Thomas Keller's "Bouchon" Cookbook

[Bond Girl]

Thomas Keller's Bouchon just arrived in the mail after 4 weeks delay from Jessica's Biscuits. I'll be cooking from it over the next couple of weeks. Anyone out there care to trade notes on successes and failures? Leek and Potato soup tonight.

[derricks]

The book just arrived in the mail after 4 weeks delay from Jessica's Biscuits.  I'll be cooking from it over the next couple of weeks. Anyone out there care to trade notes on successes and failures? Leek and Potato soup tonight.

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I made the duck confit (once with magret, once with legs). It's really good, but you'll really want to rinse off the meat after the cure. I didn't do it as much last time and the legs are right at the edge of too salty for me (and I like a lot of salt). I used it for the confit with Brussel sprouts on the next page, which may have made me a Brussels sprouts convert.

[Marlene]

I'm considering the Beouf Bourgnione from this cookbook.

[rnewman]

I have made probably the two simplest (technique-wise) things from the cookbook --French Onion Soup and the Roquefort and Leek Quiche. Both were excellent and I especially recommend his recipe for pate brisee as it remained crispy even after keeping leftovers of the quiche in the fridge for a couple of days. Oh, I also tried the garlic sausage with lentils which was also delicious, but, in my opinion, the recipe was very complicated for what should be a relatively simple dish (although this may be a common complaint with many of Keller's recipes).

[zeitoun]

I cherish this book as much as the FL cookbook. I have been using it quite frequently for the past two months now. The recipes that I enjoyed making most were the Boeuf Bourguignon, the Lentil soup, the Herb gnocchi, the Salmon tartare and the Cod with piperade. Some of these recipes are lenghty but the results can be extraordinary. A good example of that is when I first made the soffritto component of the Cod and Piperade dish. Soffritto alone is just an extraordinary and versatile flavoring agent. I now use it in other dishes as well. I also ate the left over piperade cold on top of a toasted baguette. It was succulent!!!

I also tried recipes that i wasn't too thrilled about. His recipe for mussels with saffron and mustard for instance was, using his measurements, too pungent to my taste. I had to try it again but that time I adjusted the mesurements to reflect my own preferences.

Finally, I failed miserably on the Pork trotters with mache and sauce gribiche. I purchased pig's feet instead of the whole hock. This resulted in my cutting though skin and fat to extract meat for hours only to realize that pig's feet are 95% fat and 5% meat. Will try it again next week.

I am eager to hear your impressions on each recipe.

[edsel]

I've had the book for several weeks, but I'm just now getting around to cooking from it. I've got a pot of beef bones simmering to make stock (would have preferred veal, but couldn't find any veal bones). Kelller's stock-making technique is not terribly unusual, but I'm following his method for completeness - I'm planning to make the bœuf bourguignon recipe from Bouchon.

I like the idea of making a wine reduction, cooking the first batch of vegetables with the beef, wine, and stock, and then discarding the first vegetables, to be replaced with fresh individually prepared garnishes of the same veggies. There's something about all of that double-reduction, refinement, etc., that appeals to me. Definitely a project for a snowy weekend.

[zeitoun]

I like the idea of making a wine reduction, cooking the first batch of vegetables with the beef, wine, and stock, and then discarding the first vegetables, to be replaced with fresh individually prepared garnishes of the same veggies. There's something about all of that double-reduction, refinement, etc., that appeals to me. Definitely a project for a snowy weekend.

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Agreed

Not sure if you are omitting this step but it would tempting (as i have) to skip the meat soaking step and complete the dish on the same day. Soaking the meat for at least 24 hours makes a tremendous difference. I recommend you try it.

Also, I would be curious to find out if you are planning to add butter to your cooking liquid before serving as Keller suggests. I personally don't. Instead, I have added a little bit of reduced balsamic vinegar to it to give it more color and depth.

Have fun!!!

[Bond Girl]

Great suggestions. Keep it coming. I think the local restaurants will be missing my business for the nest few weeks. I am going to use the pate brisee for a lemon tart this evening. Will report back.

[Jake]

Made the Roasted Beet and Mache salad for a dinner party a couple weeks ago. Highly reccomend it, and I don't like beets. The Walnut Vinaigrette was excellent.

[Busboy]

We made the skirt steak with carmelized shallots and wine jus; spinach with garlic confit and glazed root vegetables and it was a damn swell menu.

