French Cooking in Ten Minutes by Edouard de Pomiane

This book is small, 4 x 7 inches and only 142 pages. You can read it in one sitting. It was written by a scientist a long time ago when there were only gas stoves and those were small too, and there were no frozen foods around nor microwaves so the recipes are a bit out of date. The guy is actually Polish and he is not actually a cook but he became famous in France anyway for his wit and his wisdom, so there you go.

The idea, is who has time to mess around anymore? Even back then in the 30's they were thinking that way, and now the situation is even more intense. The recipes inside are all fast and easy to manage, there are no strange exotic ingredients, except for truffles. He is thinking you have an hour or so for lunch, so get on with it, have the job over with quickly, and relax for the rest of your lunch. He suggests, come home and before taking your coat off, put on a pot of water to boil. What will you do with the pot of water? He doesn't  know, but it will be useful for one thing or another. Due to the premise being based upon speed, nothing is including that involves more time than that, techniques are left out such as braising. Everything in the book is fast. It will change your attitude about French cooking, if your attitude is not already aligned toward insouciance. The book and its author do have their critics, but who cares?

You can buy the little book used as if it were new for a few dollars on Amazon and on Abebooks.

For an example of how one recipe comes out, you can check out bitocks à la russe.