By JULIETTE ROSSANT
 One way to get an education is to pick someone you admire intellectually, and read everything they've read. Would you become the next Albert Einstein or Nelson Mandela if you read the contents of their libraries? Perhaps, perhaps not. But what if you read (and used) the library books of Julia Child or Daniel Boulud. It would be a great start to really knowing great cuisine.
La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange: The original Companion for French Home Cooking (Ten Speed 2005) is just such a book you might find on their shelves.
Julia Child used it as a model for her classic (check the back cover quote "(A) book that I adore and that was my mentor in my early days in France..."), and it is still a great introduction to good French cooking. It was first published in 1927 and became the cooking bible of 20th century French home. The book's enthusiastic translator, Paul Aratow, one of the founders of Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Hollywood producer of such cult classics as Sheena, used his original French copy as the foundation Chez Panisse's dishes: I discovered La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange in a little bookstore in the Latin Quarter. I was fascinated by the book. It was so precise, so assured. Every page contained another revelation. I felt that I had found culinary gold. Bridging the gap between her career as a professional chef and her life as a housewife, Madame Saint-Ange finds a sophisticated compromise between professional haute cuisine and the home hearth. (p. 3) It is that balance that seems often lacking in cookbooks today – they are either written by professional chefs who show off their recipes that no home cook could hope to recreate, or by chefs who oversimplify and talk down to the American abilities.
The Foreward (p. 1) by Madeline Kamman also relates how she came across her first Saint-Ange, her mother's 1929 copy. She puts the book into context of the many cookbooks written by women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, of which this is the best example. It is hard to come up with an American equivalent, for the book is not merely The Joy of Cooking, for it reaches beyond everyday fare and is far more personal and in depth.
The first chapter entitled "What You Need to Know" is full of now-dated information, like how to use a coal-fired cast iron stove but it is fun to read what cooks had to do on a daily basis (that we, thankfully, do not). At times the book is merely a curious historical document. Mme. Saint-Ange warns housewives, "You should never disposes of old papers, trash, etc., in the firebox. If you have something to burn in the firebox, you must add it when the fire is already burning extremely well." (p. 7) But that personal tone is found in the very useful recipes, and brings them to life. Julia Child's recipes for Blanquette de Veau may be even longer and more complete, but Mme Saint-Ange's (pp. 293-295) is more approachable and somehow, more understanding. She suggests how many onions and mushrooms to allow per person (two small onions and one mushroom), what kind of pot to use (she is against cast iron that gives a "grayish off-color tint"), and then, in her very practical way, writes about how to hold and serve the dish, "First, if you have enough cooking utensils and do not mind washing one more, the simplest thing to do is lift out the pieces of veal with a fork, let them drain, then put them in a saute pan" (p. 295).
The chapter on "Cooking Techniques" (p. 25) in the front of the book is full of insights into why different techniques work. Braising is all the rage among chefs like Tom Colicchio (see Super Chef, chapter 5), and Madame gets right to its core: Braising is much more than a cooking method, it is also about what you put in the pot – such as slices of fatback bacon, poaching liquid, wine, eau-de-vie, etc. These additions are what gives the meat succulence. (p. 25) She admonishes against the use of meat that is too small and encourages larding, which is thoroughly explained on page 11. One can imagine Madame tapping her wooden spoon on the student's notebook and saying, "Pay attention and follow my directions!" -- with a glint in her eye.
Her recipe for Tradition Pot-au-Feu (pp.84--5), a deeply rewarding hearty soup for this time of year, is full of precise information for the novice soup makers, and yet the details and explanations are not tedious to read for someone well versed in the making of a proper potage. Why arrange bones on the bottom of the pot and the meat on top? "The meat is gradually penetrated by the heat which forces out the impurities in the form of foam that would otherwise cloud the bouillon." (p. 84) Madame instructs on how to skim the foam three times, regulating the boil by adding water, and then finally adding vegetables.
This is a cookbook to read as much for her meticulous instructions and classic recipes as for Madame's voice of authority, which comes through in her own words in her Notice or note to her readers (p. 5): " One last word, and it's personal. In this book, we have condensed the results of more than 30 years of practice and study applied to culinary education. This lengthy effort permits us to have a valid hope in the usefulness of the work." (p. 5) And the hope is justified, for this is a supremely useful and wonderful book.
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