The New York Times has called Philippe Delacourcelle’s Paris restaurant Le Pré Verre “one of the city’s most fascinating bistros.” High praise for a chef at the crowded center of French cuisine but richly deserved, as anyone who delves into these recipes will quickly discover. Delacourcelle’s dishes are justly famous for their freshness, originality, and ease of preparation, and for infusing traditional French cooking with a modern taste, in particular the wealth of spices from cuisines around the world.

 

There are 151 recipes adapted here for American measurements and markets: artichokes in a lemongrass sauce; wild mushroom mousse with saffron; duckling in honey and African pepper; a salad of wild rice, mango, basil, and star anise; licorice chocolate tart. Recognizably French but subtly transformed by the aromas and flavors of the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, this is French cooking for a New World, as exotic as it is familiar and as satisfyingly complex as it is simple to prepare.

 

The translators, Adele and Bruce King, provide metric measurements and also adaptations for American cooks. Keeping what is uniquely French and exotic in Delacourcelle’s recipes, the Kings suggest how American cooks might evolve their own ideas.

Philippe Delacourcelle was the owner of Clos des Morillons (with his brother Marc Delacourcelle) and is now the owner of Le Pré Verre. He spent many years in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Japan, and is the author of three French cookbooks.

 

Adele King is the author of five books on French and African literature and the editor of From Africa: New Francophone Stories, available in a Bison Books edition. Bruce King has taught at universities around the world, including France, and is a well-known authority on English-language literatures. Adele and Bruce King live in Paris.

“Delacourcelle avidly mixes, matches, and blends cuisines in his cooking, all the while remaining a fiercely French cook. . . . Spiced offers an amazing collection of French bistro recipes nurtured with ‘Chef’s Comments.’”—ForeWord

"[A]n engaging approach to bistro cooking. . . . [T]his is a solid, intriguing cookbook that should please anyone comfortable with French cooking."—Publishers Weekly Web Exclusive

“Delacourcelle is a wonderfully inventive chef, with a particular talent for forging unusual alliances of tastes that are as pleasing as they are easy to prepare. Spiced is full of great recipes and ideas that inspire us to experiment further ourselves. Its mix of French flair, surprising flavor combinations, and unfussy ease of preparation will be a hit with American readers.”—Michael D. Garval, associate professor of French, North Carolina State University