Rating: 
Summary: A Joy of a Book!
Review: I've been a longtime fan of Amanda Hesser's work. Her columns for the New York Times are always illuminating and her Food Diary is a "seek-out" joy in the Magazine every other Sunday. Now I've finally found her book and had a chance to read the story of a season's worth of living and cooking. Its a joy on every page. Hesser has a way of illuminating food and cooking that reminds me of MFK Fisher. There's a clarity to her writing that gives one a clear visual of the meal and the participants in its journey to the table. Most importantly, Hesser's way of enterlacing descriptions of seasons and food with the stories of the characters make for an enjoyable read and a reminder of the importance of being grounded in local foods and fresh produce. I hope this is the first of many books for Hesser. American cooking and eating can only benefit from her work. For now, I'm left to clipping out every recipe and writ from the New York Times and place them in my binder marker "Hesser." If you're looking for one the best new books on the culture of cooking and dining, this is a great start. If you're looking for a great read by one of the leading writers of the new school of cooking, Hesser's book is a fabulous choice.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful story
Review: My favorite thing about this book are the stories. As you read about the author's life in the Chateau you really get the feeling that you're there with her. The recipes are lovely, but I find that because she did most of her cooking for large groups of people, and because she had all day to cook, most of the recipies are not very useful for someone who, like me, comes home after a day of work with 30 minutes to an hour to put dinner together. Regardless, the book is very inspirational. I love the emphasis on seasonal produce, and, as I wrote earlier, the stories are great.
Rating:
Summary: An Unusually Charming Read
Review: Now this is an unusually charming read! Ms. Hesser gives us insight into a nearly lost world, that of food lovingly, knowledgeably, and patiently produced over changing seasons and then carefully prepared to celebrate and enhance delghtful flavors she learns are coaxed from the earth - information presented in the most charming of stories. The chateau's diverse two acre walled garden was designed to supply all the produce for the estate in earlier centuries and now supplies herself as chateau chef. Ms. Hesser allows us inside her own journey of discovery as she comes to appreciate the art of gardening from Monsieur Milbert, the aging estate gardener, new joy in the seasons and nature, and a newfound connectedness to the origins of the food she is trained to enhance. Here, gardeners will find knowledge your great grandmother knew; old and tried tips and tricks about everything from orchards and vines to mice and radishes and planting with the moon. Cooks will also find an excess of tips and tricks not seen elsewhere. Readers will find a rich story of country life, past and present, a fascinating character in Monsieur Milbert, and a young chef who discovers new richness in her life and work. The mind, heart and senses are expanded here. Those looking for just recipes - though they are good - will be disappointed for this is a story to be read and savored. (by the way, she usually replaces excess butter and cream with olive oil, etc. but granola diet this is not) Who will like this book? Those who love to eat and cook, those who love to garden, those who love history and lost ways of doing things, those who love journeys, professional chefs, Francophiles, real readers, and those us who are yearning for refreshment of the spirit, depth, connectedness, and joy in life. I cannot wait for her next book! Meanwhile this will sit, worth the price, treasured on my shelf to be reread through the years. This is also a book for special gift giving.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive
Review: Reading this book, I gather that Ms. Hesser is an impressive cook. A little affected at times, but obviously highly skilled. In addition to great stories (although I got a little tired of the repetitive descriptions of the crochety old man after a while) the book is organized by month, so if you're wondering what to have for dinner, just look in the appropriate month and she'll have the seasonal ingredients right there, so you know what to go shopping for, even if you don't decide to use the recipes. I have mainly used the book for this purpose. The recipes seem typical but don't take my word for it. I bet they're wonderful. Also, she gives lots of useful info on culinary history, ingredients and old-time recipes that are woven into the stories so they're easier to remember. Definitely keeping this one.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous story within the recipe context.
Review: These recipes are easy to execute with a gourmet result. But even if you do not cook the story that runs throughout the book will make you warm and fuzzy. It's a very worthwhile read on more than one level. Keep writing MS. Hesser!
Rating:
Summary: Rare & Very Special
Review: This is one of those books that you can't put down until you near the end, and then you force yourself to ration the remainder in small morsels and stoically put it down again to savor and prolong it before it's inevitable end. Seasons in the garden and the kitchen are inextricably intertwined and evocatively presented. After finishing Ms Hesser's novel I stumbled upon another book by Anne Willan, owner of the Chateau where the Cook and Gardener meet and grow in friendship. Don't miss Willan's book either, "Anne Willan: My Chateau Kitchen" which continues our travels into this magical setting and the cooking school (La Varenne) she operates there. Enjoy! Kathryn
Rating:
Summary: Great addition to a delightful Genre. A foodie must read.
