It’s been a big disappointment. On six or eight occasions, usually over a family supper, we’ve hauled it out, eagerly anticipating an in-depth explanation of some term or concept. For example, earlier this week we looked up a controversial mackerel-family fish known variously as “white tuna” and “Escolar”. Marion Burros at the Times seems to know all about it, but not Larousse. Each time we have looked something up, we have found no reference whatsoever. Most recently, tonight, we found that there was no entry for turkey Tetrazzini. So much for the comprehensive encyclopedia of food and cooking.
The tome is fascinating to dip into, if you have no agenda and just feel like killing some time. For example, here is some information about turbot (entry immediately preceding turkey):
“...Its tough skin lacks visible scales but is covered with small bony tubercles (hence its name, which derives from the Scandinavian word for a thorn).
“Highly esteemed since ancient times and nicknamed roi du carême (king of Lent) for centuries, turbot has been prepared in the most sumptuous ways. For Napoleon, Laguipière created turbot à l’impériale (cut into slices, poached in milk, arranged with crayfish tails and coated with a truffle sauce). The way in which it was cut up at table, with a silver fish slice, was formerly governed by precise rules.”
Mostly, though, it just makes you understand, with exasperation and profound sympathy for American cooks of the mid twentieth century, exactly why Julia Child became so popular as a decipherer of French arcana. From the entry on turkey:
“Selecting and preparing turkey. A good turkey should be young, plump and short-necked, with a supple windpipe. If the bird is old, its feet are reddish and scaly.”
Thank you so much, Larousse Gastronomique.
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