Cover Image: French Cooking for Beginners

French Cooking for Beginners

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Member Reviews

French Cooking for Beginners simplifies classic French cuisine with easy-to-follow recipes and fresh ingredients, perfect for home cooks of all levels.

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I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. It's no Julia Child book but some really good recipe choices for beginners.

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There were some interesting recipes in this book with lively stories and commentary from the author and instructions on how to make some authentic French dishes. Although it says that it's for beginners, I feel that you do need some basic cooking experience to be able to attempt some of these recipes.

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For a while now I've been fasincated with French cooking but was clueless on where to start - cue French Cooking for Beginners and I have a much better idea now! I loved the recipes and photos, instructions were clear and easy to follow along. Would recommend for anything interested in French cooking

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Living so far away from the United States, I don't know who the author was. But French cooking, I lived with it for some years. The French and their foods are inseparables, and you have to know the basic or the authentic version of their cooking before showing off your knowledge. But Ms Pepin knows her "trucs". Although some are modified to accommodate the Americans better, nevertheless, her recipes here are mouthwatering and true to the French ones.

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French Cooking for Beginners by Claudine Pepin is a beautiful recipe book. The photos are a perfect little snap shot of France. If you want to learn French Cooking this book is a great place to start. The recipes are easy to follow, have easy to acquire ingredients and the photos of the food just make you want to get cooking. This would make a great gift for the budding chef. I collect cookbooks and this makes a wonderful addition to my collection.
I would like to thank Claudine Pepin, Quarto Publishing- Quarry and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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I like eating ethnic food, but I'm not a very experienced cook. I like the illustrations in this book and I think this will be a good place for me to start.

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Similar as the Italian version of the book, I was confused by what this book wants to achieve. I am not judging the recipes themselves, but rather the way they are selected and presented. It has a nice design and feels easy and welcoming, even if a little too simplistic. It is just a random selection of favourite dishes of a person who is not a main focus of the book, as it is a general beginner’s guide to French cuisine. So I would like it more if it was a generic, but authentic selection of the most famous French dishes explained in a simple way or a selection of somebody famous enough to produce a cookbook of their favourite recipes.


Thank you Netgalley UK for providing me with a copy of this book for an honest review.

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Ive been wanting to dabble in French Cooking for a while and this book was a great place to start! I really enjoyed reading through the recipes and testing them out.

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Rating 3.5 stars

The French Cooking for Beginners book is divided into 4 main chapters, alongside a short introduction and seasonal menu suggestions. There are 4 recipes in 'to start'/appetizers, 10 in 'to continue'/main, 9 in 'on the side'/vegetables and 6 in 'to finish'/puddings.

Each recipe has a short introduction, written in both imperial and metric terms, has an accompanying colour photograph or relevant food illustrations, how many it serves, and easy-to-follow instructions. At the rear of the book, there are around 19 lined pages for you to write your own French recipes.

The book does include French classics such as Boeuf Bourguignon, Salade Nicoise, Ratatouille, and crepes but overall it might be any book that contains French recipes, perhaps nothing special as to why they are for beginners.

A note to readers, inside the front cover it does state the content of this book was previously published in 'Let's Cook French: A Family Cookbook' (2016).

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

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*received for free from netgalley for honest review* 3.5 well, cooking for beginners for sure. not sure i would buy this since i know or can easily cook most of the stuff in this book but it was a good read with some good basic recipes!

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Word to the wise- do not look at this cookbook on an empty stomach! The pictures and the descriptions are so scrumptious I want to make everything IMMEDIATELY!

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Some great dishes, I have lots of recipes to try now. Easy to follow and mouthwatering results! Perfect book for a gift as well, will keep this for a long time!

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This is a great cookbook for the French classics like quiche, croque madame, crème brûlée and more. The recipes are easy to follow and the pictures are beautiful as well as helpful.
5 stars.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

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This is a great little book! The photography is beautiful, and the instructions are easy to follow along with. I thought that for the most part, the ingredients would be easy to acquire. I didn’t attempt any of the recipes in this book, but I’m excited to in the future. Four stars. Full list of recipes available on my blog, geographreads.com.

