[.uk] French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For ... (ISBN 1400042127)

Amazon.com Review:
The message of this book could be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. There is no hard science, no clearly-defined plan, and no lists of food to have or have not; instead, you'll find simple tricks that boil down to eating carefully prepared seasonal food, exercising more and refusing to think of food as something that inspires guilt. It's both a practical message and far easier said than done in today's "no pain, no gain" culture. Author Mireille Guiliano is CEO of Veuve Clicquot, and French Women Don't Get Fat offers a concept of sensible pleasures: If you have a chocolate croissant for breakfast, have a vegetable-based lunch--or take an extra walk and pass on the bread basket at dinner. Guiliano's insistence on simple measures slowly creating substantial improvements are reassuring, and her suggestion to ignore the scale and learn to live by the "zipper test" could work wonders for those who get wrapped up in tiny details of diet. She sympathizes that deprivation can lead straight to overindulgence when it comes to favorite foods, but then, in a most French manner, treats them as a pleasure that needs to be sated, rather than a battle to be fought. A number of recipes are included, from a weight-loss enhancing leek soup to a lush chocolate mousse; they read more like what you'd find in a French cookbook rather than an American diet book. Most appealingly, these are guidelines and tricks that could be easily sustainable over a lifetime. If you agree that food is meant to be appreciated--but no more so than having a trim waist--these charmingly French recommendations could set you on the path to a future filled with both croissants and high fashion. --Jill Lightner Amazon Exclusive Video Click here to watch Mireille Guiliano introduce French Women Don’t Get Fat to Amazon customers. Gather Up Your Friends Click here to learn how to create your own reading group around French Women Don’t Get Fat. Stuffed Cornish Hens Serves 4 When I grew up, the holidays always meant lots of visitors and a series of requisite celebratory meals, mostly at lunchtime. This easy dish was always on one of the menus. Mamie was usually busy (what else during late December?) and would make the stuffing in advance so lunch could be ready in less than an hour. The recipe serves a family of four for lunch in style, but double the ingredient portions and obviously you are ready for a full table with guests. Ingredients: 2 Cornish hens (or poussins) 2 tablespoons butter, melted 3 tablespoons chicken stock Stuffing: 2 cups water 2/3 cup brown rice 1/2 cup mixed nuts (pine nuts, walnut pieces, whole hazelnuts) 2 tablespoons golden raisins 1/3 cup chicken stock 1 tablespoon parsley, freshly minced 1 teaspoon dry herbs (chervil and savory or rosemary and thyme) Salt and freshly ground pepper 1. For stuffing: Bring water to a boil. Add rice and cook for 15 minutes. Drain and mix well with remaining ingredients. Season to taste and refrigerate overnight. 2. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Rinse Cornish hens, dry the inside with paper towels, and season. Add stuffing loosely and truss hens. Reserve remaining stuffing in aluminum foil. 3. Put hens in baking dish and brush them with melted butter and other seasonings. Put in oven and baste 10 minutes later with chicken stock. Continue basting every 10 minutes. After the hens have cooked for 20 minutes reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and put the remaining stuffing in a small ovenproof dish. Roast the hens for another 20 minutes. Serve (half a hen per person) immediately with a tablespoon of stuffing on each side of the hen as garnish. N.B. For a wonderful tête-à-tête romantic dinner, serve one hen each with a vegetable then dessert. I have prepared it successfully to my husband on Valentine’s Day. While the hens are in the oven, you have time to concoct a little dessert, et voilà, you can pop a cork of bubbly, sit for candlelight dinner and have your husband serve dessert. Hot Chocolate Soufflé Serves 6 During the season of overindulgences—Christmas, New Year and all the festivities in between—there is in our home a succession of store-brought, traditional goodies: Bûche de Noël (yule log), marrons glacés (glazed chestnuts), the 13 desserts of Christmas in Provence. This is not to say that the holidays don’t bring out the baker in all of us, but whether it is to give as gifts or to maintain tradition, people do load up with holiday sweets from pastry shops (as I can attest from