French Cooking Academy launch their first cookbook - November 29, 2023 - The Standard - video Dailymotion

WATCH: Stephane Nguyen and Kate Blenkiron discuss the creative process that went into their new cookbook.

Transcript

00:00 We do an online culinary school, so we do lots of courses online and teach home cooks

00:06 how to cook French food.

00:08 We had the idea of always creating a book.

00:11 We never came to the question of making it, and we had a chance to be approached by an

00:16 American publisher that tells us, "Are you interested to do a book?"

00:19 And that's how it started.

00:21 And for me, I think the book, I wanted to make something that's removed that kind of

00:24 stigma that goes with French cooking.

00:26 French cooking is always like, "Oh, it's fine dining, it's complicated, it takes hours in

00:31 the kitchen."

00:32 And I said, "Okay, so if I make a book, I want to make something accessible to anyone,

00:37 so anyone can pick it up."

00:38 You're going to find a wide array of French recipes going from starters all the way to

00:42 desserts.

00:43 It's easy to make, very few steps, and simple ingredients.

00:47 We pretty much did the whole thing together.

00:49 So Stefan would come up with the recipes and test them.

00:54 We'd write it together, and I did all the photographs.

00:56 So it was definitely a labor of love.

01:00 Learning some French techniques can be applied in other cuisines as well.

01:03 So learning it can make you an overall better cook.

01:07 But yeah, I just think you can't go past some of the flavors.

01:11 You definitely can't go past the desserts.

01:14 Yeah, the desserts is one of those things that people were waiting for this, even the

01:18 publishers, "Oh, make sure there's some good desserts."

01:21 [silence]