[.ca] Jacques Pepin's Simple and Healthy Cooking (ISBN 0875963625)

Not for busy families:
Healthy, perhaps; but simple? My problem with this book was that I couldn't just start with a trip to the grocery store. For example, in order to make one dish, one must first have made 'poultry brown base sauce.' In order to make this, one must first have made 'brown chicken stock,' which means one must have roasted several pounds of bones, then simmered them with vegetables and seasonings for a couple of hours...you get the idea. The proper French method, of course, but I began to long for a dish that could be made with (gasp) canned broth or even a boullion cube. I found this book inferior to the superb--don't let the grim title fool you--AMA family health cookbook. Assuming your supermarket has good produce, Asian, and Latin sections, any of it's recipes are easily achievable. And delicious.

Trust Jacques:
At times, you may find yourself doubting whether Pepin's cooking instructions are correct. Trust him! Especially with delicate meats. We find the recipes to be pretty straightforward, in terms of procedure and ingredients. When we follow his directions exactly, the dishes turn out wonderfully.

The Best Cookbook I Own:
I have recommended this book to nearly all my friends...it is the best cookbook I own and I'm not exaggerating. Aside from the fact that it is very easy to follow, it is also a great way to make delicious, tasty meals that are healthy and low-fat. You won't feel like you're eating health-food or compromising on flavor. Pepin's tricks are so imaginative...he uses naturally low-fat ingredients that are also tasty to enhance flavor... onions, vinegar, herbs, etc. Plus, it's easy to follow without being too elementary and it still provides enough detail so that you don't have to guess. I recommend this book wholeheartedly... it makes cooking, eating, and staying healthy a pleasure instead of a chore!

Perhaps a little too thin?:
I was a bit disapponted with many of the recipes in this book either because they seriously lacked flavor or just didn't turn out right. Also, I agree with the title in the sense that the dishes described in it are healthy, but quite a few are far from being simple (or, conversely, they are so simple that they're boring). On the bright side, I did enjoy many of his dessert recipes, particularly his fruit-based ones. Also, Pepin's example menus are quite creative and helpful, provided that you can do something to dress up the flavor of the actual meals. There is no question in my mind that Jacques Pepin is perhaps one of the most talented and respected chefs of our time, but this particular book just seems to fall short.

Healthy food that is actually interesting:
I have typically stayed away from books promoting "healthy" or low fat cooking, primarily because I always found the recipes dull. I don't like using no-fat ingredients, fake butter, artificial sweetener, etc. To me, they make the food not worth eating, much less cooking. What I like about this book is that Pepin shares creative, inventive recipes that incorporate butter and oils in moderation, and he shows that you do not have to use a lot of these for a dish to be flavorful. It is all in the seasonings and preparation. And this is a cookbook that you can use on an everyday basis, as the recipes truly are simple... some of them so simple that you wonder how good it will really be. I have made over a dozen dishes from the book so far, and have not yet found a bad one.