"This beautiful book is proof that there is always something more to learn about the cuisine of France, even for a French-trained professional chef." Jacques P pin, chef, cookbook author, and public television cooking series host
"The Country Cooking of France is fabulous for looking and cooking. A highly acclaimed teacher, food writer and cookbook author, Willan is the founder of the famed LaVarrene Cooking School in Burgundy. She knows French cuisine and culture intimately and shares that magnificent bounty here. A gift book par excellence for gourmet travelers and for those who would rather cook that cassoulet at hime, just dreaming of dinner in a ch teau." Bookpage, December 2007
"Anne Willan's The Country Cooking of France (Chronicle, $50) is a powerful attempt to set forth regional classics, complete with history, provenance, and terroir. It's fascinating to watch the same fish stew transform from saffrony, Pernod-laced bouillabaisse neawr the Mediterranewan to oniony, buttery chaurdree by the Atlantic Coast. Gorgeous pastoral photography, too." The Boston Globe, Dec. 19, 2007
"'Regionalism is back' declares the much-lauded cookbook author and cooking teacher before plunging into soups from Provence or Perigord or pork recipes from Normandy or Burgundy. Willan's heralding of these classic recette du terroir (or recipes from a specific place) suffuses the book with a respect for authentic flavors, all the while exciting the reader with the desire to capture the essence of the real thing." Chicago Tribune, Dec. 12, 2007
The season's most comprehensive tome on French fare is Anne Willan's The Country Cooking of France, a 400-page volume with gorgeous photos, carefully written recipes that really work, and enough information about cooking trends, ingredients and techniques that you'll feel immersed in all things French." Cookbook Digest, January, 2008
"In the beautifully photographed The Country Cooking of France (Chronicle Books, $50), Anne Willan takes the reader on a culinary journey through the distinct gastronomic regions of France." Panache, January 2008
"Longtime French-cooking authority Anne Willan's latest book, The Country Cooking of France (Chronicle Books, $50), presents a lifetime's worth of work in more than 250 recipes. The book is filled with color photographs that capture the romance of the French countryside and includes many sidebars on culinary traditions. It looks too pretty to sit on the kitchen counter. But it's a workhorse at heart, with clearly written instructions and, welcome but more unusual, the reasons for preparing a dish a certain way." Houston Chronicle, January 30, 2008
"Regionalism is back declares the much-lauded cookbook author and cooking teacher before plunging into soups from Provence or Perigord or pork recipes from Normandy or Burgundy. Willan's heralding of these classic recette du terroir (or recipes from a specific place) suffuses the book with a respect for authentic flavors, all the while exciting the reader with the desire to capture the essence of the real thing." Chicago Tribune, December 12, 2007
"Willan was friends with Julia Child, an her book feels a little antique. But her focus on the classics actually ends up refreshing, and her recipes - longer, but clear and detailed - are reassuring." The Charlotte Observer, January 23, 2008
"Vigorously researched and exquisitely photographed, Willan's exhaustive treatise on the instinctive cooking of the "country folk" of France is authoritative and direct. We admire by her sentiment that "there's a right way to cook traditional dishes, and all others are wrong". When it comes to classic provincial French cuisine, cookbooks don't get much more complete than this." Saveur, February, 2008
"One of the best cookbooks of this year was The Country Cooking of France (Chronicle Books, $50, 392 pages), a big and bold work by Anne Willan. As good as it is, it is better as a reference book for a lifestyle that few of us have time to pursue, but love to read about." Sacramento Bee, December 26, 2008
"Open the book, and notice the pretty scalloped edge of the jacket, one of the many clever touches that appear throughout the big (5 1/2 pounds), not cheap ($50) but luxurious (feel the luster of the paper!) book. The design manages to feel old-fashioned yet completely fresh at the same time, in the same way that Willan's recipes and outlook are so old they're new...Part of the visual treat of "Country Cooking" are the photos of the finished dishes (I want to lick the sauce off the veal chops with mustard on Page 149), and the equally lusty environmental shots (the most beguiling goat photo ever is on Page 63)." —The Oregonian, February 2008
