Len Deighton’s French Cooking for Men: 50 Classic Cookstrips for Today’s Action Men. Len Deighton

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       Arnold Schwartzman OBE RDI

INTRODUCTION

      My mother – who was once a professional cook – encouraged me to help her in the kitchen from the time when I was very small. To her I owe everything. We encouraged our own sons in the same way.

      During six years studying art I spent most of my vacation time working in the kitchens of good restaurants. I’ve never ceased to be interested in cooking, and in the skill that contributes to the success of a great French restaurant, which does not always mean a restaurant in France.

      The importance of French cookery is not only due to the taste, texture and appearance of the resulting dishes, but also to the systematic way in which generations of cooks have ordered and classified their knowledge.

      This book is not a recipe book, it’s a carefully planned course that has taught many men and women to cook in the French style. If you work your way through this book, you will be qualified to cook for a good traditional country restaurant in France. Or to start one! The first half of the book consists of lessons in theory, from choosing a saucepan and a cheese to pronouncing and translating a French menu. The second half of the book contains fifty practical cooking lessons in easy to follow cookstrip form. Each lesson illustrates a technique, a process or a category of dish. Most recipes have been chosen because they also provide the cook with dozens – in some cases hundreds – of variations, for instance soufflé, crêpes and mousse.

      This is not a ‘creative cookery’ course; there are no concoctions of mine here. This book is the result of years of watching, and talking with, fine chefs and trying out their recipes. Here I have explained them as simply as possible. In order to fit a complete course of cookery into one slim volume I have assumed that you are intelligent and interested in cooking. No more than this is needed.

      You may feel that some of my distinctions are dogmatic. Cooks are seldom dogmatic, feeling – rightly – more interested in results than in rules. But distinctions exist so that the reasoning behind the methods is easily understood and remembered. Obviously it doesn’t affect me if you fry the ingredients of a daube or a blanquette, but ask me why this is not called braiser and fricasser and I’d have no answer.

      This, then, is Basic French Cooking. I can only tell you the rules of the game; you are the best judge of when to stick to them.

       Len Deighton 1996

L’ART CULINAIRE

       Applying heat to food, or if you‘ll pardon the word, cooking

      Europe has two distinct types of climate; a north suited to the production of fine cream and dairy produce, excellent beef and wonderful bacon; and a south that produces olives for olive oil, vines for wine of all kinds, luscious southern fruits, vegetables and sea food. France is the only country in Europe that includes both types of climate, and therefore has a range of foodstuffs second to none.

      Because of this concern and pride in food the cook in France finds preparing a hasty meal considerably simpler than anyone in England does. For instance, a visit to the charcuterie will provide superb terrines, pâtés, andouillettes, game pies, calf’s head vinaigrette, pork brawn, ham, cooked pork loin and quiches.

      In France the pâtisserie will sell cakes, flans and vol-au-vent cases of which no host or hostess need feel ashamed. Although good bread is no longer universally available in France, it can be sought out in most towns and villages.

      Buying is the basis of good cooking. In a French kitchen the chef de cuisine is the boss. He makes the menus, fixes the prices, prods the beans and puts a fingernail in the garlic. He hires the staff and dominates the kitchen.

      Ideally in an old-fashioned French kitchen the tasks are carefully assigned. The sauce chef – chef saucier – is the senior man in the kitchen after the chef de cuisine. There is also a fish chef – chef poissonnier; a soup chef – chef potager; and a chef in charge of vegetables, eggs and sweets who for complex historic reasons is called a chef entremettier. The man supervising the grills, roasts, and frying is a rôtisseur but if the menu includes many fried foods there may be a friturier to do the frying. It’s also possible that there will be a grillardin for the grill, a chef pâtissier for the desserts of all kinds and perhaps even a chef cafetier for the tea and coffee. The garde-manger not only guards the larders and refrigerators but is also in charge of preparations of cold dishes – pâtés, terrines and aspics. Each chef has assistants called commis, some may have three. You are going to do all these tasks; it’s a tricky job but relax, you aren’t directing a battle. Even if the meal is a write-off your guests will put up with it if you stay in a good mood. Remember that no professional chef tackles some complex new dish when preparing a banquet. He cooks the dishes he’s mastered. Do the same and save your experiments for the family.

      The kitchen must be well organized. Working surfaces should be kept clear and clean. Keep dishes clean and knives sharp. Put things in the same place always. Throw away gadgets you don’t use, they are just collecting dust. Wear an apron if you like, but in any case have a belt into which you can tuck a clean cloth. It will save you time and temper looking for it.

      There are many types of pots and pans available. The heaviest, thickest metal ones are best for all-round cooking. The mass of metal holds the heat and spreads it evenly. Thin metal will bend and burn. Cooking in a thin frying-pan is the most difficult culinary task I can think of; a professional wouldn’t even try it. It’s better to use a heavy saucepan for deep-frying than a cheap thin metal deep-fryer. Earthenware pots are excellent for more gentle cooking methods, especially in the oven. Some recipes depend upon keeping as much moisture as possible in the pot. For these you should use cooking pots that have no air vents in the lids.

      But a vital part of the cook’s batterie is an understanding of what is happening to the food as the heat is applied to it. Without this even the finest recipe is just mumbo-jumbo. The cook uses what he has. Some cooks may have a great variety of cooking devices; others only a gas ring. I have listed ten basic types of heat so that you can compare them and see that the process of cooking food has simple, sensible rules. A recipe – if it is a good one – follows these same rules no matter what is being cooked. Heat can be the simple radiant heat of an open fire or grill, the semi-dry heat of an oven, the wet heat of a braisière, the heated water of poaching, steam in a steamer, super-heated steam in a pressure cooker, a hot frying-pan or deep fat. Each of these ways of heating food will be mentioned later, but first let’s take a look at the food, the things subjected to these varying types of heat.

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