This is not another cookbook. It is an ample collection of outstanding recipes from the best restaurants of France... (from the Introduction}

{HISTORY}

What do you do after you co-author one of the most adored cookbooks of all time? 

If you are Louisette Bertholle (1905-1999), you get right to work on writing another cookbook stuffed full of recipes from the most adored restaurants in France.  Inspired by the audience for Mastering The Art of French Cooking, the famous book she wrote alongside Julia Child and Simone Beck, Louisette set out to write another book about French cooking for American audiences. This time, though, she wasn't focusing on home kitchens or even necessarily time-honored recipes.

Instead, Louisette was going right to the heart of good gastronomie - the professional French kitchen. Focusing solely on Michelin-starred restaurants, Louisette compiled the culinary secrets, the favorite recipes, and the signature dishes of 300 restaurants throughout France. 

It was tougher than Louisette first thought - to ask well-known chefs to divulge the secrets of their most famous recipes -  but in the end, sharing good food always wins the day. In Secrets of the Great French Restaurants, first published in France in 1972, Louisette traveled all around her native country collecting, sampling, and dissecting hundreds of recipes from restaurants representing every region in France. Compiling the best of the best, she adapted 500 of them for American cooks. Covering every course from appetizers to desserts, she also paired each recipe with a suggested wine.

A cookbook for any gourmand, restaurant lover, or Francophile, this is the book you reach for when you want to take a trip to France without ever leaving your kitchen. Ranging from simple dishes to elaborate meals, the content included here is 100% French in spirit. There is an entire chapter devoted to frog leg recipes, large chapters on both freshwater and saltwater fish, and dozens of recipes for tarts and cakes, souffles and crepes, each printed with both the French and English recipe title and the name of the restaurant and town from which it hails. 

Interesting recipes include Peaches Flamed with Rum, Cold Chocolate Souffle, Cassoulet in the Style of the Ariege, Prime Rib with Wine Sauce, Slices of Leg of Lamb with Provincial Herbs, Chicken Croquettes with Truffle, Braised Turbot in Champagne, Mussels in Cream Sauce, Truffles in Pastry Cinderella, Salmon Slices with Sorrel, Trout with Port Wine, Filet of Sole with Mushroom Duxelles and Whiskey, Potato Gratin with Cheese, Croutons of Young Spinach with Ham in a Cream Sauce, Raspberry Charlotte, Potato Crepes, Pancakes with Caramel Syrup, Lemon Souffle, Coffee Ice Cream with Cognac and Hot Chocolate Sauce,  and so many more! 

Photo of Julia Child (left), Louisette Bertholle (center) and Simone Beck (right) courtesy of Random House.

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• 1974 First American edition
• 708 pages including detailed indexes
• Apart from a recipe name index, there is a regional index which lists all recipes and their accompanying restaurant - an especially fun and helpful reference of you were looking for foods of Paris for example or the Burgundy region or coastal towns along the Mediterranean 

{CONDITION}

In beautiful, practiaclly brand new condition, this book is bright and clean throughout with no spots, stains or notations. the coverboards and dust jacket are very clean and bright. The dust jacket contains one small rip on the back at the top edge but otherwise ids completely intact. he spine is tight and all pages are secure. 

{SIZE}

Measures 9.5" inches (length) x 6.25" inches (width) x 1.75" inches (thickness) and weighs 2.11 lbs.