4 star review: A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse by Mimi Thorisson

Title: A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse
Author: Mimi Thorisson
Publisher: Clarkson Potter, Random House
Genre: Cooking, How-To
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Source: Blogging For Books
Purchase: Amazon | TBD

With beguiling recipes and sumptuous photography, A Kitchen in France transports readers to the French countryside and marks the debut of a captivating new voice in cooking.

When Mimi Thorisson and her family moved from Paris to a small town in out-of-the-way Médoc, she did not quite know what was in store for them. She found wonderful ingredients—from local farmers and the neighboring woods—and, most important, time to cook. Her cookbook chronicles the family’s seasonal meals and life in an old farmhouse, all photographed by her husband, Oddur. Mimi’s convivial recipes—such as Roast Chicken with Herbs and Crème Fraîche, Cèpe and Parsley Tartlets, Winter Vegetable Cocotte, Apple Tart with Orange Flower Water, and Salted Butter Crème Caramel—will bring the warmth of rural France into your home.

This cookbook is very rich is taste, flavors and probably your pocket. I have always been fascinated with french cuisine, but I didn't know what I was getting into when I read this one. The book is beautifully illustrated with gorgeous photos of the countryside, food and the family. However, most of these recipes seem very rich, as in the flavors. As I started to go through this, I was suddenly hit with the realization that most of these ingredients I would have to purchase at specialty stores or online. Living in the country with no specialty stores around, I am at a loss. But, most of these recipes do look wonderful, and I even found a recipe for Duck Confit, which I have been looking for. Hopefully I will get to try some of these wonderful recipes soon.

Disclaimer: *I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own.

Mimi Thorisson is the author of Manger, a blog devoted to French cooking that was named Saveur's Best Regional Food Blog in April 2013. After a career in television and having lived in Hong King, Singapore, London, Reykjavik, and Paris, she settled with her photographer husband, their five young children, her two older step-children, and the family's fourteen dogs in a farmhouse in Médoc. She is the star of the cooking shows La Table de Mimi and the upcoming Les Desserts de Mimi, both on Cuisine in France. You can find her at her website mimithorisson.com.