The French Laundry Cookbook

339 Pages·1999·45.22 MB·English

by  Thomas Keller

THE
FRENCH
LAUNDRY COOKBOOK

THOMAS
KELLER

The French Laundry Cookbook

Thoma. KeUar

with Susl. H.Uer and Michael Ruhlman

Photograph. by Deborah Jane.

$50.00

Thomas Keller, chef/proprietor of the French Laundry

In the Napa Volley-"the most exciting place to eat

in the United States/ wrote Ruth Reichl in The New

York Times-is a wizard, a purist, a man obsessed

with getting it right. And this, his first cookbook, is

every bit as sotisfying 05 a French Laundry meal

itself: a series of small, Impeccable, highly refined,

intensely focused courses.

Most dazzling is how simple Keller's methods are:

squeegeeing the moisture from the skin on fish so it

sautes beautjfully; poochlng eggs In a deep pot of

water for perfect shope; the initiol steeping in the

shell that makes cooking raw lobster out of the shell

a cinch; using vinegar as a flavor enhancer; the

repeated washing of bones for stock for the cleanest,

clearest tastes.

From innovative soup techniques, to the proper way

to cook green vegetables, to secrets of great fish

cookery, to the creation of breathtaking desserts;

from beurre monte to foie gras au torchon, to 0 wild

and thoroughly unexpected toke on coffee and

doughnuts, The French Laundry Cookbook captures,

through recipes, essays, profiles, and extraordinary

photography, one of America's great restaurants, its

great chef, and the food that makes both unique.

One hundred and fifty superlative recipes are

exact recipes from the French Laundry kitchen­

no shortcuts have been taken, no critical steps

ignored, all have been thoroughly tested in home

kitchens. If you can't get to the French Laundry,

you can now re-create at home the very experience

the Wine Spectator described as "as close to dining

perfection as it gets."

THE
FRENCH
LAUNDRY
COOKBOOK

Copyrlghl C 1999 by Thom •• Keller

Pholographs eopyrlghl C 1999 by Deborah Jones

All rights reserved.

No porrion of Ihl. book my be reproduced-mechanically. electronically. o� by any means.

Including pholocopylng-without written permission or the publisher.

Published In 1999 by Arli"n

n Division o(Workmnn Publishing,lnc.

708 8ro.dw.y

New York. N.Y. 10003

www.workrnnllh.cb.com

l.ihrnry ofCongrc811 Catnloging-in Publication Dntn

Keller. Thomas.

The French Lnundry Cookhook/hyThomns Keller wilh Susie Heller nnd Michnel Ruhlman: photographs by Dehornh Joncs.

p.
CIIl.

ISBN 1-57965-126-7

I. Cookery. French. 2. French L.1llllllry (Resl,u""II) I. lIelier. Susie. II. nuhlm.n. Mieh.el. 1963-111. Tille.

641.5'09794' 19-<le21

TX719.K35 1999

Printed in Sing:lJlorc

20
19
III

Design by LEVEL

99-32473

CIP

THE
FRENCH
LAUNDRY
COOKBOOK

THOMAS
KELLER

with

Susie Heller and Michael Ruhlman

Photographs by Deborah Jones

Artisan

New York

C A N A P ES - 1 2

Acknowledgments
IX
The Low of Diminishing Returns

Pleosure and Perfection
2
The Mushroom Lady
28

The Rood to the French laundry
3
Soup
31

A Sad Happy Story
4
Bllnl
39

6
The Importance of Hollandaise

About the Chef
8
Gorden Canapes
45

When In Doubt, Strain:

Notes on How to Use This Book
10

V1

14

42

FIRST C O U R S E - 52

Big·Pot Blanching
58

Hearts of Palm Grower
68

Toots of Refinement:

The Chinols and Tamls
73

Agnolotti
74

Truffles
84

Fole Gras
103

The Importance of Stoff Meal

FISH -l18

A Passion for Rsh
121

The Accidental Rshmonger
122

Cooking lobster
124

Beurre Monte:

