Product Description

Thomas Keller, chef/proprieter of the French Laundry in the Napa Valley--"the most exciting place to eat in the United States," wrote Ruth Reichl in The New York Times--is a wizard, a purist, a man obsessed with getting it right. And this, his first cookbook, is every bit as satisfying as a French Laundry meal itself: a series of small, impeccable, highly refined, intensely focused courses. Most dazzling is how simple Keller's methods are: squeegeeing the moisture from the skin on fish so it sautees beautifully; poaching eggs in a deep pot of water for perfect shape; the initial steeping in the shell that makes cooking raw lobster out of the shell a cinch; using vinegar as a flavor enhancer; the repeated washing of bones for stock for the cleanest, clearest tastes. From innovative soup techniques, to the proper way to cook green vegetables, to secrets of great fish cookery, to the creation of breathtaking desserts; from beurre monte to foie gras au torchon, to a wild and thoroughly unexpected take on coffee and doughnuts, The French Laundry Cookbook captures, through recipes, essays, profiles, and extraordinary photography, one of America's great restaurants, its great chef, and the food that makes both unique. One hundred and fifty superlative recipes are exact recipes from the French Laundry kitchen--no shortcuts have been taken, no critical steps ignored, all have been thoroughly tested in home kitchens. If you can't get to the French Laundry, you can now re-create at home the very experience the Wine Spectator described as "as close to dining perfection as it gets."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4254 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Synopsis
One hundred and fifty recipes are presented in this cookbook, many of them unique to the author's restaurant, such as lobster-filled crepes with a carrot-emulsion sauce, topped with a pea-shoot salad dressed lightly with lemon-infused oil, to name one of the simpler ones!

Customer Reviews

One for the competant and confident.
An engrossing book.
This book gives an excellent insight into the work and philosophy of a first rate chef. Most of the recipes are quite sophisticated, and the book is probably not one for a novice or nervous cook. The photographs are beautiful, and give splendid ideas for presentation. As a vegetarian, I was particularly interested in the puddings, which use pectin as a setting agent, rather than gelatine. Interesting and useful too are the 'mini recipes' - the bits between the main productions with instructions and techniques on making and using such things as powders, oils and stocks.

Great book
"Mummy.... MUMMY! What's for supper?"

"Its white truffle oil-infused custards with black truffle ragout".

"Again!?"

"Well you don't have to eat it".

Fantastic
This book is amazing. Not only does it look great, the recipes contained within it are superb. It is so beautifully produced that it wouldn't look out of place on your coffee table or in your kitchen.

However, it is the food that this is really about. The French Laundry has three Michelin stars and is consistantly voted the best restaurant in North America and one of the top five in the world. Having been lucky enough to eat there and then wondered how the chefs are able to create such amazing dishes, I now know.

This book makes it possible to create Michelin star dishes at home. Sure, they can be very fiddly and a lot of work, but you can do it and it really makes you appreciate the work that goes into putting that marvellous food in front of the customers, day in/day out.

If you are really serious about good quality, haute cuisine then this book is a must. If you're not, then enjoy it for the fabulous photography and anecdotes, and leave it on your coffee table to impress guests.