Stephane Reynaud’s 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down and Eat Cookbook
A review of Stephane Renaud’s new book…
I like Monsieur Reynaud, he’s French you know. His new book, 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down and Eat is written and presented in the same style as his brilliant Ripailles book which reignited our love affair with French country cooking.
Reynaud’s books are quirky and easy on the eye with great photographs by Marie-Pierre Morel and wonderful sketches by Jose Reis de Matos which give the book a real sense of character.
The book, if you haven’t already worked it out for yourself sets out a dish for every day of the year with some brilliantly simple and effective dishes from duck terrine to grilled bass with herbs, shellfish hotpot pumpkin gratin and a classic French apple tart.
It’s one of those rare books about food which actually makes you look forward to winter with its rustic dishes of slow cooked meats, lentils and root vegetables. I love books like this, I’ve no time for ego filled books by chefs who can’t see past their own nonsensical dishes of foams and e numbers. This is a book which can be used as a word for word recipe or inspiration for ingredients of your choice.
ISBN: 978-1741969191
Published by Murdoch Books
Miles,
I really enjoy your review of the latest cookery books and have already taken a peek at this one…. my finger hovered over the buy-now button when I spotted another one I fancied. Being the careful spendthrift that I am, I intend to dwell a little further… then buy both
Cid
September 7, 2010 @ 7:03 pm
Cid,
Get it from Amazon-half the price of Waterstones. No wonder the high street is suffering.
Miles
September 7, 2010 @ 10:12 pm
Thanks for your review of this book Miles - I “Amazoned” and it arrived this morning. I have spent the day on and off drooling through its pages and already have mentally made and tasted at least twenty of the dishes. This has the makings of one of those books you actually USE and keep going back to.
Reading your blog regularly and admiring your beautiful photographs over the last couple of weeks has also given us the push we needed to stop dithering and get a “proper” camera and a Nikon D3000 joined our household today. Billed as the perfect introductory SLR it really does what it says and I have already been snapping away - albeit well and truly in “Auto” mode for the moment!!
Lol Lynn ♥
September 10, 2010 @ 4:53 pm
Lynn,
Nice one on both counts! Glad you like the book, I think it’s really well made. The camera will surely open up a lot of new doors for you now, it is a great camera and will really help with the work you do.
Happy snapping Lynn,
Miles
September 10, 2010 @ 10:26 pm
I have just bought this book (for £30 from waterstones as I hadn’t checked amazon annoyingly!) but I’m confused…. Marie and Leon whose exploits are documented in the little columns every few pages, who are they?! Maybe I’m missing something, or thinking that there should be more significance when more simply Stephane has just chosen a couple of characters through which to narrate, but I’m confused… Can anyone shed any light?
September 15, 2010 @ 1:28 pm
Katherine,
Welcome to the site, I’ll have a look as I didn’t really take notice to be honest-unless someone else reading this knows more?
Kind regards
Miles
September 15, 2010 @ 7:40 pm
Katherine,
Page 462?…..
Miles
September 15, 2010 @ 9:02 pm
I was under the impression they were fictional characters. My favourite one so far …… “get out of the bain Marie”. Brilliant!!
Lol Lynn ♥
September 15, 2010 @ 10:36 pm
Just found this on t’interweb
“In 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat, Reynaud creates a fictional French couple, Marie and Leon, who might have stepped out of a Jacques Tati movie.
She is the novice cook, he loves fine food and Reynaud pens charming anecdotes about their food adventures during the year. Their son is called Kevin, a name Reynaud says was terribly fashionable in France more than a decade ago and is now terribly unfashionable. “It’s a little joke to show people that they should try to cook, even if they think they can’t, and to encourage them to read the book, ” Reynaud says.”
September 15, 2010 @ 10:39 pm
Lynn,
Well researched! Thanks for that…
Miles
September 16, 2010 @ 8:39 am