Change of plans

It recently dawned on me that just because I'm doing a book-review blog, that shouldn't change the way I usually read. I originally thought I ought to read one book and finish it before writing anything about it. But, rarely are my thoughts so linear, and rarely do I read one book at a time. So instead of only writing when a book is finished, I'll be updating more regularly with thoughts on the books I'm reading or leafing through each day. Hence the following diversion from Ravens in Winter, which has lain at the bottom of my backpack awaiting the completion of some writing projects at work.

So my holidays are just about over, but as I revisited some of the bookstores in my native Pacific Northwest, I picked up a used copy of Larousse Gastronomique in English. Not, perhaps, the wisest thing to buy at over 1000 pages just before getting on a plane...but for the most complete authority on French cuisine in existence (or so I gather in my limited experience of the subject) at under $10 I just couldn't leave it behind. I should probably mention...I like to cook almost as much as I like to eat.

And I couldn't be happier with my impulse buy. More of an encyclopedia of French-food-related terms and sayings, it also includes simple instructions for preparing everything from roast haunch of fallow deer to calf's brain fritters. It also includes instructions on how to recognize a true gourmand, and finally gave me some satisfaction as to why the Yeomen of the Guard at London Tower are called Beefeaters. Apparently, no one knows for sure. Score one for Dusty Shelves.

Larousse Gastronomique was first published in France in 1938, and was the compilation of Prosper Montagne. The edition I have is one of if not the first English translation, published in 1961. There are two prefaces by Montagne's contemporaries, Auguste Escoffier and Phileas Gilbert. Auguste apparently passed away before this magnum opus of his friend's made it to publication. There is also an informative Introduction to the Enclish Language Edition and unit conversion table.