Question About Escoffier Books

Looking at Amazon's description of each book, the first contains "2973" recipes while the second description claims it offers more than "5000 narrative" recipes.  It was during the 70's that I purchased (EDIT) one of those tomes and still refer to it this very day.

The books are not exactly the same.  The 5000 recipe version is a new edition of the "Guide," translated and published in England about fifty  years ago, with some subsequent editing and with metric measurements (I'm not sure about the original English edition). 

The smaller one is put together from a few sources, including the "Guide," and updated in the senses that the work was done more recently (2000 ish), and the recipes were tested and adapted for American measurements. 

Most of us would find the smaller book easier to follow.  Setting that aside... Is bigger better?  Hard to say.  Either one will introduce you to the same pre WWI culinary thought, techniques, and classic dishes.  I wouldn't choose one over the other because one included a more comprehensive collection of recipes which were already passe 75 years ago.

There's also an illustrated version of the Cracknell translation with less than 500 recipes. 

Personally, I prefer Pellaprat. 

BDL 

Chefs

Michel Escoffier g-grandson of Auguste has told us that the 'Escoffier Coo book' the small one  published in Britain for 5 decades or more is a 'pirated' copy of Auguste's work. The family didnt protect the authorship when he died in 1935.  Le guide culinaire now in its 11th edition through J.Wiley and sons is the original work sold by Flammarion Press to Crown then Wiley.  He was  and still remains the foremost theoritician on  western cooking.  Chefs such as Grant Achatz and  Thomas Keller still use his recipes and like any art form..adapt it to modern tastes.

Bon Appetit

Mark X.Dowling