Ad Hoc at Home
by Thomas Keller
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Book Reviews of Ad Hoc at Home
Book Review: Accessible? Yes. Weeknight dinner? Maybe...
Summary: 5 Stars
As Ruth Reichl recently said on Fresh Air, if it's four o'clock at work, and you're trying to decide what to have for dinner, you've already half-lost the battle. You can't start out from that position with most of the recipes in this book. What I'm trying to say is that these recipes take something most cookbooks and even television shows that are about food avoid: time and advanced planning. Most of the recipes contain sub-recipes. Most of the chicken and pork dishes require brining, and many dishes require some type of stock. However, most of the time consuming processes in the book don't require much active time, but they do require planning. I'm not putting this up as a negative. In fact, so many wonderful things about cooking simply require time. My first Thomas Keller cookbook was Bouchon, and some of the more time-consuming components used there (soffritto, tomato confit (in Ad Hoc oven roasted tomatoes), garlic confit, duck confit, preserved lemons, peeled shelled fava beans before blanching) make an appearance in this cookbook as well. The first reaction I had to cooking things for more than four hours, which some of these require in total time, was incredulity. Seriously? MORE than four hours? Having eaten at TK's restaurants I put my trust in him, and I learned how wonderful things happen when food is given time.
If you've been cooking for many years some of the tips you may have known: put a towel under your cutting board, you only really need four knives, some salts weigh differently; however, others will most likely be new if you haven't cooked out of TK's other cookbooks. Thinking back on the difficulties I had when I first started cooking, how I wish all of these things had been spelled out to me as clearly and as simply as they are in this book. TK's cookbooks improved my cooking so quickly that I can't recommend them enough. Not only will you make amazing food, but you will learn skills and techniques that will help you even when you aren't cooking one of his recipes. The chalkboard drawing in a way emphasizes the daily changing meal, and the quite gracious TK as teacher and reader as student looking at the teacher in front of the chalkboard. Some of the photos don't quite work for me, but hey, this review is mainly about food, not graphic design.
With that note of caution, if you're afraid these recipes are as complex as Heston Blumenthal's In Search of Perfection recipes, you'll be relieved. Most of the ingredients in the book are relatively standard, and sources are provided for the few esoteric ingredients. The types of dishes are very familiar, and the product description gives a good idea about what to expect. Part of me was hoping this book might feature a lot of chervil, and this would lead to other people requesting it so that it would be stocked in stores just as TK mentions about people requesting cilantro from grocers in this book. Another disappointment for me is the lack of what he calls in his cookbook Under Pressure, "variety meats". I understand that this book is based on a restaurant's food that serves a daily changing set menu, and tongue may not be something everyone wants to eat, but I was hoping for at least one or two involving the aforementioned tongue or tripe, liver, kidneys, sweetbreads or cheeks. Even though he promises no immersion circulators on the back, I'm curious about what is cooked sous vide at Ad Hoc as he has mentioned that they use circulators at the restaurant, and if these dishes are, then what are those alternate preparations?
Something that surprised me and delighted me was the "Lifesavers" portion of the book. This section is full prepared foods that you can make and store like (to name a few) compotes, chutneys, jams, marmalades, spiced nuts, pickles and mustards.
This is a quick note meant to be helpful: if you live in an area that is a culinary wasteland, you might think about ordering Piment D'esplette and Vanilla Paste along with the book as they are used somewhat frequently. TK also highly suggests a Vita-Mix (don't I wish I had one!).
To sum up, I can't recommend this book highly enough if you are serious about food or a home cook wanting to improve.
Book Review: No Comfort Food Here
Summary: 2 Stars
Even in Georgia, where folks know a thing or two about fried chicken, my mother's version of this Southern classic was considered exceptional. So when I taste someone else's recipe, I ask myself, "What would my mother have said about this?" I can almost hear her comment about the fried chicken in Thomas Keller's latest cookbook, ad hoc at home.
"This is very good," she would have agreed. "But it doesn't taste like fried chicken."
There in a nutshell is the problem with this cookbook and with many others from high-end restaurant masters who tackle everyday food. Their concoctions look great and taste fine, but the chefs try so hard to take each dish to a new level of sophistication that they lose essential hominess.
Take Keller's fried chicken recipe. It sparkles in a beautiful crust with good crunch and plenty of flavor. But the meat itself doesn't taste quite right. The problem is that, before cooking, Keller recommends brining chicken pieces for 12 hours in a mixture of salt, herbs, honey and a whole lot of lemon juice. Sure, the chicken turns out good and juicy, but it also acquires an odd lemony flavor that would be more at home at a Chinese take-out than in a Georgia kitchen.
