In the Kitchen with Le Cordon Bleu

I have made three recipes from this cookbook so far with the last one done last night. My husband is a picky eater and he loved all of them. My first recipe was prawns with an avocado cream. The second was a beef tenderloin roast with five peppercorns and a sauce with port and cognac and Demi-glacé. I also made potatoes au gratin. Half the roast disappeared the first night. Lobster and care mini mushroom brochettes came next and last night was Le Cordon Bleu's version of chicken teriyaki. The recipes are easy to understand and Whole Foods carries just about all of the ingredients. This is a fun cookbook to use.

It seems to me that anyone looking to really benefit from a book like this should be a fairly skilled home cook to begin with. I'm only an intermediate level cook myself and while some of these recipes are workable for me (e.g., Thai kabobs, et al...), there are others where I'm not so sure.For me, the issue is with French technique. It's hard to find fault with the methods and procedures, but it's really a question of how much one wishes to invest. I look at some of the recipes here and find myself wondering: "will it be worth the time and energy?"I encountered the same thing with many of Thomas Keller's recipes (in the French Laundry, Ad Hoc at Home, and Bouchon). Being a subscriber to the notion of brevity as the soul of wit - and of good eats - I'm interested in a healthy balance between time spent and results obtained ... and persnicketiness can be tiresome. I'm not saying this to criticize those with a focus on precision and I do love going to restaurants where such detail is on display by professionals.But I'm a home cook and only part-time foodie. Of course, there are some dishes that are approachable and make a lot of sense to me, such as the Kashmiri-Style Chicken Korma, Prawns with Avocado Cream, Beef Tenderloin with Five Peppers, Polenta Cakes, Creme Brulee, Potatoes au Gratin, and the aforementioned Thai Kabobs.Look and feel of the book is good, but nothing special. Paperback is not the way to go here, in my opinion. I would also have preferred to see the photography devoted to step-by-step breakdowns of the techniques, rather than chefs doing what chefs do. This is after all a book of recipes, so it seems to me the focus should stay on the food.Overall, I'd say this is an interesting addition to the collection, but not essential. I've honestly had more luck with my Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. That said, it really depends on the type of cook you are and how much time you're comfortable investing. I think there are some very good recipes to be found here.

Le Cordon Bleu. The Parisian (now international) cooking school where Julia Child trained. The most famous - or at least the oldest - cooking school in the world. I should, I suppose, love their book, but I think that perhaps French home kitchens are very different from mine and French housewives perhaps even more so.I would expect a cookbook from the most famous cooking school in the world to be worthy of the vaunted name so prominently attached to the book. Beautifully bound, much like my beloved Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia, Completely Revised and Updated (though mine is much older than this.) Full of clear recipes, well laid out such as those their most famous graduate put forth in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 50th Anniversary Edition (and all of her subsequent work.) Perhaps most of all, I would expect a book that states right on the cover "100 special recipes for the home cook from the world's most famous cooking school" to provide recipes for the average HOME cook.Tragically, In the Kitchen with Le Cordon Bleu is none of those things. Instead of being beautifully bound in the manner that truly special recipes from the world's most famous cooking school deserve, this is of about the same quality as your run-of-the-mill supermarket tabloid. Cheap paper, cheap printing,a cover that arrived damaged and improperly cut, ingredients listed in italic type so small (and gray, not black) that Grandma's reading glasses need reading glasses to read them!I don't know what sort of homes the chefs who wrote this are familiar with, but I don't know many home cooks who can afford Kobe Wagyu Beef Rib-Eye Steaks for a steak dinner - just $229 + $9.95 shipping. Those I do know who can afford Wagyu beef can also afford a private chef to cook it. Or perhaps the Summer Black French Truffles - Brushed First Choice - 1 x 1.00 oz . . you'll need two of these to garnish the Cream of Chicken Soup . . at a cost of only $25 per ounce. The list of expensive ingredients only rarely (if ever) seen by most home cooks goes on and on - duck breasts, lobsters, rack of lamb. Preparations are fussy and time consuming, often comprising several different items. (French home cooks must have FAR more time to cook than the average American housewife, let me tell you!) Yes, there are some things that are affordable, but even those things are fussy. When I want to eat this kind of fussy food, I want a waiter and a bottle of wine to go with it!The one time saving tip that they give - to buy precooked lobster at the market - is one that Grandma, who cut her teeth on Maine lobster straight from the ocean, must caution you strongly against unless you have the kind of fishmonger where you pick out the still-kicking lobster that you want and he cooks it in front of your eyes. Otherwise you are likely to get a lobster that died in the tank and so was cooked off to not be wasted. (Note - you will find Chef's Tips scattered throughout the text. Those are en point, though oddly X'd out.) Hmmmm . ..Grandma's $0.02 - In the Kitchen with Le Cordon Bleu is almost schizophrenic, the single most disjointed book Grandma has ever come across, full of overly pretentious recipes far more suitable to a big beautiful coffee table book like The French Laundry Cookbook than the cramped, cheaply done paperback Le Cordon Bleu presents.So badly done that even the most ardent and pretentious foodie on the planet would be ashamed to display it.Not recommended.

Book was purchased as a present for a friend who enjoys cooking dinner parties. Just though it might add a different dimension to her already extensive collection as it was not just recipes. Although some of the tips were a little basic the book gave many helpful tips.

This is awesome