3 stars
Michael Joseph, £20
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Chances are, you’ll already know whether Rachel Khoo – Croydon child turned Paris-based chef and BBC star, with a nice line in cute polka dot dresses – floats your gravy boat. If you happen to be the type who furrows their brow at full-page spreads of mademoiselle looking elfin in Breton stripes while whipping up something with clams and calvados over a camping stove, this substantial volume is probably best left out of your Christmas stocking.
Khoo was a reassuring companion on the simplified classic recipes that made up her TV series and first cookbook ‘The Little Paris Kitchen’. Volume two is a lot more ambitious, as Rachel tours the land of Comté and Chablis for some wide-eyed culinary ethnography, attempting the same lightness of touch while cleaving through the skull of a lobster. The results are visually gorgeous (if you like your France Instagrammed) and the clear recipes with their chatty introduction for each region make interesting reading, be it ham hocks in beer or a chocolate and crème fraiche tart.
It is a struggle, though, to pick out a recipe that doesn’t require a significant investment of time and ingredients. This is fine, of course, but might deceive those looking for a straightforward sequel. Like Khoo herself, the book’s self-conscious simplicity and artless good looks barely conceal cookery that’s out of reach of most real-life little kitchens.
Ellen Hardy, Time Out London Issue 2257 December 10-16, 2013
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