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When French Women Cook
Part memoir, part cookbook, this classic of food literature is an immersion course in authentic, regional French home cooking from a world-renowned culinary authority.
As a young woman, Madeleine Kamman developed her passion for food by working in the kitchens of France’s most respected regional cooks. She dedicates one chapter to each of these remarkable women, who nourished her appetite for the tradition, rigor, and deeply personal nature of cooking. Her exuberant memoir—originally published over 30 years ago—tells of collecting mussels at the shore, churning butter from the milk of village cows, gathering mushrooms in nearby woods, and then transforming them into glorious meals under the tutelage of her beloved mentors. Over 250 recipes for the simple dishes Kamman learned at their sides accompany her evocative reminiscences of a bygone era in rural France. Now in paperback, this classic is required reading for anyone who wants to know more about la cuisine française and the life, times, and tastes of a woman who helped to shape American cooking.
As a young woman, Madeleine Kamman developed her passion for food by working in the kitchens of France’s most respected regional cooks. She dedicates one chapter to each of these remarkable women, who nourished her appetite for the tradition, rigor, and deeply personal nature of cooking. Her exuberant memoir—originally published over 30 years ago—tells of collecting mussels at the shore, churning butter from the milk of village cows, gathering mushrooms in nearby woods, and then transforming them into glorious meals under the tutelage of her beloved mentors. Over 250 recipes for the simple dishes Kamman learned at their sides accompany her evocative reminiscences of a bygone era in rural France. Now in paperback, this classic is required reading for anyone who wants to know more about la cuisine française and the life, times, and tastes of a woman who helped to shape American cooking.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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1067 people want to read
About the author
Madeleine Kamman
11 books4 followersMadeleine Kamman was a French chef and restaurateur, cookery teacher and author of seven cookbooks, who spent most of her working life in America bringing the rigors of French technique to American ingredients and audiences.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 21, 2010
I was not expecting controversy from this book. "Ooh," I thought, "a gastronomic memoir. Food, travel, color, some amusing autobiographical anecdotes..." Immediately, however, I found myself off balance. Kamman is clearly of another generation, another culture, another attitude towards feminism. Only a few pages in, I feel uncomfortably ambivalent about the scene she is setting. She opens:
Where are you, my France, where women cooked, where stars in cooking did not go to men anxious for publicity but to women with worn hands stained by vegetables peeled, parched by work in the house
I am to a degree sympathetic -- it is certainly true that public accolades for cooking have gone to male "chefs" while the work of female "cooks" is largely taken for granted. On the other hand, I don't feel a lot of nostalgia for the "worn hands" of pre-labor-saving women's work (Kamman's France is pre-1960) or the imprisonment of the domestic sphere. Not that Kamman thinks women shouldn't work outside the home -- just that they still ought to do all the cooking.
Whether the women of the house worked outside of the home, or inside, there was a full meal on the table at noon and at night every day. My mother worked all her life and I fondly remember the lunches she put on the table during the ninety minutes that her lunch hour lasted.
I'm sorry. I love to cook, and that still sounds like hell to me. Working full time and using every spare minute to prepare food? Not to mention the cleaning. Wait, actually that sounds just like my mother's life. She never complained, but I know she missed having free time, going out, seeing her friends. Maybe Kamman's mother didn't mind. If so, more power to her. I have no objection to whatever lifestyle individuals find fulfilling; what I dislike is Kamman's implication that this is what women ought to do. It reflects a narrowness that is, sadly, all too common.
My favorite sections of this book were the little sketches of the women with whom Kamman cooked at various points in her life, and her relationships with them. Kamman also does a good job describing the food. So good, in fact, that I'm now pretty much confirmed in my earlier suspicion that I don't much care for classical French cuisine. It is too heavy, too fussy, too time-consuming for me. Why spend hours getting my demi glace just so, when really I'd be happier with a burrito?
Where are you, my France, where women cooked, where stars in cooking did not go to men anxious for publicity but to women with worn hands stained by vegetables peeled, parched by work in the house
I am to a degree sympathetic -- it is certainly true that public accolades for cooking have gone to male "chefs" while the work of female "cooks" is largely taken for granted. On the other hand, I don't feel a lot of nostalgia for the "worn hands" of pre-labor-saving women's work (Kamman's France is pre-1960) or the imprisonment of the domestic sphere. Not that Kamman thinks women shouldn't work outside the home -- just that they still ought to do all the cooking.
Whether the women of the house worked outside of the home, or inside, there was a full meal on the table at noon and at night every day. My mother worked all her life and I fondly remember the lunches she put on the table during the ninety minutes that her lunch hour lasted.
I'm sorry. I love to cook, and that still sounds like hell to me. Working full time and using every spare minute to prepare food? Not to mention the cleaning. Wait, actually that sounds just like my mother's life. She never complained, but I know she missed having free time, going out, seeing her friends. Maybe Kamman's mother didn't mind. If so, more power to her. I have no objection to whatever lifestyle individuals find fulfilling; what I dislike is Kamman's implication that this is what women ought to do. It reflects a narrowness that is, sadly, all too common.
