The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth

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First edition of Roy Andries de Groot's Auberge of the Flowering Hearth, a book that influenced a generation of American chefs.

The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth, first published in 1973, by Roy Andries De Groot, in which he writes about the time he spent at a French inn by that name (L'Auberge de l'Atre Fleuri in St-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, Savoy) and the good meals he ate there. It addresses the logic of constructing a meal of several dishes so that they harmonize with one another, to the use of primarily local and seasonal ingredients to contribute to this harmony, and also an internal harmony within individual dishes. It is also a snapshot of old-school aperitifs, such as kir, and illustrates how a kitchen of little pretention can put out world-class food in an evironment of passion, hard work, sound technique, long experience, etc. One of the more interesting aspects of the book is that de Groot was blind.