By The Book: A Cook's List of Essentials

I've lost track of how many cookbooks I own.  Yet, I always know when one is "missing".  I do know that as I get older, I buy fewer.  But, the other night I thought that it had been some time since I pulled out a cookbook just to peruse the contents for pleasure.  I grabbed the Frog Commissary Cookbook, an oldie, but a goodie.  I had actually just gotten a copy, so while it was published in 1985, it was new to me.  

By all standards of what a cookbook should be, it's one of the best.  It has simple, succinct recipes with quick, informative descriptions of ingredients, methods and dishes that may not have been common knowledge in the "decade of greed".  My favorite part is the "how to" tips in the margins.  I think it's useful to know, for example, the items and quantities to set up a proper bar for a cocktail party of 50.  Or, the essentials of setting up a raw bar, hors d'oeuvres buffet or continental breakfast.  This is real, practical stuff.  The style of food is eclectic and not pretentious.  But, by today's standards, the book would never sell more than 1000 copies.  

You see, it wasn't designed for the coffee table.  More like, it was designed to put your coffee cup on.  Nor does it have full page, glossy, sexy food porn shots.  It doesn't praise the farmer who delivers their eggs, it doesn't feature drawings or paintings from staff, and it doesn't cost $55.  It's a true utilitarian cookbook.  

The Moosewood Cookbook of old is another with easily-soiled, coloring book quality pages, and matching hokey drawings of dancing broccoli from a time when vegetarians weren't so annoying (yeah, I said it).  Another paperback, it may be the gold standard for diverse, non-meat recipes that runs the full gamut of appetizers to desserts.  And, I dare say they're healthy, too.

The Silver Palate is another crossover book that should sit on the shelf of the serious cook.  It too is from an age when the author sought to give not just a broad spectrum of current, creative and healthful recipes, but it came from an accomplished cook who, like Julia Child and James Beard, wrote for the everyday cook.

So, why then, do I have so many cookbooks if I already know how to cook?  I'm trying to figure that out myself.  After much consideration, beyond the obvious answer of "recipes", my collection provides inspiration.

I own every cookbook from Thomas Keller and Charlie Trotter, because I admire their style, their philosophy, their creativity and probably above all else,  their discipline.  I can pick up one of their books and feel their unique style ooze out of a phrase of admonishment.  To prepare food at that level requires a certain work ethic and commitment on the part of the chef.  At times, I'll open the books and page through them simply to look at their pictures, presentation or what ingredients they combine.  Maybe even peruse a particular season to get ideas.  Often, I just like to revisit an idea.  But, I rarely prop them open and "cook from them".  They are conceptual books meant for the lover of food and art.  This is the style of cookbook most common on the shelves today. 

In this same genre, I have the Inn at Little Washington books.  Along with Trotter and Keller, they tell of the building of their brand:  the loyalty of their staff, faithful customers and what a unique dining experience they are.  It's like buying the program at the ballgame.  You saw the show, now take the glossy keepsake home for years of enjoyment to come.

Another section of my culinary library is built on the "must haves".  My go-to book for classical Italian is Marcella Hazan, my Japanese, Nobu.  Baking, CIA and Cheese, Steve Jenkins.  Some genres require more than one, and as a Francophile, I own no less than 20 French cookbooks.  Paris cooking is covered by Patricia Wells, while country cooking is beautifully and completely rendered in Anne Willan's recent Country Cooking of France.  I have a rudimentary, yet useful book of recipes from the Basque region (in French).  I have the masters; Blanc, Doucasse, Guerard, Bocuse, Troisgros, Girardet.  Then, cross over into the US for the expats, and I have Ripert, Boulud, Robouchon, Richard, Jean-Georges and Pepin.  

Recipes from Da Fiore of Venice focuses on the gorgeous seafood and regional ingredients of the Veneto.  While the publisher BK (from England) has put out several primers on ethnic cuisine, of which Indian Cuisine has been the most useful to me.

Saveur's three book series on American, Italian and French cuisine is a must for their "real" recipes, grounded in tradition and authenticity.  It doesn't hurt that they have some of the most beautiful photography of any food magazine today.  

Back when I was just a waiter aspiring to take over the world, I bought a copy of Larousse, Gastronomique.  It is the mother of all culinary tomes, both encyclopedia and recipe collection at once.  It has entries on Antonin Careme and Julia Child.  It has the origins of salade nicoise and the proper way to make a vegetable "charlotte".  It's very...old school.  If, on the other hand, you need a reference guide, whether your a newbie or want to check your spelling on a menu, The Food Lover's Companion is the most user-friendly resource on the market.  There are three editions, two editions of the Wine Lover's Companion and now the Cheese Lover's Companion, the last husband-wife collaboration before the founder, Sharon Tyler Herbst passed away just a few years ago.