The Workhorse Sauce
135

Infused Oils
165

115

MEAT- 169

The Importance of

Trussing Chicken
171

Salt and Pepper and Vinegar
180

Braising and the Virtue of

the Process
186

The Pittsburgh lamber
194

Vegetable Cuts
202

The Importance of Rabbits
205

The Importance of Offal
209

Stocks and Sauces
220

"QuickH Sauces
228

Powders
231

C H E E S E - 234
D E S S E R T - 260

The Composed Cheese Course
236
Beginning and Ending
305

The Importance of France
247
The Ultimate Purveyors
311

The Attorney Cheesemoker
248

Sources
315

List of Redpes
316

Index
318

VII

A c k n o w l e d 9 m e n t 5 Few people move

through their work 3S a solitary force. and no one in the service business

docs. As far as l'm concerned. my whole career has been <1 cumulative

effort.

My mom. Betty. was and remains the higgest innucncc. if that's the

word. in my life. Long berare she put me to work. she taught me how to

clcnn our home, Everything hnd to shine. That standard of perfect

cleanliness was its own brifl, given the work I'd cho08e. She was a (ocused,

intense woman, the driving Corecarthe family. and she taught through her

own actions. I honestly don't know who f'd be jf I'd been raised by. and

had grown up watching. someone other than her.

My brother. Joseph. stecred me in the beginning. even before I

understood that my metier would be cooking. and for this I OIm grOltdu!.

He kept me on track when I could have gone in any number of Icss­
productive directions.

Roland Henin was my chef. He hired me as staff-meal cook at the

Dunes Club in Rhode Island, in the summcr of 1976. when I was not yet

twenty-one, :md tauglll me what I nccdcd to know to learn thc rcst.

During the ycars between Bcnin and the French Laundry. there was.

among many others to whom I'm also grateful. Serge Raou!. He not only

hired me in New York. hewent on togive me a place to stayin France during

my stages. and then. most important. provided the opportunity to establish

the restaurant Rakel. which proved to bc a transformative lime for me.

I would like to thank all my partners: without them there would be no

Freneh Laundry.

Whcn we were opening the rcstaurant. L'lura Cunningham knocked

on my door and handed me her resume. She quickly took ehargc of the

front of the house and has becomc more than a general manager and

sommclier-shc's as much a pari of the heart and soul of the restaurant as

I am. Her passions. standards, and character. as well as her capacity to

exprcss and teach hospitality. have been critical to the restaurant's

success. For all this. and her ability to work so closely with me, I am morc

grateful than I can say,

In the kitchen. no one has been more dedicated and loyal, or more

critical in shaping the French L1undry from its opening day. than French

Laundry pastry chef Stephen Durfee. Sou. ehef. Erie Zicbold. Gregory

Short. nnd Crant Achatz, who arrived with the opcnlng of the new kitchen.

have bcen important rorces in developing the French laundry into what it

is today. They, along with Stephen. logged many hours quantirying and

demonstrating recipes forthis book. Pat McCarty has been more than the

French Laundry's accountant-l sce her more as the third legof the rront­

of-thc-housc/kitchcnlfinaneial tripod that keeps a restaurant standing. I

am grateful to her.

Thcre arc too many stafr to thank individually, All of them make or

have made the French Laundry the placc that it is. and I thank every one,

past starr and prcscnt.

For this book. Susie Heller is to be thanked above all. Few know that

she and I have been talking about it for twclve years. (It began as a pop-up

book!) And it was she who not only wrote and tcsted all the recipcs with

her able assistant. Angic Spensicri. but who marshaled the tcam that made

this book: photographer Deborah Jones. with her assistant. Jeri Joncs:

writer Michacl Ruhlman: and graphic dcsigner Clirf Morgan. with his

design partncr David Hughes. Susie. Dcborah. Michacl. and Clifr becamc

3 part or the rcstaurant in order to transrorm its csscnce into 3 book.

They're an extraordinary team: take any onc of them away and this would

have been a different book entirely,

Susan Lescher brought the book beforc the right pcople and found the

best possible publisher and editor for this project. Ann Bramson. I'm also

indebted to the team in New York-Deborah Weiss Ccline. Judith Sutton.

Dania Davcy, Nancy Murray, and Tricia Boezkowski.