Cooking the skirt steak is easy as pie, but this is Keller so the jus is a time-consuming and relatively expensive project. The result is absurdly rich, and tastes disurbingly like a properly-done cheesesteak, sans provolone (or cheeze whiz).

Because my life is empty and meaningless, and my office was closed, I hand-turned the turnips, rutabegas, carrots and red pearl onions. The results were astonishing -- almost worth the cramping fingers. The rutabegas, which are key, turn a compelling yellow while cooking and, once tossed together, (being Keller, all vegs must be glazed separately) with the orange, white and red of the other vegatables, the dish looked like the cover of a cooking magazine. Sure, it's only root vegetables, but it was cool looking, even if my son did say it was like having dessert with dinner (because of the sugar in glaze, not because he eats turnips for dessert).

The dear boy also pronounced the spinach excellent, and we've been throwing leftover bits of garlic into almost everything lately, and the greens cut the richness of the other two dishes.

We have also made the lemon tart several times. It is damn near idiot-proof and makes a great breakfast as well as a wonderful dessert. When he says "keep an eye on it while browning", believe him. If you look up and the thing carbonizes, you can strip off the burnt part and brown again. So we hear. We found that mostly-meyer with some "regular" lemon combination yielded noticeably better results than straight "regulars," but either way it's great and can be build ahead.

Have fun.

[scamhi]

I made the roasted butternut sqash soup, very labor intensive totally worth the trouble. Also made the soffrito and the garlic confit.

Tomorrow, I will make the Clams from the book with garlic confit, soffrito, wine wine etc...

[McDuff]

I bought the book the other night and was pleasantly surprised when I opened it because it already feels like an old friend because the layout is so similar to the French Laundry. I'm intrigued by the trotters also and if I can find fresh ones, I'm going to make it. I bought beets and mussels on the way out of work tonight, tomorrow is a snow day so I'll see what I can do with them.

[edsel]

[...]

Not sure if you are omitting this step but it would tempting (as i have) to skip the meat soaking step and complete the dish on the same day.  Soaking the meat for at least 24 hours makes a tremendous difference. I recommend you try it.

Also, I would be curious to find out if you are planning to add butter to your cooking liquid before serving as Keller suggests.  I personally don't.  Instead, I have added a little bit of reduced balsamic vinegar to it to give it more color and depth.

Have fun!!! ←

The "aging" step is essential, to be sure. I think it's pretty much understood that many braised / stewed dishes benefit from a prolonged rest before reheating. It's fascinating to me that Keller skips the raw-wine-marination step in favor of using a wine reduction followed by a rest in the refrigerator prior to final assembly.

Your capsule summary of Keller's recipe in the bœuf bourguignon thread ← summed it up nicely. I almost commented on one minor omission: Keller actually segregates the (first cycle of) vegetables from the browned rib meat by placing a barrier of cheesecloth in the pot. We don't want the meat to be sullied by bits of vegetal detritus.

This recipe makes a fascinating and wonderful contrast to the one in the Les Halles cookbook. Bourdain's technique is all about accessibility - anyone can follow that recipe (which is available on his web site) and the results are terrific. Keller demands a certain attention to detail. OK, I'll say it: the guy is obsessive!

[Dani Mc]

I made the french onion soup last week, and it tasted good, though decidedly smoky. I think I let it simmer too long, and the flavors concentrated a wee bit more than they should've. I can't think of any other reason this would've happened. Anyone?

[plunk]

Shortly after I received the book back in Dec, I decided to do a dinner and movie viewing party (ROTK EE) and made all the courses from the book. Thank god for weekends.

- Roasted Beet Salad (pretty good)

- Celeriac Remoulade (okay, didn't like the dressing very much)

- Olivade (even people who didn't like olives liked this, in small doses)

- Smoked and Steamed Salmon Rillettes (tasted great, texture was a little too firm for easy spreading)

- Rabbit Rillettes with Prunes (substituted purchased duck confit, best spread of the three)

- Boeuf Bourguignon (aged overnight as suggested), excellent.

- Dark Chocolate Mouse Tart with Hazelnut Crust (simple and tasty)

All of the recipes, except for the crust of the tart, worked out really well. The tart dough was hard to roll out and kept cracking, ultimately I ended up patching it together in the pan. And don't blind bake with aluminum foil, it really stuck to the dough when I lifted it out. The second attempt with parchment paper was perfect.

