Filip Verheyden: The Basics

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Do you need another handsome little black book? It isn't what you think – not a prayerbook, though it looks like one. Even its title looks religious: one might mistake "The Basics" for "The Bible." Clearly, someone had lofty intentions in mind... The Basics (Melville 2007) with recipes by Filip Verheyden and photography by Tony Le Duc is an elegant, precise and stunningly photograph handbook for chefs. In its 150 one-page recipes, Filip describes essential techniques and provides basic recipes for French cuisine. It will not replace eclectic cookbooks or necessarily inspire superb dishes (though it might), but it will provide the essential techniques and recipes that every chef has to master (or needs to keep in mind). In an age when it is all to easy to look up a recipe on the internet (which may or may not be accurate), this is a collection of the basic building blocks of good cooking. The first section are descriptions of cooking techniques like barding, larding, dry marinating and wet marinating, infusing and Bain-marie. These are basics that might not be explained in a more sophisticated cookbook. Filip's language is clear as in this definition of "To bard": Classic French culinary term meaning to cover or wrap a piece of fish, meat, or vegetable to keep it moist…Another example of this technique is the wrapping of vine leaves around partridge, quail or pigeon. (p. 10) Some of the definitions are accompanied by a description of a particular dish, for instance, how to make stewed Belgian endive: Many sweet and savory ingredients can also be caramelized. This is often done to achieve a lighter and sweeter flavor. A classic example is stewed Belgian endive. Belgian endive, which has been stewed in butter with a little water and lemon juice, is generously sprinkled with sugar halfway through cooking. During cooking the sugar will caramelize, the butter and water prevent the caramel from burning. (p. 44) Both author and photographer live and work in Belgium; so they ought to know about good braised endive! The next section covers cutting techniques like Brunoise as well as what a bouquet garni is. The photographs in the stock section are stunning. The ingredients of a White Stock (p. 74) – veal shank, an onion studded with cloves, and pieces of vegetable are sprinkled over the white page. The next photo shows a Dark stock with deep red tones from the tomatoes and stock. There are recipes for Light Soups, Hearty Soups and two indispensable sections on Cold and Hot Sauces. Escoffier would approve. Filip provides tips following each recipe such as this one for Poivrade sauce: Serve this classic game sauce with any type of furred game. The sauce can be refined with a splash of heavy cream (Diane sauce) or red current jelly (Grand Veneur sauce). Poivrade sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for several days. (p. 194) The last section contains ten recipes for the kind of techniques employed by Ferran Adria. Filip writes in the introduction, "In short the foundations of tomorrow's cooking." (p. 4) Here are recipes for Potato Foam (p. 290), Foie Gras Foam (p. 292) and Seawater Jelly (p. 296). The tips point out the advantages of these new and not-so-new techniques. Many depend on techniques outlined in early sections of the book, further underlining the fact that mastering good technique is essential for all chefs, no matter how avent guard. The Basics, with its red ribbon book mark and gold lettering, makes for a lovely gift whether for a graduating high school senior bound for college or solo life or well advanced executive. It is also a great book to tuck into a suitcase for a trip to a summerhouse -- you never know when you might need to brush up on the basics. Other reviews: Publishers Weekly, Food & Wine, New York Times, Press-Enterprise, Columbia Tribune, Observer-Reporter, Akron Beacon-Journal, Eagle Tribune, St. Cloud Times, Missoulian Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, Cookbook Reviews --> back to Super Chef