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This was a wonderful and helpful cookbook since I'm a beginner and don't know the first thing about French cooking! I will definitely be using some of these recipes.

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Having just cooked a number of very successful recipes from Everyday French Cooking by Wini Moranville, I looked forward to reading more genuine basic French recipes in this book.
On the plus side, the photos are gorgeous and most of the instructions are suitable for novice cooks. I also liked the fact that both imperial and metric measurements were included.
I live in France, and share a lot of recipes with local cooks. So while the recipes include useful, traditional basics, such as ratatouille, leek and ham quiche, cherry clafoutis and crème brulèe, I was frustrated by the addition of recipes that are not traditional French cooking; why an American blueberry pie, when there are so many delicious tarts made in every French household? And Claudine’s Croque Monsieur – in France I have never heard of, nor seen a croque monsieur that does not have béchamel, and (apologies to the author’s father) nor have I heard of a croque madame being made with chicken. It is always a croque monsieur with an egg on top.

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I like the mix of color photos with watercolor ones. I also like the helpful tidbits on each page. The pages to use to add your own recipes were great as well.

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This gorgeous cookbook is a pleasure to read with its delightful drawings and extremely French photographs of beautiful locations in France and the dishes. The instructions are clear and look simple with helpful notes, for example, for which flour to substitute for Wonda flour. The recipes include such classic French meals as Beef Bourguignon, Salade Nicoise, and Chicken with Cream Sauce. There are also side-dishes with pictures which will make your mouth water!

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
EDITION Other Format

ISBN 9780760379523
PRICE $14.99 (USD)

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Claudine Pépin’s French Cooking for Beginners is a delicious collection of approachable and authentic recipes that will transport you directly to France. I love the bright and beautiful pictures, the easy recipes, and Pépin’s friendly writing.

The book is divided into chapters: To Start (Appetizers); To Continue (Mains); On the Side (Side Dishes); and To Finish (Dessert, of course!). There’s also a helpful Menus section which organises the book’s recipes into preset meals according to the season. The book features popular traditional appetizers like Gougères (light and airy cheese puffs) while main dishes include Boeuf Bourguignon (a hearty beef stew filled with mushrooms, bacon, and wine!), and Salade Niçoise (a multi-step and time intensive tuna. potato, and egg salad). Classic side dishes include the famous Ratatouille (a vegetable stew) and Spinach with Béchamel. Popular dessert favourites include Clafoutis (a very easy cherry filled cake), and Sablés (France’s version of the sugar cookie!).

I had such a lovely (and hungry time) reading this cookbook! Pépin’s writing is concise and friendly. The recipes are clearly-detailed and easy-to-follow. Each recipe begins with a brief write-up offering helpful tips, ingredient swaps, a little background of the dish, and serving suggestions. I also learned about Pépin’s family and their eating habits. However, I wish she had spent more time highlighting French culture and cuisine.

I love the approachability of all the dishes! Although some of the recipes are time or labour-intensive, the dishes in this book are doable for even the most amateur cook. The majority of the ingredients are affordable and accessible pantry staples like eggs, flour, and butter. Even the slightly more specialty items like Gruyére and Comté cheeses are still moderately inexpensive and easy to find.

I also love Pépin’s dedication to showcasing fresh ingredients and her emphasis on producing food from scratch. I also like that she isn’t afraid of using convenience foods to simplify the cooking process as store-bought Pepperidge Farm puff pastry features in a few recipes.

I like the book’s clean and pretty layout. I particularly love the homey and colouful drawings of eggs, fruits, and vegetables that appear on most of the pages. They add a lovely visual touch! I also love the full-colour pictures of food and France! I enjoyed the insight into French daily life with the photos of restaurants, markets, and iconic French landmarks. But, I would have liked these pictures labelled so I could have a clear sense of the locations. I also appreciate that all of the recipes have accompanying full-colour and simply staged beautiful photographs which really allow the beauty of the food to shine.




🥖🥖🥖🥖½ out of 5 baguettes!

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