You’ll be mixing, drinking and snacking like a Parisian in no time with the help of this lovely, informative and helpful book. Full of history, cocktails and recipes for all seasons, you’ll find something wonderful on every page. Also included is a handy buying guide to help navigate spirits you may not yet be familiar with.

Details:

224 Pages
5-1/2 x 8

Aperitif: Cocktail Hour The French Way
by Rebekah Peppler

JAMES BEARD AWARD FINALIST • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FOOD NETWORK
Grab a light drink and a bite, and enjoy cocktail hour, the French way.

For the French, the fleeting interlude between a long workday and the evening meal to come is not meant to be hectic or crazed. Instead, that time is a much needed chance to pause, take a breath, and reset with light drinks and snacks. Whether it’s a quick affair before dashing out the door to your favorite Parisian bistro or a lead-up to a more lavish party, Apéritif is about kicking off the night, rousing the appetite, and doing so with the carefree spirit of connection and conviviality. Apéritif celebrates that easygoing lifestyle with simple yet stylish recipes for both classic and modern French apéritif-style cocktails, along with French-inspired bites and hors d’oeuvres.

Keeping true to the apéritif tradition, you’ll find cocktail recipes that use lighter, low-alcohol spirits, fortified wines, and bitter liqueurs. The impressive drinks have influences from both Old World and New, but are always low fuss and served barely embellished—an easy feat to pull off for the relaxed host at home.

Apéritif also offers recipes for equally breezy bites, such as Radishes with Poppy Butter, Gougères, Ratatouille Dip, and Buckwheat-Sel Gris Crackers. For evenings that are all about ease and approachability without sacrificing style or flavor, Apéritif makes drinking and entertaining at home as effortless, fun, and effervescent as the offerings themselves

Handsomely photographed and thoughtfully laid out with a how-to section, an aperitif primer, and a chapter on equipping your bar, this guide to the French version of happy hour is a must-have for anyone who enjoys entertaining. The French weave the art of seduction into everyday life, and author Rebekah Peppler imbues her writing with that feeling as she brings readers along on her journey from New York to France and her initiation into the world of the aperitif.

An integral part of French culture from childhood on and lasting anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes, l’apero is a social time involving light cocktails, wines, beers, Champagne, and liqueurs generously served with snacks of various sorts. A double entendre, the verb aperir means “to open” the appetite and also the evening. An aperitif surely does both. L’apero, the colloquial form of the word, is used interchangeably to connote both the drink and that special time of day, which Peppler calls “the witching hour between day and night.” If you love a good cocktail, you’ll be charmed by Peppler’s approach to this time-honored tradition.

Praise for Apéritif

“With a dram of humor, Ms. Peppler provides a primer with the history and uses of various apéritifs.”—The New York Times, “19 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2018”

“With witty and honest prose and stunning photography, this book is one to keep out on the coffee table (or bar cart).”—Food & Wine, “Best Cocktail Books of Fall 2018”

“Step aside, Italian aperitivo. This book moves over into the equally stylish and luxurious territory of the French cocktail hour, providing recipes for classic and contemporary before-dinner French cocktails, along with light bites.”—Epicurious

The 19 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2018 —New York Times

Best Cocktail Books of Fall 2018 —Food & Wine

All the Best Cookbooks to Gift in 2018 —Food Network