The Lost Kitchen: Recipes and a Good Life Found in Freedom, Maine: A Cookbook

I am a huge fan of The Lost Kitchen and Getting Lost With Erin French series on Magnolia Network. Recently read her autobiography Finding Freedom and was deeply touched by her amazing story. I buy and read cookbooks all of the time but hers really inspire me. I came to cooking later and life and while my recipes don’t always turn out the way I would like, I still enjoy the process. What appeals to me most about these recipes as I read through is how simple they are but how they put different ingredients together in ways I would not have thought to do on my own. I saw one reviewer remark that she won’t be foraging for some of the ingredients that Erin uses so found the cookbook useless. I couldn’t disagree more. Erin does use ingredients that I may not be able to get but she seems to offer alternatives for most and if I can’t get something I will leave it out. It’s clear to me just by reading them that the recipes will stand on their own. If you are like me and love to read cookbooks for inspiration, I highly suggest this one and her other Big Heart Little Stove. Both are packed full of beautiful pictures of her food and of Maine which I love. There are a ton of tips and tricks and anecdotes from Erin which make me smile. I actually can’t wait to cook my way through both of her cookbooks because having watched The Lost Kitchen and listening to her create and serve many of these recipes, I can’t wait to try them myself! I will come back and update my review on the quality of the recipes after that but I would say buy this book without even having prepared them yet. So inspirational.

A beautiful book in its photography, design layout, and food imagery - one wants to make every food item pictured. The print and color quality is great, no strangely colored photos. The recipes are diverse, easy to understand and to make, most with easily accessible ingredients. Included in the book is a list of edible plants that grow in the wild for those that live rurally or have access to unique ingredients. The stories are interesting so there is a dual focus to the cookbook. I gave this to my young nephew who is in cooking school for a Christmas Eve gift. Christmas day he sent a photo of himself holding the book and another with a recipe he had made and a thumbs up. The dish looked amazing and everyone in his family thought it was delicious.

I recently treated myself to this book after reading about The Lost Kitchen and Erin's story. The book itself is absolutely beautiful, and the stories really give you a sense of place. I loved reading Erin's stories about Maine, her ingredient sourcing tales, and recipe notes. Really I wish there was more - this sharing makes it much more than a cookbook (which I personally love - I know not everyone feels this way about "cookbooks"). Erin's story is very inspirational to me personally as I'm in the beginning years of owning a small creative business. The recipes are varied - many traditional New England with a modern update. Many entrees feature meat (again, it's what's local and seasonal) which my family doesn't eat super often but we'll be turning to these when we do. There are some wonderful seafood preparations along with how-to's (ie. how to eat a lobster, anyone?) that I look forward to trying. Several desserts have also piqued my interest. If you eat seasonally, most especially in the northeast or Pacific northwest, you will find that these recipes call for easily sourced ingredients. Thank you so very much for sharing your story, Erin. I can't wait to visit your restaurant one day soon.

Freedom, Maine, hosts one of the least well known, but most wanted to eat there restaurants. It is always full, takes reservations once a year, and many people wait years to get a reservation. The chef, Erin French, has written a superb cookbook. The stories she tells of how she came to be this important chef, and the recipes she has put together is a story in itself. Working in her father’s diner in the same town where she grew up, Erin developed a taste for new and exciting versions of old recipes. In this book she gives us her recipes, and although they sound delicious, not many of them would I try at home. I think you have to be there, to celebrate the home grown veggies and meats and how they are put together. The cookbook’s first 20 pages are all about Erin and her life and how she came to be the chef in an old mill turned restaurant. The next portion discusses utensils and cooking pots. Erin loves the cast iron pans and gives explicit directions on the use and care. Then, we begin with the recipes. The cookbook is broken into the four seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Each season has a beginner or starter recipes, onto entrees and dessert. These are simple foods turned into delicious fare with the additions of herbs and spices. This is Erin at her best. The gingerbread and spice cookies whetted my appetite, and those I will try. A thank you to her staff, family and friends, and food suppliers ends the cookbook, a gracious thank you. I wanted to mention the exquisite book cover, it is a see through material of green that gives the allure of mystery, just beautiful. The photographs are plentiful, but not of each recipe. This is a cookbook to cherish, and I hope to get it autographed in person, at some time. Recommended. prisrob 09-13-18

