!! Celebration day for food nerds: new Keller cookbook!
The first French Laundry cookbook (from ’99) was a revelation to me. Cooking through it taught me more than any other resource has. I was shocked how makeable it was in a home kitchen—very few unusual supplies needed.
Conversation
The follow-up, Under Pressure, included dishes from Per Se. The style was barely recognizable! The dishes now included many modernist techniques and daring flairs. Fascinating to read, but much less suitable for home cooking: the components didn’t generalize very well.
1
4
I’m so happy that this book looks like it’s landed somewhere in between. Under Pressure was explicitly centered around technique (sous vide), but this one’s not; and a decade’s passed, so the enthusiasm for whiz-bang modernism has faded a bit.
Replying to
As usual, the best part is the essays, which unpack tacit knowledge from eminent practitioners.
2
4
28
Oddly, the second-most-valuable cookbook in my library went through the same evolution: the Eleven Madison Park cookbook is super makeable! Such a valuable guide to composition and vegetable cookery. Its successor is inspiring, astonishing—and alas, much less useful in the home.
1
10
However: the essays in the second EMP book are wonderful and very bloody!
I was served this dish when I visited in 2017, and it was one of the most stirring things I’d ever eaten. I was excited to see it in the book! But… the essay associated with it showed the cost (see pic).
2
2
11
“Lovers fell asleep waiting for me to return home at night … I did not have time to read bedtime stories to my children … I am divorced … I still hurt … A dish ilke this is drawn from the long hours and years in the kitchen … There are no steps to skip.” Remarkable.
2
5
53
The temptation is to say: gosh, is Humm just making excuses for sociopathy and workaholism? Surely this isn’t necessary? But it’s really not clear. Few dishes have ever shocked me the way this one did. I don’t think it’s an accident that this essay is paired with this dish.
3
1
17
I just learned that apparently that cabbage+foie dish was available on their a la carte *bar* menu for $28 a few years ago! Astonishing that this kind of artistry was available so accessibly on a walk-in basis—I figured it was a tasting menu loss leader. Restaurants are amazing.
1
12
Replying to
Looks great!!
In the spirit of moving away from whiz-bang modernism, I highly recommend "Sauces" by James Peterson.
1
1
1
It’s a great book!
1