How This<br > Book Began<br >---~--~-t didn t take too much persuasion to induce you re the cook and butler combined? How do<br > me to do another television cooking series， you shop for the meal? What staples do you<br > particularly since nay husband， Paul， approved， have on hand? How do you time the cooking<br > my friend and collaborator Ruth Lockwood and then， of course， how do you cook every-<br > was willing， as was my chief associate cook， thing? Or， on another occasion， the big boss is<br > Elizabeth Bishop， and our original producer of coming to dinner; you don t know him (or<br > The French Chef， Russell Morash. But， we all her!) very well but you do know they re a<br > decided， it was time to be entirely different， pretty conservative meat-and-potatoes couple.<br > with a new title， a new musical theme (this So what do you plan for them? Or you are to<br > one-which I describe as an elephant walk by have a comfortable family-style Sunday night<br > bassoons-was developed by Robert J. Lurt- supper， with both grown-ups and children.<br > sema， host of Boston s WGBH-Radio s Morn- What would be fun for all? What do you have<br > ing Pro-Musica program)， and a real kitchen ready， and what can everyone join in on? Or<br > rather than a take-away set. We wanted a big you ve planned a barbecue but it looks like<br > room of our own where we could open the rain， or you just want a cozy and delicious<br > door， walk in， and start cooking..， and then meal for intimate friends.<br > walk out again， closing the door behind us But how can you cook a whole menu in a<br > (our set designer， Fran Mahard， gave us this TV half hour ? We did full menus a few times<br > blue， green， and white beauty that you ll be on The Frenrh Chef， but they were tour-de-<br > seeing in the photographs throughout). Also， force fast-food operations that actually did<br > after over zoo programs on The French Chef， take only half an hour to cook. These would be<br > eve felt it was time to get away from the purely more normal and leisurely meals. Even so， I d<br > French tradition. We would go in for general be able to do only two or three of the dishes in<br > cooking where we could draw from anywhere the allotted 3~ minutes， and I would simply<br > and everywhere， since that really is the Ameri- have to show the rest already finished.<br > can way of doing things. A further decision Obviously we needed a book to complete the<br > was that we d show a whole menu rather than picture， and this is it. Here are not only all the<br > just a single dish or subject. After all， one is not recipes shown on television， but all the recipes<br > cooking in limbo. A dish belongs in a meal， for every dish displayed or mentioned but not<br > and the cook has to plan the meal so that what cooked for you. Thus， whether or not you wit-<br > goes with what makes gastronomic sense， nessed the event on the air， this book tells the<br > Let us have， said we， a series of shows whole story for each one of ~ 3 occasions， from<br > featuring menus for special occasions--the the planning and buying to the timing and the<br > special kind that most of us run into most of actual cooking of each dish on the menu. Also，<br > the time For example， you suddenly find that because the best food is the freshest， there is a<br > ) our guest list has swelled to J9 people. You series of other choices for ever}" dish-in case<br > can t sit them dow ~ at your table; you ll have the ingredients for the main recipe are not<br > to ser e tlwm buffet sty e. Anyway， stand-up or available or a particular item of food does not<br > sit-down， what do you feed to J 9 people when appeal to you. And， since the occasions we<br >