seeing from the window of our Paris apartment the annual long lines of people outside the pastry shop across the street). When I grew up, however, come New Year’s Day, and there was a home-cooked chocolate ritual. Our big festive meal was on New Year’s Eve, which left New Year’s Day as a quiet, family "recovery" day. (I appreciate some reverse the big meal day… or have one both days.) Anyway, for us, breakfast was well… late (especially for those of us who went partying after dinner), and limited to a piece of toast and a cup or two of coffee. Lunch was mid afternoon and usually made up of leftovers or an omelet, but the first dinner of the year was marked with a special dessert. The simple meal at the end of a week of overindulgences consisted of a light consommé, some greens, cheese, and the chocolate treat. There were no guests, plenty of time, and Mamie was ready for the flourless soufflé. She is a chocoholic and it would be unthinkable to start the year off without chocolate. So, what better way to end the first day of the New Year than with one of her favorite chocolate desserts as both a reward and I’m sure good-luck charm? Ingredients: 1 cup milk 1 cup unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder 1/3 cup sugar 4 eggs at room temperature 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature Pinch of salt 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 1-quart soufflé mold by lightly buttering it, dusting the insides with sugar and tapping out the excess. Place mold in refrigerator. 2. Pour the milk, cocoa powder and sugar into a heavy saucepan and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over moderate heat while stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and cook while stirring until the mixture thickens (about 10 minutes). Transfer to a bowl and cool slightly. 3. Separate the eggs and stir the egg yolks into the warm chocolate mixture. Stir in the butter. 4. Beat the egg whites until they reach soft peaks. Add the salt and beat until stiff. Whisk half of the egg whites mixture into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the remaining whites gently with a spatula. Pour the mixture in the soufflé mold and smooth the top. 5. Bake in the lower-middle shelf of the oven until puff and brown for about 18 minutes which will give you a soft center. Serve at once with softly whipped cream. Red Mullet with Spinach en Papillote Serves 4 Ingredients: 2 teaspoons olive oil 8 fillets of red mullet, about 2 ounces each 1 lb. spinach, washed and dried in a salad spinner 4 teaspoons shallots, peeled and sliced 8 slices of lime 4 tablespoons of crème fraîche Salt and freshly ground pepper 1. Cut 4 pieces of parchment paper (or aluminum foil) into squares large enough to cover each fillet and leave a 2-inch border all around. Lightly brush the squares with olive oil. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 2. Put the spinach in the center of each square and top it with a tablespoon of crème fraîche. Top with two fillets and add one teaspoon of shallots, two slices of lime. Season with salt and pepper. 3. Fold up the edges to form packets. Put the papillotes on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. Serve at once by setting each papillote on a plate. N.B. You can use sole or snapper instead of red mullet Pappardelle with Spring Veggies Serves 4 Ingredients: 12 ounces pappardelle 1 lb. green asparagus 2 cups fresh peas, shelled 2 tablespoons of shallots, peeled and minced 1 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 cup of pine nuts, toasted 1 cup freshly grated parmesan 1 cup roughly chopped parsley Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper 1. Cut off end of asparagus and blanch in salted water until just tender (about 5 minutes). Blanch peas separately for about 1 minute. 2. In a heavy saucepan, gently sauté the shallots in olive oil until they begin to turn gold. Add peas and asparagus and cook for a few minutes. 3. Cook the pappardelle in boiling water, drain and pour into saucepan. Add pine nuts, parmesan and parsley and season to taste. Serve immediately. Croque aux Poires Serves 4 Ingredients: 4 slices of brioche 2 ripe pears 2 tablespoons of sliced almonds 2 tablespoons of honey 1 tablespoon butter 1. Peel the pears and cut into small cubes. Melt butter in a saucepan and sauté the pear cubes for 2-3 minutes. 2. Arrange pear cubes on brioche slices. Cover with honey and almonds. Put under broiler for two minutes watching carefully. Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche. A yummy dessert also wonderful for a weekend breakfast or brunch.

