Thomas Keller's "Bouchon" Cookbook

[zeitoun]

These trotters have to be divine. It only emphasizes my need to try them out. Thanks for the pics folks!!

I was tempted to make the leg of lamb a couple of times but never got to it.

Was it easy to seperate the muscles?

From reading it I figured I might need a longer cooking time as well.

Great work everyone, Keller would be proud ...I think

Elie

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Elie - I'm not sure if this answers your question:

I also thought i was going to spend a whole afternoon preparing the log, the thought of performing what came close to surgery on a pig's foot (i.e. separating meat from tissue, tendons, fat, bone and skin) was quite discouraging at first.

I actually found it easier than what I intially thought. If you are using the whole feet with the hock, then I'd say you are in for a (not so fun) treat and a long one at that. The upper part of the hock is what contains most of the meat and it will easily separate from the bone in big chunks. So if you can, i'd say buy the hock even without the feet which contain just fat, bones, tendons and very little meat.

[Marlene]

I'm going to go with the Bœuf Bourguignon this weekend (page 212). I'll post pictures.

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I made the Boeuf Bourguignon last week as you can see here. You'll also note I dispensed with the final part, I just couldn't take it anymore! But you'll get the idea of what it looked like.

I really want to make the quiche next, since they go into so much detail in the book.

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ms melkor, do the quiches. i'm working on a piece and looked at that chapter and it's like a doctorate in quiche-making. i learned so many tricks. i love it when i learn something from a cookbook, rather than just collect another recipe. not that the recipes are bad: i made the leek and roquefort quiche and it was really amazing.

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This is exactly why I made the Bourguignon. The recipe was far more complicated than it needs to be, but I sure learned a lot!

[FoodMan]

The quiche is awsome. I will never use any other method to making it, especially the flawless pastry. Another great advise from the quiche recipe is to cook it the night before and refrigerate. This makes slicing a snap.

Elie

[russ parsons]

I will never use any other method to making it, especially the flawless pastry.

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i thought it was just me! i'm notoriously pastry averse, but this is a great dough. rolled out like a dream.

[McDuff]

McDuff, your trotter log looks great! Did you follow Keller's instructions for cooking and plating?

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I followed the recipe exactly, except for no smooth dijon and no panko. It came out fine with regular crumbs. I didn't feel like spending as much for the herbs for the gribiche as I did for the meat so I faked it. (Let's be honest here. Three days before payday is not the time I go wacky for one meal.) I still have a hunk of pig puck left so I will do the right thing with the mache and so on this weekend. The guys in the meat department at work are anxious for a bite. My bedtime reading lately has been Keller and Fergus Henderson. I had the roasted marrow bones with parsley salad at St. John in September and wonder if I could do it better. The texture of the stuff was like barely congealed snot mixed with sperm, not a plug of beef fat flavored butter that I had been led to expect. Anyway, the hocks was an easy introduction to the glories of the pig.

[fiftydollars]

...

The texture of the stuff was like barely congealed snot mixed with sperm

...

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Can't say I've tried that particular combination...

[Behemoth]

The quiche is awsome. I will never use any other method to making it, especially the flawless pastry. Another great advise from the quiche recipe is to cook it the night before and refrigerate. This makes slicing a snap.

Elie

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Tell me about your tart pan. I want to buy one with 2 inch depth and a removable bottom, but all the ones I've seen flare out. Are they supposed to, or do straight-sided ones exist? I currently have low rim tart pans that are straight sided -- somehow the shape (if not the depth) seems right to me. I have been using them when I make quiche but I would like the real thing. (This will probably be the first recipe I try out of that cookbook -- I am still searching for a perfect quiche recipe. Nothing goes better with all the Riesling people keep giving us.)

[MsMelkor]

Keller and Cerciello recommend using a cake ring, 9"x2". Since I don't have one of these yet, I haven't gotten around to making the quiche.

