Originally published under the title Noveu Larousse Gastronomique.Third impression 1979. ( )

This is the red one. It's the one I took with me when I lived in Portugal for a little while. I read it cover to cover, believe it or not. I recommend the experience.

At the time I only had a tiny kitchen that had a two-burner propane range with an oven the size of a microwave oven. There was no refridgerator. The only cookware I had was a sheet pan, two speckleware wok-shaped pots of different sizes, one bowl, a spoon, a slotted spoon, a whisk and my knives.

Every day I went shopping at the markets for fresh ingredients. I let the season dictate what I'd eat. The produce (in the broad sense) in Portugal in the spring and summer of 1989 was magic.

The food that my little, inconvenient kitchen put out was some of the best I've ever cooked. I didn't use that many actual recipes from the Larousse, but it informed everything I prepared in a sort of parallel way. ( )