Posts Tagged ‘Thomas Keller’

Noteworthy New Books.

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Eric Ripert is the chef at famed four-star New York restaurant La Bernadin, and On The Line (Eric Ripert & Christine Muhlke) gives readers an insider’s account on the runnings of this restaurant. From the history of the restaurant, sourcing of fine ingredients, creating new dishes, managing impeccable service and preparing perfect dishes every day to a collection of recipes, this is an insightful and highly interesting read. This book could become a bible for restaurateurs, based on the continued success that La Bernadin has achieved through the methods outlined within it.

A16 Food + Wine (Nate Appleman & Shelley Lindgren) is a San Fransisco restaurant focused around the simple rustic cuisine of Southern Italy and it’s classic wines. The book’s authors are the chef and wine director, and the constant reference to the region and it’s various wine growing areas and peasant-style dishes. It’s a great book to explore a different side to Italian cuisine and inspire some new dishes. There’s good mention on Neopolitan pizza and even making your own pancetta and sausages from pig.

Thomas Keller needs little introduction. His French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley is still rated as one of the best restaurants in the world. He’s probably the most influential American chef in terms of technique and use of new methods and ingredients. Bouchon, also in the Napa Valley, is his version of a bistro, based around simple yet superbly prepared cuisine. With thoughtful introductions to recipes and sidebars on ingredients throughout, it’s an informative and beautiful book, and we’re proud to add it to the shelves here at Chefs Warehouse along with three of his other books, The French Laundry, Under Pressure and Ad Hoc At Home.

The French Laundry.

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

The French Laundry in Napa, California, has been an outpost of culinary wizardry for over 20 years. Thomas Keller is the man behind its great success, a chef who has gone on to open other restaurants, but for whom The French Laundry will always be his home kitchen. Perhaps he is most famous for his simple yet clever dish of salmon tartare served in a sweet ice-cream cone. Distinctive, delicious and easy to prepare for large groups, you can make this at home with the very same recipe found in his French Laundry cookbook. But the book has far more than recipes. It has insights and anecdotes from years of making excellent cuisine, working with outstanding suppliers and running the best restaurant in the US. Sure, you can get the recipe for Roasted Sweetbreads with Applewood-Smoked Bacon, Braised Belgian Endive, and Black Truffle Sauce. Or Citrus-Marinated Salmon with a Confit of Navel Orangers, Beluga Caviar, and Pea Shoot Coulis. But you can also read about how one of his fishmongers happens to be a Fulbright scholar or his cheesemaker is an attorney, why the blini is underrated and why the quality of food doesn’t necessarily determine the success of a restaurant. The French Laundry cookbook is as much a classic as Thomas Keller’s restaurant is an icon. It’s the kind of cookbook you’ll find on the shelves in renowned kitchens the world over. Chefs get inspired by it, and so can you. Whether you follow the recipes or simply find new ways to use ingredients, this book captures the soul of a chef and a place, and allows you to recreate this at home.

The French Laundry, Thomas Keller. Photography by Deborah Jones. R500 at Chefs Warehouse.

The Science of Sous Vide.

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Sous vide is a cooking method aimed to preserve the natural integrity of ingredients by heating them at low temperatures for a sustained period. Foods can be cooked for long periods, over 24-hours sometimes, at specific temperatures. Food is vacuum-packed and placed in water baths to ensure when cooked it keeps its original appearance, doesn’t lose fat or juices and retains texture better than any other method. Embraced by the world’s top chefs at restaurants like El Bulli, The Fat Duck and The French Laundry, sous vide is quite a science, the machine used keeping an exact temperature to ensure perfect doneness.

Thomas Keller of The French Laundry and Per Se restaurants has produced a book that thoroughly explores the science of sous vide cooking. Aimed unmistakably at professional chefs, the book talks in detail about the benefits of sous vide, the controlled environment it creates and what this allows a chef to achieve. Adventurous home chefs might also find an entirely new chapter in food through the book, should they choose to purchase it and a sous vide machine.

Chefs Warehouse has also recently taken stock of the Grant sous vide range, the very same water baths and stirred heaters (pictured above) used in several of those restaurant kitchens mentioned above. Should you be a professional chef or adventurous home cook and wish to find out more about sous vide or these superb professional kitchen items, please do contact us.