Almost a hundred years old, Janette Bertrand publishes the third edition of her cookbook, which has sold more than 300,000 copies, “Les Recettes de Janette”

First published in 1968, then revised and expanded in 2005, the classic collection by Janette Bertrand, Janette’s Recipeshas accompanied the daily lives of thousands of families over the decades. It is a huge bestseller, selling more than 300,000 copies. A new edition just off the presses, from Éditions Libre Expression, allows us to honor, once again, the classic recipes of Quebec. A tribute to our culinary heritage signed by a great communicator who loves generous and tasty dishes.

Over the decades, Janette Bertrand has managed to reconcile all her family and professional obligations by cooking local dishes and adapting recipes from elsewhere so that they are simple to prepare and tasty. She “janettized” them.

In the new edition of Janette’s recipesshe shares everything from snacks and peach Kuchen cake – a recipe brought from Baden-Baden, Germany – to meatloaf and osso buco. Not forgetting the blueberry wine, fudge and cream sugar.

An innovation

When the first edition of her book was published, she had broken new ground. “These were the recipes of someone who worked, and who cut corners. That’s what hit!” explains the woman who will celebrate her hundredth birthday next March.

“I cooked a lot, and I had traveled a lot. There are recipes that come from Italy, from France. I always asked for the recipes… which shamed my husband. But I told myself: it’s not because I want to open a restaurant nearby, it’s just because I think it’s good.”

She shared her recipes on her radio show and one day a publisher offered to publish them because his wife liked them. “It was a huge surprise to see that it was a need. In my life, it has often happened that I start from things that turned out to be needs,” she notes.

Desserts…every day

Janette recalls that she had three children and worked “like a man”. “I made desserts every day. Every day.”

She remembers that her grandmother, who had 12 children, was a very good cook. “I suggest you make my banana cake. There is nothing better in the world! There are six bananas in the cake! She adds: “I still make grandmother’s tarts!”

Janette Bertrand says that she is not a specialist in gastronomy and that at the moment, she is rather disappointed with the cuisine which she calls “des p’tits tas”: “a little pile of meat, three drops of sauce… I like a plate with something on it.”

She prefers generous plates. “There is a recipe in this book that I took in Milan: it’s pasta with ham and green peas. It’s so good! My children love it. My grandchildren and my great-grandchildren, what they ask me for is pasta with ham!”

100 ans

Janette, who will soon be 100, has cooked small dishes in her life. “For me, it shouldn’t be trouble. If you can add a can of Campbell’s sauce or chicken stock, all the better.”

She has a practical sense. “Very practical. I was 23 when I had Dominique. I started working. And they didn’t give me any gifts, because I was a girl.”

“I was in the customs of the time: three meals a day were required. And so, have I done any cooking? On Sunday, I said to my daughter, Dominique: can you imagine the number of meals I made? Imagine that when you are 100 years old!”

Janette’s recipes

Janette Bertrand

Preface by Christian Bégin

Editions Libre Expression

248 pages

• Janette Bertrand has received several awards and distinctions.
• The year 2025 will be his centenary and many activities are planned: a play on his life, a photo exhibition, special programs, etc.
• The Montreal Book Fair will inaugurate the Janette Bertrand Prize.
• It will be signed at the Montreal Book Fair on Friday, November 29 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, November 30 from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday 1^is December from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

“Two editions later, I still sometimes have to send home, for lack of books, people whose original copy has been used so much that it is ready to be replaced. It is for this reason that my publishing house decided to publish a new version, in order to help young and old couples who lack time to do everything and who spend fortunes on prepared meals. Plus, cooking together brings people together, believe my experience. And it doesn’t kill you!”

– Janette Bertrand, Janette’s RecipesÉditions Libre Expression

• Also read: At 99, Janette Bertrand denounces the taboos linked to old age in her new book “One Hundred Years of Love”

• Also read: “We don’t give old people a voice,” denounces Janette Bertrand in her essay “One Hundred Years of Love”

• Also read: “Girls, we are good everywhere”: Janette Bertrand wants young people to remember the fight for gender equality

• Also read: Marc Levy offers a novel that makes you want to love, want to read, want to unite with each other, while talking about censorship and resistance: “The bookstore of forbidden books”