There are lots of recipes in here. Most include some sort of wine. They probably don't mean cooking wine but I don't drink so I got cooking wine. We tried a recipe that called for chicken and onions, etc. We cut the amount of onions down considerably and the onions were still really strong. I believe the recipe was supposed to have a strong flavor though. We made it for the almond flavor but the onions overpowered any chance of tasting the almonds. The onions were yellow onions. About 1/2 of an onion browned with garlic and butter. It was not like the french cuisine I had at a 4 star french restaurant. That french cuisine was smooth, not overpowering. It (the restaurant food) was so good of a flavor, you didn't want to stop eating and looked for things to dip the sauce into just to keep tasting the sauce. This french cuisine from the book was almost like it was its own cuisine. There are recipes that sound very good and some that do not sound good at all. The directions might not go into enough detail on some recipes to answer all your questions so be prepared for a little experimenting.
All in all, I think it is a neat book. It does not have as many recipes for things I would cook as what I hoped for. There should be something for everyone. If you don't cook with wine, don't bother. There aren't many recipes without it. Don't be afraid to alter the recipe. If we cooked the chicken as long as the directions called for, it would have been chicken jerky. If we used as much onion as it called for, it would have been in the garbage outside.
This book is written with the American in mind so you should be able to get the ingredients and understand mostly what to do. As mentioned, there are some details left out but you can get by without them. Just use a little imagination. Maybe see if you can find an old video of Julia making the dish to follow along with the book.
@Laura