I was eager to purchase this cookbook because I had previously read, somewhere, about the chef/author's amazing culinary journey that resulted in the "Lost Kitchen" in Maine. So many things about the book were delightful: her story; an ode to cast iron here; to maple syrup there. I love cookbooks that tell stories, and "Lost Kitchen" delivers with charming vignettes about the restaurant--such as why guests who wish to imbibe are "required by Freedom law" to purchase their bottles of wine downstairs before bringing them upstairs to the restaurant. The recipes are true to the author's origin and cookery: it's all Maine and the New England seacoast. Although many ingredients, including such delicacies as garlic scapes, will be accessible to those with a good Farmers' Market, those for most seafood dishes will be accessible only to those in New England or with access to a world-class fishmonger: razor clams, smelts, periwinkles fresh from the Maine seacoast, black sea bass, squid, whole trout, cod, mussels, oysters, and the incredible Maine shrimp (these are itty-bitty shrimp only available for a flash of weeks or months in mid-winter). Some foraged ingredients, such as ramps and fiddleheads, may not be accessible to most home cooks--and they don't translate to supermarkets. Nor may rabbit (substitute duck) or moose (a gift from the author's neighbor). However, others (elderflower) are easy to find in the Northeast; and I'm pretty sure every gardener has some chives (for the blossoms). This would have been a 5-star review, because the author is true to her ingredients and her vision, except for some inexplicable flaws in my Kindle edition: 1) gorgeous color photos for "Radishes and Butter" and "Quail Eggs and Celery Salt" have no recipes; 2) a recipe for "Sunchoke Soup with creme fraiche and marigolds" lacks an ingredient list. I'm nicking a star for the formatting. Clarkson Potter, I hope you're listening: this book deserves better formatting and a 5-star review. Other than that noted above, the Kindle formatting is excellent: everything is clickable. Many, but not most, recipes have color photos. As for the recipes, there are some classics: "Saturday Night Baked Beans," "New England Brown Bread' (cooked, IMO, the "correct" way in a coffee can), and "New England Boiled Dinner." As I write this, I've recently read a NYT article about the current shortage of Maine shrimp. I'm hoping that I'll be able once again to enjoy these delicate beauties--with Chef French's recipes!

Beautiful recipes and photos! I bought this book as a gift for my sister, and she loves it. If you’re one of those people who likes to read cookbooks, this is one you’ll enjoy! If you aren’t able to get a reservation at The Lost Kitchen restaurant, cooking some of these recipes will be the next best thing.

A friend was fortunate enough to be selected (random drawing each year) to have eaten at The Lost Kitchen. Praise was detailed! Erin French’s story is uplifting, and her dedication to excellence and simplicity in creating menus from local and seasonal ingredients is well known. A cousin is moving to Maine, so…what a perfect gift. Recipes, photos, history and deliciousness all beautifully bound in this cookbook.

I ordered this last night (11/6) while watching The Lost Kitchen on HBO Max. The book arrived today, November 7th. I was planning to give it as a hostess gift for a friend on Thanksgiving. Although the shipping box wasn’t damaged, the book had a deep gash in the back cover, so I’m sending it back. I will NOT be reordering this book. After paging thru the beautifully written and photographed cookbook the ingredients that Erin French employs in many of her recipes are NOT easily sourced and so it would not be a cookbook that would be used by anyone I know. ALL of my friends LOVE and WATCH her show, The Lost Kitchen. We would ALL enjoy winning her annual postcard lottery to have the chance to dine at her restaurant, but this is NOT a “simple” cookbook. Although the directions for most of the recipes are certainly straightforward, it’s the unusual ingredients that Erin uses that would present a challenge (edible flowers, chive blossoms, periwinkles, pea tendrils, razor clams, smelts, ramps, fiddleheads, etc.) and that’s just some of the ingredients contained in the first 40 pages! (The actual book is over 250 pages!!!) This is one of those books that would make a good read but then would sit on your shelf collecting dust. It’s not a practical book by any means. I’ve been cooking for over 50 years. I am addicted to the Food Network. I’m a foodie. I know my way around a kitchen. I plan elaborate, gourmet meals for my friends. But I’d never use this book. I guess it’s a blessing in disguise that the book came damaged, as otherwise I would have quickly gift-wrapped it and never bothered opening it. That would have been a mistake as my friend (who is hosting Thanksgiving) would not use this book. So it would have been a wasted hostess gift. (I think I’ll bring chocolates & wine instead) Bottom line: If you are a fan of the Ina Garten style of cooking (I own most of Ina’s cookbooks and refer to them often) and the way Ina simply explains a recipe, with easily sourced ingredients, you will be sorely disappointed in Erin’s style of recipe writing with her hard-to-find ingredients. On the positive side: The quality of Erin’s cookbook is absolutely beautiful, as the cover is an embossed heavy tweed with matte color photos. This cookbook was perhaps written for residents of Maine where one can “forage in the woods” and also buy fresh shellfish. Living in Arizona, we don’t have that luxury. Kindly excuse me while I watch another episode of The Lost Kitchen.

Amei o livro da Erin French , tem receitas maravilhosas e facil de fazer, e tudo bem explicado.. Não vejo a hora de comprar o novo livro Big Heart Little Stove..

Erin French‘s Kochbuch lädt alle ein, nicht nur die Küche Maine‘s zu probieren, sondern bringt die Gaumenfreuden allen Affinisten näher. Sehr empfehlenswert und toll gestaltet!

Warm, lovely, and down to earth. Reading Erin French's book is like having a friend welcoming you into their house at their most beloved corner of the world.

Great book

Fantastico libro con muy buenas y fáciles recetas y una buena historia detras de esta joven chef americana muy prometedora.