"Living like a French woman" impractical for most Yanks.:
The book has some great recipes in it. But the woman is completely blind to her own pampered, entitled life and how very much she is the product of it. I'm sure it would be easier for Americans to look like French women -- if they, too, were allowed to go home at lunchtime and spend 2 hours preparing and slowly eating lunch before taking a nap and going back to work, walk to work, buy fresh bread and expensive organic veggies near home, spend weeks on vacation relaxing, AND have a career that consisted of getting well-paid to eat the best food and drink the best wine all over the world. I'd love to give her a freakin' MONTH of a typical American work-load, a typical salary and a typical grocery budget. I won't even saddle her with kids -- just a month of an American job, with an American commute, American lunch-time ("You were 2 minutes late getting back from your 30-minute break"), American work-hours, American vacation time, and the realization that, no, she really really CAN'T have Veuve Cliquot at lunchtime without getting fired from most American workplaces (assuming she makes enough to afford Veuve Cliquot). She'd probably puff up like a beach-ball in 3 months.

Easier than you think:
My mother recommended this book to me. I'm an extremely busy law student who had zero time to cooking or eat healthy. The first month of law school I gained ten pounds and panicked. I ordered this book online, read it in a weekend, and was thrilled. I've lost the weight I gained moving here, plus a few more pounds. Yes, the weight loss is slow, but it's not deprivation at all! It doesn't take much time to plan meals anymore, and it only takes me 30 seconds in the morning to grab whatever I'm having for dinner out of the freezer. (I buy fresh meat and fish on weekends and freeze it.) Yes, it's all absurdly simple, it's all common sense, but it's nice to be reminded how easy it can be to eat well. It's not expensive to eat well either. I'm on a limited budget - I can only spend $30/week on groceries so it does take some thought when you go shopping but with a little planning it's well worth it. This book is not for anyone who wants a quick fix but if you want to learn how to eat whatever you want without getting fat, I recommend this book. It's amazing how little food will leave you satisfied, as opposed to how much you need to feel "full".

French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure:
This book is fun and engaging. The author has a unique way of reeling you into her world of daily living. The book is realistic in dealing with the few extra pounds that women seem to struggle with. She explains, in her charming way, the pattern of thinking that is necessary in adopting new and healthy habits for dieting. The funny thing is, you don't even realize you're dieting. "It's all in the mind."

Bit of a dry read:
Nice sized book but difficult to get into as the author uses a lot of European terms and slang that Americans don't know or use and it's difficult and dry reading. She does offer some interesting recipes but I'd never do a leek soup regime for a week or even a few days to kick-start my weight loss. I regret buying it.

A touch of arrogance:
Having just returned from France, I can say that this book is undeniably written from that French point of view of extreme cultural pride, sometimes to the point of arrogance. I didn't read this book for dieting tips, I was simply curious as to how a French woman explained the "french paradox". Mireille's tone throughout the book is a bit stuck-up, and sometimes hypocritical. She criticizes diet books for their focus on eating just one food for days at a time, and then tells her readers to spend a weekend eating nothing but leek soup. She also completely over generalizes about both the French and American cultures. I took issue with her claim that the French drink little tea, except tisanes, because while I was in France my host family drank black tea all the time, and the super markets' varieties of black tea is further evidence of its presence in the food culture. But the one sentence that finally convinced me to write this review was "The French are probably the world's biggest soup drinkers." Now that is just completely wrong. I guess Mireille has never read about or sampled Korean cuisine, where soup is served at just about every single meal. I recommend this book for the recipes and the over-all French eating philosophy (in the first chapter), but the unapologetic cultural bias of this book makes it often hypocritical.