Loomis - In a French Kitchen

Praise for

IN A FRENCH KITCHEN

This is the best trip to France youll ever havewalking through Louviers with Susan Loomis as your appreciative, ever-hungry guide. Youll stop in kitchen after kitchen to meet her friends and taste their glorious home cooking, youll get a supermarket tour with special attention to the candy aisle, and youll find out why shes still dazzled by the French art of using up leftovers and why youll never see her in public sopping up sauce with a piece of bread. And when its over, youll head home with a string bag full of Susans incomparable recipes.

Laura Shapiro, author of Something from the Oven

With practical tips, delicious recipes, and real stories from real people, In a French Kitchen is a wonderful guide for producing honest, simple, and chic meals, la franaise. Susan Herrmann Loomis has revolutionized the way I cook for my family!

Ann Mah, author of Mastering the Art of French Eating

There is wisdom in this book, expressed in stories and anecdotes; in advice, opinions, recipes, and shopping lists; and most of all in Susan Loomiss warmly engaging yet always sternly authoritative writing. In a French Kitchen is a crash course in cooking and living well.

Luke Barr, author of Provence, 1970

A warm invitation to the French table.... A tempting and helpful guide to delectable food.

Kirkus Reviews

ALSO BY SUSAN LOOMIS

On Rue Tatin

Great American Seafood Cookbook

Farmhouse Cookbook

Clambakes and Fish Fries

French Farmhouse Cookbook

Italian Farmhouse Cookbook

Cooking at Home on Rue Tatin

Tarte Tatin

Nuts in the Kitchen

GOTHAM BOOKS

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

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New York, New York 10014

Copyright 2015 by Susan Loomis

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLI CATION DATA

Loomis, Susan Herrmann, author.

In a French kitchen : tales and traditions of everyday home cooking in France / Susan Herrmann Loomis.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-698-19108-2

1. Cooking, French. 2. Food habitsFrance. I. Title.

TX719.L663 2015

641.5944dc23

2014035856

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

Version_1

This book is dedicated to my darling sister-in-law, Gayle.

La bonne cuisine est la base du vritable bonheur.
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)

AUGUSTE ESCOFFIER

Preparing and serving a meal is a sacred experience, a virtuous circle begun by the guest who sits at the table.

SOPHIES UNCLE, PRE JEAN-MARIE

Contents

Acknowledgments

A book is written with the help of so many different people, moments, tastes, aromas, melodies. When I say thanks, the list is long, the moments glorious.

People: First and foremost, thank you to my children, the guardians of youth and enthusiasm. Fiona, your endless generosity, appreciation, appetite, and good humor are such balm and joy.

Joe, your bright presence and crackling phone calls asking, among other things, Hows the book going, Mom? are more of the same.

For constancy and inspiration, I thank the friends who surround me in Louviers and Paris. To my sisterhoodLena, Edith, Elo, Astrid, Nadine, Betty (your tolerance is unparalleled), Danie (you are a national treasure), Deborah, Bernadette, Thrze, Fatima, Patricia, Marie-Lawrence, and Marie-Agns. A note here about Sophie: She is my imaginary French cooking friend, a composite of several people who contribute much to my cooking knowledge and lore on a daily basis, a rich source of inspiration. To my brotherhood, I thank Bernard, Christian, David, Stanley, Louis.

Thank you to Marie, Dominique, Virginie, Emilie, Maude, Leila, Marie-Eve, and Nadge, for all of your insights into daily home cookingI am so grateful for your help.

I wouldnt be the cook I am without my friend and favorite market gardener, Baptiste Bourdon, who sings his way through each Saturday market in Louviers, enticing his customers with sweet words and gorgeous vegetables. Thanks also go to my neighbor, butcher Stphane Coutard; my flour-dusted friend, baker Frderic Bnard; my smart and funny fishmonger, Bruno Richhomme; the best foie gras producer in Normandy, Loic Mtrot; permanent joker and fine mushroom grower Luciano Martin.

To Herv Lestage, my dear friend and wine guruthank you for your poetic, knowledgeable, and generous approach. You enrich my life and appreciation of wine beyond measure.

Thank you, Elisabeth Hyde, for all of the time you gave, for your patience, your deeply hilarious humor, and your fine eye as you read the manuscript.

Thank you, Laura Shapiro, for taking a look at both proposal and manuscript at very crucial moments.

The recipes were first tested in my kitchen, then carefully tested (and often re-tested) in the US kitchens of my wonderful assistant Kelly Lytle, Ellen Cole, and Cathy Arkle. An extra-special thank-you to Kim Wiley, too, for your detailed eye and spatula, and your fine palate. You are such a great team!

Thank-you to all of you who participate in my cooking classes in Louviers and in Paris. Each of you brings such fun, inspiration, and richness of spirit into my kitchen.

For keeping the pieces (of house and home) from flying apart, thank you to Christophe and Nadine.

For melodies: Valerie June at the beginning, Chris Botti in the middle, Paul Simon at the end.

Thank you to Jane Dystel, lagent literaire formidable; Rachel Stout, assistant hors paire. A huge thank-you to Charlie Conrad for your support, enthusiasm, and passion, uneditor sans pareil. Thank you, too, to all the team at Gotham for such a wrinkle-free, humor-tinged experience, including Sabrina Bowers, designer; Andrea Santoro, production editor; and Casey Maloney, publicist.