The French Laundry Cookbook

Thomas Keller, chef/proprieter of the French Laundry in the Napa Valley--"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 satisfying as 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 beautifully; poaching eggs in a deep pot of water for perfect shape; the initial 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 a wild and thoroughly unexpected take 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 "Wine Spectator" described as "as close to dining perfection as it gets."

Acknowledgments Pleasure and Perfection The Road to the French Laundry A Sad Happy Story Cornets About the Chef When in Doubt, Strain: Notes on How to Use This Book CANAPES The Law of Diminishing Returns The Mushroom Lady Soup Blini The Importance of Hollandaise Garden Canapes FIRST COURSE Big-Pot Blanching Hearts of Palm Grower Tools of Refinement: The Chinois and Tamis Agnolotti Truffles Foie Gras The Importance of Staff Meal FISH A Passion for Fish The Accidental Fishmonger Cooking Lobster Beurre Monte: The Workhorse Sauce Infused Oils MEAT The Importance of Trussing Chicken Salt and Pepper and Vinegar Braising and the Virtue of the Process The Pittsburgh Lamber Vegetable Cuts The Importance of Rabbits The Importance of Offal Stocks and Sauces Quick Sauces Powders CHEESE The Composed Cheese Course The Importance of France The Attorney Cheesemaker DESSERT Beginning and Ending The Ultimate Purveyors Sources List of Recipes Index