August-September 2023 COTM - THOMAS KELLER MONTH

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
21

MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM (ad hoc at home p. 320)

This recipe is easy enough to do if not easy on the wallet. First you heat whole milk and heavy cream with a bunch of fresh mint. Once it simmers you remove from heat and let it steep for 20 minutes. You strain the milk mixture into a new saucepan and add some sugar. Heat milk and sugar to just below a simmer. You add some sugar to 10 egg yolks in a large bowl. Wisk the sugar/eggs until thickened and looking lighter. Temper the eggs with the hot dairy mix and eventually combine it all in the bowl. Cook in a clean pot until mixture steams (stirring continuously) and then strain into a bowl placed on an ice bath. Chill until cold but preferably overnight. Churn according to your ice cream maker’s directions and add chopped chocolate chips at the end.

I followed the recipe as written. The only deviation was using mini chocolate chips instead of hand-chopped chocolate because I had them on hand and wanted to use them up. I made this for my sister as it is her favorite flavor of ice cream but there was some extra that didn’t fit in the quart container. I’ve made it 3 times now. The first and latest attempt were great. The second got all messed up because I was trying to rush the tempering process. This is a very good and smooth ice cream–presumably thanks to all of those egg yolks. It really tastes of fresh mint so I don’t think a child who is used to bright green ice cream with artificial mint flavor would love it. Adults who enjoy fresh mint will though.

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22

BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN (ad hoc at home p. 16)

I had to scale down this recipe as I live alone and am not about to fry 2 chickens’ worth of parts. I simply used 3 boneless skinless breasts since that’s what I had on hand. You make a brine of water, halved lemons, fresh parsley, fresh thyme, honey garlic, black peppercorns and kosher salt. Bring the brine to a boil, let cool, refrigerate, and then put your chicken parts in it. Keller says 12 hours is the max for brining or the chicken will become too salty.

Before frying remove chicken from the brine, rinse, and pat dry. Let come up to room temperature. Then you mix up flour with some other seasonings (onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper). Dredge chicken in the flour mixture, then coat with buttermilk, dredge in flour mixture again and finally fry in peanut or canola oil.

I wound up brining the chicken for closer to 24 hours rather than the 12 hours that TK calls for. I agree that it did make the chicken pretty salty. I LOVED how lemony it was though. I’d do a long brine with less salt in the future. It was tough for me to wait until the canola oil got good and hot before starting to fry. I was sure at any moment I was going to burn the apartment down. In the end the chicken was golden brown, juicy, and very flavorful if a bit too salty. I wouldn’t share it with anyone but I also won’t throw it out. It is good. Lesson learned about the balance between salt and brining time ratio.

I’ve never had success with any of my other fried chicken attempts. This one is a winner.

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23

CREAMED SUMMER CORN (ad hoc at home p. 189)

You cut corn kernels off of the cob and fry them in butter in a large skillet. Zest a lime, slice it in half, and add a tablespoon of fresh lime juice to the pan. Season with salt. Cook for 15-18 minutes until all liquid is evaporated. Then add heavy cream, cayenne pepper, and lime zest to the corn. Cook for a further 6-8 minutes and add another 1/4 cup of cream if needed. Season with salt to taste and sprinkle fresh chopped chives.

I can never turn down creamed corn in any form so I knew I had to try this recipe. It is good and I do like the lime bit which reminds me of elotes/esquites. It isn’t my favorite creamed corn recipe though. I won’t go out of my way to make it again.

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24

I made this recipe for a crowd one Xmas Eve, and we had Keller’s fried chicken and champagne. I remember how labor-intensive the chicken was but everyone including me thought it was worth the work.

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25

I had it twice on the Monday night deal in Yountville.

Sublime

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What is your favorite creamed corn recipe?

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27

September nominations:

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Hmmm…I’ll follow along. I have Under Pressure, but I’m thinking I’ll just end up making the trip over to Bouchon and Ad Hoc.

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29

Thomas Keller’s BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN from Ad Hoc, p. 16 and p. 339.

I’ve made the full recipe once before - when the book first appeared in 2009. I really liked the coating ingredients, and they have stuck with me since. At the time, I was not impressed with the brine. My palette has changed quite a bit since, and I wanted to revisit the original recipe.

I should note that in all cases, I shallow fry chicken in a lidded, cast-iron chicken fryer, but other than that, this time I stuck to all the ingredients and method in the book.

I made a small batch, using 4 chicken thighs (one was really tiny and wasn’t even supposed to be there). I didn’t find the brine – which I reduced to 1/8th the volume - to be much of an obstacle. It took about 5 minutes to throw together a day in advance.

