Simple: The Easiest Cookbook in the World

by Jean-François Mallet (Original Author)

International bestseller!

With 200 quick and easy recipes -- each with four steps or less and fewer than six ingredients -- this "cookbook sensation" ( The Wall Street Journal) will be your new go-to for everyday meals.

The Easiest Cookbook in the World answers the perpetual question, "what should I cook?" Packed with 1,000 photographs and dozens of appetizer, lunch, and dinner ideas, this easy-to-follow cookbook will have you enjoying a meal in minutes.

With basic flavors and fresh ingredients, chef, food photographer, and cookbook author Jean-Françs Mallet helps anyone, the novice and gourmand alike, prepare tasty time-saving meals. His "at-a-glance" approach will change your relationship with your kitchen. Each recipe includes two to six ingredients and fewer than 4 steps. You'll find yourself whipping up dishes as varied

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Cuisine, France

400 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 2016

About the author

Jean-François Mallet has taught at the École Supérieure de Cuisine Française Ferrandi in Paris, and worked for many years with such chefs as Joël Robuchon and Gaston Lenôtre. Today he is a food writer and photographer and contributes to French magazines, such as Saveur, Elle à Table, and Etoile.

Reviews

[Taylor Reid]

If you frequently look at the clock and find it’s already dinnertime and yet you’ve not thought about what to cook, this one’s for you. Each recipe has only half a dozen ingredients and is made in just a few steps. Basically, if you’re just starting out with trying to cook or if you’re lazy like me, this one is a winner.

[Erikka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pros: short and sweet recipes with fresh ingredients. Pictures were pretty.

Cons: literally nothing looked even remotely edible and this was some Ina Garten level "preserved lemons taken from the hills outside of Provençal are best, but store bought are fine" pretentiousness. My husband was giving everything ratings with a "stereotypical French laugh" meter. It was a LOT of pretentious laughs. Gaston wouldn't eat this food, and he is literally a pretentious jerk from Provençal. Maybe this is that famous French culinary history I've heard so much about. If so, maybe I'll be crossing France off the "places to visit" bucket list. It's either that or starve.

[Marius · Rating 5 out of 5]

La plupart des livres de cuisine sont impraticables et les recettes sur Internet pas toujours fiables. L'enjeu est donc louable et la promesse très bien tenue. A noter que l'auteur a travaillé dans des restaurants gastronomiques de prestige, ce n'est donc pas du copié-collé, ni un ensemble de fausses recettes simples comme on voit parfois (type poisson + gros sel = poisson au gros sel).

On y trouve entre autres des plats courants (spaghettis bolognaise, boeuf bourguignon...) dont on rencontre d'habitude des recettes chronophages et dilatées.

D'un point de vue autant visuel que gustatif, les résultats sont tout à fait satisfaisants. Pour un frustré de la cuisine comme moi qui ne demande qu'à retrouver le fumet du four et le crépitement de la crevette, c'est une sorte de Graal.

M. Mallet a aussi écrit un livre similaire de cuisine light ; un autre dédié aux desserts paraîtra en août 2016.

[Hero · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was attracted by the beautiful pictures of ingredients, uncommon flavor combinations (at least to my palate), and apparent easy of recipe. Unfortunately…nothing I ever made from this book tasted good. Am I terrible cook or is this not a great cookbook? You’ll have to make that judgment call for yourself.

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchased this book for my elderly father who does not know how to cook after my mom passed away. He really liked the simplicity of the recipes and photos. This is a great book for inspiration or for beginners.

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mijn recensie over dit boek kan je lezen via mijn blog op https://boeklovers.wordpress.com/2016...

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has pictures of the things you gotta buy. I love that. It really is the simplest cookbook ever. If you have autism or adhd and cooking is stressful, this is a godsend

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously, this being a cookbook and a pretty thick one at that, I haven't read every single recipe much less tried all of them, but I have tried a few of them and I can confidently say that this is an excellent cookbook for someone just getting into cooking for the first time.

Each recipe has as few ingredients as possible and the instructions are always simple.

Of course there are few caveats:
-Many of the recipes do include canned or pre-prepared ingredients, so take that as you will
-I can't vouch that all the recipes are the healthiest, I'd say tastiness is more of a priority over healthfulness, so just beware of that.
-The instructions are somewhat brief, if you are a new cook you will probably have to google the explanation for how to do certain things.

Out of the 200 recipes, I've only tried about 4 of them but 3 of those turned out really well and were super-easy:
-Veal Ragout (delicious!) (page 178)
-Chicken Cashew (super easy!) (page 246)
-Quiche Lorraine (impresses people yet super easy!) (page 22)

I am confident there will be many other winners among the remaining 196 recipes.

I also like that there is such a variety of dishes, from pies to stews, lot of very meaty dishes, lots of appetizers, pretty much everything that you can think of.

I have not tried out a lot of other similar cookbooks, so there may be better books of this type, but this is definitely the best I've seen so far.

Highly recommended.

[Eréndira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le principe est sympa, mais je préfère les autres livres de la collection. Ici, il s'agit d'acheter des ingrédients de luxe et les assembler pour avoir des plats surprenants recevoir du monde. Mon avis est partagé, car ce type d'ingrédients je préfère les réserver pour une cuisine plus complexe. Mais bien sûr, d'un autre côté, avec Simplissime il n'y a pas de risque tout rater et devoir tout jeter à la poubelle.
Les autres livres de la collection, avec des ingrédients plus courants, ne me posent pas ce problème.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this as a Christmas gift for one of my friends, and liked it so much I decided to keep it for myself. So far we've tried nearly all the chicken recipes, several side dishes, salads, and a few of the pork and pasta dishes. Every single recipe has been a total winner, crazy delish and full of flavor! Even when the technique sounds a bit wonky it turns out. Cannot get enough of this cookbook.

