A Perfect Main Course If I had just one cookbook it would be The Margaret Fulton Cookbook. And if I was allowed only one more, it would be Stephanie Alexander’s Cook’s Companion. A third would have to be Escoffier: The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery. If I were to extend my library to 10 cookbooks, Elizabeth David’s and Jane Grigson’s would definitely be among them. But I have 500 cookbooks, and despite my reading difficulties I’ve skimmed through all of them. Being a self-taught cook, cookbooks have played an important part in my career. Where would I be if I hadn’t read pages and pages of detailed instructions on how to make the perfect omelette or soufflé in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck? In recent years I’ve become interested in Paula Wolfert’s cookbooks. In the restaurant, I always had Escoffier (the culinary genius of our time) handy, a very well-worn copy of Stephanie’s Cook’s Companion (as in just about every kitchen I know of, professional or amateur), Larousse Gastronomique (as a quick reference), and the most instructive cookbooks from the Time Life series The Good Cook: Techniques and Recipes, 17 of them in all (now, sadly, out of print).
