The Lost Kitchen

An evocative, gorgeous four-season look at cooking in Maine, with 100 recipes
 
No one can bring small-town America to life better than a native. Erin French grew up in Freedom, Maine (population 719), helping her father at the griddle in his diner. An entirely self-taught cook who used cookbooks to form her culinary education, she now helms her restaurant, The Lost Kitchen, in a historic mill in the same town, creating meals that draw locals and visitors from around the world to a dining room that feels like an extension of her home kitchen. The food has been called “brilliant in its simplicity and honesty” by Food & Wine, and it is exactly this pure approach that makes Erin’s cooking so appealing—and so easy to embrace at home.

This stunning giftable package features a vellum jacket over a printed cover.
“This Freedom, Maine, restaurant, located in a restored 1800s mill, is a hot ticket these days, and has the reservation wait list to prove it. French, whose beautiful story needs to be heard, truly delivers with a book full of fantastic seasonal recipes like Maine halibut Niçoise.”
—Tasting Table, Best New Cookbooks for Spring 2017

“This charming, tremendously personal book speaks so beautifully of the remote and glorious land it comes from, and is packed with wonderful 'perfectly imperfect' tales of life, cooking, and the love of place. Erin French’s passion is contagious and her simple but nuanced and detailed ingredient-focused cooking captivating. Think Wood-Smoked Leg of Lamb with Garlic Scape & Mint Pesto, Fried Green Tomatoes with Buttermilk & Chives, and Sweet Parsnip Cake with Hazelnuts & Mascarpone—oh, my!”
—Suzanne Goin
 
“Long before I got to the very tempting recipes in The Lost Kitchen, I was hooked by Erin French’s charming storytelling. Home cooks will enjoy the warm tone in which Erin has written her recipes. They are a breeze to follow, call for only a handful of mostly easy-to-find ingredients, and reveal the good life of the four seasons in Maine.”
—Nancy Silverton
 
“One of the most magical experiences of my life was eating at Erin French’s Lost Kitchen, a magnificent restaurant-in-a-mill in Freedom, Maine. The food was deeply personal, local, and delicious. I am filled with joy at the prospect of re-creating some of the dishes at home from the recipes in this gorgeous cookbook.”
—Dana Cowin
 
"At first I thought this was simply a gorgeous restaurant book full of the food I love to eat, but now I think Erin French has done something more magical than that; hers is that luscious, dim restaurant you go to in your dreams, the one that feeds you in every sense of the word. Her food isn’t just beautiful—although it is—it also contains emotions, moods, and a lot of love for her Maine roots."
—Amy Thielen

“Part of the allure in perusing The Lost Kitchen, I admit, is that I won’t be scoring a reservation to Erin French’s boutique restaurant anytime soon. So re-creating her food is as close as I’ll get to understanding why the Lost Kitchen has become such a dining destination. Bordering on precious, some might say, but the cookbook is both aspirational and attainable. And it could be the only one I read this year that offered directions for concocting a milk-and-honey body scrub.“
—The Washington Post, The Best Cookbooks of 2017


The Best Cookbooks for Holiday Gifts 2017—Remodelista