Frontières The food of France's borderlands

In this engaging cookbook and travel guide, British restaurateur Jackson weaves storytelling with food to explore the gastronomic influences of neighboring Catalonia, Basque Country, Tunisia, and il bel paese (Italy) on French cooking. Take la macaronade sètoise, a slow-cooked, mouthwatering mélange of pork ribs, sausage, and brageoles (beef rolls) served over pasta, a reasonable facsimile of Neapolitan Sunday ragù that was brought to France by immigrant sailors. From the southwest comes fried salt cod with chard, pine nuts, raisins, and saffron, a dish that might just as easily be found throughout the Mediterranean. On the eastern side, Swiss-inspired dishes like matefaim, pancakes enriched by potatoes and a little bacon fat, and farçon, a Savoie potato-and-onion cake dotted with prunes and covered in lardons, point to a very different culinary influence. Jackson's travel anecdotes and references to figures like Marseille-born crime novelist Jean-Claude Izzo add a je ne sais quoi appeal to the tome. This stunner is a compelling reminder that France's rich culinary heritage is indebted to the diverse peoples who have brought their ideas and foods across borders. After turning the final page, readers hungry for France will want to book a trip to North Africa, Spain, or Italy.

In accordance with this book's title, Jackson, a London chef, arranges his second volume about French cooking (after Provençal) geographically; it begins in Southwest France, ranges across North Africa and the Riviera, climbs across the Alps, and ends in Alsace. His focus is the places where French cuisine is inflected by neighboring cultures in Germany, Spain, North Africa, and the rest of the Mediterranean. When he introduces each region, Jackson offers a culinary gazetteer to situate readers before diving into recipes, each of which opens with a headnote. Some of the offerings, such as raw salt cod and tomato salad, are no-recipe recipes, while others (e.g., toro, a Basque fish stew) take much longer to read through and prepare. Not every dish is accompanied by a photo, but those that are feature in clean, simple images. VERDICT Home cooks probably won't turn to this for an easy dinner (the pasta and chickpea soup calls for first making homemade pasta), and vegans will find little they can adapt (seek out the minestrone al pesto). But those who love to read cookbooks, even armchair travelers, will find a treasure here, spiked with Jackson's evocative writing.--Neal Wyatt