From Scratch: An Introduction to French Breads, Cheeses, Preserves, Pickles, Charcuterie, Condiments, Yogurts, Sweets, and More

by Laurence Laurendon, Gilles Laurendon, Catherine Quévremont

Whether it's bread or bouillons, infusions or ice cream, smoked salmon or sausages: preparing French-style handmade, homemade food is satisfying and simple. This gorgeous cookbook presents 120 recipes for everything from fresh yogurts, cheeses, pastas, and pickles to compotes, conserves, confit, and charcuterie. With these easy artisanal techniques, even inexperienced cooks can create delicious, authentic French cuisine.   Recipes include:
Breads: Baguettes, brioches, white, whole wheat
Condiments: Chutneys, compound butters, infused olive oils and vinegars, seasoned salts, ketchup, mayonnaise
Confections: Almond cookies, cereal bars, gluten-free granola, ice creams and sorbets, muesli, spice bread
Charcuterie: Dried ham, homemade sausage, smoked salmon, terrines  
Fresh Cheeses and Yogurts: Mascarpone, chevre, vanilla yogurt, Greek yogurt
Jams: Apple/banana and other compotes; apricot, raspberry and strawberry preserves; caramel, chestnut cream; chocolate-based spreads; lemon curd, marmalade
Pasta: Tagliatelle and other shapes; flavored with spinach, tomato, or rosemary; fresh sauces  
Pickles and More: Dried tomatoes, stuffed peppers, marinated feta, olives, preserved vegetables 

Genres: Cooking, Cookbooks, Food

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have tried more and more over the past few years to make more of my own food from scratch instead of using processed "convenience" foods. Usually making stuff from scratch is not much more time consuming than using the more convenient processed items. I did find a few recipes I'd like to try, but I was disappointed that most of the bread recipes were written to use with a bread machine. I may try to get a bread machine, but I know you don't really need one to bake homemade bread. Also, I would not recommend trying to can just by using a book - you should really take a class on canning. I took one through my local county extension office for a very small fee and learned a LOT. Overall, this book was pretty good.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid primer on standard self-reliance staples, with a European flair. This book shows you how to make basic preserves, bread, quick cheeses, or even tofu.

If you want to really move away from store-bought, processed foods, this is a good way to ease yourself into some of the things the average home cook wouldn't normally consider making for themselves: strawberry preserves or preserved lemons, ketchup and tomato sauce, yogurt, potato chips, and salami if you're feeling adventurous

[Jiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy making my food from scratch. While I don't always make everything from the ground up, it is really interesting and fun for me to understand the process of making things that you often buy already made - like various breads, sourdough, yoghurt, salami, smoked salmon, preserves, etc.

This book would be a decent reference book for the kitchen and has many good recipes which made me excited to find it.

However there are some mistakes in the book that turned me off a bit. When you find clear mistakes in a book that has been professionally made, it makes you wonder how many mistakes there are in sections that you did not check yet.

I believe it is a translation so perhaps some of the issues are from that:
- On the page with the fish boullion, there is a recipe for fish and mussel boullion but it only lists shrimp as a seafood ingredient (?) The same page has a recipe for shrimp boullion where you use pork bones (?). Translation/editing - it should have been caught.
- Cookbooks that list ingredients like salt, pepper, oil, spices,etc without an amount get a negative view from me. I know the author knows how much but as somebody making the recipe for the first time - we don't. Give us at least a hint like a pinch or by tsp or Tbsp.
-The picture by the smoked salmon is not what you would create with that recipe. There is hot smoked and cold smoked fish. The recipe will create hot smoked fish that is fully cooked and will flake and look like cooked salmon. The picture is of cold smoked salmon which is cured with salt, sugar and spices for at least a day to extract water from the fish, make it dense and flavor it. Cold smoked salmon is smoked for hours and the temperature never gets hot enough to actually cook the fish.

These are just a few errors I discovered in the book which end up giving me a lower opinion of the work. The ideas are great but you may want to reference other recipes to double check things.

It was also for some reason difficult to search by title on Goodreads.

[Roxanne Sinanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book impressed me! I’m normally hesitant about these as they are normally not practical but not this one!!! It’s great!

[Marisa Eikenberry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really hoping for recipes I could do easily at home but unfortunately I just couldn't get that from this book.

Many of the ingredients listed were not things that I could easily pick up in my local grocery store (nor would I know where to find them otherwise) and these recipes just seemed a lot fancier than I was really hoping for when I picked up this book.

I love cooking food with natural ingredients and the thought of cooking things from scratch is very intriguing to me, but this book just wasn't it for me.

People with more ambition and a better grocery selection may have a much better time with this book than I did. I will say the recipes did look absolutely amazing and I'm sure they taste great too.

2 stars.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely photographs. It would have been a more interesting read if it weren't so much like one of my favorite cookbooks, but that's not the author's fault. I copied down a few recipes that looked interesting so we shall see. :)

[LS kitchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great kitchen reference and worthwhile addition to a cookbook collection. Sparks plenty of ideas for homemade gifts from the kitchen to give at the holidays or anytime of year.