La Cuisine: Everyday French Home Cooking

Beginning in the 1960s, Bernard revolutionized French cooking by writing cookbooks aimed at the modern woman. This grand volume overflows with charmingly homey recipes--onion soup, croque mignon, steak au poivre, coq au vin, tuna provencale, and potatoes boulangere.

Françoise Bernard came of age in Paris during the Occupation, which taught her the importance of economy in the kitchen. Her first cookbook, published in 1963, Mes Recettes Faciles, has sold more than one million copies and is still in print. Jane Sigal is a contributing editor at Food & Wine and has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Fine Cooking.