I have had this cookbook for a while. I’m not sure why, but when I open it up, there just aren’t many recipes that grab me. No real knock against it: it’s a handsome book and the cooking advice in it is sound and useful. I can’t even really come up with a clear reason why I sometimes look through it and nothing really lands.
Maybe it’s that I have complicated feelings about Keller’s presence in American culinary culture. I ate at the French Laundry once with my spouse and my then-thirteen year old child. It was a memorable meal, and not just for the price tag, though I think the most memorable part of it was that my kid ate everything with gusto and quite a bit of knowledgeable appreciation, to the point that the chef issued an invitation to visit the kitchen on our way out. But something about the meal also made me never want to have that kind of experience again. It was just a bit too much—too precious, too theatrical. Over some kind of line that I can’t quite articulate.
We ate at Bouchon the day after The French Laundry because we were staying right in town and I didn’t care much for it—the food was ok, but it was actually one of the worst service experiences I’ve had at a restaurant. I’ve never wanted to go to a Keller restaurant since, either. I’m really sure I don’t want to go to Per Se.
If I were in Napa, I guess I’d like to try Ad Hoc. It’s the same basic idea that many chefs with famous, expensive restaurants have followed, which is to offer a simpler, more comfortable and more affordable cuisine that still showcases the basic commitment to fresh, high-quality ingredients. The cookbook follows that same ethos, with a lot of interspersed material on tasks like breaking down a chicken or assembling a one-pot meal.
I have made a few recipes from the book that I’ve really liked. There’s a leek bread pudding that is terrific, for example. Tonight I’m going to make a Spanish-inspired dish that has chicken, mussels, shrimp and peppers in a broth. The recipe calls for saffron rice, but I think I’m going to make buttered farro instead, which is also in the book. I’ve had my eye on this recipe for a while, so it feels like a good occasion to go ahead and commit to it.
For the record she was 10, so even more impressive!
We never made it to the French Laundry, though we wanted to go. Ad Hoc sounds interesting.