[Megan Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book! It has enlarged pictures of the ingredients AND the final product. Some recipes require some ingredients that are hard to get. Overall, it’s a really nice book! I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway for an honest review.



Read my 3-star review of Simple Healthy: The Easiest Light Cookbook in the World by Jean-François Mallet
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Elisala · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ce livre est parfait pour les personnes qui ne savent pas très bien lire, ou qui voient mal et ont donc besoin de gros caractères.
Pour les autres, ça flaire un peu l'arnaque à vendre en un gros pavé des recettes qui auraient tenu sur 3 fois moins de papier.
Je n'ai pas regardé en détail, mais je n'ai même pas vraiment l'impression que le format facilite l'apprentissage des recettes et de la cuisine de quelque manière que ce soit.

[Valerie Thirkettle-Kayser · Rating 4 out of 5]

J’apprécie beaucoup ce livre plein de recettes sympathiques et faciles. Il contient à la fois certains plats classiques et d’autres plus modernes et faisant de nouvelles associations d’ingrédients. Un bon équilibre pour démarrer en cuisine.
La présentation en gros caractères et en couleurs très contrastées m’a permis de l’offrir à mon Papa qui souffre de DMLA.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this cookbook! Each recipe has very few steps and very few ingredients, which suits my cooking style really well. I love the big photographs of the ingredients and the very straightforward instructions. I want to try the Mediterranean Meatballs and the Rigatoni with Eggplant.

[Elizabeth Nordquest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won another book (Simple Healthy: The Easiest Light Cookbook in the World) in a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway and they sent me this one, too!

It's a huge cookbook with big photos, easy instructions, and an index arranged by ingredient. The recipes in here are more appetizing than the ones in the Light cookbook (more meat and treats).

I really appreciate this book because I glaze over when I see long, complicated recipes.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair cookbook for a novice cook. Clear instructions, decent photography.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very large cookbook. I could not read it cover to cover, but I did read most of the recipes. They are easy to follow and beautifully photographed. A very good basic cookbook.

[Julie H. Ernstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm leaning 3 1/2 to 4 stars on Simple: The Easiest Cookbook in the World. While I very much appreciate the premise that all recipes in the book are limited to a max. of six ingredients, I think that some of the accompanying explanation might benefit from less brevity. Accompanying photos are always helpful, esp. if one is trying something new, it provides a destination toward which one is looking. Simple... contains predominantly entrees with a few desserts toward book's end.

I'm confident that this will prove a useful cookbook for weeknight recipes--not that these are particularly fast to cook, but just that the quick stop at the grocery is just that, before getting home to the chopping and other prep. I'm glad to have this book in my arsenal, and look forward to making my way through more of it.

[Bernice · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the most basic book and it's really useless to anyone who can cook. One cannot even call them recipes as such, all it involves is putting a few ingredients together which would result in a very average outcome. To say it's French cooking would make any French chef shudder. Since when is risotto and pasta dishes French? The "recipes" are so misleading as to be insulting to a reasonable home cook! Risotto made by adding all the stock at once and stirring with just wine, saffron and Parmesan would be terrible. Don't even bother with this book.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best cookbook I've ever seen!. Great pictures for every single recipe, relatively easy to find ingredients, and clear straightforward instructions. This would not be a great cookbook for someone just learning how to cook since the instructions are quite simple, but it's fantastic for someone who is comfortable in the kitchen. The recipes are quite rich, usually with lots of oil and butter, but adjustments could easily be made if you're looking for something with less calories. Overall an amazing cookbook.

[Alli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for an honest review.



This book is huge first of all; it's at least an inch thick. The recipes are really easy to follow and they all look super delicious. I'm happy I got my copy before I went grocery shopping; I can't wait to taste test! My one critique is the lack of obvious sections. They seem to be organized into sections, but it's not clear where one starts and one ends.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderfully laid out cookbook. Simple recipes, that transform into deliciousness! I'm going to be working my way through this giant of a book slowly.
The recipes are just as advertised, with clear, well written instructions. I am thinking this will be a great go to cookbook. I especially appreciate the clear, and large type face. I live with an aging parent and her sight isn't great, and she can see these recipes clearly.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

*goodreads giveaway, received for free*

This cookbook really is simple! I looked through all of it last night, and am real excited to try quite a few of them! But like another reviewer said, it could have had a better layout.

[Ma Coach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superbe en tous points !

[Xondra Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

* Copy via Goodreads First Reads from the publisher *

Excellent cookbook with so many easy to follow recipes. I was amazed at how many recipes are included!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great cookbook with lots of pictures. The recipes are elegant and delicious! We've made several of them so far and really enjoyed them.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure the how tos seem easy but not sure how to get majority of those ingredients

[Kristen Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I've made in this beautiful, easy book is good. Would give as a gift. purchased new

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received this as a gift with 6 year old Emilia from her great-aunt. We are thrilled to try the super simple but delicious looking recipes. This book will be a great way for this young chef to think about making yummy simple recipes. Apps, soups, salads, pastas, veggies, wide range of meat dishes (beef to rabbit and in-between) and desserts. Fresh and healthy ingredients. Each recipe has no more than 6 ingredients and up to only 4 steps.