I suppose if there were one book that was a game-changer for me, it would have to be Gray Kunz "The Elements of Taste".  For an advanced cook, you long for a collection of thoughts and ideas that encompasses and sums up the building and layering of flavors from a conceptual standpoint with examples to back it up.  When this book was released, I read it from cover to cover.  I began to think differently in the way I wrote menus, created dishes, the way I seasoned food and more importantly, the way I corrected my seasonings.  The book is broken into four categories:  Tastes That Push, Tastes That Pull, Tastes That Punctuate and Taste Platforms.  And, rather than arranging food by course or primary ingredient, they identify 14 basic tastes (salty, sweet, floral, herbal, "funky," meaty, etc.).  The binding on my copy is beaten up, the pages slightly stained with wine and demi-glace.  It's the one book I don't loan out anymore, and it's because it's not in print anymore.  New copies on Amazon start at $355 each.

I have several books on only one subject from, pancakes and foie gras, to truffles and duck.  Soups, sauces, shellfish and seafood, mostly by James Peterson.  You need Harold Magee to answer those nagging questions about which boils faster, hot or cold water?  Or, how to hard-boil an egg without the green sulfuric ring around the yolk.  It goes without saying, but Beard and Child belong on your shelves, and should be read.  Craig Claiborne, Deborah Madison and Mario Batali have earned the right.  There are so many other great books- all of which have contributed to the enormous array of talent we experience today.  

Whatever reason you like buying a cookbook, it is personal and you don't owe it to anyone to explain why.  These particular books have broadened my knowledge and creativity in the culinary arts, and I hope you find the list of use.  No matter what your level of cooking, is there ONE cookbook that changed your life?      

AD HOC AT HOME

Thomas Keller has made a very successful career out of cooking with the absolute best ingredients, using the finest, most disciplined technique and maintaining a work ethic that at times doesn't seem human.  Legions of cooks and chefs follow his every move as he personifies excellence in cooking.  His name is synonymous with perfection.   He has arguably influenced more professional cooks than any other chef working in the country today.  How long can you sustain that?  When is it time to exhale?  And, can he, will he ever do a cookbook for the average man?  

Ad-Hoc at Home is that book for Thomas Keller. 

If The French Laundry cookbook was Keller's ground breaking bible on how to make the most precious, perfect cuisine, and Bouchon was his paean to French country cooking, and Sous Vide Cooking showed his expertise for cooking with a technique, not new to the French, but is taking finer establishments by storm on this side of the Atlantic, then with Ad-Hoc at Home he is ready to truly bare his soul as a cook. 

When you open this book for the first time (equally beautiful in design and rich with painterly images of food as any of his other books), you can't help notice the copious pictures of Chef Keller playfully smiling and relaxed.  The book is laid out in categories of foods and with lessons on how to prepare them for anyone who wants to learn them.  The Laundry was just the same, and for that matter, so are the others.   Keller can't help doing what he does best: teach.  His lessons are succinct and relevant.  They aren't tips for cooks- they are concepts.  Building blocks.  Miss one, and you don't stand a chance of ever getting the most out of his recipe or lesson.  And his overall lesson is this:  "Great product + great execution = great cooking." 

I won't cimb up in my ivory tower for this next bit, but at my alma mater, The Culinary Institute of America, whose motto is "preparation is everything", they prepare you to leave their vaunted halls being able to cook absolutely anything.  How much you paid attention, how hard you worked, how much you compromised and how much you were willing to sacrifice determined whether or not you could avail yourself of those lessons later in life.  Keller never attended culinary school.  Part of the legend of Thomas Keller is how much he's achieved without formal training.  But, it just goes to show the power of the human mind and what you can achieve.  Those aren't culinary lessons, they are life lessons.

And so, it seems appropriate that Ad Hoc combines this philosophy of striving for excellence with a passion for preparing (and eating) the finest tasting food possible. 

For those who have read and keep his other books on their own shelf, you'll be pleasantly surprised to see the more human side of Keller.  A CUPCAKE in a Thomas Keller cookbook??  And not a play on words, like Gateau St. Honore cooked in a porcelain coffee cup bain marie with carefully quenelled butter cream icing on a demi-tasse spoon.  I mean plain, no doubt insanely delicious, but simple, white cupcakes.  His Buttermilk Fried Chicken has just seven ingredients.  If you are a lover of salads, he offers about 10 classics that are both pronounceable and can be prepared for your mom and dad.  In other words, salad.  Salads.  It's a salad.  It's.  Salad.

