Over 200 culinary techniques--the building blocks for how to cook any recipe--are demystified in this illustrated guide to French gastronomy. French cuisine can appear daunting, but it’s one of life’s greatest pleasures. Essentials of French Cooking offers the step-by-step kitchen techniques that are the secret to success. The book opens with a guide to the fundamentals of cooking: knife techniques (chopping, paring), cooking methods (braising, grilling, steaming, poaching, roasting), sauces and stuffings, eggs, dough. Each method is explained in text and photographs; twenty-four are further clarified on the accompanying ninety-minute DVD. Organized in courses, 125 classic recipes--quiche Lorraine, onion soup, tarte Tatin--provide ample inspiration. Each recipe is graded with a three-star rating so that home chefs can gauge its complexity--and expand their cooking abilities gradually with experience. Eight recipes from France’s leading chefs offer the ultimate challenge. Cross references throughout to techniques, DVD footage, glossary terms, and related recipes make navigation easy. Practical resources complete the volume: visual dictionaries of basic kitchen equipment, cuts of meat, and types of herbs, grains, spices, legumes; a glossary; and indexes of the recipes, main ingredients, and culinary techniques. With an introduction by Paul Bocuse, this impressive volume is an essential guide for novice and established cooks alike.