"The French Laundry Cookbook" by Thomas Keller

[Diner Girl]

I finally did the pig's head.

Whew.

Edited May 27, 2008 by Diner Girl (log)

[Anna N]

I finally did the pig's head.

Whew.

←

Yes, you did and I read every fascinating word and just ordered the BOOK! Not that I plan on doing the pig's head but because I am fascinated by your blog and want to know more.

[biskuit]

my husband made the valoute of bittersweet chocolate with cinnamon stick ice cream the other night......

I just did a third annual "french laundry meal" for New Years. I continue to be impressed by this cookbook - the recipes are mostly challenging and require forethought/planning. It's a great learning experience. And the results are phenomenally good. Two dishes this year were particularly amazing - the chocolate veloute mentioned above, and the black sea bass with vanilla saffron sauce. Neither are especially "hard" - but they are time consuming and involve many interwoven parts.

I also did the walnut cream and poached pear soup, the gruyere gougeres, the potato tasting with truffles, and the lemon sabayon tart. All very good, but not as spectacularly excellent as the above two.

For rundowns of prior years efforts, you can see these photo albums -

2009: http://flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/sets/72157612006921556/

2008: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/sets...57603697458801/

"Peas and Carrots" (lobster crepes!)

"Surf and Turf" (monkfish and braised oxtails!)

"Coffee and Donuts" (cappucino semifreddo and donuts)

"PB&J" (PB chocolate truffles and concord grape "jellies")

one I called "Eggs" (white truffle custard w black truffle ragout)

and "Chips and Dip" - a recipe I found online from Keller for fingerling chips and green goddess dip

2007: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/sets...57600210905325/

the amazing cones with salmon

a truffle version of the "Chips and Dip"

crab salad

"Fish and Chips"

PB&J and Coffee and Donuts

Edited January 4, 2009 by biskuit (log)

[biskuit]

I just did a third annual "french laundry meal" for New Years.

Oh, I should mention that this year's meal included a surprise appearance from an Alinea cookbook recipe - the "dry caramel" with maldon sea salt. It was a fun starter for the evening. And the fennel grissini were not from the FL cookbook, just another complement to the sang royale cocktails I was serving (also not from FL).