Louis Diat's Home Cookbook: French Cooking for Americans

“It is the simple but delicious cookery of the French countryside that I bring you in this, my second book. In it I hope to recapture the spirit of the French home cuisine, that spirit which makes the heart of every Maitresse de maison swell with pride and satisfaction when she has prepared a delectable meal for an appreciative family.

For many years now I have catered to the haut monde in the great kitchens of Ritz hotels. It has been my privilege to prepare world-famous dishes for world-famous people. Yet never have these years dimmed my memories of the food that was served in my boyhood home

-and in thousands of French homes like my own-where even the simplest cooking was fine cooking because it was done with patience and loving care. It was, in fact, in homes such as these that the discerning tastes of France's great chefs-and the famous gourmets who have inspired and honored them-sprouted and flourished.

French cooking, like American, is to an extent regional. Just as in America, different sections take great pride in their specialties and I have included recipes for many of the important dishes served in various parts of France. But for the most part this is a collection of Bourbonnais recipes-dishes served in that small province in the center of France that borders on the Allier River, because that is where my home was and the dishes are the ones my mother served there. It was her skillful and discriminating cookery, her unforgettably delicious meals that were my first inspiration and which decided my career.”