Great gifts from great Gallic gourmets REVIEWS BY SYBIL PRATT

Despite the righteous rampage for low-fat everything and meals that magically mitigate calories, many of us still think of French cuisine as the fairest fare of all. A trio of brilliant, French chefs, all honored with many Michelin stars, have produced elegant, inspiring books that are vibrant, visual evocations of their philosophies and their recipes.

Alain Ducasse, one of the most celebrated chefs and restauranteurs of the Western World, makes his American cookbook debut with Ducasse: Flavors of France. Large and lavish, with luscious color photographs, this is not a book for the novice; it's more a spectacular seminar in serious French cooking, albeit revitalized, reinterpreted, and lighter than its classic antecedents. Just leafing through it, you can become an "arm-chair cook," traveling through a cuisine and a country while sitting snugly at home (divine dishes savored in the imagination have never added an unwelcome pound!). Monsieur Ducasse shares his love and reverence for this venerable cuisine as he shares his very personal recipes from his three famous restaurants in Paris, Monte Carlo, and Provence. These recipes respect the true nature and flavor of foods and range from a light "Cocotte of Spring Vegetables" to a wonderfully complex sauteed sea bream served with an orange-flecked beef daube sauce. Ducasse's dazzlingly inventive dishes have raised haute cuisine up a notch or two, and there's no reason why they can't do the same for your own culinary accomplishments.


Divine dessert country

Pierre Herme, decorated with the Chevalier of Arts and Letters, is another of the demi-gods of French gastronomy, but when it comes to pastry, he's in a class by himself. Now, with the publication of Desserts by Pierre Herme, written by Dorie Greenspan and studded with elegantly simple photographs, Herme makes his American debut. With Ms. Greenspan's admirable assistance, Herme makes it possible for you to recreate his superb sweets in your own kitchen. You will need some skills (but no recipe is beyond the capabilities of the average home baker), and you will need time (seasoned with patience) for many of these recipes. But when you consider the pleasure of preparing, tasting, and serving these fabulous finales, the extra effort will seem well worth it. "Basic Recipes," the classic cornerstones of the pastry chef's repertoire, come first, the instructions meticulously laid out as they are in all the succeeding recipes. Then we get to the sweet heart of the matter -- marvels of taste and texture that include, among other stunners, an intense, silken lemon tart; a gloriously light, creamy confection of mascarpone and jammy blueberries, wreathed in Italian meringue; a traditional creme brulee transformed into rich, velvety ice cream. Herme's creations give new meaning to the old adage, "eat your dessert first."


Only a Frenchman could find sweet ecstasy in fruit; and perhaps only master chef Roger Verge, who relives "the pure sensuality of a plain piece of fruit" every time he creates a fruit salad, could give us the seductively simple, wonderfully satisfying fruit fancies collected in Roger Verge's Cooking with Fruit. Garnished with a gallery of glorious color photos by Jean-Pierre Dieterlen, Verge honors the flesh of perfectly-formed fruit by slicing them into a zesty "soup," or setting them in sweet white wine jelly. If there are imperfections, voila -- a compote is born! The ubiquitous fruit tart, from plain ripe apricots baked in a puff pastry to pears nestled in chocolate cream in a chocolate crust, is augmented with custard-like clafoutis, fritters, puddings, mousses, and even a French take on upside-down cake. Jams, jellies, conserves, dandy fruit candy, and some recipes especially designed to bring children into the act add depth to this celebration of Mother Nature's masterpieces.


We'll leave France for now, but we'll stay in divine dessert country. Nick Malgieri, a well-known American author, teacher, and expert on baking and confectionery, treats us to Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers, a chocoholic's dream come true and the consummate present for devotees of the dark delicacy. "Chocolate Basics," a quick survey of origins and manufacture techniques and terminology, prefaces this treasury of 380 recipes -- cakes and cookies to sauces and beverages, with stops along the way for magnificent mousses, frozen fantasies, tantalizing tarts, cocoa-dusted truffles, creamy ganaches, and satiny glazes. True to its subtitle, you'll find everything from "Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies" to a two-tiered "Chocolate Ribbon Wedding Cake," all the while never leaving the charmed land of Chocolate.


Sybil Pratt is an avid cook.

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