Saturday, August 9, 2008

Pork & Sons

If you're a lover of pork, do I have the cookbook for you! Pork & Sons is written by French chef Stéphane Reynaud. It's hard pillow top cover, designed with a pink table cloth pattern, opens up to reveal a truly wonderful experience inside. The book is published by Phaidon and, like most Phaidon books, is strikingly handsome, whimsical, and a joy to flip through. The book begins with Reynaud reminiscing about his grandfather who taught him about the pig: how to slaughter it and how to cook it. This book is more then a cookbook, it's an homage to the pig. Reynaud makes sure to fill us in on his friends, swine connoisseurs (such as Aimé: the meticulous butcher of pigs and Pierre and Charlou: two brothers, as old as trees who have been around more pig killings then anyone would care to count) and includes pictures of each of them, bringing to life the culture that surrounds the pig in France.

The recipes (150 of them) are simple but delicious. Every part of the pig is used, from the feet and ears to tenderloins, and each recipe is accompanied by a photo that evokes the sense that these dishes are truly the heart of the French countryside. Your mouth can't help but water at the variety of meals Reynaud cooks up (who knew there could be so many from one animal!).

Pork & Sons won the 2005 French Gourmand Cookbook Award so you know, without a doubt, it's a cookbook to feast on.


2 comments:

  1. i'm adding this book to my wish list!

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  2. Mini, seriously, add ALL of the Phaidon house cookbooks. They're amazingly gorgeous...and a lot of fun to cook out of since the recipes are usually simple and delicious.

    We also have The Silver Spoon, which is Italian, and there's another one I want, 1080 recipes, which is Spanish.

    Check 'em out! :-)

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