Michel Roux: Eggs

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Chocolate, bones, and now eggs – single ingredient cookbooks can be clever and fun and useful, especially one like Michel Roux's newest and perhaps ultimate oeuvre on oeufs, that is... Eggs (Wiley 2006). With stunning photography by Martin Brigdale, a prolific food photographer, this yolk-yellow and white cookbook is an imaginative look at how to cook eggs from breakfast to dessert. Michel, who has held three Michelin stars as chef of the Waterside Inn in Bray, England, and has authored over a half dozen cookbooks, writes: I have decided that it is time for me to write a book about this most fragile and defenseless of foods, to bestow the egg the honor it deserves.... When I hold an egg in my hand, I feel that it represents the image of the universe and it awakens and increases my respect for life. (p. 7) He is a chef who has not lost his earliest memories of the delight of simple foods, and, though he now has honors that include the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur and the Meilleur Ouvrier de France en Patisserie, his voice comes through the cookbook as a great teacher. Can't boil and egg? This is the cookbook for you, because Michel actually explains in a sensible and uncondecending way how to boil an egg perfectly for that most French of breakfasts, a soft boiled egg in an elegant egg cup. Each basic recipe is accompanied by photographs that really show what is going on up close. He also carefully explains how to make Mollet Eggs (p. 19) used in more complicated recipes like Mollet Egg and Zucchini Tarts with Spinach Sabayon (p. 292). Eggs also has recipes for duck, goose and quail eggs, like the British-inspired Mini-Scotch Eggs (p. 36) which incorporates quail eggs in the center of pork rim. The following chapter is all about poached eggs, again with perfect explanations and pictures to get tender eggs. Michel's Poached Egg on Onion Tartlets (p. 58) has a rich filling of onions and cream over puff pastry topped with an egg that screams Sunday brunch. There are chapters on Fried Eggs (p. 62), Oeufs Sur Le Plat (p. 70) in which the eggs are finished under a broiler, and Crunchy Fried Eggs (p. 78) which are deep fried and appear in dishes like Crunchy Fried Eggs in a Nest of Broiled Eggplants (p. 80). There are Baked Eggs (p. 108) with unusual recipes for Baked Eggs with Shrimp and Capers (p. 119). Michel gets more creative and adventurous in the following chapters which feature eggs in a supporting role, sneaking in Seafood and Monkfish Fritters (p. 183) which has egg in the batter or Yorkshires with Caramelized Onions and Sausage (p. 185) a great rendition of a classic British Sunday dinner side dish. Michel uses the same step-by-step explanations to show how to make Pasta Dough (pp. 288-9), Creme Anglaise (pp. 236-7), Ice Cream (pp. 257-8) and Mayonnaise (pp. 282-3). The recipes are far reaching from savory to sweet, so that at the end of the book, what seems like a limited subject is revealed as the most essential of ingredients – this is a cookbook that could be used everyday and for every meal. With Easter fast approaching, this is the perfect cookbook to celebrate Spring with fresh eggs. Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Related news: The Fauquier Times-Democrat The Clarke Times Courier The Philadelphia Inquirer The Los Angeles Times The New York Times The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Previous articles: Bones: Jennifer McLagan [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks --> back to superchefblog