Introduction
My cooking classes focus on classic French techniques which， as we all know， can be complex and
time-consuming. However， many of my recipes can be cooked quickly， and much of what I teach is
easy. In fact， it gives me great pleasure~to help busy people continue to cook well， however short of
time they， may be， by compiling recipes which can be prepared and cooked in an hour.
Freshness in food is what I always stress， whether in quick or elaborate recipes. The quality of the
ingredients is crucial to the excellence of a dish. And， although it is difficult in certain parts of the
country to find fresh ingredients， freshness is important enough to encourage. I insist on it， not out of
snobbery but because I am convinced that demand eventually influences supply. We have only to look
at how the availability of ingredients has improved everywhere in the last 15 years to know that we all
must continue to demand fresh， high-quality ingredients in order to ensure their continued ac-
cessibility.
The word \"fresh\" implies quality， but it is not enough to procure fresh ingredients if they are not
good. The hard green tomatoes we buy in winter are \"fresh，\" but they are so tasteless that they are in-
finitely inferior to canned varieties.
All the recipes in this book were selected because they can be prepared and cooked within an hour，
so it is doubly important to select your ingredients carefully. For example， you must choose a cut of
meat that will not require long marination or patient simmering. When you cook quickly， the inherent
flavor， texture and quality of ingredients are immediately apparent.
To avoid the trap that often accompanies quick cookingmthe less time you spend on a recipe， the
more it has to costmI use some ingredients that are inexpensive， but atypical of classic French cuisine.
Bulgur wheat， a staple in Middle Eastern cooking， has a texture and flavor that rival rice， but never ap-
pears on French menus. Bean curd， a soybean product familiar to students of Oriental cooking， is not
used in the Western kitchen， but it has such marvelous properties adaptable to quick cooking that I
used it freely in several recipes. This is why， every now and then， you will see the use of ingredients not
usually associated with the cuisine I teach.
Recipes that are quick to prepare often rely on simple techniques. Only twice do I suggest very
delicate techniques--for a sauce thickened with butter， and for a dessert sauce thickened with egg
yolks. Otherwise， the most complicated techniques I use here are the beating and folding of egg whites
and the making of an egg-and-butter emulsion in a b~arnaise. I included such techniques deliberately
INTRODUCTION ] 11
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