The arrival of a new cookbook dedicated to a hotshot chef and his destination restaurant is usually met with the realization that the volume is more advanced than our brains can fathom, although it will look lovely on a coffee table or impressive on a shelf. You might expect more of the same from "Astrance: A Cook's Book" (Éditions du Chêne, $95), the new tome from the 12-year-old, 25-seat Michelin-starred Parisian restaurant that was recently ranked 18th in the world. Astrance's chef Pascal Barbot is a master, after all. But Astrance, which was written by Chihiro Masui and Barbot's business partner Christophe Rohat, who is responsible for everything that goes on in the front of house, is an entirely unorthodox, or as Masui might say, "unnatural," cookbook. In it, what Barbot calls "spoken recipes" reveal more about the chef's process and approach than the traditional combination of head notes and directions do. Tucked among the pages are actual recipes for building blocks like sauces, stocks, condiments or dough-based items. For those who wish to take the philosophy shared in the drop-dead-gorgeous 350-page paperback and apply it at the stove, there is a separate "Step-By-Step" workbook. The eye behind the camera, Richard Haughton delivers a captioned photo album that shows you how to expertly pan-cook fish, prepare and serve a stuffed breast of hen, make a shrimp consommé or tackle a suckling pig. The refreshingly unorthodox format made T wonder what the chef was thinking. Why did you want to write a cookbook? I didn't! Chihiro forced my hand! She said it wouldn't take up my time, but it did. How did you want this cookbook to be different? The only way I could even consider a book was for it to be "recipe-free." At first, I didn't want any dishes, just produce, but they said people would want to see the dishes served at Astrance. Which is why we did those "spoken recipes" with no dish names. And then we did the little "real recipes" because I had them scribbled in my notebook. Who did you write it for? Who do you imagine will appreciate it most? How do you hope people use it? If it can serve as an inspiration in any way for young chefs, I'm very happy with that. The only valid reason for me to do a book is because I think transmission of what we call savoir-faire, the know-how, to younger generations of people who want to open a restaurant, is important. How does the book represent the spirit or ideas of Astrance? The reason I never wanted to do a book is because books, by definition, freeze things in time. I'm not like that. I always change things. So if there had to be a book, I wanted it to be organized mess. What was really good with this book is that it went exactly the same way as my cuisine: first you have the material, and then, "What do we do with this? " We had a lot of freedom. We'd had lots of book offers before but they'd always ask for 20 fish recipes, or 20 meat recipes and an intro to fit into the typical chef book mold, which I don't like. In our book, the writing is direct and friendly - it is more informal than many cookbooks. Was this a deliberate choice? That's how we are. We try to be more formal at times, but it's not our thing. For the writing, that was Chihiro's choice. Christophe and I didn't write. We just talked to her. Then she would put it down on paper. What are the most challenging recipes or ideas in the book? I don't know, to read all that text? Are there any recipes that you think are very easy? I don't do difficult things. The more simple things are, the more difficult they are in a way, but it all depends on how you see things. Everything is difficult or everything is easy. What made you decide to do a separate workbook? It just came about. I think one day we were looking at some pictures Richard Haughton had shot in the kitchen and we thought it was a pity not to use them in some way, but it wouldn't go with the rest of the book. So Chihiro said we would do a separate workbook. The publisher played along. My favorite pages in the book are actually the photo index. We added that at the very end when the editor was pulling her hair out and begging us to finish!