French cooking for Americans was never the same after Clementine came into our kitchens … This tale of a cook taught us that we, too, could turn out a splendid home-style French meal in our very own American kitchens. -Julia Child

When Clementine in the Kitchen

first appeared in 1943, it immediately captivated American readers, and a new edition, revised by Narcisse Chamberlain, taught a generation of cooks that French family cooking could easily flourish in their own kitchens. Written by the artist Samuel Chamberlain under the pen name Phineas Beck, it recounts the gastronomic adventures of the Beck/Chamberlain family during the decade that their beguiling Burgundian cook Clementine produced wonderful French meals for them, both in France and in their New England home in Marblehead.

This edition includes a delicious collection of more than 170 traditional recipes-classic dishes, regional specialties, and much that is useful for special occasions: filets de sole au vin blanc, boeuf a la mode, endives braisees. But the most compelling are plain and old-fashioned. These are the dishes that identify the Clementine family style, a style so French, so civilized, so knowing in its use of ingredients that it cannot become impractical or ever go out of date.