Review: `The Cook and the Gardner' by the young culinary journalist who has added a thoroughly enjoyable chronicle of seasonal cooking and gardening to that very small niche of books joining horticulture with gastronomy. The only other recent volume in this very small corner of culinary writing is `The Arrows Cookbook', a work dealing with the vegetable and herb garden attached to a three season Maine restaurant. Like some other recent books on French life, this book develops a picture of a disappearing phenomenon, the chateau kitchen garden in rural France, tended by a dedicated gardener living on the premises. The chateau and garden is in Burgundy, owned by the renowned Anne Willen, the culinary schoolmistress of La Varenne Pratique. Oddly enough, Madame Willen never appears in this story and her works are cited less frequently than authors with a more historical bent, led by references to works by Elizabeth David. Willen appears primarily as the author's employer. The author's mentor, rather, is the Italian culinary authority, Nancy Harmon Jenkins. It is completely fitting with the antiquity of the context that most references in the book's exceptional bibliography are to works in French and Italian which were published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The cook of the book's title is the author, herself. The gardener of the book is the garrulous, elderly (mid seventies) Monsieur Milbert who, with his wife, occupies the chateau's gatehouse and who works the chateau's traditional walled garden which appears to be a square of 50 meters or more to a side. The author's story begins in early spring and spans four full seasons at the Burgundy chateau kitchen where her `day job' is responsibility for meals served at the chateau for up to sixteen people at a sitting. Monsieur Milbert on the face of it is a stock Hollywood movie character. He is very slow to warm to the young American interloper, in spite of the fact that they are colleagues in the employ of the same house. Eventually, of course, he begins working with Ms. Hesser and shares with her his thinkings on horticultural matters as she helps him with various tasks to work her way into his good graces. Unlike the Hollywood character, Monsieur Milbert never really breaks from his very, very provincial mindset. The gardener's horticultural practice is the oddest mix of superstition and practical experience. Almost every aspect of planting is governed by phases of the moon. Almost every expectation about future weather is based on a totally unscientific observation of unconnected phenomena. On the other hand, planting, pruning, weeding, and cultivating is based on sound wisdom gained from personal observation and hundreds of years of accumulated experience. The culinary material in the book is ordered entirely by the season and by the location. In spite of the culinary pedigree of the landlord, the style of cooking appears to be derived less from `haute cuisine' than from `la cuisine Regionale'. The first clue is that there are very few references to drinking wine in the book. The only references to wine are as traditional ingredients to soups and braises. A sure sign that we are in Burgundy and not Provence is the fact that there are simply no recipes or even any references to eggplant. Each season has its own section and introduction. For each season, there are recipes that are distinctive of the entire season. One of the most novel sets of recipes within this schema is the four seasonal recipes for stock. Spring opens with a stock based on beef bones. Summer contributes a vegetable stock. Autumn weighs in with a poultry stock (with a strict warning to not mix duck parts with other fowl). Winter completes the year with a return to a stock based on beef bones. On the matter of stocks, I am really happy to see Ms. Hesser rail against the stockpot as garbage collector for any odd piece of leftover gristle. Within each season are three chapters on the three months in that season. Each month is represented by about a dozen recipes. Appropriate to the garden at the center of the story, most recipes are vegetarian and many meat dishes are based on chicken, game fowl, and rabbit. There are virtually no recipes for seafood, although there is some North African influence in the appearance of salt preserved lemons. The chapters also spend a lot of time with the kind of culinary work you would expect in a rural farm kitchen. A lot of space is dedicated to making preserves, pickles, and comfits. True to the very provincial environment, space is also dedicated to unusual fruits such as medlar and persimmon. This is a culinary work which is meant to be read from cover to cover. If you have your own kitchen garden in US horticultural zones four through seven, you are bound to find the suggestions doubly enriching. If you are tied to a city apartment, you will still find plenty to enjoy. There is much to learn about cooking, but the real gold is in the battle between the French gardener and his neophyte cook comrade against the elements, to harvest truly magnificent seasonal vegetables. A classic culinary read. Some advanced methods, but lots to learn from.
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