Robuchon

[Louisa Chu]

I'm going to be spending some time in the kitchens starting this coming Thursday morning. If you have any burning questions please post them here and I'll try to get them answered.

[MobyP]

Bain marie for the puree?

Really - I'm sure you'll be able to answer any questions he has. Just be patient with him. He'll be trying to find out all of your Louisa-secrets anyway. Have a great time, L.

m

[Louisa Chu]

Thanks Moby!

No bain marie for the puree. Nicolas - the chef de partie for poisson and garnitures chaud - showed me how it's done. The puree itself is done ahead of time but finished during service - it's held cold as part of mise en place. For service, the puree's heated in a Le Creuset cocotte - another with hot milk on the side. Because the puree has more fat - butter and milk - than potatoes - it's very unstable. The puree has to be just hot enough - just bubbling around the edges - and then vigourously mixed with a whisk. But as many as these that Nicolas churns out the chef was still constantly checking the consistency throughout both services - a couple of times finding it just a little too liquid - barely, barely so but just enough to send Nicolas back at the whisk.

[MobyP]

For service, the puree's heated in a Le Creuset cocotte - another with hot milk on the side. Because the puree has more fat - butter and milk - than potatoes - it's very unstable. The puree has to be just hot enough - just bubbling around the edges - and then vigourously mixed with a whisk.

Can I ask a couple of geeky questions?

1. What's a cocotte? Is it non-stick?

2. And when you say "another with hot milk on the side," you mean for adding to the puree as it heats?

3. And how do they keep the starch stable going through all of those temperature changes? Do they pre-cook them for 20 mins to a certain low temp, then cool them, and then re-heat them to another temp - add butter, milk, and then let them cool completely? (I'm paraphrasing the Steingarten/Jackal10 method mentioned here). I'd imagine the starch would be very difficult to control - especially with all of that whisking.

[fresh_a]

Last time I went, the purée was too liquidy, but still good. Can't wait to try to the spare-ribs on the new menu!!

[Louisa Chu]

Moby, here's a few of geeky answers. There's a picture of a cocotte on the homepage of the Creuset website here - no, it's not non-stick. And yes, on the hot milk. I don't know how the puree's made - didn't see it during mise en place - but will next time.

fresh_a, the spareribs were really good. But even better was the pot au feu special yesterday - especially the marrow bone, good toast, and fleur de sel.

[MiguelCardoso]

In my experience ,the Robuchon purée is very easy to reheat, without extra butter, cream or milk, as long as it's done very, very slowly. As the Portuguese say: the purée must never suspect it's being reheated. You must do it subrrepticiously - without it finding out. It's sneaky, undercover work. Just work the mass slowly around the saucepan, on the lowest of heats. Keep in mind that it's as delicious cold, tepid, warm or hot. Temperature is a great distraction. Good things taste well at any temperature.

Still, there's nothing like just-made purée, boiled for less than one thinks (15 minutes at most?) with fresh, dry-soil garlic. Perhaps the most important factor is simmering freshly plucked (purple-skinned, waxy) potatoes with their skins on, before peeling them by hand and mashing them by hand with a rice-masher. Add the best freshly-churned butter, white pepper, "fleur du sel"; and the thinnest "single cream" and you're away.

It's even better when you mix it with "bacalhau" (salt cod, duly soaked for 36 hours and very briefly "mijoté" or simmered), as in the Portuguese "bacalhau com natas".

[Louisa Chu]

Miguel, thank you for that languidly romantic tale of the Portuguese puree.

In France, you beat it into submission, applying torturous heat, and exquisitely scalding milk - judiciously.

[Louisa Chu]

Three specials – baby abalone, black truffle spaghetti, and travers du porc – the thick, fatty, meaty spare ribs – marinated in honey and soy sauce and done in the rotisserie. That was really good – I had it while they were testing – but I thought it would have killed us for anything else. And we were in the mood for love – long, lingering, food-love.

[MobyP]

That's really, really funny.

Say, can I be your dog?

[Louisa Chu]

Moby - kinky.

[edsel]

And how do they keep the starch stable going through all of those temperature changes? Do they pre-cook them for 20 mins to a certain low temp, then cool them, and then re-heat them to another temp - add butter, milk, and then let them cool completely? (I'm paraphrasing the Steingarten/Jackal10 method mentioned here). I'd imagine the starch would be very difficult to control - especially with all of that whisking.

Has anyone had much luck with the Steingarten approach? I confess to going through a mashed-potato-obsessed phase (* brandishes digital thermometer *) for a while there. Never quite nailed it.

In my experience ,the Robuchon purée is very easy to reheat, without extra butter, cream or milk, as long as it's done very, very slowly.  As the Portuguese say: the purée must never suspect it's being reheated.  You must do it subrrepticiously - without it finding out. It's sneaky, undercover work.  Just work the mass slowly around the saucepan, on the lowest of heats.

Miguel, isn't it necessary to whisper sweet nothings to the puree to distract it as it warms?

...sussurro... ...sussurro....

[tighe]

I'm going to be spending some time in the kitchens starting this coming Thursday morning. If you have any burning questions please post them here and I'll try to get them answered.

I realize I'm way late to the party here, but when I went to L'Atelier I thought the pot de creme was a knockout. So lou, is there some secret there that you know of in the way they make it? Thanks.

Enjoyed your 'blog post....

[Jon Tseng]

That's really, really funny.

Say, can I be your dog?

Moby - does your wife know about this

[MobyP]

Ahem (clears throat) MY MACHINE WAS STOLEN - OH YES - THE POLICE ARE ON THEIR WAY (how much money d'you want?)...

[Scott]

Ahem (clears throat) MY MACHINE WAS STOLEN - OH YES - THE POLICE ARE ON THEIR WAY (how much money d'you want?)...

Moby,

it's more than Lou you need to pay off now...

[Marrow Margin]

Three specials – baby abalone, black truffle spaghetti, and travers du porc – the thick, fatty, meaty spare ribs – marinated in honey and soy sauce and done in the rotisserie. That was really good – I had it while they were testing – but I thought it would have killed us for anything else. And we were in the mood for love – long, lingering, food-love.

Great little ditty Loufood.

[Louisa Chu]

tighe, on the pots de creme - no, no secret - not even special ingredients - nothing you couldn't find at a regular grocery store here in Paris. That's what's so infuriating about this place sometimes - the simplicity of the ingredients, the simplicity of the technique - the difference is experience. And thanks by the way.

Moby, who said anything about money?

MM, thanks so much.

[docsconz]

Eye fight Great imagery!

[tighe]

That's what's so infuriating about this place sometimes - the simplicity of the ingredients, the simplicity of the technique - the difference is experience.

So what you're saying is that all that it will really take for me to replicate it at home is to practice it a few thousand times?....

All the more reason to just go back to Paris and save myself the effort.....

Now that I've started thinking about my meal there, one of the other things I wondered about was the foie gras brochette. My experience is that foie melts away extremely fast when being cooked, but the brochette was three good sized cubes, perfectly seared on all sides. Do they have to start with giant blocks of foie to end up with these cubes?

Edited February 5, 2004 by tighe (log)