zeitoun

This sounds (looks - pictures?) delicious, thanks for reporting back cacao!!

I'm looking forward to getting your impressions on these. Since I made them the first time, I now always keep a batch in the freezer for those lazy nights, i've come up with about a dozen ways to serve these. It was like rediscovering pasta all over again!!

In addition to being great for braising, I sometimes add a little coffee in certain soups just to give it an extra hint of earthiness (for chestnut, mushroom, parsnip or salsify soups). I use it as a seasoning agent and it really is a great flavor enhancer.

A useful note from Harold McGee "On Food and Cooking" p.598: I quote: "Bones and skin are much better sources of gelatin and thickening power than meat. However, they carry only a small fraction of the other soluble molecules that provide flavor. To make sauces (or stocks) with good meat flavor, it's meat that must be extracted, not bones and skin." So, considering the above, to make a "chicken/meat flavored" stock with a rich texture, using a whole chicken might not be a bad idea after all. But that all depends on what you are using your stock for obviously (soup or sauce base, as a poaching liquid for other meats or vegetables). I personally use bones and meat and no skin.

Two of my favorite snacks: Butter and honey on pita bread Olive oil and sugar on toasted baguette

Sorry for going off topic here: You are the only fellow country(wo)man I ever met who knows his work!! I loved the Makioka Sisters

That's a pretty funny story.. One time my brother (he was about 35) ate a whole plate of garlic sauce with nothing more than bread to dip in. He reeked so much of garlic that his wife made him crash on the living room sofa. He was allowed back in the conjugal bed one week later.

Nice job Fauxtarga! Shame on me, I have never attempted to make what is probably one Keller's most famous "dish"! Tried my hand at "Peas and Carrots"p.126 a month ago. Presentation was not as perfectly shaped as in the book but I had quite some fun playing with the lobster. The lobster glace is so versatile in its use that I made about 4 or 5 different sauces with the leftover. I could not find pea shoot leaves so I substituted with baby tatsoy leaves which worked great for this dish. The carrot/ginger emulsion worked great but instead of seasoning with salt, i whisked in a little bit of lobster tomalley at the end to give it a salty ocean perfume. The one element of a dish that I consistently failed after 2 attempts was the "Palette d'Ail Doux" p.156. Since it hits the pan frozen, i either overcook it in which case it starts breaking apart (and I end up with a bready egg yolk/garlic puree) or i take it off the pan too soon in which case the center remains too cold. I think much has to do with the temperature at which the "pallette" hits the oil and/or the amount of oil I use which might be too much. I was wondering if anyone had tried making this before?

Yes indeed!!

My mistake, you're correct. Olive oil or lemon is always added and that's what gives it much of that creamy consistency. My grandmother used to put potatoes in hers which I did not particularly like by the way.

Pureed raw garlic alone remains the most common form of "garlic sauce" in Lebanese cooking. It is a garlic spread more than anything else and an essential ingredient in sandwiches for instance.

Garlic and Lebanon is like a very old love affair!!!! So it might very well be Lebanese. As for your second question, i am not too sure about in Lebanon itself, chicken i know is very common, beef i think is mixed with lamb but again, i wouldn't be the right person to answer that question. Like you, i grew up in France most, if not all, of my life (i am still not sure if that makes me a beurre?). The little time i spent in lebanon was on occasional vacations during the summer time. Foodman would probably know this better than I do.

Hello, Zeitoun: No, you did not miss it; I didn't specify. I am planning on a stew, something approximating Moroccan in it's flavors. Chickpeas in veg. stock, with baby carrots and red peppers and maybe artichokes, if I can find a few fresh ones. Parsley, preserved lemon, olives and smoked paprika will make up most of the seasonings, with perhaps a touch of the harissa I made the other night. At least, that's what I am currently thinking! ← That sounds great, I'm looking forward to seeing it on this thread!!

Chefzadi - some of the armenian shawarmas you have seen in LA may have been (armenian) lebanese shawarma (so lebanese shawarma period). If it looks processed though, then it it definitely not lebanese as Foodman suggested. Check this out. I was wondering why their menu looked awefully lebanese to me

Welcome cacao, I am curious (may be i did not catch it), how are you serving your chickpeas? You mentionned a spicy broth, are you making a soup?

I'm not familiar with Taro Sushi, i've had take out sushi from Osaka and find it okay. I am not too fond of their way of cutting fish, too big. A little like Tomoe Sushi in Manhattan which suffers from the same problem IMO. For my sushi fix i still go to manhattan, but it would be nice to find something closer.

