One Pot French: More Than 100 Easy, Authentic Recipes

by Jean-Pierre Challet

Classic French cuisine is paired with the perennial appeal of easy, one-pot cooking in this wide-ranging cookbook illustrated with over 75 full-color photographs. One-Pot French offers mouthwatering recipes for traditional soups and stews, fish, poultry, and meat dishes, vegetables, sauces and even desserts. Celebrated chef Jean-Pierre Challet includes more than 100 recipes that represent the Mediterranean seafood of Provence, the buttery roasts of Tours, and the cheese-and cream-based dishes of Normandy, authentic French cooking that makes the best use of a single saucepan, skillet, or bowl.

Genres: Cookbooks

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2008

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

"One pot" is not true here. I was looking for true one pot recipes for French cooking. With a different title (promise) and different objectives on my end, I'd have been happier with this. As a cookbook qua cookbook it's good.

[Magdalena]

If you’re anything like I am, the idea of a single pot dinner is very appealing. For one thing, it’s much easier to make a one pot dinner than it is to make multiple dishes. For another, the simplicity makes for a much easier serving process, not to mention decreased electricity costs. But one pot French? Well, there is Cassoulet, and Coq Au Vin (though we always serve that with roast potatoes), but most times when we do a French meal, it’s because we want to impress our guests and usually have a fair amount of fuss, last minute hassles, and multiple dishes. So the idea of a cookbook that offers dishes that have the same kind of rich, flavoursome and fancy quality that French food has with the ease and simplicity of a single pot, is one which is hard to resist. Jean-Pierre Challet is the executive chef at Cuisine at The Fifth in Toronto, and teaches cooking as well, so he knows both how to make food look and taste wonderful, but also how to demonstrate how to others.

Although I chose the book based on the title, One Pot French is a bit of a misnomer, as not all of the dishes are one pot. Some are, such as the delicious, Frenched-up version of Shepard’s Pie – Hachis Parmentier, the Pot-Au-Feu, or the Jarret D’agneu Braise Aux Epices (Moroccan-style braised lamb shanks), all of which are easy to make, and fancy enough to serve at your next dinner party. Others like Cassoulet look like one dish, but the ingredient list calls for things like duck confit legs that are a whole different recipe, though you could just buy them from a competent deli if you live in a city. There are no delis like that where I live though, so I have to either make them, or leave out this fairly critical ingredient (even duck is hard to find). I did make this without the duck, and only pork sausage, and my family were happy enough with it, but I know that this isn’t quite the dish that Challet had in mind. To his credit, Challet actually provides a confit recipe, and it sounds easier than I always imagined, but I still wasn’t game (no pun intended) to take it on. Other recipes are one pot, but require an additional dish or dishes to serve up. The Gratin Dauphinois, for example, is a lovely, relatively light version, but it isn’t enough for a meal – you still need some kind of salad or vegetable accompaniment. The Cotes Levees De Boeuf Bourguignon needs some kind of starch – potatoes or rice or crusty bread – to make a complete meal. The crepes and quiches require crepes or pastry as one of the ingredients, which is another recipe (albeit an easy one). But really, these are very minor criticisms, as the book isn’t really about how to cook well with only a single pot. Instead, it’s how to cook well without too much effort, and that’s really what title is suggesting, though if you buy this book looking for crock pot type solutions you might be disappointed.

The opening chapter is particularly useful, containing well structure recipes for classic basics that every serious French cook should know how to make. In addition to the confit (and maybe one day I’ll find a good duck supplier and get my nerve up), there’s sweet and tart pastries, a range of sauces, vinaigrettes and pestos, croutons, and even a recipe for ketchup, which I may well try, if only to know what is going into the food product my children consume most of. Then there are appetizers (entrees, or starters, depending on what country you live in), soups, salads, and sandwiches. Another useful section is one on egg and cheese dishes, especially as we have plenty of free ranging hens. The crepes, quiches, fondues, and soufflés are lovely, relying more on the quality of the ingredients than on fancy techniques, though there are a few secrets provided which I won’t share here. The dessert section also shines with classic offerings like Tarte Tatin, banana cake and lemon tart. All in all, this is a nice offering for the beginning or intermediate cook looking to take on the world of French cuisine in a non-pretentious, easy to learn form. You might need more than one pot, but not many more, and the overall results will certainly be worth it.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of a book ought describe what's really in it. It is frustrating when this axiom is violated. It is not that the many recipes in this book (presumably about "one pot" dishes) which require more than one pot are bad recipes. It is that they are outside the realm defined by its title. They are all, however, distinctively French. The introductory recipes cover the basics: stock, duck confit, pastry. sauces and dressings. These are then used liberally in the "one-pot" recipes which follow. The main recipes are somewhat oversimplified in the interest of ease of preparation. The descriptions of technique are somewhat abbreviated suggesting that this book is not perfectly for beginners. There are larger general French cookbooks which deserve a place in one's culinary library before this one. The cover picture of pot-au-feu in a Le Creuset French oven suggested a book filled with French Dutch-oven recipes; the search for just such a volume continues.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recipes are fine; copied down a couple to use, but I thought this was going to be more dutch oven recipes - I already have my Dad's recipe for beef bourguignon and use the Joy of Cooking recipe for coq au vin. I have a pate brisee, recipe, too, that I use regularly: I was surprised to find dessert recipes. Wished there were more photos. Would someone write a book with dutch oven recipes, please?

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

'eh.