Thomas Keller chef proprieter of Napa Valley's French Laundry is passionate about bistro
cooking. He believes fervently that the real art of cooking lies in elevating to excellence the
simplest ingredients that bistro cooking embodies at once a culinary ethos of generosity
economy and simplicity that the techniques at its foundation are profound and the recipes at
its heart have a powerful ability to nourish and please. So enamored is he of this older more
casual type of cooking that he opened the restaurant Bouchon right next door to the French
Laundry so he could satisfy a craving for a perfectly made quiche or a gratineed onion soup
or a simple but irresistible roasted chicken. Now Bouchon the cookbook embodies this cuisine
in all its sublime simplicity. But let's begin at the real beginning. For Keller great cooking
is all about the virtue of process and attention to detail. Even in the humblest dish the
extra thought is evident which is why this food tastes so amazing: The onions for the onion
soup are caramelized for five hours lamb cheeks are used for the navarin basic but essential
refinements every step of the way make for the cleanest flavors the brightest vegetables the
perfect balance--whether of fat to acid for a vinaigrette of egg to liquid for a custard of
salt to meat for a duck confit. Because versatility as a cook is achieved through learning
foundations Keller and Bouchon executive chef Jeff Cerciello illuminate all the key points of
technique along the way: how a two-inch ring makes for a perfect quiche how to recognize the
right hazelnut brown for a brown butter sauce how far to caramelize sugar for different uses.
But learning and refinement aside--oh those recipes! Steamed mussels with saffron bourride
trout grenobloise with its parsley lemon and croutons steak frites beef bourguignon
chicken in the pot--all exquisitely crafted. And those immortal desserts: the tarte Tatin the
chocolate mousse the lemon tart the profiteroles with chocolate sauce. In Bouchon you get to
experience them in impeccably realized form. This is a book to cherish with its alluring mix
of recipes and the author's knowledge warmth and wit: I find this a hopeful time for the pig
says Keller about our yearning for the flavor that has been bred out of pork. So let your
imagination transport you back to the burnished warmth of an old-fashioned French bistro pull
up a stool to the zinc bar or slide into a banquette and treat yourself to truly great
preparations that have not just withstood the vagaries of fashion but have improved with time.
Welcome to Bouchon.