Thanks for reporting back, as noted upthread, vinegar is the lebanese touch to shawarma and how i personally like it...

I had the same problem with the parmesan crisps and the goat cheese when I first made them. I very quickly learned using this book that none of the ratios or cooking times suggested in the recipes are absolute. Keller actually suggests this himself in one passage. I think they primarily act as general guidelines and they are there to give you a sense of direction. To me, what matters most in a kitchen is one’s own sense of touch, taste and smell as dishes are being constructed. Tom Colicchio in his book “Think like a Chef” also explains this very well. Kitchens vary drastically from one to the other and ingredients too. Such factors have an incredible impact on the way ingredients are prepared and the way foods are being developed. I personally never weight or measure any of my ingredients, I pretty much eyeball it and adjust as I go.

Looking at your foie gras, it must have been a very good day indeed! I am quite impressed. I enjoyed reading your comments on the book, it was very well said and a good overall representation of what the book has to offer. I would add that beyond the recipes, I particularly took pleasure reading Keller’s personal kitchen stories, which I think anyone interested in serious cooking, at home or in a professional setting, should read. Keller’s little anecdotes on the importance of rabbits (as Jon pointed out) and trussing chicken are my favorites.

An easy and delicious recipe from Patricia Wells: Fettucine with roquefort, lemon zest and rosemary. - Mash some roquefort and butter in a heated bowl until the mixture is well combined. - Add your cooked fettucine to the mixture, add some of the cooking water until it reaches sauce consistency. Add nutmeg, lemon zest and chopped rosemary, salt, pepper. That is it! You're in for a treat.

I am glad you started this thread. I personally find this cookbook extremely valuable and informative. Some recipes are more complex than others but overall (and the same could be said of the Bouchon cookbook), I developed a genuine esteem for it because of its educational properties. It deals with recipes in a way that many cookbooks don’t. It explains the how, the when, but primarily the why. I think because of this book, I have gained a greater sense of respect and appreciation for the ingredients I work with. Given that it was published a few years ago, I am also curious to know how each dish reflect the current FL food style or menu. I have never been to the FL. I have on the other hand been to Bouchon and I would say that a great majority of the restaurant’s dishes are actually in the book. I was also lucky enough to have dined at Per Se this past fall. I think that overall, what I ate very much reflected the approach and vision Keller has to food as he describes it in his FL cookbook (in terms of actual recipes, Salmon Cornets and Oysters and Pearls which are apparently always on the menu are also featured in the book). In terms of differences, what struck me was the change in plating style. In the FL cookbook, Keller stacks up close to everything in the center of the plate. At Per Se, most of the dishes had ingredients that were individually lined up on a plate, so no stacking up there (is it the same at the FL?). I am looking forward to reading your impressions on specific recipes…

Sorry, not quite a cookbook nor soup specific but for "French" recipes these days, I refer to this website quite frequently. Counting soupes, veloutes, potages, cremes, cappucinos and gaspacho, I counted 50 recipes, and this is only in the "entrees" section. In terms of books, I have heard good things about "Soupes Du Jour" from Anne Catherine Bley. I do not have it but my sister does and almost swears by it, and I trust her in the kitchen!!

Ok, now i get it...thus your nom de plume - Tetsujustin (Tetsujin??? - Iron chef!!) Again, thanks for the great report, I, too, just can't get over the fact that you got a reservation the day before. As a matter of fact I called Babbo yesterday to try to secure a reservation for in two weeks (my first time there). Before I could even finish my sentence, the lovely lady I was speaking to told me that they were "fully committed for the evening". After reading your report, I decided I shall persevere..

I generally like all herbs or spices, but I do have a problem with it when it is misused and abused. I grew up overseas loving the smell and aroma of cinnamon for example but now I really despise the damn thing because of its almost absurd overabundance in everything that is sweet and baked. The same goes for vanilla extract.

Agreed. I often use it to bard dry-fleshed birds (pheasant, guinea fowl) and even fish before roasting or braising. Another use, though, is to hold flavourings (herbs, ham, mustard, etc.) against the flesh. Maybe that's what zeitoun was doing with the chicken? ← I was actually using it to hold a type of ratatouille (a byaldi) against my piece of chicken. I used one of Thomas Keller's recipes which indeed calls for guinea hen. The chicken worked fine and the dish turned out fine overall except for the caul fat. It did not dissolve as much as I thought it would and still had an unpleasant flavor. Looking at everyone's posts, it seems that I was sold a piece of fat of questionable quality.