Simple French Food by Richard
Olney
My Omelette A La Lyonnaise Flopped! :)
Richard Olney, best known as a general food writer, is one of Americas
most erudite experts on authentic French cooking, but its difficult to find
anyone who knows much about him, except for such authorities as
Patricia Wells and the late James Beard. The reprinting of Olneys classic
and indispensable Simple French Food offers readers the chance to learn
more about this most idiosyncratic and accomplished of cooks. No pared
down, paint-by-numbers recipes here: Olney is obsessed not only with
showing you how to cook, but how to see, smell, feel, listen, and taste as
well. Read, for example, Olneys description of Scrambled Eggs and you
will understand what you are missing when they are not properly prepared
(as they almost never are): correctly prepared, the softest of barely
perceptible curds held in a thickly liquid, smooth, creamy suspension. To
scramble eggs, Olney insists on a wooden spoon, a generously buttered
copper pan or bain-marie, and a precise control of the temperature--very
simple to accomplish, as all his recipes are, as long as you take care to
absorb fully his sensuous and exact instructions. --Sumi Hahn Almquist

Personal Review: Simple French Food by Richard Olney
Many of the reviews posted here bemoan the fact that the recipes in this
volume are not "simple" enough... they require careful selection of raw
materials, attention to detail, heightened sensibility, occasionally some
difficult technique. But the reference to "simple" in the title is not, as some
might assume, a sort of promise that "Anyone Can Cook." It is, instead, an
affirmation of Olney's approach -- a relatively short list of ingredients, a few
central flavors and textures and not a lot of fuss for the sake of fuss. No
complexity for its own sake, and no piling on of flavors and "stuff" to make
it big or showy or "ethnic" or whatever.
His approach is definitely not for the beginner who cannot boil water or
doesn't know veal from stewing beef. It isn't for those who are looking for
"20 minute meals to impress your friends" or how to make chef so and so's
signature dish. Indeed, while there are recipes, much of the book consists
of mere suggestions. Look, for example, at Olney's chapter on salads. He
begins with some general ideas about dressings -- how to select a good
quality oil, what sort of vinaigrette you might want to make to dress greens
and what sort to accompany cold meats, when you might want to consider
adding strong mustard and when you might think of something else. Then
he describes crudites - no recipe, just a few paragraphs of ideas and
things you might consider when you shop and when you begin to put
together a platter. Ditto the entry on asparagus -- how to pick the most
flavorful, how to peel and steam and cool; and then he will counsel to "eat
it cold, toss it in butter, throw it into a salad or an omelet, cover it with
bechamel and buttered breadcrumbs and gratinee it, puree the stems and
mix with the tips into a souffle batter..." The entry ends with that ellipsis, I
didn't add it. That's the way Olney does things. And the book goes on like
this, interspersed with a recipe here and some general observations and
advice and ideas there.
Every one of the recipes cries out for experimentation, modification,
customization to match what's in the market, how much "technique" you
are willing or unwilling to bring to bear to complete the dish. Many a
"recipe" is really just a formula or "modele" -- some are even called simply
"impromptu," to let you know this is one day's improvised performance but
tomorrow's could and probably should be a variation on the theme. It's jazz
in the kitchen.
I've had this book since I bought my first paperback copy, copyright 1977.
It's covered with sauce, oil, butter, wine, stock. I have a hardback first
edition that sits in a place of honor -- the paperback remains the working
tool and it can get as sloppy as it wanna be. And it is from this falling from
the bone paperback book, along with the Joy of Cooking and the two
volumes of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," that I went from a kid
who didn't know that bread was something you could make at home with
some flour, water, yeast, oil and salt, or that asparagus does not grow in

cans, to a young adult confident enough to improvise and good enough to
do so with success.
To use the book to greatest advantage, look at one of Olney's "you could
do it this way, or you could do it that way, or you could do it this way and
that way" recipes, like the "Saute-Type" formula (you really cannot call it a
"recipe") in the Meats and Poultry chapter. You will begin reading Olney's
meditation on "Stews (ragouts, daubes, sautes...)." That will get your juices
flowing. Then thumb through the "Saute-modele for 4," which will give you
a nearly infinite variety of options for the dish you will compose with
Olney's guidance. He isn't giving you a recipe, he is helping you make
your own "recipe," which you will then repeat, with this modification and
that, for the rest of your life. He will tell you what you ought to do should
you choose to use lardons in your daube, how to prepare and add various
vegetables to add flavor and how to separately prepare vegetables to
garnish the final dish, how you might want to use stock or wine or water as
a moistening agent and eventual base for a sauce. You could start with
veal, or lamb, or beef, or chicken, or rabbit -- and you just take off your
training wheels, get up on your bike and go from there. If you fall, it won't
hurt too much. You can try again.
I recall my first experience with this "saute-modele." I found a fresh local
rabbit, cut up for braising. Carefully browned it in olive oil and butter,
deglazed with wine, gently braised with homemade stock and a mirepoix,
added a fresh bouquet garni, some garlic, some this and that and then, as
Olney suggests, prepped and butter braised each of the vegetables I
would use as a garnish for the final presentation, then strained and
reduced the braising liquid, thickened with beurre manie, and assembled
all on a large oval platter, ringed with triangles of fresh bread sauteed in
foaming butter, the glistening crisp tips of the triangles dipped in finely
chopped fresh herbs to make a crown all around, the sauce napped over
all. It took a couple of hours or more, this is true, but the whole process
was like going on vacation, with breaks to study for exams; and the eating,
with a couple of bottles of excellent cru beaujolais and two couples at the
table, was like landing in a very good bistro in Burgundy. Every time I
have made this dish since then, it has been new, different, easier, never
dull. Sometimes veal, sometimes rabbit, sometimes chicken, whatever.
Then there are some simple, elegant, "country cooking" recipes -- pork
chops and apples in mustard sauce; fish filets with zucchini; fresh fig and
mint salad. Every one of them requiring attention to detail for success,
every one of them calling for just a few ingredients carefully chosen for
freshness and flavor and amenable to improvisation.
Finally, some demanding terrines and charcuterie, or at least I've always
thought they are demanding. Others may not.
So there you have it. Nothing is fussy, everything is "simple," but not
undemanding. If you take some time, give it some thought, pay a lot of

attention, this book will teach you to teach yourself to select and combine
ingredients, to do your mise en place and prepare your meal, to take
pleasure in a simple meal well conceived and executed, in a leisurely way,
and paired with complementary wines.
Now I ask, what more could anyone ask for in a "cookbook?" No, it ain't a
TV show knockoff. It won't tease you with glossy color photos of spreads
prepped and lighted by a "food stylist" and a fashion photographer.
There's no perky Rachel Ray on the cover or cutesy "yums" involved. But I
promise you, slow down and listen to this book, work with it, and you will
learn to cook and you will take pleasure in cooking and eating for the rest
of your life.
That's what I call a great food classic. Olney wrote and edited a number of
other books. Some are very good, but none of them comes close to this
one. Five stars ain't enough.
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