Recipes from the Auberge of the Flowering Hearth
Indianapolis; New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, [1973].
Octavo (23.5 x 16 cm.), xv, 444 pages. FIRST EDITION. A great classic of modern cookbooks. De Groot writes of his meals at an inn, L'Auberge de l'Atre Fleuri in St-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, in the Savoy region of France. Upon the book's release, Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Roy de Groot's Shangri-la is a tiny, isolated Alpine valley in the South of France where the auberge is run by two legendary mademoiselles who believe that "a menu is the script of a dramatic performance.""They grace their fastidious guest's table -- and Mr. de Groot is very fastidious -- with a remarkable provincial cuisine based on the local game, herb, wild mushrooms, berries, Alpine cheeses and wines. The effects are symphonic and de Groot admires the good ladies' orchestration of their masterpiece menus effusively -- terrine of hare with cognac; pike from a clear mountain lake larded with pork and baked in champagne; a spring kid flavored with local black mushrooms, a raspberry soufflé. Culinary ravishments all, but tough to duplicate in grubby New York City where the produce is mostly frowzy lettuce and just try to find a wild mountain blackberry. Food fit for the gods; mere mortals may find the author and all that mountain air just a bit rarefied." How things have changed! Tiny bit age age-toning to edges of text block, otherwise fine. Some light wear to the head and foot of the dust jacket spine, and darkening to the jacket's paper, mostly visible on the interior of the jacket. Jacket unclipped and near very good.
Price: $120.00