[johnjohn]

I made the Butternut squash soup on Saturday. I thought it was way too sweet - to the point that after 3 or 4 spoonfuls I didn't like it at all. It woud be fine if served in a demitasse cup or shot glass before a meal, but as part of a soup and sandwich dinner for my family - it was too much.

[Behemoth]

Keller and Cerciello recommend using a cake ring, 9"x2". Since I don't have one of these yet, I haven't gotten around to making the quiche.

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Cake ring is like a springform pan?

[russ parsons]

actually, they recommend a ring mold, which is one of those things that seems to be in every professional kitchen, but unavailable to home cooks (i know ... not unavailable, just scarce). a ring mold is like the side of a springform pan, but without the bottom. the problem is that most springform pans are 3 inches deep and most removable-bottom tart pans are only 1 1/4 inches deep. i found a removable-bottom 2-inch-deep tart pan and it worked perfectly (and yes, it flared out--and had fluted sides, to boot). you could also use a regular cake pan (they are usually 2 inches deep), but getting the quiche out could be a problem.

[Bond Girl]

Russ, did you make the quiche using a mixer?

I am having the hardest time with this dough. Being in a pint sized NYC apartment does not afford me the luxury of owning a stand-up mixer with a paddle. So, the get the butter completely incorporated into the flour, I cut them into bits first, freeze them rock hard, and put them into a mini-chopper with batches of flour. It seemed to work fine with no huge clumps. Water was then mixed into the mix with a pastry cutter. The tart rolled out like a dream. I checked all around for cracks and holes, all seemed well. Stuck that on a pastry ring as instructed, and baked the shell. Check again. Still fine. Put the batter in and had a huge leaky mess burnt on to the bottom of my oven.

May be I need to invest in a mixer, but the way I learned pastry, a mixer was never part of the equation. Then again, I never made quiches in a pastry ring either.

Round 2 of leek quiche is set for tuesday. Oven need a day to clean up and for Easy Off fumes to disperse. I am determined to get this done!

[russ parsons]

i did use a mixer, but i'm not sure that's what's going on. i had some leakage on my first quiche, too (and it was the leek one ... mmmm good). one thing i learned is to bake quiches on a jelly roll pan! the second time i tried it, no problem. i've got another one i'm getting ready to try right now and i'll let you know how it goes. my problem with the first one, i'm willing to bet, came from a) rolling the crust too thin (keller recommends just under 1/4 inch [or, in keller-speak, "3/16-inch"]) and then not vetting it carefully enough to look for any possible leaks. that said, i quickly transferred the tart to a jellyroll pan and finished the cooking. it was delicious. also, these make a tremendous amount of quiche. he says 8 servings. i'd say more like 10 to 12 for normal people. one of my favorite things about them is they reheat so well. cut it in a slice, reheat in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes and it's perfect.

Edited February 8, 2005 by russ parsons (log)

[FoodMan]

I used my spring form pan. Like Russ says, it is 3 inches deep so it is a little tricky to work with and I am in search of a proper ring mold now. The first two quiches I made came out perfect. this weekend I was supposed to make one for a bruch for some family members at our house.

I, like always, made my dough in the food processor (no mixer). Rolled, put in the "ring" of my spring form pan set in a larger cake pan on top of parchement. Checked for leaks, baked blind, patched up one small crack I found. Then I filled with the mushroom filling with the ring still in the same position in the large cake pan that I used in my previous two times and stuck it in the oven. The first five minutes go by fine, then disaster strikes!! The thing must've developed a leak at some point and the crust turned into a strainer with nothing but mushrooms in it and a sea of custard all around. Lucky for me I used the large round cake pan and nothing got on my oven floor. BOY WAS I PISSED!! In the trash it went.

Thinking back at to what I did wrong, I think I rolled it thinner than I should in attempting to compensate for my higher "ring" mold. However, I am determined to make the quiche again ASAP. This time maybe I should be a little less confident about it . If I cannot find a ring mold, I'll buy a tart pan, it seems to work for Russ. Apparently there is no such thing as "flawless pastry", only perfect pastry or a messy one.