[Larry 1749]

I made the Mussels with Saffron and Mustard (twice now), they are without a doubt the best I have ever tasted. I have also done the Tarte Tartan and this also worked perfectly. This is one great book I just love how all the recipes are instructional and seem fool poof.

[Bond Girl]

The leek and potato soup is a slight refinement from the average versions I know and learned many years ago. It adds a bouguet garni and has the complexity of onions and garlic. It definitely takes it to the next level. The lemon tart came out well too. I substituted lemons with meyers and the end result was heavenly. Next up: Vanilla Macaroons!

[FoodMan]

I tried several from this book and I pretty much loved all of them especially the quiche which like it was mentioed above gets better with age!

-Quiche with bacon and onions

-Cauliflower Gratin (No one could belive this was cauliflower and kept saying "REALLY, but it' so good!!")

-Macaroni and cheese gratin, also very good

-Trout with almonds and green beans, classic and good

-Profiterolles (sp?) with ice cream and chocolate sauce. The puffs came out perfect.

The trotters are on my to-do list, so please keep us posted if anyone manages to make them.

Elie

[hazardnc]

I bought the book a few weeks ago and have been eyeing several recipes I would like to try.

Last night, the whole family got in on the act. I made the cauliflower gratin and spinach with garlic, the SO roasted the chicken (Keller's simple recipe on the front) and my daughter made the chocolate mousse for dessert.

We loved the cauliflower - if there had been enough left over, I considered pureeing it and then adding some stock to make a quickie soup. Alas, not enough leftovers to warrant saving them. I found that I needed to blanch the florets longer than the recipe indicated - wen well over three minutes. I also had to add a bit more cream - probably because I used a wider gratin dish.

The roast chicken was simply delicious. My daughter, who does not like "chicken on the bone (she hates tendons, etc) said it was the best roast chicken she's ever had.

We have been making a version of the spinach for years, so no surprises there.

The mousse was the biggest disappointment - something went awry here as the texture was very grainy. Can someone tell us if perhap the chocolate was too cold (or too hot) when we added the yolks?

The lemon tart is next on the list, as is the onion soup.

I would love to make the pot de creme as well. I have looked everywhere on the net and cannot find lidded pots that cost less than $22.50 each! I would have to make a helluva lot of pot de creme to justify that expense. The recipe says if you lack the covered pots,you can cover the creme with plastic wrap before putting it in the oven. I am concerned about the plastic melting. Anyone have any suggestion there?

Edited January 24, 2005 by hazardnc (log)

[zeitoun]

I would love to make the pot de creme as well.  I have looked everywhere on the net and cannot find lidded pots that cost less than $22.50 each!  I would have to make a helluva lot of pot de creme to justify that expense.  The recipe says if you lack the covered pots,you can cover the creme with plastic wrap before putting it in the oven.  I am concerned about the plastic melting.  Anyone have any suggestion there?

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My wife does all the baking at home. If I remember correctly she uses individual ramekins covered with aluminum foil, it works just as fine.

[FoodMan]

Of course, the chicken! I cannot believe I forgot to mention it. I tried the roasted chicken as well and it came out fantastic. Here is a picture of it still in the pan:

hazardnc, I make pots du creme in ramekins as well (have not tried the Bouchon ones yet though). They might not look as cute as the ones in the book but they taste good.

Elie

[zeitoun]

Of course, the chicken! I cannot believe I forgot to mention it. I tried the roasted chicken as well and it came out fantastic. Here is a picture of it still in the pan:

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This looks just like the chicken in the book!!! Congratulations are in order!!

A whole chicken like this can be tricky.

This is now in my top three on my to do list - Elie - any pointers on how not to dry it out??

[FoodMan]

Use a thermometer

Edit: And the drippings in the pan make a wonderful sauce.

Elie

[Dryden]

Made the Roasted Beet and Mache salad for a dinner party a couple weeks ago.  Highly reccomend it, and I don't like beets.  The Walnut Vinaigrette was excellent.

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We did this as well - raves all around.

[fiftydollars]

-Macaroni and cheese gratin, also very good

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I really liked this recipe and found that it is somewhat of a rare exception in Keller/Cerciello's repertoire in that it is just as easy as any other recipe on the topic.