Jacques Pépin Poulets & Légumes: My Favorite Chicken & Vegetable Recipes

bought as a gift for a newlywed so read thru to be sure none of the recipes were too complex. Almost every dish was something I wanted to make and eat. Liked so much ordered a copy for myself and a third for a another gift.

All the recipes are easy to cook and are tasty.

For now my review will be based on the only recipe I have tried from this book: the chicken and rice with cumin and cilantro. I will come back and revise my review as necessary when I try other recipes. I chose the chicken and rice recipe because I was looking for another take on arroz con pollo, especially because I've always found it hard to get rice to come out just right when it is cooked along with meat and vegetables. For this recipe, I think it might be better to cook the rice separately and then combine it with the other ingredients (except the water, of course).Here are my comments on the recipe:1. The 2.5 teaspoons of salt was way too much. Maybe it would be fine if I owned a bar and needed to keep my patrons thirsty... I let my guard down because of the author's name, and that was a mistake. In fairness, the recipes in this book come from previous Jaques Pépin books. Maybe some of them were published in a saltier time in our culinary history. I should have been more cautious, but maybe, just maybe, the recipe should have been updated.2. I assumed that the recipe was well tested, and just to be sure, I bought the brand of rice that it specifies (don't bother doing that!). I also followed the instructions to the letter. Unfortunately for me, my rice was not fully cooked after the specified time, nor 10 minutes later after adding a little bit of boiling water and turning up the heat a bit, nor five minutes after that. My rice ended up being served a little "al dente," shall we say. I'm sure it will taste better tomorrow. In any case, I recommend quickly stirring the dish every 10 minutes or so while cooking, in the hope that your rice will come out more evenly cooked than mine did.3. Otherwise, the flavor was good. I particularly liked the amount of garlic and ginger used. Instead of Sriracha, I used about half a tablespoon of crushed Calabrian peppers (sold in jars at Trader Joe's, for example). Next time I will use less (a teaspoon), or try using a hot sauce.4. I liked the dish with the chicken wings. The recipe calls for 3lbs of wings, which it claims is about 20 wings. I bought a 2.9-lb. package of wings. It contained 10 wings, which weren't unusually large. The recipe says that they should cover the bottom of a 12- to 14-inch skillet. If I had browned all of the wings in one go, they would have more than covered the bottom of my large skillet (I used a large Calphalon "sauteuse"), and I think they would have been steamed instead of browned. I browned the wings in two batches. The recipe says to brown them for 8 minutes a side at high heat. If I had done that I would have had a charred mess. I quickly turned the heat down to medium and I still had to turn it off at times because the heat and the splattering oil became excessive.5. The recipe calls for a large amount of "cilantro stems." I think it's safe to say that the leaves are meant to be used as well. I have seen recipes that call for cilantro stems to be added early on in the cooking process and leaves to be added at the very end or as a garnish when serving. In this case, I chopped leaves and stems together and used some for cooking and some as a garnish. I've never seen cilantro stems used by themselves as a garnish, but maybe in France...?6. In short, the recipe is too brief, and it doesn't provide any advice on what you might need to do differently if using an electric stove, for example, or a certain type of pot.

Of course we love him! The artwork is fun. The book is as this title states. A condensed version of “The Apprentice” with Jacques’ artwork and maybe a bit more. I would buy it again but I am a fanboy. If you just buy one of his books buy that one. Lovely book.

Charming? For a cookbook? Jacques Pepin is a fabulous chicken and vegetable artist. The recipes are mainly French style chicken dishes, many dealing with roast chicken, few dealing with legs and thighs. But the drawings are so filled with personality. It's like visiting a chicken yard you really like. Many individuals are portrayed. I enjoy looking at it as much as selecting a recipe. It's intimate and friendly.

Jacques Pepin is one of the my MOST FAVORITE chefs! I am sure that this book, "Poulets & Legumes" (Chicken & Vegetables) will become a favorite. When I bought this book, I thought it was going to have chicken and BEAN recipes!! Hahaha! I guess it is obvious that I do not know how to speak or read French!But, I am super excited to try both the chicken and VEGETABLE recipes! Jacque Pepin's recipes are always delicious, yet doable! Oh, and in addition to the recipes, the illustrations are by Jacques Pepin! I am very happy with this purchase!

Wonder graphics & recipes

nice, simple and straight to the point. no pictures, just good recipes and instructions. some recipes are from his very first cooking show on pbs.

A bit misleading having the title in French but the book isn’t, otherwise traditional recipes and good old school feel to the book.

Husband has all his cook books, he says they are amazing. Uses them all time

Used this for cooking great meals

I liked the amount of recipes

Great recipes, easy to follow and make, its fun to read