishes, soups, salads, meat, fish and desserts, there are marked differences between the two culinary cultures in which both Roberts and I grew up, separated only by the English Channel which is twenty miles wide at its narrowest point.
French cuisine often comes across as being complicated and refined in the cookbooks on offer to British readers. There is also the simpler, earthier kind, referred to as ‘le terroir‘. Very little is added to the main ingredient of a recipe: a knob of butter, a cup of stock, a few tarragon leaves, or a splash of red wine in the sauce.
French cooking is very regional, with each locality having its own distinct cuisine based on local ingredients, climate and cultural traditions. Normandy — where Roberts’ French family is from — is known for its ‘greedy’ rich cuisine, as is the Franche-Comté — historically part of the Burgundy region — where my French family is from. Both regions are renowned for their cheeses — for example, Camembert and Pont-l’Évêque from Normandy, and Comté and Mont d’Or from the Franche-Comté.
Though as Roberts writes in her excellent introduction, there is also haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine and urban bistro cooking. Authentic French recipes do not have to be complicated or heavy — the best recipes are ridiculously simple. Forget the Larousse Gastronomique and Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook. I treasure my aunt’s battered copy of Je Sais Cuisiner (I Know How To Cook) by Ginette Mathiot, with its straightforward and accessible instructions — it is the quintessential foundational French cookbook that has endured as a classic for several generations.
“French Cooking for One is in the tradition of Cooking in Ten Minutes which Édouard de Pomiane wrote over a hundred years ago for the new class of cooks: single people with little time, no spare money, but appetites for good food,” from the Introduction
Reading about Michèle Roberts’ grandmother and aunt, Brigitte, busy concocting delicious dishes in their Normandy kitchen brought back to mind childhood memories of sitting watching various relatives preparing delicious dishes, smelling delectable aromas and discussing menus. They used ingredients from the vegetable garden, or bought from the local mobile butcher touring villages in his Citroën H Van.
The ongoing cost-of-living crisis challenges many of us to think about how to shop better and eat healthy, but having a smaller weekly budget doesn’t mean you have to compromise the quality of your food. Home-prepared-and-cooked meals are generally healthier and cheaper than takeaways and microwave-ready meals. Nutritional knowledge and having a weekly food plan mean you end up with the right foods in the fridge or larder for delectable dinners.
The hallmarks of French cuisine are an emphasis on fresh ingredients and simple flavours, and Roberts includes many classics in French Cooking for One: onion soup, croque monsieur, omelette, cheese soufflé, ratatouille, celeriac mash, pommes dauphinoise, lentils with bacon, cod with mayonnaise, chicken in red wine, pears in red wine . . .
What makes this cookbook stand out from the crowd of publications extolling French culinary culture is the way in which it combines gastronomy and memoir. Roberts’ voice is clear and authoritative and she clearly excels at what Grimod de la Reynière referred to as “the art of eating well”. The recipes cater to home cooks of all levels, making French cuisine approachable for anyone, describing dishes that are prepared in homes across France every day. She captures the love of French cooking, and its blend of common sense and sensual pleasure. French cooking is about nurturing the soul with home-cooked meals, and that philosophy is evident throughout.
