Good value for money - 2 books, 2 styles of cuisine, 1 attention to detail.
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Quick clear up. This set comprises of both standard individual books, The French Laundry and Bouchon with a nice printed hardboard sleeve (pictured). The addition of the hardboard sleeve to slot both books in along with the price is the only difference in buying both books separately.
Onto the review.
I knew I wanted The French Laundry to challenge myself and take my cooking to another level, but wasn't really drawn to Bouchon particularly (I have a lot of "normal" cookbooks). However when I purchased this from Amazon it was an extra £8 on top of The French Laundry to get Bouchon thrown in (Bouchon RRP £40), so I thought why not and ended up surprised how much I like the Bouchon book.
They are books to bring out at different times. TFL is all about haute cuisine but Bouchon is much more homely cooking (although very refined may I add). I think of Heston's in search of perfection with Bouchon. Down to earth dishes but Keller is not making compromises. The French Onion soup in the book is meant to be the best it can be and that requires time, care and attention. They are by no means quick convenience food recipes, you still need to do some work.
TFL is not for the faint of heart. Read the reviews on the individual TFL page as it is all covered there.
Both books feature a lot of recipes. Only one thing disappointed me slightly and that was some recipes have no picture so you cannot be sure that you have the presentation exactly how Keller does it. I've not marked down for this though as they are big books and more pictures would only make them bigger, maybe a smallish thumbnail shot would be a solution for future books.
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