If you learned how to properly and humanely snap the neck of a rabbit in French Laundry, he takes a kinder, gentler approach in Ad Hoc for getting extra meat out of lobster, breaking up a head of garlic and rolling out dough for soup crackers, all with a rolling pin. 

Did I mention the smiling?  It really is something.  For those who don't understand what a break this book is from his past, it is like sharing a beer with your pastor- when you're 16.  He may be the only 3 Star Michelin chef with a recipe for broccolini.  Yes- that hybrid veggie you snub your nose at in the grocery store.  This is one cookbook that's going to get dirty.  You should plan on getting either a cover for it, a cookbook stand or both.  Once you see it, read it, and cook out of it, you'll find yourself buying it for your favorite cook. 

What makes this cookbook so special is what it is not.  It is not pretentious.  It is not precious.  It is not to be put on a pedestal.  You can pick up Ad Hoc not having read any of Keller's other books or even know who he is, and you will find yourself an instant fan.  For the seasoned pro, the delight will be in revisiting all the Keller commandments of cooking, but with a much less authoritative tone.  He still begs you to get rid of your tongs and stop manhandling your food.  He wants you to really understand the importance of salt.  And he restates his love for eggs, as they turn up in various recipes and diverse preparations.  

When you read the first chapter about Keller connecting with his estranged father after years and years, you'll understand the inspiration for a book and restaurant that is about generosity, of food, of portions, of spirit.  When you understand that Thomas was raised by his mother and considers her one of his mentors, you'll see why this feels like a final chapter on the Book of Keller.  

The Chef cooked his father's last meal for him the night before he passed away.  After he did so, he says a lightbulb went on.  The book is laced with "lightbulb" moments, or good ideas; the first sums up how he may have come to such an epiphany that could easily be the theme of his book: 

"The first lightbulb moment I want to offer is one I was lucky to realize in time, and hope that others will, too.  It may seem obvious but it's worth repeating: Take care of your parents."

I've shared more meals with my parents than with probably anyone else.  My life is rich with memories of cooking and eating with them and the rest of my immediate and extended family, and loved ones.  "Obvious", yes.  Common, know.  

I've yet to cook one recipe out of this book.  I haven't even had it for more than 24 hours.  But already, I feel a closer connection to this chef who has at times seemed like a deity.  I suppose it's like meeting your idol and finding that they're just like you.  And with all their frailties, they're human, too.

On page one of the Introduction, last paragraph, just before you take the dive into Ad Hoc at Home, Keller makes one last honest gesture to take any fear out of using this book:

"When we eat together, when we set out to do so deliberately, life is better, no matter your circumstances.  Whether it's a sad or difficult time, whether it's an ordinary-seeming day, or whether it's a time of celebration, our lives are enriched when we share meals together.  And that's what this book is about."

 Thank you, Chef.

 

It's a Blog, Blog, Blog, Blog World

I was checking out the FoodBuzz Food Blog nominees for the 1st Annual Food Blog Awards (talk about a mouthful), and I never had any idea how many people are blogging their meals.  There are people following the Julia and Me route; for example, Alinea at Home is a blog devoted to cooking all the recipes in Molecular Cheftist Grant Achatz’ recent book, Alinea.  Brave soul.  And Bouchon for Two is a blog from a budding chef who is learning how to cook from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon cookbook.  Seems like a more practical project to me.

But, looking at these nominated blogs, it seems these people are as much into the production of the blog as the food and cooking.  And that can be fun, too.  No doubt, cooking is a full time activity in itself.  But, keeping your recipe straight, getting the right amount of light for photos (something I am still working on), making sure steps aren’t left out, editing the shots and then, there's writing and proofing the actual copy or voice of the blog- it’s like a full-time, one-person magazine!  Then, there are you crazies out there who put video in?  My.  Ambitious, to say the least. 

And for all that work, does anyone get paid?  I mean, yeah, there’s the possibility of earning ad dollars.  More like pennies.  But, when you really get some traffic, you might get some sponsors or a bump from a big time blogger like Oprah mentioning your site.  Okay, I made that part up.  But, really- am I being naïve that this is supposed to be about expression of creativity and just good clean fun?  My friend and fellow blogger, Dave McDuff of McDuff’s Food and Wine Trail says, “Be careful!  It can be very addictive.” (Just an aside here, in case you decide to take issue with my use of "addictive" vs. "addicting", there is even a blog for that- ask Grammar Girl- if you like your grammar tips "quick and dirty".  And, who doesn't?)  So then, are "comments" the payment of the blog world?  If so, I will not be quitting my day job. 

