Larousse Gastronomique

Written by Prosper Montagne

If you despair at the number of cook books you’ve accumulated over the years, and wonder how much more strain your book shelves can take, you might consider down-sizing your recipes collection to one tome. And you’d be hard pressed to do better than choose Larousse Gastronomique as your lifelong guide in the kitchen. More of a reference book than a mere recipes book, this hefty weight of a book has over a thousand pages of gloassry terms, recipes and conversions for you to get your head around. If you don’t know how to bake blind, haven’t a clue what a baba is or would dearly love to be able to cook a coulis beautifully, time and time again, this book will steer you through a glut of knowledge and methodology with an experienced hand.

This recently revised edition updates what was originally the vision of Prosper Montagne, a French chef who saw the first edition published in 1938. This latest version charts the culinary developments since then too and is quite possible the only recipes book you’ll ever need. History, theory and practice are thoroughly covered in this edition with plenty of references to international cuisines and enough recipes to keep you busy for years. £60.00 isn’t a budget price for sure, but bearing in mind you’re not likely to need to purchase another recipes book afterwards, it’s a classic investment buy that your stomach will love you for.

Priced at £60.00, available from Amazon.