Keller talks about meals from his own childhood as he introduces some of the almost-classics included here. In touting his version of chicken potpie, for example, Keller claims that he grew up eating Swanson's frozen potpies. Maybe, but he missed an important point. A potpie, whether it arrives in a Swanson's box or reaches the table fresh from a home cook's oven, needs big, meaty chunks of chicken. Shredding the chicken, as Keller suggests, simply does not work.
Another case in point: beef stroganoff. Keller claims nostalgia for an all-American version of stroganoff made with Campbell's cream of mushroom soup. I've never tried that dish and eating it ranks with seeing a purple cow among things I hope never to do. If that's what you think of as beef stroganoff, though, you'll be disappointed in Keller's dish. With lots of crimini mushrooms, scads of heavy cream and crème fraiche and homemade pappardelle as the supporting cast for blocks of braised beef short rib meat in the starring role, the chef's version of this iconic dish is exceptional. But it isn't comfort food.
I hasten to add that there is a lot to like in ad hoc at home. Instructions are clear and easy to follow. Nearly all ingredients can be found at local markets in season. Everything I tried from the book was, in its own way, delicious. The book brims with gorgeous graphics and lip-licking photos that plainly show what a finished dish should look like.
Keller also suggests techniques and tools essential to a competent cook. Learn to braise, he urges. Learn to use salt properly. Learn to make one really good soup and learn all the different ways to cook eggs. To dress a salad uniformly, oil the bowl, not the greens. Tear croutons very slowly. Don't cut them.
Over the last 20 years, a few celebrity chefs have written cookbooks that serve as excellent guides for home cooks seeking to produce the very best of old favorites. Larry Forgione did a fine job in the 1996 cookbook named for his New York City restaurant, An American Place. Food Network star Bobby Flay successfully freshened up American favorites in his work, Bobby Flay Cooks American.
Thomas Keller is, arguably, one of the finest chefs in the United States. At his original West Coast restaurant, The French Laundry, the reservation list is so jammed that it is amazing anyone ever goes there. Per Se in New York City is equally challenging. And his three previous cookbooks, especially The French Laundry Cookbook, are well worth owning. Still, I think Keller ought to leave home cooking to others.
I give ad hoc at home two stars of a possible five.
Book Review: Not REALLY for the "home cook"...
Summary: 3 Stars
First off, I'll say the book itself is substantive and gorgeous.
The reason I'm only giving it 3 stars, is that the entire premise of the book is supposed to be that a world reknowned, Michelin-starred chef has created an "accessible", unitimidating book for the "home cook".
Where it fails is in the most simple, basic, Recipe 101 application of salt. As you're reading through his book (and let's hope users actually DO read the book, and don't jump immediately into cooking), he goes into the use of salt, split into two different locations in the book (page 52 being the key page). He details that his preference is for kosher salt, and talks about the difference between the two most commonly found brands, Morton's and Diamond Crystal. He then goes ON to say that there is a weight difference between the two, and recommends weighing your salt if using in large amounts, such as for a brine. Here's where my issues start to compile:
1) Expecting a "home cook" to weigh salt based on brand is above and beyond the definition.
2) His receipes don't then break down the salt into a weight (unless having the weight of a cup of salt is supposed to be helpful for anything other than brining), only a standard measurement.
3) His recipes aren't adjusted to accommodate the possible use of a different brand of salt than what he uses. I, for one, don't have access to Diamond Crystals without specifially searching it out in a store I don't normally shop at.
The result...
We made two of his recipes, Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Buttermilk Biscuits. Both (conveniently) called for 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, which we followed to the letter. What resulted was a meal SO saltly that the components couldn't be eaten together, and the biscuits were really only palatable in whole if slathered thickly with a sweet jam or preserve to offset the saltiness. (Yes, we used unsalted butter to prepare them.) The chicken was delicious even though high on the salt richter scale, but certainly would have been better if the salt were at an appropriate level, and this from a girl who LOVES salty food. It should be noted that we didn't brine the chicken, but it was still tender and (salty) delicious.
All in all, what I'll say is that this book is definitely worth owning, as long as you're an accomplished enough "home cook" to be comfortable adjusting the salt levels of the recipes yourself. You certainly can't weigh the salt as suggested, since weight measurements aren't given, so be sure to get Diamond Crystals to make your cooking easier and more palatable.
