Bistrotier: Le Livre des Joues Rouges et des Assiettes a Saucer

In this hearty, charming book of predominately traditional bistro fare, Stephane Reynaud, scion of a French family of butchers and pig farmers, offers up what he proudly proclaims are 80 pages of drinking and 400 pages of eating.

Happily suggesting wines and the occasional beer to accompany the food, Reynaud writes brief recipes that seem to assume one old kitchen hand is sharing with another.

If the instructions are somewhat brief, the range of the dishes is not, showcasing the likes of  oeufs mayo, duck rillettes, and a hearty cabbage and bacon soup along with lapin au cidre, pig trotters with sauce gribiche, and an apricot gateau.

Reynaud's previous books on such unmistakably French subjects as pork, terrines, and tripe have all had regrettably short lives, so we hope that this is one work which will buck that trend.

In French. Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.