The French chef Fernand Point died thcycar I was born: in many ways

his cookbook Ma Gastronomic-a book that eonvcycd his sensc of humor

and the totality or a life rocuscd on dining-informed me early on about

how a ehcf might live his passion.

I'd likc to thank my entire family for their support and also ror their

understanding. becausc the life of a chef incvitably leads to areas of

neglect in onc·slife. I am grateful to them.

Fin:llly. l'd like to thank my colle:lbrues. It's rrom you that I draw

inspir:ltion. and it's your cumulative talent that keeps me striving.

Without the daily evidence of your skill and drive and passion. I would be

a lesser chef.

Acknowledgmont.
IX

II

Pi e a 5 U r e
a n d
p e r f e e t i o n When you acknowledge. as you must. that there is no such thing

as perfect food. only the idea of it. then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes

clear: to make people happy. That's what cooking is aU about.

CO'I\CI,oll Rllollo ... 11., Sho�.d White T,ulll.1 f,om "lbo, pog. 88

2
Pleasure and Perfection

But to give pleasure, you have to take pleasure yourself. For me. it's the satisfaction of cooking

every day: tourn6ing a carrot. or cutting salmon, or portioning foie gras-the mechanical jobs I do

daily, year after year. This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and

the endlessly repeated act. to derive deep gratification from the mundane.

Say. for instance. you intend to make a barigoule, a stew of artichoke hearts braised with

carrots and onions. fresh herbs. oil. and wine. You may look at your artichokes and think "Look at

all those artichokes I've got to cut and clean." But turning them-pulling off the leaves. trimming

their stems, scooping out the chokes. pulling your knife around its edge-that is cooking. It is one

of my favorite things to do.

Another source of pleasure in cooking is respect for the food. To undereook a lobster and

serve it to a customer. and have him send it back. is not only a waste of the lobster and all those

involved in its life. it's 3 waste of the potential of pleasing that customer. Respect for food is a

respect for life. for who we 3re and what we do.

The foie gras preparations in this book are among my favorites because foie gras engenders so

many different feelings. It's luxurious. It·s raTe and expensive. It·s visually and texturally rich, a

very sensual thing. But the slow-cooking short ribs and oxtail and artichoke barigoule bring me

some of the deepest pleasures of cooking I know. The process of braising. and the amazing aroma

of floured meat in hot oil, is incomparable: taking the braising pan out of the oven to see the rich

color of the liquid and the slow thick bubble of the deepening sauce, the beautiful clear layer of fat

on top. When you've pulled your pot from the oven to regard your braise. to really see it. to smell

it. you've connected yourself to generations and generations of people who have done the same

thing for hundreds of years in exactly the samc way. My mentor. Roland Henin. told me something

long ago that changed the way I thought about cooking: "If you're a really good cook." he said. "you

can go back in time."

Cooking is not about convenience and it's not about shortcuts. The reCipes in this book are

about wanting to take the time to do something that I think is priceless. OUT hunger for the twenty­

minute gourmet meal. for one-pot ease and prewashed. precut ingredients has severed our

lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take a long time. Move slowly and

deliberately and with great attention.

The idea of cooking and the idea of writing a cookbook are. for me. in conflict. There is :10

inherent contradiction between a cookbook, which is a collection of documents. and a chef. who

is an evolving soul not easily transcribed in recipe form. A recipe has no soul. You. as the cook.

must bring soul to the reCipe. These reCipes. a record of my evolution. have been painstakingly

documented. but they should be used as tools rather than as exact blueprints.

I can tell you the mechanics-howlo make a custard. for instance. But you won't have a perfect

one if you merely follow my instructions. If you don't feel it. it's not a perfect custard. no matter

how well you've executed the mechanics. On the other hand. if it's not literally a perfect custard.

but you have maintained a great feeling for it. then you have created a reCipe perfectly because

therc was that paSSion behind what you did.

These recipes. thcn. although exact documents of the way food is prepared at the French

Laundry. arc only guidelines. You're not going to be able to duplicate the dish that I made. You may

create something that in composition resembles what I made. but more important-and this is my

greatest hope-you're going to create something that you have deep respect and feelings and passions

for. And you know what? It's going to be more satisfying than anything I could ever make for you.

