Speed And Perfection In French Cooking

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30678, 18 February 1965, Page 2

Speed And Perfection In French Cooking

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Peggy Massin

PARIS.

The most elaborate French meal can be prepared in two hours according to the Countess Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec, principal of Maxim’s cooking school. The Countess is recognised as one of the foremost authorities on cooking in Paris.

Her first book in English, just published

in Paris under the title “La Cuisine de France” includes more than 2000 recipes and is a real encyclopaedia of the kitchen.

It was written specially for English-speak-ing women who appreciate great French cooking but have little time to spend in the kitchen.

■the Countess Guy de Toulouse Lautrec, a niece by marriage of the Impressionist painter, is the first to acknowledge that the tempo of life has changed drastically since the end of World War 11. Servants are scarce, and more French as well as American women are forced to work for economic reasons. “Today,” she writes, “people have the money to buy expensive foods and ingredients, but not enough time to devote to their preparation.”

Even in France, where recent statistics show that 58 per cent of the average household budget is still allocated to food and wine, women are no longer willing to spend innumerable hours preparing a single dish, or even an entire meal. Madame Mapie has personally perfected every recipe in her new book. Many dishes are simplified adaptations of traditional recipes handed down from one generation to another in her own family, one of the oldest in France. For the Countess was born Marie Pierre de Vilmorin and is a sister of the well-known writer, Louise de Vilmorin. Six years ago, she founded Maxim’s cookery school at the request of Madame Louis Vaudable, wife of the then owner of the restaurant “La Cuisine de France” concentrates on recipes which can be prepared beforehand and re-heated. “Roasts and chops are too easy," she declares. They also require a woman’s presence in the kitchen just before the meal is served, and are therefore less suitable for entertaining. Contrary to general belief, the Countess tells her readers, casseroles, stews, and various dishes based on fancy sauces can be prepared the dav before a dinner party. The flavour of these dishes actually improves

when they are re-heated. Seafood specialities and rich desserts are also ideally suited for the amateur cook with a limited time schedule.

Actual Experience But on one thing, she insists—namely, that a person ean only learn to cook by actually preparing the dish. “It is Useless to merely watch another ‘chef and then attempt to repeat the performance,” she says.

Maxim’s is the only school where the pupils cook each dish while its preparation is simultaneously demonstrated. Classes are conducted every morning under Madame Mapie’s supervision in special kitchens provided by the “Gas de France.” “A gas oven is a necessity for gourmet cooking,” she writes. “I find it almost impossible to keep an electric oven at the proper temperature.” Many foreign girls enrol for the two months’ course at the Maxim school, where every reeipe is explained in both French and English. VERY EXPENSIVE Madame Mapie frankly admits that the course is very expensive. “We never use margarine or economical substitutes for any of the costly ingredients,” she explains. “Live lobsters are shipped to the school from Brittany the same day as pupils are to learn to make “L’Homard a L’Ameri caine.”

In addition to writing a weekly column for the French woman’s magazine, “EUe,” the Countess found time to attend the current Paris exhibition of Toulouse-Lautrec paintings. Like many Parisian Society women, the Countess closely follows high fashion trends. She appraises the important new collections each season, and numbers Marc Bohan of Christian Dior, Castillo, and Pierre Balmain among her personal friends.