I think he and his authors/publishers shot too high in thinking this cookbook was at the level they're claiming it to be. If it hadn't of been marketed this way, I'd still have an issue with the salt problem, but at least it wouldn't be such so "fly in the face of its premise."
Book Review: Not necessarily weeknight meals but worthwhile nonetheless
Summary: 4 Stars
***I made 11 recipes from this book and wrote about them on my cookbook review blog, katecooksthebooks dot com. This is from my overall review of the book:***
When you get over your initial disappointment over the fact that Thomas Keller's idea of what constitutes "everyday staples," or "approachable food, recipes that are doable at home" is very different than yours, you can begin to appreciate the book for what it really is. And that is: a book with excellent albeit challenging recipes from one of the best chefs in the country and a man who clearly has his finger on the pulse of what people want to eat. He is also a man, however, who does not hesitate to source obscure ingredients that can only be procured via mail-order (from unique web sites), and he would probably not apologize for creating one recipe that references five others. He has not written these recipes that is in any way mindful of, or sympathetic to, how many bowls and pans you're gong to dirty, or the fact that you have not gotten around to hiring a chef de partie. That's not his job. His job is to tell you that he has developed a fried chicken that is a religious experience and don't demean us all by asking if you really need to brine it in a lemon-honey bath for 12 hours. If that's how you feel just go to Popeye's and get it over with.
It's ironic that part of Keller's mission with this book is to help us create food that is meant to celebrate "the ritual of eating together...sharing stories of the day" when in reality the time investment required for most of these dishes means that you will NOT be sharing stories with anyone unless you talk to your chicken parts. But it's forgivable in the end; just get over that. Pick one recipe for a special dinner party and submit to the ingredient-treasure-hunt and the kitchen lock-down. Decide you're finally going to try brioche and today's the day (well, today AND tomorrow). Pick a complicated main dish and just serve frozen peas with it so you don't make yourself crazy. And, for the love of God, find a good source for canola oil because the man LOVES to fry things and you're gonna wish you had a pipeline for the stuff.
I made 11 recipes from this book which was more than I originally intended and it was hard to stop. I think what appeals to me most about this book is that I agree with the fundamental premise that even if you make something as "basic" as hamburgers, give the meal and the people eating it the proper respect by making them as good as they can be. Eating is important and, as much as possible, should be a very thoughtful act. Almost every recipe in this book called out to me to be made, and that is why I will buy the book and why I'm recommending it. A cookbook that leaves you wanting more is a keeper.
Book Review: A beautiful, wonderful, accessible Keller book
Summary: 5 Stars
Although I've only had Thomas Keller's ad hoc for a short time, I ready love it and have found many things that make it a must-buy if you're a lover of food or books about food. Keller's quote on the back of the book really sums up the theme of this book: "...a big collection of family meals and everyday staples, delicious approachable food, recipes that are doable at home. No immersion circulator required. No complicated garnishes. I promise!"
Keller delivers on this promise in ad hoc. The book assumes far less prerequisite knowledge than his other books, The French Laundry, Bouchon, and Under Pressure. In fact, the first section of the book is called "Becoming a better chef," and Keller outlines the techniques, ingredients, and tools that can help anyone become a better home cook.
I own all 3 of Keller's other books, and regularly cook from them. This is, by far, the most accessible book for the casual home cook. The recipes in here can easily be made as weeknight meals--most don't require any excessive time demands or preparation. Many of the recipes are dishes you're probably familiar with: chicken pot pie, fried chicken, braised short ribs, beef stroganoff, apple fritters, chocolate brownies, etc. But, this being a Thomas Keller book, many of these classic dishes are refined and made more elegant. For example, his beef stroganoff uses fresh cremini mushrooms, creme fraiche, braised short ribs, and pappardelle pasta. All of the recipes I've made have turned out perfectly so far, which has been the case with his previous books.
Consistent with his previous books, the look of ad hoc is beautiful. It's also a nice change to see Keller's fun side featured, and he's displayed in a number of whimsical photographs throughout the book, warning you: "shh... the lamb is resting," and telling you, "That's how I roll," when showing off his lobster roll. In addition to these photos of Keller, there are numerous beauty shots of the food and technique photos.
Overall, I think this book strikes a perfect balance between elegance and approachability. The recipes are refined enough that the most experienced food lover will be satisfied, but simple enough to prepare that the willing novice can easily tackle them. For those who have looked at The French Laundry or Under Pressure and were scared off by rare ingredients, expensive equipment, or advanced technique, this book is a great initiation into the world of Thomas Keller's food.