This gorgeously illustrated volume began as notes on the collection of cookbooks and culinary images gathered by renowned cookbook author Anne Willan and her husband Mark Cherniavsky. From the spiced sauces of medieval times to the massive roasts and ragoûts of Louis XIV's court to elegant eighteenth-century chilled desserts, The Cookbook Library draws from renowned cookbook author Anne Willan's and her husband Mark Cherniavsky's antiquarian cookbook library to guide readers through four centuries of European and early American cuisine. As the authors taste their way through the centuries, describing how each cookbook reflects its time, Willan illuminates culinary crosscurrents among the cuisines of England, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. A deeply personal labor of love, The Cookbook Library traces the history of the recipe and includes some of their favorites.
Bring French regional cooking into your own kitchen. The Country Cooking of France, (Chronicle Books, 2007) takes you on a culinary journey through the traditions of the many distinct gastronomic regions of France. Recipes range from time-honored favorites like Le Cassoulet de Toulouse to contemporary Crêpes au Caramel et Buerre Salé. The book is full of wonderful photos of the recipes, markets, villages and ingredients that make rural France special and make this book as beautiful to look at as to cook from.
The Good Cook (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004) offers a comprehensive course for the home cook, outlining all of the essential techniques and including hundreds of accompanying recipes. The Good Cook addresses every subject of importance to home cooks, including essential flavors and sauces; fish, meat and poultry; vegetables and eggs; pasta and pastry. Clear step-by-step photographs illustrate more than 70 basic techniques, which are followed by easy-to-execute recipes.
No time to cook? Take a cue from Anne Willan's The 15 Minute Cook (Whitecap paperback, 2004) originally published as In and Out of The Kitchen in Fifteen Minutes or Less (Rizzoli, USA and Quadrille, UK, 1995) with its 100 quick and easy recipes. Available in six foreign language editions.
Anne Willan renders an intimate appreciation of both the food and the culture of Burgundy in From My Chateau Kitchen, (Clarkson Potter, 2000), a beautifully illustrated and personal book inspired by Anne’s life at Château du Feÿ in Burgundy. The book features more than 300 color photographs and more than 160 recipes from Anne’s 20 years of living and teaching cooking at Château du Feÿ. Published in the UK as A Kitchen in Burgundy (Cassell).
Great Cooks and Their Recipes (Pavilion, 2000, paperback; McGraw-Hill, 1977, hardcover) introduces you to six centuries of culinary masters. Learn about the life and times of fourteen great chefs (from France, Italy, America and Britain) who have raised Western civilization’s culinary skills to the highest level, from Taillevent, Scappi, Martino, Escoffier to Fannie Farmer, there are 100 recipes demonstrating the specialties of each cook and illustrated with 250 photographs and works of art.
Anne Willan’s 17 volume Look and Cook series (Dorling Kindersley, 1992) is a collection of cookbooks with step-by-step instructions accompanied by step-by-step photographs. Each book covers a specific category of cooking from chicken to pasta to salads and desserts. More than 2 million copies sold worldwide in hardcover and paperback editions; paperback editions use titles such as Perfect Pasta or Perfect Salads rather than Look and Cook but include the same content.
Unprecedented in both scope and clarity, La Varenne Pratique (Crown, 1989) is the essential culinary reference book for both novice cook and expert. Compiled by Anne Willan, using La Varenne Cooking School's extensive resources, the book brings together a practical understanding of cooking techniques, ingredients, and equipment in an unrivaled guide to classic modern cooking. Published in the UK as the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Cookery, and soon to become available as an eBook, (Gerber Rigler Books, 2012), La Varenne Pratique is a veritable encyclopedia on cooking. More than half a million print copies have been sold worldwide and there are six foreign language editions.
Anne’s first book on French regional cooking, (Willilam Morrow, 1981), covers dishes unique to the 12 regions of provincial France including Burgundy, Normandy, Provence and Languedoc. The traditional specialties of each region - first courses, main dishes, desserts, breads and cakes - are described and illustrated.
