Cookbook Survivor: McNally, Nasr and Hanson, The Balthazar Cookbook
Saturday's Child Works Hard for a Living
Reader, can I confess something?
I am not all that fond of some of the classic bistro/brasserie dishes that restaurants like Balthazar make very, very well. I’ve had coq au vin that’s been superbly prepared and I’ve made coq au vin that I was proud of but it’s just not a thing I want to order or make. It’s a dish that was about making the best of an old layer chicken with whom the time had come to part ways. I sort of feel the same way about cassoulet and bouillabaisse, which ought to be show-stopping spectaculars but often to me feel like a real slog to assemble—I’d rather have a simpler fish soup or a paella.
Many other dishes in a classic bistro menu I’m fond of, but they’re either things I’d hesitate to make myself (steak tartare, escargots) or things that I’ve got so basically down that I’d never need a cookbook for them (mussels steamed in wine and garlic). In a few cases, it’s also about not being able to easily lay my hands on the key ingredient—I love skate in brown butter but I almost never see skate in a fish store out here in the suburbs of Philadelphia unless I go down to Reading Terminal Market or the Italian Market. (Or go surf fishing in Delaware, I suppose.)
Mostly the Balthazar cookbook makes me wish I lived in Manhattan and could just pick it up and say to my spouse, “Hey, let’s make a reservation at Balthazar”. A fair number of restaurant cookbooks make me feel like that: warmly inclined to eat at that restaurant again, disinclined to cook it myself. This is an especially good version of that sort of cookbook in design terms: it’s easy to read, it’s beautiful-looking, and it’s very aesthetically consistent with its originating restaurant.
Still, a lot of bistro classics are relatively simple and that’s a virtue, especially the week before Thanksgiving. I have some pork tenderloin in the fridge and there’s a recipe in the book for thin tenderloin cutlets served over a rich polenta. That sounds good and I’ve never done it before. If I get ambitious, I’ll tackle the profiterole recipe too, but knowing what’s coming next week I may keep it real simple.