i have the usual suspects, julia, jaques and others but what I really want is the true home cooking style cookbook. any thoughts, ideas and help would be great.
There’s a lot. Richard Olney’s Simple French Food first and foremost and also his other books; Brigitte Tilleray’s The French Woman’s Kitchen; Anne Willan’s French Country Cooking are ones that most immediately come to mind since I’m not in my kitchen looking at my bookshelves.
Julia Child’s Mastering the art of french cooking is “true home cooking” it doesn’t really get more home cooking than that. If you want something even more simplified, then “New Best Recipe” by the Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen folks (I know it’s not French, but there are a lot of recipes that are French in origin that they simplify) .
If you could clarify what books “and others” you have, this would help.
La Bonne Cuisine
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580086055/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Old timey, but great to read
I overlooked Elizabeth David, especially her French Country Cooking and French Provincial Cooking. Also Auberge of the Flowering Hearth by Roy Andries de Groot and the various Patricia Wells books.
Grand Livre de Cuisine by Alain Ducasse.
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Most of what Julia describes is what a French housewife who is a reasonably good cook would know.
There are occasional stretches into haute cuisine but I agree completely with CWun. Also about Am Test Kitchen.
Cordon Bleu cooking school has published a few books that are simple to follow and well illustrated. I tend to use them quite a bit over my other books.
I like Pierre Franey’s Cooking In France.
What you might find is that instead of one book covering French cooking, there might be regionally oriented books. For Provence, my choice would be “The Cuisine of the Sun” by Mireille Johnston. Great read on basic Provencale cooking.
I can’t say enough about La Cuisine de France by Mapie, the Countess of Toulouse-LaTrec. It was written 50 years ago. Perhaps this quaint quote describing the post-war dilemma encapsulates the spirit of this book:
… there could no longer be any question of the > haute cuisine > which had been practiced in the old days in my parents’ home: that required too much expense, too many difficulties, and too much time spent over hot stoves. Now what was necessary was to adapt that wonderful cooking to our times when all women work either in their own houses or outside, and when domestic service is rare and expensive…
Beautiful recipes - simple, but elegant and profoundly delicious.