T H E R O A D TO T H E F R E N C H LAU N DRY
In the spring of of l992,I came toYountvillein theNapaValley onthe advice of a friend to look at

the French Laundry. The grounds were enclosed by honeysuckle. and climbing roses covered an

arched trellis leading into the courtyard. It seemed as if I'd been beadmg there my whole working

life.

The French Laundry is a sixteen-hundred-square-foot structure, built in 1900 with the

valley's river rock and timber. It's been many things to many people throughout its history-a

residence. a French steam laundry. a saloon and brothel. and then a residence again before it

became a restaurant: its best self. I think. The natural stone modesty comforts people who come

here and helps us to focus on our work.

I have always maintained that the Napa Valley is a perfect place for a restaurant-it's the only

place in the country where people come specifically to drink excellent wines and eat fine food. But

there's more to its appeal: Thirty-five miles long and up to five miles Wide, it is American bounty

itself. Its first residents. the Wappo Indians. �ever learned to farm. because food just grew all year

long. Their word nappa is sometimes translated as "plenty."

But the Napa Valley has not always been an emblem of rustic luxury. and the town of Yountville

certainly hasn·t. "An outlaw town," one valley resident called it. "Prostitution. gambling. Big. big

party town. Things going on m unmarked buildings."

A North Carolina fur trapper founded Yountville in the 1830s. the first official lown in the

valley. and for most of its history it was anything but refined. The bulk of its population lived in the

Veterans Home. which sheltered men returning from the Civil War and the Spanish-American

War and continued this role right on through the Vietnam War. during which time Don Schmitt. a

Fresno banker. and his wife. Sally, moved to town.

The Rood to the French Laundry 3

4
A Sod Hoppy Story

By then, 1967. Yountville's glamorous outlaw days had disintegrated into nothing more than

a row of bars serving the veterans. trailers and ramshackle homes. and rooming houses. "It was a

cesspool." said Don. who would become its mayor. orchestrate its regeneration. and. with Sally.

open .he French Laundry in 1978.

The late 1960s was an exciting time in the region. then a rugged territory of undeveloped

farmland and abandoned prune and walnut orchards. Yountville sat like a quiet Mason-Dixon line

between St. Helena lifting its eyebrows from the north at the townies of Napa in the south. And then

a new wave of young wine makers arrived and tapped the power of The Grape. The grape to Napa is

like the microchip to Silicon Valley. like oil to Texas. It would within thirty years tr.msform the

United States' wine business into a world-famous industry and turn ule valley itself into the most

sophisticated agricultural community on earth.

I gave the French Laundry a new life and it gave me a new life. I don't sec us as being separate

entities. Whatever the value of my skills. my knowledge, my sensibilities, they never would have

come together in this book had it not been for the French Laundry.

A S A D H A P PY STO RY
Autumn 1990 was a sad time in my life. I was going to be leaving New York after ten years. I would

be starting life over in Los Angeles. and my new employer there wanted me to prepare a dish for a

food and wine benefit there that would really wow people.

Shortly beCore I moved, some friends took me to our favorite restaurant in Chinatown, and, as

always. we went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream aftenV'ard.l'd been nervous about this food and

wine event. I guess it had been in the back of my mind for a while. I ordered an ice-cream cone.

The guy put it in a little holder-you take it from a holder-and said. "Here's your cone."

The moment he said it, I thought "There it is! \Ve're going to take our standard tuiles. we're

going to make cones with them. and we're going to fill them with tuna tartare."

And that's what we did. Now J use salmon. but you can really use anything. Eggplant caviar and

roasted red peppers or tomato confH make a wonderful vegetarian version. You can do it with

meat-julienne of prosciutto with some melon. The cone is just a vehicle.

Because it was a canape that people really began to associate us with. I decided t.hat everyone

who eats at the restaurant should begin the meal with this cornet. People always smile when they

get it. It makes them happy. But I wouldn't have come up "nth it if I hadn't been sad. I had been

handed an icc-cream cone a hundred times before and it had never resulted in the cornet. I had to

be sad to see it.