Then there’s the stat checking.  I am amazed at what information is compiled.  I know where you are, how often you check, how you find me, how long you stay, what you look at, when you leave and when you come back.  For example, because of my use of Auguste Escoffier’s picture, I can see I've had hits from just about every country in Europe, Mexico, Bolivia, Canada, and Turkey.  And because my “peanut pumpkin” was tagged with its other names in French, it is the second most common way people find this blog, other than my name and Escoffier's.  It’s crazy, I tell ya. 

So, I guess what I’m saying is that if you want to take all of it seriously, you can.  I could put up sexy food pics as the first image to capture surfersby, or I could make sure the title of each post is catchy, trendy or even a hot topic.  I prefer not to get into gossipy stuff like, for example, what a douchebag Kanye West is.  Oooop!  Too late.  But there it is- now let’s see if it brings any traffic for people using keywords “Kanye” and “Douchebag”.

I wish I was more patient with writing recipes.  People love them.  But, by now in my cooking life, I only think in terms of ratios and order of cooking.  I write recipes for cooks to follow.  And if I buy a cookbook, I want to get the essence of the topic and, what else?  Beautiful, lovely food shots.  But even when I read a recipe, I’m only interested in seeing what’s in it by comparison to how I would cook it or how it is normally cooked.  Amounts are trivial.  It’s no wonder Jamie Oliver and Thomas Keller don’t like to use exact measurements.  They hope you are getting a broader picture of a method for cooking that dish.  Even Julia was more interested in getting the concept of the dish across to you more than an exact translation.  Folks, it took me longer to blog my chili recipe than it did to cook it.

So, by now you’ve noticed that the pictures on this post have nothing to do with what I’m talking about.  I’ve put pictures of dishes that I’ve cooked in the past which photographed well and are appealing to the eye (so much for subtlety).  But, I wanted to see if my theory was right.  If so, regular visitors will read this blog entry in about 2.3 minutes, mostly because of the fetching photos, before moving on.  My “grumpy old man” post about Gourmet closing, for example had only two pictures, and it had one of the lowest “stay times” since I started blogging.  If you’re just stopping back and noticing the new format, you will stay a little longer.  And if it’s your first time here, you’ll stay an average of 20 minutes to check it all out.  But, hey, who’s counting?

So, thanks for stopping by today!!   

And now- Gratuitous PIE!

Good Housekeeping Cranberry Pie.  Not mine.

More from Keller

These days, waiting for my favorite chefs to put out new cookbooks is a little like following your favorite aging rock musician.  They seem to put out better and more mature work, but less of it.  Take Peter Gabriel, for example.  The average amount of time between album releases is about 6 years.  It's always worth the wait, but...damn.  Waiting for a cookbook from Charlie Trotter or Joel Robuchon can take years, but when the build up to release begins, I start combing the web for early reviews or images.  I pre-order it, usually from Amazon, or if I'm slumming it, I Wishlist it.  But, discount be damned, I may just have to line-up at the local Borders for the November release of Chef Thomas Keller's latest cookbook, Ad-Hoc at Home: Family-Style Recipes.  

Ad-Hoc, is of course, his informal, family-style restaurant, that was only supposed to be "temporary".  In Keller's words:

While we were designing it we thought we'd experiment by opening a temporary restaurant and calling it Ad Hoc, which literally means, "for this purpose." The idea for Ad Hoc was simple - 5 days a week we'd offer a 4 course family style menu that changed each day, accompanied by a small, accessible wine list in a casual setting reminiscent of home. We wanted a place to dine for our community and ourselves. The decision to change over the restaurant, however, was taken out of our hands by our guests. The response was so positive, we simply couldn't close. So, in September, 2007, we decided to stay open permanently and now we're serving dinner 5 nights a week as well as Sunday brunch.

 
A dish at Ad-Hoc.

I'm a product of my upbringing.  We are a family that spends a lot of time around the kitchen table.  When we were younger, frequently we were either at someone's house on the weekend for dinner, or they were at ours.  And the cooking began early and lasted all day.  Simply put, there was always food on the table.  Cooking for a lot of people became commonplace; you simply couldn't run out of food.  It was unthinkable.  There was always back-up, too.  

Family-style dining is not widely marketed these days, probably because we live in a society where everyone seems to have some sort of "issue" when it comes to eating.  And that sucks, because good food is only HALF of a memorable dining experience.  The company is the other.  When you share a good meal with friends and/or family, it's satisfying on all kinds of levels.  

I'm most curious to see how these recipes pan-out.  It seems that Italian cuisine as a rule is perfect for group eating.  But, I wonder whether the focus will be on American dishes, or even if Chef Keller will try to adapt French technique and food to this concept.  

Are there any places you like to dine that feature this style of eating?  I'd certainly like to know, but I'm sure other readers would, too.