The Hands On French Cookbook is an interesting and tasty hybrid language & culture cookbook with recipes by Elisabeth de Châtillon. Due out 2nd June 2021, it's 156 pages and will be available in paperback format.
This is a really fun bilingual cookbook and vocabulary for learning and retaining French words by learning to cook 10 different recipes; 5 main dishes and 5 desserts. Research has shown that tying information to muscle memory is a very good way to retain it permanently. Associating the word "stir" with the action of stirring is a great way to remember the word in another language (French). All of the instructions and vocabulary are given in both French and English.
Recipes are all pictured and are exhaustively described with specific, complete, easy-to-follow step by step preparation directions. The ingredients are given with both American standard and metric measures (yay!!). Recipes are accompanied by interesting trivia about the origin of the dish and time of year/occasions where it's popular. The recipes have a French flair and include classics like quiche, crepes, salad nicoise, chocolate mousse, and gateau.
This is a very useful book and would make a superlative selection for library acquisition, classroom support text, as well as home use. It's appropriate for all ages, though I would say it's possibly intended for a younger (middle school or older) audience. It's *not* a complete resource or language textbook on its own and there are no pronunciation guides.
The drawings and graphics are appealing and simple - mostly line drawn with the exception of the recipe photographs. The dishes are presented appealingly and serving suggestions are appetizing and appropriate.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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