New York-based, Michelin-starred French chef Laurent Gras is the latest chef to release his first cookbook in digital form.
Like Grant Achatz of Next and Alinea in Chicago, Gras -- who has received three Michelin stars for his work at three different restaurants around the world -- chose to bypass the traditional publishing medium and go straight to the e-book route with his first cookbook Laurent Gras: My Provence.
Developed specifically for the iPad, the digital cookbook can also be viewed on any laptop or desktop and features about 40 recipes that reflect the French chef's food background growing up on the Côte d'Azur.
Dishes include classic Provence meals like ratatouille and clams marinière and other French dishes like pork chop en papillotte with juniper berries, garlic-roasted côte de bœuf and his grandmother's coffee-infused cake called gâteau de galette. Recipes include step-by-step photos and videos.
Gras's move to the digital cookbook world follows on the heels of Achatz, who could be considered the trailblazer in the domain, choosing to publish the opening act of his pop-up restaurant Next -- a menu with the theme of Paris in the year 1906 -- in e-book form and skipping the print medium altogether. Paris: 1906 was also Achatz's first cookbook publication and released last November.
Next proposes a different theme and menu every three months. The inaugural menu paid homage to French chef Auguste Escoffier.
Julia Child's 752-page tome Mastering the Art of French Cooking was likewise turned into an e-book last fall while Apple named Jamie Oliver's recipe app, Jamie's Recipes, one of the top overall iPad apps for 2011.
Laurent Gras: My Provence is available at http://www.altaeditions.com for $9.99 USD.
