Rating: 
Summary: A must have!!!
Review: This book is a great example of why the Internet recipe sites will never replace cookbooks. Nowhere can you find such beautiful pictures, and wonderful recipes as this book. Ms. Willan has written a meticulously researched cookbook that is just as much at home on the coffee table as it is on the kitchen counter.I must respectfully disagree with a previous reviewers comments. The "Gateau le Feÿ" does work exactly as written. I've created this beautiful dish a couple of times now with no problem. I could see how this might not turn out if your oven temperature is incorrect, so it might be a good idea to test your oven with an oven thermometer prior to starting this dish. As for the point to wait until they do a new printing with corrections, it should be noted that if there were corrections to be made, you'd think that Ms Willan would have done so when she appeared on Martha Stewart the first week of February 2001, and made this dish, just as it is written.
Rating: 
Summary: Better for the coffee table than for the kitchen
Review: This is a lovely book: stellar photography, an engaging text and interesting lay-out make it a pleasure to peruse. The indigenous culinary culture of Burgundy, exquisite taste, a good dose of leisure, and the appropriate worldly means to support all that in style combine into a dream of chateau life that one can vicariously enjoy spending a quiet Sunday afternoon with this volume. Inspired by these visual feasts, I did a spot check on the recipes that are scattered throughout the book, choosing the banner dish "Gateau le Feÿ" (a kind of apple confit) that adornes the jacket. Alas, total disaster. The cooking temperature given in the recipe is evidently wrong: don't let anybody try to persuade you that by keeping apple slices at 150 degrees F, even for 14 hrs, you will end up with something that is "meltingly soft" and "translucent"! So much for a book that boasts a separate recipe editor, a kitchen director, and a whole team for recipe testing. So, if you want a romantic coffee table book, by all means get it, but if you are after the occasional culinary pleasure as well, wait for a paper back edition that (one hopes) will correct deficiencies. In the meantime, when you need a working recipe for apple confit, go to Jean-Georges, Cooking at Home With a Four Star Chef. Alternatively, you might even consider applying with Anne Willan for the position of chief recipe tester. A month free room and board in a Burgundian chateau would sound great, and she obviously needs good people.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Food; Accomplished chef; You TOO can do these
Review: While I was honored to be a student at Le Fey at La Varenne the summer of 99, I was also delighted to see the approval copy of this book on her coffee table. The books reads just as she speaks. Her extensive knowledge gains respect with anyone who has been in any kitchen, and her personable style makes it a delightful journey to France for those who have traveled there, or those who hope to soon. The recipes are very straighforward, and I can affirm how well the recipes are tested before they go out of her kitchen. [For example: The most helpful section of the Cook It Right book is when she tells you what has gone wrong, and how to fix it.] Her thoroughness is so appreciated by those of us who continue to learn throughout our lives. The Chateau Kitchen will be an absolute favorite, on your coffeetable, or kitchen shelf alike.
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