The Secrets from the La Varenne Kitchen: Inspiration for Navigating Life's Changes and Challenges

By Anne Willan

Book Overview

In 1975, Anne Willan, a culinary icon who, along with Julia Child, Jacque Pepin, James Beard, and others, launched the modern culinary industry, founded ?cole de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris and educated some of today's most notable chefs - among them Steve Raichlen, Gale Gand, Virgina Willis, Martha Holmberg, and Alexis Guarnaschelli. Upon enrolling at La Varenne, all students received a helpful and easy reference tool: La Varenne Basic Recipes. The booklet was based on chef Albert Jorant's belief that "there are only fifty basic recipes in the culinary repertoire, and all other dishes can be made from them." Edited by Anne Willan, La Varenne Basic Recipes was fifty-five staple bound pages with a card stock cover and it was a treasure-trove of essential recipes for any aspiring chef. The recipes included: - Stocks - 10 recipes: including Veal, Chicken, Fish and Glazes - Sauces - 17 recipes: from Brown to B?chamel to Hollandaise and Mayonnaise - Pastry and Cakes - 8 recipes including Pie, Sweet, Choux & Puff Pastry as well as Sponge Cake - Creams and Icings - 7 recipes including Butter Cream Frosting and Pastry Cream - Meringues - 3 recipes - Desserts and Cooking Sugar - 6 recipes including Ice Cream plus a Sugar Cooking Chart. Now, for the first time, the 50 essential recipes from the La Varenne curriculum are available to chefs, culinary students, and passionate cooking enthusiasts in Secrets from The La Varenne Kitchen. (It is important to note that this is not a book of finished dishes, though some recipes such as sherbet are complete in themselves. Rather it is a collection of the sauces, pastries and creams that go to make up a dish.) Above all, Secrets from the La Varenne Kitchen is a working tool, to fashion professional excellence. It is a practical book for practical cooks - both professional and home enthusiasts.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1940611156
• ISBN13: 9781940611150
• Release Date: March 2015
• Publisher: Spring House Press
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Do you want to be the best cook you can?

This book is the foundation of the cookery school started by Anne Willan decades ago. It's contents are the 50 basic recipes upon which a cuisine is built. Armed with the 50 basic recipes found in Secrets of the La Varenne Kitchen, you will be able to exercise the culinary creativity that has been so elusive in the past. Why do I think this book is so good? I went to culinary in the 1990's due in part to having found another of Anne Willan's books: The La Varenne's Paris Kitchen. I recommend you get as many of Anne Willan's books as you can!