Both Richard Olney and his classic book The French Menu Cookbook are cited as sources of inspiration by Alice Waters, Paul Bertoli and many others.
British cook and food writer, Simon Hopkinson calls it 'immaculate instruction'.
It was originally published in 1970.
In March 2011, Ten Speed Press re-issued The French Menu Cookbook in e-book and paperback editions.
There is so much in the book to mention that rather than blabber about it I will serve a taste of it.
No recipes, to stay seasonal, here's an Informal Spring Dinner Menu:
Two Informal Spring Dinners
with appropriate wines
MENU I (FOR 6)
Hors d’oeuvre of raw vegetables
[ crudites ]
A light, young white wine, neither
too dry nor too rich: Pouilly-Fumé,
Pouilly-Fuissé, Châteauneuf-du-Pape,
Savennières, etc.
shrimp quiche
[ quiche aux crevettes ]
The same wine as the preceding
chicken in red wine
[ coq au vin ]
A 4- or 5-year-old Burgundy,
neither from a very great year nor
a very great vineyard (Côte de Beaune,
Nuits-Saint-Georges, Fixin, etc.)
or a Touraine red wine (Chinon,
Bourgueuil). Should be served cool,
but not chilled
steamed potatoes
[ pommes de terre a la vapeur ]
wild green salad
[ salade sauvage ]
cheeses
[ fromages ]
The same as the preceding, or a greater
Burgundy from an older vintage: Côte
de Nuits (Chambertin, Bonnes Mares,
Vosne-Romanée, Echezeaux, etc.)
flamri with raspberry sauce
[ flamri a la puree de framboises ]
A Sauternes
"Practically speaking, the presentation of this menu is extremely simple, for nearly everything may be prepared in advance: the coq au vin must be put to warm, eggs and cream beaten and the quiche put to bake one hour before going to table, and the potatoes put to steam just before the guests are seated—nothing more.
The visual succession is exciting, as it progresses from the tender, natural garden colors of the crudités through the delicate pinks and creams of the quiche, masked by a golden gratin, and the rich, bitter-chocolate-colored velvet of the coq au vin sauce, thrown into relief by the green of the parsley and the white potatoes, the deep greens of the salad—which, in season, may be enhanced, both in appearance and taste, by the addition of a handful of brilliantly colored nasturtium flowers—and the pale yellow and cool, transparent red of the flamri, recalling, to some extent, the quiche, but with more fantasy and sharper relief. The pale green, ruby, and deep gold of the wines enrich the effect.
The crudités, fresh and clean, sharpen the appetite. They do nothing for a wine, but as one’s guests’ glasses should never be empty, the simplest solution is to serve the same wine that will accompany the quiche. The quiche is delicate in flavor and light in effect. If it were not followed by a rich sauce, it might be accompanied by one, but it stands well without and marries beautifully with a young, fruity white wine.
The high point, culinarily speaking, is the rich and robust main dish, the quality of whose sauce holds the key to the essential success of the meal. It would kill a wine that is elaborate with the nuances of age—therefore, the wine climax follows with the cheeses.
The flamri is light. It is refined without being sophisticated, and above all, it is not rich. The Sauternes, though rich, is so totally different in character from the entire gamut of preceding wines that it, too, refreshes, cleanses and relaxes a jaded palate."
(Reprinted with permission from The French Menu Cookbook by Richard Olney, copyright © 1970, 2002. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.)