French Menu Cookbook

Richard Olney was one of a kind – a scholarly cook who had a tremendous influence on modern cooking via his cottage on a hillside in Provence. Born and raised in Iowa, America he was drawn to France as a young man. Olney moved to a Parisian suburb in 1951 before settling in a run-down property in Provence where he wrote eight cookbooks and consulted on the Time-Life Good Cook series. Olney passed away at his Provencal home in 1999.

The perfect prose is as beautiful as the menus.-Rachel Cooke in The Observer Food MonthlyImmaculate instruction. Glorious prose. Recipes for serious kitchen folk. My most cherished cookery book.-Simon Hopkinson[Olney] was a true genius in the kitchen, and his writing was as sensual and precise as his handling of ingredients. Let trumpets sound to mark the timely resurrections of this, one of his best-loved books.-Alan Davidson, author of The Oxford Companion to Food‘Comes wreathed in compliments from people such as Simon Hopkinson, Alan Davidson and Prue Leith … reading it is almost enough in itself; for perfection, give it to someone clever enough to cook it all for you.’ – Telegraph Magazine‘Meticulous in its advice, the seasonal menus and recipes are superb. Food writing as good as this is rare indeed.’ The Western Mail, No. 8 of the 30 best cookbooks of all timeHenry Harris of Racine told FT Magazine that Richard Olney “writes so beautifully, you can lose yourself in his glorious prose.”The book was selected by The Week as one of the best cookbooks of 2010 – “this cookbook is the perfect introduction to (Richard Olney’s) ‘passionate and idiosyncratic’ approach to French cooking.”The Sunday Tribune (Eire) has called it a “seductive read for any Francophile, even better for one who can cook.”