My favorite sections of this book were the little sketches of the women with whom Kamman cooked at various points in her life, and her relationships with them. Kamman also does a good job describing the food. So good, in fact, that I'm now pretty much confirmed in my earlier suspicion that I don't much care for classical French cuisine. It is too heavy, too fussy, too time-consuming for me. Why spend hours getting my demi glace just so, when really I'd be happier with a burrito?
December 18, 2021
This book is simply divided into chapters of women of a bygone era that influenced the author with their lives as well as their cooking. After describing these lovely ladies, she then finishes each chapter with one of their signature dishes.
Lovers of French cuisine will love the recipes and probably any serious cook would want the book as a part of their culinary library.
Those of us that love history and culture, especially around the WWII years will enjoy reading about a French culture that has all but disappeared.
Lovers of French cuisine will love the recipes and probably any serious cook would want the book as a part of their culinary library.
Those of us that love history and culture, especially around the WWII years will enjoy reading about a French culture that has all but disappeared.
September 3, 2023
2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge
When French Women Cook by Madeleine Kamman (1976; 1982 ed.) 371 pages.
This is part memoir and part cookbook. The recipes are not very practical for cooking in the United States because of the hard to find, nonexistent, or priced right out of my budget ingredients. Trust me! I called around for this or that special ingredient with no luck at all. The recipes are separated by provinces, and each province highlights a special person, time and place for the author during her lifetime. Love the idea! But, I definitely would have appreciated her stories more if I were from France. She was very descriptive of her memories in the different provinces of France while running away from the war in the 1940’s and name dropped so many French place names and French names for dishes and cookware, which left me almost completely lost. But, if you are French, you will undoubtedly l-o-v-e this book.
RECIPE TESTED
I did find at least one recipe with common and easy to find ingredients: Basic Stewed Tomatoes for Provençal Dishes (p. 332). 1-star. Very dull! I’m from Southeast Texas. We eat more robust food. I had to add so much more garlic, olive oil, basil, red pepper flakes, and a little Slap Your Mama Cajun Seasoning just to get some flavor in there.
At the beginning of the book, the author does suggest a few basic suitable substitutions to use in French recipes. Apparently, America’s dairy food is crap and we don’t know what we are missing. That was back in the ‘70’s, and I’m sure it’s worse today. They are worthy of noting down here since I won’t be keeping this book in my library of cookbooks.
BUTTER
Stick to AA 93 graded butter. Kamman says some of our butters in the U.S. are absolutely rancid compared to French butters. Unfortunately, our butters don’t show a grade. Go figure!
CRÈME FRAÎCHE
Can’t be made here in U.S. because of the extra crap (preservatives and hormones and the feed fed to cattle) in our dairy milk. As a substitute, just use heavy cream, reduced by cooking down, and blending with a little good quality sour cream and correct taste with a few drops of lemon juice.
SOUR CREAM
Read label! Do not use sour cream with preservatives, stabilizers or added milk solids….if you can find it.
There’s more…but why go on. I give up! Our food is just so adulterated, it is sickening!
More about Madeleine Kamman (1930-2018)
Featured on PBS as a cooking show host: “Madeleine Cooks” (1984-1991). A few of these can be found on YouTube. Interestingly, her and Julia Child were very competitive and had a general dislike for one another. Kamman refused to accept Julia as a true French chef and Julia refused to eat at Madeleine’s 5-star restaurant…and even refused to say her name in public. Julia referred to Madeleine as “that woman”. Ha! Women!
When French Women Cook by Madeleine Kamman (1976; 1982 ed.) 371 pages.
This is part memoir and part cookbook. The recipes are not very practical for cooking in the United States because of the hard to find, nonexistent, or priced right out of my budget ingredients. Trust me! I called around for this or that special ingredient with no luck at all. The recipes are separated by provinces, and each province highlights a special person, time and place for the author during her lifetime. Love the idea! But, I definitely would have appreciated her stories more if I were from France. She was very descriptive of her memories in the different provinces of France while running away from the war in the 1940’s and name dropped so many French place names and French names for dishes and cookware, which left me almost completely lost. But, if you are French, you will undoubtedly l-o-v-e this book.
RECIPE TESTED
I did find at least one recipe with common and easy to find ingredients: Basic Stewed Tomatoes for Provençal Dishes (p. 332). 1-star. Very dull! I’m from Southeast Texas. We eat more robust food. I had to add so much more garlic, olive oil, basil, red pepper flakes, and a little Slap Your Mama Cajun Seasoning just to get some flavor in there.
At the beginning of the book, the author does suggest a few basic suitable substitutions to use in French recipes. Apparently, America’s dairy food is crap and we don’t know what we are missing. That was back in the ‘70’s, and I’m sure it’s worse today. They are worthy of noting down here since I won’t be keeping this book in my library of cookbooks.
BUTTER
Stick to AA 93 graded butter. Kamman says some of our butters in the U.S. are absolutely rancid compared to French butters. Unfortunately, our butters don’t show a grade. Go figure!
CRÈME FRAÎCHE
Can’t be made here in U.S. because of the extra crap (preservatives and hormones and the feed fed to cattle) in our dairy milk. As a substitute, just use heavy cream, reduced by cooking down, and blending with a little good quality sour cream and correct taste with a few drops of lemon juice.
