Cooking with Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home

[twoshoes]

tonight I served the beef stroganoff and feel free to say I'll never bother again. I may as well have made hamburger helper.

the beef ribs were suitably tender but lacked a depth of flavor I get from another and much tastier recipe. the skimpy ribs may have contributed but...those others are so much better and next time I prepare braised short ribs I'll use that recipe.

the sauteed shrooms were not a problem. they were delicious but how could they not be.

the mushroom sauce was cloying(?) is that the right word? far too rich and shroomy. I'd prefer a more gravy like sauce and toss the sauteed mushroms into the mix and on top.

I used store bought pasta as I don't do homemade pasta (I will soon though).

I may tweak this one a bit to fit my taste if I even bother to do it again.

I guess I could include a pic if you wanna see it (looked fine) but I'd just as soon forget about this one.

thursday I'm gonna do the fried chicken and I have high expectations for that.

[bmdaniel]

Interesting - I made the Beef Stroganoff and thought it was fantastic - I did sub the braised short rib for 48 hour SV brisket, but just the pasta, sauce, and mushroom were great (at least my wife and I thought so).

[Anna N]

I think it marvellous and to be expected that we find different dishes meeting our own peculiar tastes. Not sure what is up next for me but I have listed many, many recipes that I want to try.

[forever_young_ca]

Actually he does give the recipe for the meringue. Check again - in the ingredient list it refers you to page 344 for the meringue recipe

Your are so right. I can't believe I missed that

[nakji]

I hunted for a week for this book in Hong Kong and it was sold out everywhere I looked...except for in the last bookstore on my list!! I've bought it, but I had to tuck it into luggage I left in a friend's apartment while I go on a backpacking trip, so I haven't had a good, proper page through it yet, to tab all the recipes I want to try. Lemon bars and chocolate chip cookies look like they'll be on the top of the list, though. Are there any good vegetable dishes that look good to try?

[BKYLN]

He recommends the VitaMix (I have a feeling that we have some paid product placement here....)

He recommends it because it's the industry standard for blenders.

[twoshoes]

every bit as good as advertised. the oil temp got away from me on the first two pieces and they came out a bit too dark, but I ate them anyways.

golden brown moist tender and very tasty. also simple to prepare. this one will become a staple recipe although the wife doesn't really like it when I fry food.

she did love this chicken though.

[JasonMcC]

I've taken on the challenge of trying to cook my way through this book. I met Mr Keller at the Seattle Ad Hoc book launch and he was very inspiring - a very sharp mind.

To date I've done:

1. Whole roast chicken on root vegetables

Difficulty:1/5

Taste: 3/5

Learnt: How to truss a chicken

2. Peaches and Cream

Peaches weren't in season so I substituted nectarines which weren't so great.

Difficulty: 2/5

Taste: 3/5

Learnt: How to fold marscapone into whipped egg whites and yolks

3. Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Difficulty: 3/5

Taste: 5/5

Learnt: How to fry, brine and section a chook! I'd never made fried chicken before because of the concern around disposing of the oil. This was a very rewarding recipe although it takes a good 24 hours prep due to the brining. I learnt how to cut a whole chicken into sections (damn that whishbone), how to monitor oil temp, and how preparation and cleaning as you go really helps. These were out of this world taste-wise. Succulent and crunchy. My mouth waters just thinking of them.

4. Pan Fried Chicken breasts with tarragon and Garlic Mash

Difficulty: 3/5

Taste: 5/5

Learnt: These two recipes required purchase of a couple of new kitchen tools - a meat hammer and food mill. I also discovered the magic of tarragon - a subtle but rewarding herb. If you haven't made this yet, I thoroughly recommend it. The tast of the breasts was out of this world due to the seasoning and the pan sauce. There's a heap of unsalted butter used but it's worth it. I also had the garlic confit for the mash potato sitting in the fridge from a previous recipe so I was able to use that without making it from scratch.

So good that I made it twice in one week.

And last night I made

5. Crab Cakes

Difficulty: 4/5

Taste: 2/5

I cut quite a few corners with this recipe as I didn't have the fancy preserved pepper he calls out and the dungeness crab was already cooked. I've found with these recipes that they usually require ingredients that are their own process and recipe, in this case the pepper infused garlic aioli which is actually based off the mayonnaise recipe. I was a little frustrated having to bust out the food processor and mix up a batch of mayo with the garlic confit oil but was good to learn. The next frustration came trying to roll the crab mixture with the panko bread crumbs. Very very hard to keep the balls together when placing them in the pan. As the crab was already cooked, I should've have just colored the cakes and served them but I stupidly cooked them for 10 mins on the stove top, then another 3 or so in the 350 F oven. They came out crunchy and a little burnt.

I'll start taking photos and posting them here for y'all.

[nakji]

I like how you're noting what skills you're learning along with the recipes. I'm sucking up the courage to start breaking down my own chicken, since it seems like an incredibly useful skill. I need to get some poultry shears to help.

