The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth

The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth by Roy Andries De Groot, was published in 1973, in which de Groot writes about the time he spent at a French inn by that name (L'Auberge de l'Atre Fleuri in St-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, Savoy) and the good meals he ate there. It addresses the logic of constructing a meal of several dishes so that they harmonize with one another, to the use of primarily local and seasonal ingredients to contribute to this harmony, and also an internal harmony within individual dishes. It is also a snapshot of old-school aperitifs, such as kir, and illustrates how a kitchen of little pretension can put out world-class food in an environment of passion, hard work, sound technique, long experience, etc. One of the more interesting aspects of the book is that de Groot was blind.