Larousse Gastronomique

The Larousse Gastromique is exactly what the cover indicates: the world's greatest culinary encyclopedia. That should be taken in the context of continental cuisine, however - starting with French cooking and techniques and extending out from there. There is fair coverage of non-Western foods and techniques (e.g., tacos, sushi, tabbouleh, etc.) but not in the same depth and certainly not when it comes to cooking techniques.

The book's coverage of continental and derivative cuisines is exhaustive. It covers foodstuffs and ingredients, techniques, terms, foundational and other important recipes, regional information, equipment, and more. Sidebars highlight countries and particularly important topics like sauces. There aren't a lot of photos, but the text is well written and crystal clear.

There is no throwaway content. In true encyclopedia format, it starts immediately with the "A" entries and proceeds through "Z" - no prefaces, introductions, etc. There are two indexes, a general index which usefully ties related entries together (think about it - you don't need an A-Z index for the entries themselves), and a recipe index. Both are brief and to the point. Although this is a huge volume of approximately 1,300 pages, it lies flat when opened. This is a reference volume meant for quick and easy use.

Larousse has been in print since 1938. The professionals who endorse it read like a who's who in cooking, starting with the quote from Jacques Pepin on the inside of the dust jacket: "The Larousse is the first place I look when I need to clarify a cooking question. The greatest reference book."

Essential.

Larousse Gastronomique I purchased this book for a friend who was offered a job as an executive chef at a country club. I was told by many it is the bible for all chefs. I paged through it and it's amazing. I am not a chef, but I cook a lot. I will be buying one of these for myself! As far as the friend, he was pleasantly surprised to say the least by his going away/congrats gift! It is a must have.

I bought this book for my cousin's bridal shower. (It was on her registry.) The day it arrived, it was raining, and the book's pages got oh-so-slightly crinkled. However, it was still in ok condition to give as a gift.

I have not yey received the book! I live in Russia and receive my mail through the APO system so hopefully it is just delayed. If not I will get back to you next week.
Thanks, Roger

This book is apparently famous in cooking circles, which is why I needed it for my cookery course at college. I was honestly pleasantly surprised with it, it had a lot of detailed colour photos, sections for each countries own unique foods, a lot of French and Continental cooking (of course). I could really recommend this book to anyone who is serious about cooking or even someone who is just curious about it.