I've found with these recipes that they usually require ingredients that are their own process and recipe, in this case the pepper infused garlic aioli which is actually based off the mayonnaise recipe. I was a little frustrated having to bust out the food processor and mix up a batch of mayo with the garlic confit oil but was good to learn.

I've been reading this book through extensively, hoping to avoid that kind of frustration. I'm saving most of the recipes for Sunday afternoon cooking, until I get used to them. I'll need the time. The first recipe I want to make is the lentil-sweet potato soup, followed closely by the cauliflower soup. Only I can't find beets where I live, so I suspect I'll make sweet potato chips as a substitute.

Also, no applewood smoked bacon to be found anywhere, so I'll be using Hunan smoked ham. Probably not what Chef Keller had in mind.

The other thing I was wondering while reading through the pork loin recipe - the pork available in China is quite fatty and rich - not at all lean like it is in North America. I wonder if I need bother brining?

[nakji]

Right, the first recipe I tried was the lentil and sweet potato soup.

I had to halve the recipe, as I don't own a large enough stockpot for soup-making. My largest pot only holds two litres, as a matter of fact, so I had to make do.

My raw ingredients:

Plus I used random green (brown?) lentils found at the western supermarket. It was my first time making lentils, and they were much easier than I thought - for some reason, I thought they'd be tricky like beans, but they weren't at all. I was quite happy with the texture. I had some rather run-of-the-mill end of season sweet potatoes, too, not pictured.

What made this soup for me was the really excellent pork I was able to use - Chinese smoked pork. I think you've really got to use a good pork product to make this soup really worthwhile. If you've just got supermarket bacon, I don't think the flavour will really come through. (Husband:"Eating lentils just feels so virtuous, doesn't it?" Me: "They've been coated in pork fat, soo...")

I had a quick bowl the first evening, with crispy bacon on top. The rest came to work with me on Monday and today for lunches.It was at its best today, and I got to torture my co-workers with soup-smell, something I like to do on semi-regular occasions. Although usually the weapon in question is from Marcella Hazan.

[LaurieB]

"The apple fritters are gorgeous, too. Fritters seem like a fairly straightforward thing - are they Keller'ed up in any way?"

"Keller'ed Up" has just been added to my list of Kitchen & Food Jargon.

What a great phrase.

[nakji]

As in - "I'm going to Keller-up these carrots by sprinkling fleur de sel from a height of 30cm."

Yeah, that works.

Also: why so much fennel in this book? Am I only noticing it because I can't find any?

[Phaz]

I just ordered my copy of this and can't wait to try it.

I have a question for those that did the fried chicken. From what I've heard, it's really amazing.

However, I've never done fried chicken, or for that matter, never really fried and don't typically do chicken. For someone such as myself, what is the best frying method? I know the recipe recommends using a pot (dutch oven?). How hard is it to control the temp? Would it make much difference doing it in a deep fryer where you just set the temp? I don't have a deep fryer or a dutch oven, so would need to get one (and am still doing research).

[Marlene]

I'm just going to say that out of all the fried chicken I've done, Keller's is not my favourite. Having said that, if you are set on doing it and need to invest in equipment, I'd vote for the dutch oven. I have both a deep fryer and a dutch oven pot. For breaded things, I go for the dutch oven pot. IF you use a deep fryer, remember not to sit the chicken in the basket, because it will stick. The basket needs to be in the lowered position and then put the chicken in, free floating. You can use the basket to take the chicken out when it's done. And the Dutch oven is so much more versatile for braising etc.

[Phaz]

I'm just going to say that out of all the fried chicken I've done, Keller's is not my favourite. Having said that, if you are set on doing it and need to invest in equipment, I'd vote for the dutch oven. I have both a deep fryer and a dutch oven pot. For breaded things, I go for the dutch oven pot. IF you use a deep fryer, remember not to sit the chicken in the basket, because it will stick. The basket needs to be in the lowered position and then put the chicken in, free floating. You can use the basket to take the chicken out when it's done. And the Dutch oven is so much more versatile for braising etc.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm leaning dutch oven. One thing I'm curious about is the material. From what I gather, most dutch ovens are cast iron. According to Alton Brown's episode on frying, when using poly-unsaturated fats (like peanut oil) the cast iron just wrecks the oil much much faster than other materials or other oils.

Also, what are other good chicken recipes to try out of this book? I want to do an all chicken night. It seems like the roasted chicken and chicken pot pie recipes come out good. Has anyone done the chicken and dumpling soup?

[Marlene]

If you go with an enamelled cast iron like Le Creuset, you'll be fine.

[Phaz]

I just did the chocolate chip cookies and loved them. Very easy to make (assuming you can find the right chocolate) and simply delicious.

