OP: Eric Briffard Le Cinq

Antique Collectors’ Club, Suffolk, 2014. Hardcover. Very Good.

Food writer and journalist Chihiro Masui and photographer Richard Haughton have made a career of collaborating on some of the most visually arresting professional cookbooks we see come through the door at Kitchen Arts and Letters.

This monograph, first published in French in 2012, from the peak of chef Éric Briffard’s six-year stint at Le Cinq, the restaurant in Paris hotel Four Seasons George V, is one of the duo’s earliest but a remarkable example of their ability to capture the thrill and vibrance of a perfectly executed plate of food.

Éric Briffard (1961– )—who once worked under Joël Robuchon, his influence unmistakable here—organizes his menu by season with strong emphasis on produce.

Spring offers a dish of Provencal asparagus spears with gnocchi and fresh almonds. Summer is represented by steamed cod adorned with apricot and a sunlike dehydrated squash blossom, mounted with burrata and black olive. Earthy cèpes cooked in fig leaves and finished with cured duck shavings capture the flavors of autumn. And smoked salmon ravioli, served over a watercress veloute and topped with caviar, offer the warming and festive quality of the winter months.

Ours is the 2014 English language edition in Very Good condition. The jacket is lightly soiled, and the case bears a bump to the lower fore corner which has cracked the board very slightly. Anyone familiar with the original French edition will take note that this one was printed in a squatter format (8” x 10.5”). Stunningly photographed. Silver foil edges.