besseman writes:

Reviewed by Elizabeth Emanuel

In Sydney, back in the day when Tony Bilson was a new kid on the block, wowing them at Tony's Bon Gout in Elizabeth St, Claude's was the class French act at the Woollahra end of Sydney's Oxford Street, almost opposite the basement flat where I'd set up house with my boyfriend following the compulsory post-uni overseas trip. It was time to get serious about that career I knew I could have, thanks to Germaine and Whitlam's abolition of tertiary fees. Hmm… my entry level job was barely enough to cover the rent and pay the bills, let alone eat. We had survived in Greece on $3.00 a day, but Sydney in the late seventies and early eighties was a bit more challenging.

One of the places we loved to go and could afford was Saturday lunch at the Woollahra Hotel’s beer garden—a square of hot black bitumen with ratty tables, a smoking barbeque and the scratchy sounds of an afternoon race meeting somewhere in the background. The food of course was fantastic, and the steak with green peppercorn sauce made grown men cry. Now known as the trendy Bistro Moncur, it attracts a different clientele, and the betting men in their singlets are long forgotten.

Another absolute favourite close to Taylor Square, was a tiny restaurant called Le Catalan run by two charming French women whose names, sadly, time has obliterated. Cheap and unpretentious, it was very popular and unbookable, guests clustered hopefully outside clutching bottles of BYO plonk. I remember many dishes with great fondness, but the spécialité de la maison were the cassoulets—casseroles of white beans with pork or veal, vegetables, and herbs, simmering slowly in their own little lidded pots, which were served steaming to the table. A true delight, especially if the wait for the table had been long, and Sydney had turned on one of its wet and windy nights.

So it was with great anticipation that I took delivery of Toronto chef, Jean-Pierre Challet’s One Pot French, expecting to find a compendium of recipes that would soon have my Le Creuset bubbling contentedly away. And I was not disappointed. For example, the navy bean stew with duck confit and sausages just about ticked every square, but I wonder whether I would have the patience to ‘first make your confit’, despite the easy looking instructions under the ‘Basic Recipes’ section at the front of the book. The chicken cooked in beer seemed a better bet, and the mussels with Pernod and fennel a must.

But the surprise of this book is that it’s not really about one-pot cooking, rather it is a comprehensive introduction to French cuisine, covering everything from foundation stocks and sauces to pastry making, entrees, main courses and desserts. All the standards are there. For example, in the desserts section, you will find Soufflé au Grand Marnier, Tarte au Citron and Crème Caramel. There is a section devoted just to potatoes with eight recipes to cover every day of the week and two on Sunday. Attractively designed, and beautifully photographed, and with easy to follow recipes for all occasions, One Pot French is so much more than its title suggests, and is worthy of a place in your cookbook library.


One Pot French
(2008)

by Jean-Pierre Challet with Jennifer Decorte
Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781741756333
192pp AUD$35.00

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