SOUR CREAM
Read label! Do not use sour cream with preservatives, stabilizers or added milk solids….if you can find it.
There’s more…but why go on. I give up! Our food is just so adulterated, it is sickening!
More about Madeleine Kamman (1930-2018)
Featured on PBS as a cooking show host: “Madeleine Cooks” (1984-1991). A few of these can be found on YouTube. Interestingly, her and Julia Child were very competitive and had a general dislike for one another. Kamman refused to accept Julia as a true French chef and Julia refused to eat at Madeleine’s 5-star restaurant…and even refused to say her name in public. Julia referred to Madeleine as “that woman”. Ha! Women!
January 27, 2008
The recipes are wonderful, yes, but what I enjoyed most about this book was the way it was organized. Kamman groups the recipes by region and by the woman she learned them from; it's half cookbook, half memoir, and entirely beautiful.
August 1, 2018
A beautiful book full full vivid memories of France as it was before the 60's. You can almost smell the smoke from the old hearths, the garlic and the cheese. The memoir follows eight women who influenced Ms. Kamman and her love for food and cooking. The recipes range from simple - Bread soup with Cantal cheese to award winning complexity. The stories will pull you into the book and the recipes will inspire you.
August 2, 2008
Read this if you cook and your mother wasn't french.
January 15, 2010
Contains the definitive recipe for roast chicken stuffed with morels with cream sauce.
December 8, 2010
Contains, among other things, a superb recipe for cream of dandelion soup. Handy if you're barge-ing through Burgundy, all the groceries have closed, and you need to feed a crew of 11 lunch.
January 14, 2018
just the best.
April 1, 2007
Really enjoyed the chapters on each woman and her cooking style. The recipes I tried were all scrumptious!
July 10, 2017
What a delightful memoir! A must-read. And while we haven't made any of the recipes in Kamman's book, we have definitely followed the flavours of her recommendations for procedures and techniques.
March 22, 2025
To me this is a must have. It is an incredibly instructive collection of old cooking habits of the regions of France before everything became marketed into oblivion. in addition the stories which precede the different chapters are incredibly well written personal stories something I usually HATE in modern recipes online here it is suddenly becoming clear how these COULD function. but here the author also actually has something to tell. so this book is more than a cookbook, and more than a biography (for which it might not be complete enough) but like a shard of clay that lets anthropologists glimpse into ancient Egypt of roman Bonna bonensis, this book give you a glimpse into France, french kitchens to be more precise, during and after ww2
July 7, 2024
For me it was tooo much recipe, not enough biography. There is some amazing stuff in here for anyone determined to perfect their French cooking techniques. A decent imitation of the G.O.A.T.. The recipes are laugh out loud funny for their complexity and her "remarks on ingredients" sections are the most delightful things about the book:
For Petit Suisse [Cream Cheese Mousse]
Because of unreasonable use of preservatives in many dairy products, use honest brands that advertise strictly natural products. Happy fresh cheese to those cooks who own a cow.
I guess I'll be going cow shopping tomorrow.
For Petit Suisse [Cream Cheese Mousse]
Because of unreasonable use of preservatives in many dairy products, use honest brands that advertise strictly natural products. Happy fresh cheese to those cooks who own a cow.
I guess I'll be going cow shopping tomorrow.
March 2, 2020
Kamman was a chef’s chef. She wrote a memoir of her artistic mentors and inspirations. This isn’t really a cookbook (though there are recipes with admonitions, rather than instructions), not something that would likely be publishable today; too specific, too regional, too too) It’s some high level shit, aspirational. She inspired my chef and keeps buoying me up.
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March 4, 2020Note for myself only: did not really read, but I'm writing this to remind my aging self not to buy this again. It's very slim on memoir and mostly just a French recipe book. I wasn't in the mood for it.
June 11, 2021
This is Madeleine Kamman’s tribute to the women cooks in her life, who consistently produced wholesome, yet delicious meals for their families every day, and who influenced her choice of career. I really enjoyed this memoir, looking forward to trying some of the recipes!
June 30, 2018
lovely book interesting
October 6, 2018
Read it for the stories, would own it for the recipes.
June 9, 2022
This book is really good.
Since it has a little history of several people who are professionals in food, and they share with us some of their greatest recipes.
It is simply something that many of us should admire. And more for the fact that most of the people who participate are women.
Since it has a little history of several people who are professionals in food, and they share with us some of their greatest recipes.
It is simply something that many of us should admire. And more for the fact that most of the people who participate are women.
January 9, 2011
Recuedos of the author of 7 women she cooked with. Each is from a different area of France. The receipes are heavy on the meats. I look forward to trying a few of them over a cold weekend.
November 20, 2011
Travel back in time with this wonderful memoir which will delight all your senses, and try the recipes: many contain unique techniques not found in your ordinary cookbooks…
June 14, 2015
A nice memoir and some good recipes as well. If you'd like an insight into French cooking give this a try. Very readable!
August 27, 2024
The memoir parts have some really outstanding prose. Delectable.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews