My Master Recipes: 165 Recipes to Inspire Confidence in the Kitchen *With Dozens of Variations* – Successor to Julia Child with French Techniques and Skills

by Patricia Wells

Famed bestselling cookbook author Patricia Wells creates a blueprint for success in the kitchen with this superb collection of recipes drawn from her cooking schools in France—the perfect successor to Julia Child’s classic The Way to Cook.

At her cooking schools in Paris and Provence, Patricia Wells’s students leave with more confidence in the kitchen than they ever experienced before. Now, home cooks can learn from the master, known for her collections of delectable, precise, and well-tested, recipes.

Here Patricia Wells codifies the skills she imparts in her classes in this inviting instruction manual and cookbook. Each of the recipes teaches particular techniques—blanching, searing, simmering, sweating, steaming, braising, deep-frying—with additional recipes that take your skills in directions both savory and sweet, simple and profound—giving you the knowledge and assurance to expand your cooking even further.

For each master recipe, Patricia provides creative sub recipes, such as:


Braised Meat: Four-Hour Braised Aromatic Pork (Master Recipe), plus Provençal Lamb Daube with Tomatoes, Olives, and Mushrooms
Grilling: Scallops Grilled in Shells with Truffle Butter (Master Recipe), plus Grilled Chicken Under a Brick
Brioche: Honey Brioche (Master Recipe), plus Blueberry and Orange Blossom French Toast
Madeleines: Sweet Chestnut Honey Madeleines (Master Recipe), plus a stunning Walnut Cake using the same batter.
Roasted Vegetables: Autumn Rainbow Vegetables (Master Recipe), plus Roasted Eggplant with Harissa, Fennel Seeds, and Honey
Panna Cotta: Lemon Panna Cotta with Candied Lemon Zest (Master Recipe), plus Raspberry Panna Cotta
Rustic Galette: Apple and Fresh Rosemary (Master Recipe), plus Apricot and Lavender Honey Galette
Patricia also provides a list of pantry essentials, necessary equipment, sources for finding the best ingredients—such as oils, fish and shellfish—a dependable list of preferred wine importers, and advice on when to make easy ingredient substitutions and when to stick to the original recipe.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Culinary

496 pages, Hardcover

Published March 7, 2017

About the author

Patricia Wells (born 5 November 1946 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is a cookbook author and teacher who divides her time between Paris and Provence. Her book Patricia Wells at Home in Provence (1996) won the James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook. Wells is the only American and the only woman to be a restaurant critic for a major French publication, L'Express (1988–1991). She was also a restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune from 1980 until 2007.

Reviews

[Laura Bradbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love Patricia Wells, who has built up such a solid reputation through her food writing and her cooking retreats in France. Her cookbooks, especially this one, are approachable and warm, and open the doors to a way of French cooking that is easy to integrate into everyday life.

The descriptions of her experiences in France and the contexts of special meals are evocative, and make you feel as though you’re sitting with her on a sun-drenched veranda in Provence, eating Fresh tomatoes fresh of the vine and listening to the crickets sing.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patricia Wells knows how to teach. This book gives exactly what its title leads you to believe you're getting.

Who will like this book? Anyone who feels less-than-confident in the kitchen, who want's to learn to cook today's multi-ethnic, wholesome, varied food. Use it like a master class and work your way through it alá Julie and Julia . And people like me, who love to cook but aren't professionals, who want to pick up a few more tips to add to their repertoire.

Who won't like this book? People who aren't serious about learning to cook, who just want a quick recipe to follow.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well known cookbook author and teacher, Wells, writes this book to focus on techniques like poaching and braising with five or six French influenced recipes for each technique. The idea is to help cooks master fundamental cooking techniques.
The book starts with beginning cook reminders like mise en place and clean as you go. These are all good reminders. Recipes are neatly organized and easy to follow, and techniques are generally explained. Some unusual tools (like a mandoline) and unusual ingredients like hazelnut oil are required. Some wine suggestions are provided
Some techniques are not commonly used and may not be as useful like grinding and infusing. Also, simmer, poach and steam are given separate chapters even though the techniques are very similar. Recipes are moderately complex, and several desserts are gluten free.
At the end are resources for purchasing products, though some of this may be outdated.
Good primer to introduce cooking techniques

[Julianna]

This is not for the average cook looking to hone their skills. I have to give it to her for her skill in describing processes, etc., but her unrealistic expectations of the home cook make using this book difficult. For example, she expects you to store your oil in the fridge then take it out 15-20 minutes before cooking.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good cookbook. I really like the way the subject is divided into types of cooking processes, with a good selection of examples of that type of cooking. This is a good cookbook if you want to know the dynamics of poaching, braising, steaming, searing, etc. Recommended.

[Margery Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a very useful cookbook

[Sandy Pavick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best cookbook I've read in a long time. A little beyond my skill level, but that doesn't mean I won't try a few recipes.

[Carolyn Fagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

We used this for cookbook book club and the meal was delicious. Food included Steamed Chicken Asian Meatballs, Four hour Braised Pork Loin Roast, Potato and Ham Galette, Broccoli with lemon, Chicken, Arugula and caper salad, meringues, and honey madeleines. Every dish was delicious and it was interesting the way the book was divided by technique. Learned an easy way to grind chicken using the food processor! Downside of the book is there aren't many photos.

[Nathalie]

Chicken Breast Salad (57), Swiss Potato galette (135), Charred green beans &Almond salad w/baba ganoush (139), Roasted heirloom carrots w/cumin-yogurt dressing (191), Honey-roasted squash w/ mozz, arugula salad (198), 4 hour braised pork (223), Walnut cake (313), Ham & mushroom frittata (347), Crunchy jasmine rice (434), Chocolate satin (397)