Having made this recipe many times now without the brine, both DH and I fully agree it is better with the brine. I didn’t find any particular element of the brine over-powering or even notable, but the chicken was juicier, and had far more flavor. I’m a convert.

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30

This dish! Despite living in SF / NYC for most of my adult life, I’ve never made it to either TFL or Per Se. To be honest, neither restaurant interested me. Too fussy, too rich, just not my bag. But while in NYC, I grew to love Bouchon at the Time Warner Center. For me the pastries and simple sandwiches were perfect for when I had to walk to work in the AM. Of course, when I went to Vegas, I had to try Bouchon and the item that immediately caught my eye was the waffle and roast chicken. Suffice it to say, I’ve since been many times post and every time, I’m tempted to try something new, yet I can’t because I live for that waffle and chicken. Oddly enough, I’ve still never gotten any more interested in trying his flagship restaurants, but that specific dish will always rank in the top 5 of my favorite things to eat.

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31

I often go for the fried chicken at Ad Hoc, but we really like their salads as well.

P.S. We went to TFL exactly once, and that was about 25 years ago.

32

ONION CONFIT p. 312 from BOUCHON

These onions are ethereal! A bit of work–about three pounds of onions sliced very thin–and a bit of time–they cook for a good two hours. getting a stir every twenty minutes or so. But they are worth it! With just a few bay leaves, some thyme and peppercorns, the result is onions that are soft and smooth but still somehow retain a bit of texture. And the flavor is wonderful–sweet onion to the nth degree. So far, I’ve used them as a garnish, in quiche and to top focaccia. I made them in a really heavy cast iron skillet which worked like a charm

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33

Sounds also like a good base for French onion soup.

34

What kind of onions are recommended? I’m wondering if yellow vs sweet might be better. I usually find onions way bigger than I need, usually sweet, but think they would perfect for this!

ETA I found this version online, and type of onion isn’t specified.

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35

LEEK RISOTTO Food 52
I thought this was a Thomas Keller recipe but now I’m not so sure, maybe just the whipped cream part?

Anyway, this recipe seemed simple enough for me to tackle. It called for 5 cups of stock but a reviewer said was too much, to use 4 cups so that’s what I did. Instead of opening a bottle of white wine, I used white Vermouth. Recipe said 1 shallot but they vary in size, wish recipe had said a cup measurement. Only deviation: I used 2 garlic cloves, through garlic press after sauteing leeks.

I tried whipping 1/3 cup cream with whisk but nothing was happening so I had to use mixer, had to add more cream to get it to work (now what do I do with leftover?). I don’t know if it’s worth it to dirty mixing bowl instead of just adding the cream at the end.

It was tasty but I guess I’m not a huge fan of risotto.

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36

I love the pattern on this bowl.

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37

Come on over to the September voting thread.

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I used regular yellow onions.

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39

Ad hoc meatballs with our house tomato sauce. Much smaller than the original version. This is a freezer staple which is now, happily, restocked.

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Edit: There were 39 meatballs out of this batch. Usually there are 36 but there was a bit more meat this time.
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40

ROASTED SHRIMP SCAMPI

I had some nice jumbo shrimp that I was looking for a recipe for, and wondered if Keller had any shrimp recipes - ta da!

I was very skeptical of the recipe, though. I mean - shrimp scampi is easy and tasty, and this recipe is a bit of a fusspot with the compound butter situation. You make a compound butter of roasted and raw garlic, lemon juice, and parsley (which I forgot), place the shrimp on a bed of breadcrumbs, add a few pats of the butter, sprinkle with more breadcrumbs, and broil.

Still, I had roasted garlic earlier in the week when I roasted tomatoes, so I was halfway to the compound butter already. I decided to leave the lemon for the end (because why cook lemon juice) and instead zested the lemon into the shrimp. I also left the garlic butter soft and mixed it with the shrimp, because I wanted even distribution (and I had a lot more shrimp than he did in the demo).

Well, this was really good! The only “downside” was that I was expecting buttery, garlicky shrimp juices that I would toss with the pasta I was serving the shrimp with, but - duh - the breadcumbs absorbed all that, so I had to butter (and garlic) my pasta separately.

He has this whole fussy thing where he says to butterfly the shrimp and arrange them a certain way to ensure even cooking, which I thought was probably a crock but kind of did anyway. Given that I had a lot more shrimp crammed into my baking dish, it took a lot longer than the 3-4 mins he called for, and I decided to toss them about halfway through so the ones at the edges didnt’t overcook, but they did cook very evenly.

I’d make this again (this way), but with twice the garlic! And rough, toasted pangrattato-type crumbs or panko would probably be better than the really fine breadcrumbs I had at hand.

Served with bucatini and sauteed spinach.

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