The best recipe books to excite your taste buds (2/2)

Dit’s difficult to choose from the mass of culinary works that come out every year. After those of the cooks « Without restos » from last Sunday, here is a selection of works that tell us about chefs in a different way. Far from being classic collections compiling their emblematic recipes, these books tell you their personal story, their unique journey and their most exciting dishes. With the added bonus of a few « outsiders » who see the kitchen with an offbeat look.

Sacred lives of chefs

Bistronomy

This is the book that has caused a sensation since the start of the school year: the rock'n'roll life and legendary cuisine of chef Olympe Versini, star of the kitchens in the 1970s and 1980s, finally compiled in a book worthy of the name.

Olympe – A free cook, by Anne Etorre. 272 pages, 35 euros. Hatchet. (Credits: LTD)

Olympe Versini, the freedom of the stove at the origin of the “Bistronomy”

Liquid

When a singular and inspired chef like Hugo Roellinger discusses with a delicate author, the result is a unique cookbook, a dissertation on liquid, an ingredient found at the basis of all the cuisine of the chef at Coquillage in Cancale.

by Hugo Roellinger with Ryoko Sekiguchi. 400 pages, 65 euros.
On the ridge. (Credits: LTD)

Provençal

At 91, Gui Gedda, nicknamed « the pope of Provençal cuisine », puts his work down on paper: an existence full of color and anecdotes where we meet chefs and stars, and 500 committed and regional recipes (petits farcis, pistou soup, ratatouille…), worthy of this artisan who spent fifty years in the kitchen in Bormes-les-Mimosas.

A life rubbed with garlic – Provençal cuisine of yesterday and tomorrow, by Gui Gedda, L'Épure, 608 pages, 42 euros. (Credits: LTD)

Bistro

Parisian bar lovers have inevitably sat down at Paul Bert by Bertrand Auboyneau. After some testimonies on this Parisian saga, we find recipes like this, egg mayo (photo, left) with crispy pig's trotters, beef tartare, sea urchin pasta and even rum baba…

Le Paul Bert – Cult recipes from a real Parisian bistro, by Bertrand Auboyneau and Gwénaëlle Cadoret, Hachette, 288 pages, 35 euros. (Credits: LTD)

Recipe of the week: hot oysters with sheep’s cheese

Tables d’outsiders

The captains

What a good idea to have made this little guide on these pillars of our villages and towns, which fulfill glasses as well as other useful functions (from -newseller to place of life and -reunions…). The guide has even classified them by category (best restaurant, terraces, festive PMU and best tables). To take in your suitcase.

PMU – The 100 Bars that make France, Éditions Fooding, 122 pages, 10 euros. (Credits: LTD)

Madeleine by Proust

Originally, the author shot a series of films to immortalize recipes from grandmothers with mixed and unforgettable backgrounds, then he expanded to include those of all the participants in this work. This book compiles these family culinary secrets mixed with feelings and stories, big and small. A work of transmission illustrated with beautiful photos and convivial dishes.

Grandmas Project – Passing on the most delicious heritage of humanity in the kitchen, by Jonas Parienté, Hachette, 272 pages, 35 euros. (Credits: LTD)