Cookerati

The whole title of the book is really Ducasse Made Simple By Sophie 100 Recipes from the Master Chef Simplified for the Home Cook by  Alain Ducasse and Sophie Dudemaine Recipes Adapted by Linda Dannenberg.  I thought oh, these must be really simplified recipes, but when I perused the book, I was surprised at the presentation.  Each page had a recipe on one page, with a full page gourmet presentation photo on the next page.  I had to read up to understand the relationship between all of the people involved in the book.  Alain Ducasse is the chef to beat all chefs and restaurateur to beat all restaurateurs.  New York magazine did a profile on him in January. Sophie Dudemaine is a French television chef and cookbook author.  Gourmet Magazine did an article about Sophie and  about how the book came into being.

Working from Ducasse’s Grand Livre du Cuisine, his massive Escoffier-based tome, Dudemaine selected 100 recipes—a mix of starters, meat, fish, vegetables, and desserts—that she thought could be simplified enough to appeal to experienced amateurs without losing the Ducasse culinary imprint. After she edited the recipes, they were cross-tested back and forth between Dudemaine and chefs working in Ducasse’s nine different French restaurants. “We wanted to make these recipes democratic without vulgarizing them,” Dudemaine says.

Linda Dannenberg an author on french cooking and culture, collaborated with Sophie and Chef Ducasse to adapt the book to an American audience. 

This book is not a dinner in fifteen minutes book.  Some of these recipes take a good amount of time to prepare.  There are shortcuts to some of the recipes, such as using prepared dough, canned tomatoes and prepared broth, which we may or may not have figured out and done on our own anyway.  I think instead of simple, it should say less complicated.  My niece says that the photos in the book represent a french style food presentation.

If you search around the web, you will see many different opinions of whether Ducasse has sold out, by allowing his recipes to be simplified, or whether the home cook appreciates a recipe that isn’t too difficult for the after work parent to attempt.  My sister said quite succinctly,"Some people are purists, Dad was a purist."  She’s right, he was a purist which meant that any straying from the recipe for him was a disappointment.  It also meant that if he wanted to do a real gastronomic excursion, you might not get to eat until 9 or 10 at night, after noshing on chips and nuts and other things to keep from starving. So, if you are a purist and delight in the true Ducasse culinary experience – then this book isn’t for you.  If you want to prepare a meal that comes almost close, but doesn’t take an entire day then this book is for you – unless you have bad eyesight.  I like the recipes, they look straightforward enough, I love the photos and the layout.  I don’t love the print, it’s too small.  I need to wear my reading glasses – but then that could be old age creeping in.

Here’s a link to Metrocurean which has a recipe from the book.