alice b.-fats enthusiast or keeper of the flame?

[redace1960]

i asked these questions in the wrong place so i'll try again.
re the alice b. toklas cookbook..and yeah, i tried THAT recipe.

last year i decided to cook my way through my cookbook shelf.
alice starts with 'A'. now, i don't have a huge experience of
making french food. i'll do the standard cuisine type recipes but
these were SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT for me.
are these recipes representative of how everyday french people
really cooked? i'm shocked there are still any french people, if so...
if this woman saw a pat of butter lying unattended i swear she
would have put it in her purse. the food's delicious, but after a few
bites its hard to keep going. am i doing this wrong? my basic
technique is pretty down but ill be the first to admit i dont know it all.

[Suzanne]

Yeah, I've made THAT recipe too. And had to keep warning my boss away from the platter.

You have to remember the time in which she was cooking -- WWI through WWII -- and writing (I think the original copyright is 1954). And the class: haut bourgeois, with access to good ingredients.

Also, and maybe more to the point, "a few bites" is the more likely portion size. One of the success factors written about in French Women Don't Get Fat is that portions are small. There's nothing wrong with eating rich food, if you only eat a little bit.

[KeeperOfTheGood]

Hey oh

Don't know the lady. Did a google, and got this short bio http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/toklas.htm

Could you post a recipe or two that is representative of the style or works as a whole?

OH, and is it an original addition and does it have the brownie recipe in it?

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a940225.html

[redace1960]

theres a FUDGE recipe...
there are plenty of lower fat recipes in her work, what i
was cooking were entrees. heres one i opened the book
at random to:
SADDLE OF MUTTON MAINTENON

[redace1960]

..and i hit the wrong key. sorry.
saddle of mutton maintenon.
put a saddle of mutton with salt, pepper and three
tablespoons BUTTER in a dutch oven covered in a 350'
oven. turn every 10 minutes. allow 10 minutes per lb.
for the cooking of the saddle. when it is three-
quarters cooked, remove from oven, place the meat on
a carving board and with a very sharp knife slice very
thinly both sides of the saddle. be careful to lose none
of the juice. having cooked 1 chopped onion in BUTTER,
put it into 3/4 cup stiff bechamel sauce (butter here)
with 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms cooked for 5 minutes
in BUTTER. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, spread on
each slice of mutton, replace the slices on the saddle.
cover the saddle with three chopped onions, melted BUTTER,
breadcrumbs, more melted BUTTER. skim the juice in the
dutch oven, pour into preheated earthenware dish, place
the saddle in the juice and the dish into a quick oven
to brown the meat.
heres another one:
browned spinach daisy
wash in five waters 4 lbs. spinach. drain and press to remove
most of the water. put by handfuls in a saucepan over
highest heat. turn with a wooden spoon so that each new
handful is at the bottom of the saucepan. gradually reduce
heat to low flame. boil for 5 mintues, drain, place under cold
water tap until spinach is tepid. place in a saucepan over low
heat and stil with a wooden spoon until all the water has
evaporated. prepare a puree of mushrooms by pounding
through a strainer 1 lb fresh mushrooms. place in a saucepan
over low heat. with a spoon stir until all water has evaporated.
place 1 1/2 cups thick bechamel (and so it begins!) sauce in
saucepan over medium heat. add i cup HEAVY CREAM. stir
until thick. add salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, the mush-
rooms and 4 tablespoons BUTTER. mix well and remove from
heat. in a well-BUTTERED fireproof casserole place a layer of
one-third of the spinach, then one third of the puree of mush-
rooms-three layers of each. cover with 1 1/2 cups bechamel
sauce in which 1/2 cup grated SWISS CHEESE has been mixed.
sprinkle over this three tablespoons melted BUTTER. stand
in a recipient of hot water and put in a preheated 300' oven.
the water should not boil. bake for 1 hour.
...........this is one i made, and its excellent, but you can only
get down three bites before you want to take a walk.