The Cook's Atelier:

Recipes, Techniques, And Stories From Our French Cooking School

IACP 2019 Award Winning Cookbook in Food Photography & Styling and The Design Award

The Cook’s Atelier cookbook offers a taste of Burgundy, with classic French recipes and cooking techniques, captivating photos, and stories of a family's life in France.

Mother-daughter duo Marjorie Taylor and Kendall Smith Franchini always dreamed of living in France. With a lot of hard work and a dash of fate, they realized this dream and co-founded The Cook’s Atelier, a celebrated French cooking school in the storybook town of Beaune, located in the heart of Burgundy’s wine region. Combining their professional backgrounds in food and wine, they created an international culinary destination, attracting visitors from near and far for their approachable and convivial style of cooking. For the first time, they invite the reader inside their family Atelier to experience the warmth and magic through their debut cookbook, The Cook’s Atelier (Abrams, April 10, 2018).

The Cook’s Atelier cookbook chronicles their journey through food and their relationships with the region’s small farmers—butchers, bakers, cheese makers, gardeners, fish mongers and winemakers. Personal stories are sprinkled among stunning seasonal menus, offering a glimpse of their life in Burgundy. Featuring more than 100 market-inspired recipes and over 300 beautiful images, the book is an extension of their cooking school, providing a refreshingly simplistic and gorgeous take on classic French techniques and recipes that every cook should know—basic butchery techniques, essential stocks and sauces, French pastry, dessert creams and sauces, and preserving to name a few.

Recipes include a combination of their takes on French classics, such as Sole Meunière with Beurre Blanc, Duck Pâté en Croûte, and a wintry Pot-au-Feu to family-friendly, inventive uses of their regional bounty, from Green Garlic Soufflé, Watermelon and Vineyard Peach Salad, and Roasted Leg of Lamb with Fava Beans. Quintessential French desserts like Madeleines, Chocolate Mousseline, and Lemon Soufflés grace the pages along with seasonal favorites like Summer Berry Tart, Plum Tarte Tatin, and a simple Orange Cake with Candied Citrus. This beautiful book, with enchanting photographs showcasing the beauty behind classic French techniques, stunning food photography, and captivating lifestyle images depicting Burgundy through the seasons, is a timeless addition to any cook’s library.

The Cook’s Atelier transports the reader into a richly illustrated presentation of the family’s passion for the food, culture, and people of Burgundy. Readers can almost hear the clanking of the copper pots and pans, the hissing of the vintage Italian espresso machine, and the merriment of the voices gathered around the dining table. It is much more than just a cookbook; it’s an inspirational celebration of joie de vivre and a practical primer for adopting elements of the French lifestyle, no matter where you live.

Marjorie Taylor and Kendall Smith Franchini are the mother-and-daughter duo and co-founders of The Cook’s Atelier, a French cooking school, culinary boutique, and wine shop in Beaune, France.

After years working as a pastry chef and later running her own farm-to-table restaurant and cooking school, Marjorie took a leap of faith, leaving everything behind to start anew and join her daughter, Kendall, in Burgundy, France. A true Francophile at heart, Kendall pursued French studies at University, ultimately moving to Paris to work for Christie’s auction house. She quickly developed a side passion for wine, which eventually led to Beaune, where she fine-tuned her viticulture and oenology studies in Burgundy’s wine country.

After years of research, professional work experience, and study – both in food and wine, independently and together – Marjorie and Kendall joined paths in Beaune and founded The Cook’s Atelier, a renowned small family business and brand.

The Cook’s Atelier has been featured in many publications, including Travel & Leisure, Fodor’s, Food & Wine, Condé Nast Traveler, Departures Magazine, Rick Steves, Côté Est, and more.

Publisher’s Weekly, STARRED review

“Mother and daughter Taylor and Franchini— originally from Phoenix, Ariz.—offer classic French recipes based on their cooking school of the book’s title in the Burgundy region. Seasonal dishes such as small galettes with leeks and goat cheese and green garlic soufflé are interspersed with profiles of local artisans, including pharmacist-turned- shepherd Yan Lagouge, whose sheep and goats provide milk for soft cheeses and yogurt. The descriptions and instructions are clear and practical (“The frisee wilts slightly when drizzled with a warmed vinaigrette and topped with a poached farm egg”). Menus are seasonal and thematic: a collection of dishes meant to be eaten by a roaring fire in damp weather includes baked endive gratin, while dinner in a vineyard (which the authors managed to pull off, but acknowledge was probably a once-in-a-lifetime event due to complicated logistics) ends with a buttery cake made moist with peaches and raspberries. Background information is as thoughtfully composed as the recipes: Sections on tools, basic methods and “rituals,” and a brief section on clarified butter and compound butters are helpful. The authors are remarkably adept at conveying what makes their adopted home so special, and their seductive book is likely to have readers fantasizing about their own escapes to France. (Apr.)”
Fine Cooking

“A welcoming 400-page beauty filled with evocative photographs and approachable recipes, it’s a volume you’ll revisit time and again.”
Conde Nast Traveler

“This 400-page cookbook isn't just straight inspiration: It's a thorough reference to their Burgundy larder, with guidance on cooking essentials, seasonal menus composed of more than 100 recipes, kitchen rituals, and techniques they insist any cook can master.”
Image Magazine, Ireland

“The Cook's Atelier, by Marjorie Taylor and Kendall Smith Franchini, is no ordinary cookery book, but a 360° love letter to French cooking, from the kitchen environment and its tools right through to the selection of ingredients, cooking techniques, and wine pairings. Serious about perfecting your culinary skills? This book is for you.”