Cusine Actuelle: one year later

Last year I got a subscription to Cuisine Actuelle as a going away present from my colleagues (discussed here).

After a year of receiving the monthly magazine plus the quarterly supplements, I can say that I'm glad to keep all the old issues, but I won't be re-subscribing. In this summer's supplement I found a recipe I 'discovered' last summer in the first issue I received. It's too be expected, but they obviously recycle their recipes each season so there's no point to keep receiving it.

In the end, I didn't rip out my favorite recipes and toss the magazines but kept them all. Until recently I had them in between my cookbooks, but the glossy paper meant they slipped and slid all over the place, so I bought a cardboard magazine organizer that works double duty as a book end for my cook books.

Around April I bought an Elle à Table magazine and read it cover to cover while waiting at the préfecture, so now I can really compare it to Cuisine Actuelle. Elle à Table had some really interesting articles on the food and wine industry and seemed less 'commercial' than Cuisine Actuelle, but it also contains fewer recipes. The strength of Cuisine Actuelle is really the sheer number of recipes each issue contains. I feel like Cuisine Actuelle also calls for cheaper ingredients (Elle à table had some cuts of meat listed as cheap that I consider more mid-range).

I wouldn't recommend Cuisine Actuelle for a beginner cook because the recipe instructions are rather laconic. My husband, for example, would probably have a hard time because each recipe has 4 steps maximum and assumes you know a lot about preparing ingredients.

The magazine has definitely helped me incorporate some classic French home cooking into my repertoire: savory tarts and quiches are my new go-to dish. I haven't had much opportunity to try the recipes on my in-laws, but I've been mostly happy with the results.