Book Reviews: A Cook’s Tour of France by Gabriel Gaté

A child of the Loire Valley, author Gabriel Gaté grew up learning culinary secrets from his grandmother and went on to be a renowned chef in Paris, before moving to Australia with his Melbourne-born wife in 1977. Since then, starting with French Cuisine for Australians, Gaté’s authored some 18 cookbooks, which have enjoyed sales totalling over a million copies, and has become a popular TV chef down under.

For his latest book, Gaté re-visited the regional classics that form the backbone of French cuisine, collecting the recipes contained herein while filming a series of TV segments, Taste Le Tour with Gabriel Gaté, which were screened during Australian network SBS Television’s coverage of the Tour de France.

Gaté explores the gourmet staples of each region of l’Hexagone traversed by ‘Le Tour’ and this tome’s chapters are divided into starters, sides, fish, poultry and red meat. The highlights include ‘Auge Valley Chicken Casserole’, in a sumptuous cream and Calvados sauce, and colourful ‘Niçoise Ratatouille’ with zingy lemon Chantilly. Artful photography and the sheer volume of mouth-watering recipes make this an invaluable resource for dinner party ideas.

A Cook’s Tour of France: Regional French Recipes, by Gabriel Gaté. List price is $30. Published by Hardie Grant.

From France Today magazine