One interesting factor was that it didn't hit me until the last moment before starting them that being at a high altitude (5200+ feet) might effect things. Every other baking recipe I've seen has adjustments for altitude, this one didn't. I just followed the recipe as it was written, and the cookies came out amazing. I've not had them at sea level so I'm not sure if the consistency was perfect, but they were really really really good.

[nakji]

I've just made the cookies, and they worked out great for me as well.

One interesting factor was that it didn't hit me until the last moment before starting them that being at a high altitude (5200+ feet) might effect things. Every other baking recipe I've seen has adjustments for altitude, this one didn't. I just followed the recipe as it was written, and the cookies came out amazing. I've not had them at sea level so I'm not sure if the consistency was perfect, but they were really really really good.

I always have to make all sorts of adjustments when I bake, because the flour I use is different from American AP flour, and my eggs are a lot smaller. I usually start with a smaller proportion of flour than called for in most recipes, and then slowly add in more until I think the texture looks right. In this case, I started with only two cups flour; mixed, then felt it was safe to go up to the 2 1/3 cups called for. It must be a pretty forgiving recipe. The texture of my cookies came out exactly how I like it: a little cakey with a soft-ish centre; not greasy at all. And they mixed together so easily. If only I could get my hands on Valrhona chocolate.

[merstar]

I've just made the cookies, and they worked out great for me as well.

One interesting factor was that it didn't hit me until the last moment before starting them that being at a high altitude (5200+ feet) might effect things. Every other baking recipe I've seen has adjustments for altitude, this one didn't. I just followed the recipe as it was written, and the cookies came out amazing. I've not had them at sea level so I'm not sure if the consistency was perfect, but they were really really really good.

I always have to make all sorts of adjustments when I bake, because the flour I use is different from American AP flour, and my eggs are a lot smaller. I usually start with a smaller proportion of flour than called for in most recipes, and then slowly add in more until I think the texture looks right. In this case, I started with only two cups flour; mixed, then felt it was safe to go up to the 2 1/3 cups called for. It must be a pretty forgiving recipe. The texture of my cookies came out exactly how I like it: a little cakey with a soft-ish centre; not greasy at all. And they mixed together so easily. If only I could get my hands on Valrhona chocolate.

I love these cookies. Mine came out on the flat side, crispy on the edges and chewy on the inside. Exactly how I like them.

[nakji]

Mine were cakey all the way round, probably due to my flour. Just the way I like them! I'm down to my last one.

I haven't used this book as much as I'd hoped I would, mainly due to the lack of availability of many of the ingredients for me. I'm thinking of taking it home to Canada over the summer and leaving it with my parents, who have more access to things like fennel, cranberries, "tri-tips" and so on. If I do, though, this cookie recipe is getting copied out and left here.

[FoodMan]

If you have any duck confit on hand, give the quinoa salad with confit, escarole and currants a try. It's simple and so damn delicious. It even tastes great a day or two later. In this version in the pic I threw in some roasted butternut squash I had in the fridge as well.

[Paul Kierstead]

I've note made his salad with the Duck Confit, but have used it as inspiration to make a Duck Confit salad numerous times using what I had on hand. It has been pretty delicious every time. It is one of my favorite uses for Confit, actually.

[larryroohr]

Anyone else not care for the garlic and onion powder in the fried chicken coating?

I made the chicken a few months ago and was so disappointed I assumed I screwed something up (still a large possibility). Now I never use either of these items so I had to go buy them for the recipe, and bought the most expensive brand at the supermarket (whatever that's worth).

The reason this just came up for me is I'm reading Ruhlman's 'Twenty' and he includes his rosemary brine version of this recipe, stating it came from when he was writing Ad Hoc with Keller, but he omit's the garlic and onion powder in the coating. Made me go hmm...

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else had this experience given all the raving over this chicken.

Larry

[eternal]

Anyone else not care for the garlic and onion powder in the fried chicken coating?

I made the chicken a few months ago and was so disappointed I assumed I screwed something up (still a large possibility). Now I never use either of these items so I had to go buy them for the recipe, and bought the most expensive brand at the supermarket (whatever that's worth).

The reason this just came up for me is I'm reading Ruhlman's 'Twenty' and he includes his rosemary brine version of this recipe, stating it came from when he was writing Ad Hoc with Keller, but he omit's the garlic and onion powder in the coating. Made me go hmm...

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else had this experience given all the raving over this chicken.

Larry

I've made his chicken three or four times and it is always amazing and I've made my fair share of fried chicken. His is the best I've done. I love how the lemon comes through in the end. I have a deep fat frier and it works really well. I find that you really need to go with the smaller chickens, which are sometimes harder to find. Most grocery stores have chickens in the 5 pound range. You really want something around 3 pounds.

[Marlene]

We also added baking powder to the Twenty recipe. I am not a huge fan of Keller's recipe and I always left out the onion and used a little bit of garlic salt. There are lots of recipes I love in Ad Hoc, but the fried chicken isn't one of them.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Marlene (log)