Elie

edit: typo

[hazardnc]

Russ, I don't know where you live, but I found a 3x9 inch Magic Line ring mold at Sur la Table - and I think it was less than $15

[FoodMan]

Seems like Sur La Table has 2 inch ring molds for a decent price. I am not waiting till the end of the month though. I might stop by and pick one up if they have it in the store.

Elie

[kitwilliams]

I will never use any other method to making it, especially the flawless pastry.

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i thought it was just me! i'm notoriously pastry averse, but this is a great dough. rolled out like a dream.

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Russ:

Did you measure your flour by weight or by the cup? My reason for asking is that I have always made it 5 ounces to the cup when using a/p flour (dip&sweep), whereas Keller/Cerciello makes it 6 -- a significant difference. I recall someone in this thread saying their pastry was too floury however you obviously love it -- flour weight could well be the cause in difference of opinion.

Inquiring minds want to know!

PS Parrish/Magic Line is in nearby Gardena!

[russ parsons]

they don't include weight measures, so i measured by the cup.

[Bond Girl]

Ring mold is cheapest at Broadway panhandler for those living in NYC. $5-7 I think. Caution: it's just a ring with no bottom so make sure you stand it on something that will contain the leakage....I use my for building frozen desserts normally.

Russ is right, I did roll my crust too thin. It was a default pastry program behavior. And, making it on a cake ring stood on cookie sheets and parchment probably didn't help either. I will try it again in a tart shell when oven floor recovers. This time I'll roll it thicker than usual. Looking for cracks is kind of hard since cracks can develop while quiche is baking, theoretically.

Kitwilliams, directions were given in cups and I just measured it by scooping it out of my flour tin. The Pate Brisee in the back of the book is kind of floury. This is one is perfect with the canola oil brushed into the tin.

[Behemoth]

So ring mold on a jelly roll pan? I gotta get the book, I need to see a photo of what this thing ends up looking like. I really like the fluted edges, but somehow the flaring out seems wrong to me. Sur la Table, you say...

[FoodMan]

So ring mold on a jelly roll pan? I gotta get the book, I need to see a photo of what this thing ends up looking like. I really like the fluted edges, but somehow the flaring out seems wrong to me. Sur la Table, you say...

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To give you an idea how it looks like, the custard fills the straight sided pastry to the rim. So, imagine a cylinder made of pastry and filled with egg custard and cut a 2 inch thick slab from the cylinder. That's how the baked -barring any leakage- quiche looks like .

If the only ring you can find is flaring, I am sure it will still come out perfect, and delicious. Maybe not Keller-perfect, but perfect by mortal standards.

Elie

[Bond Girl]

Made Creme Caramel tonight. Although oven floor has not recovered from the spill yesterday, but hell, I put a foil over the spill and hopefully everything will turn to ash in a few days. I had a lot more success with this than with the quiche. One step that made me really uncomfortable was putting plastic wraps in a hot oven...somehow that was a bit too adventurous for me. Otherwise, the steps are surprisingly simple and while my custard did not look as pretty as the one in the book, it's still pretty damn good.

[zeitoun]

Made Creme Caramel tonight.  Although oven floor has not recovered from the spill yesterday, but hell, I put a foil over the spill and hopefully everything will turn to ash in a few days.  I had a lot more success with this than with the quiche.  One step that made me really uncomfortable was putting plastic wraps in a hot oven...somehow that was a bit too adventurous for me.  Otherwise, the steps are surprisingly simple and while my custard did not look as pretty as the one in the book, it's still pretty damn good. 

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Hey.. looks pretty good to me, so what happens to plastic wraps when you stick them in a hot oven?

[Bond Girl]

Thanks Zeitoun, coming from you that is a compliment indeed. I kept on checking it to make sure they didn't melt, and ended up taking them out half way through the thing before it was done. I also lowered the heat to 250 rather than the 325 recommended.

[FoodMan]

That does look pretty tasty, BondGirl. I have not read the instructions for this recipe, but now I am intrigued as to why plastic wrap needs to be in the oven.

Elie