Comments on: Carol finished Cooking Keller

Carol finished Cooking Keller

AceRock — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:42:31 -0800

Carol Blymire recently finished cooking every single recipe in the formidable French Laundry cookbook. Here are some of her reflections on the journey, including favorite recipes, recipes to break your Thomas Keller cherry, and seasonal menus.

By: AceRock

AceRock — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:46:19 -0800

Carol will also soon be launching Alinea at Home

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:11:52 -0800

This one about cooking a pigs head has an entertaining video. Kind of interesting how the entire head squashes down to the size of a sausage.

By: caddis

caddis — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:46:32 -0800

Julie Powell did this with "The Art of French Cooking" which is a rather robust endeavor. I thought we did that here but my meta-search-fu is lacking this evening.

By: fshgrl

fshgrl — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:48:25 -0800

I enjoyed that- thank for posting it!

By: unSane

unSane — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:50:17 -0800

I think she's awesome, mostly because I have a complete inability to follow recipes. Don't get me wrong, I love cookbooks, but I tend to look at the recipe, think "that looks f'n GREAT" and then set about cooking it without ever looking at it again. I'm just a born tinkerer, so I do have genuinely huge respect for people with the discipline to do it by the numbers. My stuff never tastes the same twice, which I'm fine with, but I do wish I had (once in a while) the mental steel to do what she does.

By: jacobian

jacobian — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:38:31 -0800

Carol will also soon be launching Alinea at Home. Wow. That's amazing; I don't think there's a single recipe in that book I could actually pull off at home.

By: Rubbstone

Rubbstone — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:03:15 -0800

I think its amazing that the internet makes people famous for doing all the things we would love to do but haven't gotten to yet.

By: librarylis

librarylis — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:42:45 -0800

That was tons of fun to read (on a night that I got creative with my own cooking, so perfect timing!) and I'm kind of sad I got to it at the end of the project though I have to say that seeing the complete spread of it was great, too.

By: teem

teem — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:51:01 -0800

I've loved reading French Laundry at Home, and had no idea she was getting that close to finishing. What she has said about TFL cookbook is true — it's not weeknight cooking, but it teaches you principles and techniques that make your day-to-day cooking so much better. I can't wait to see how she tackles Alinea.

By: 1adam12

1adam12 — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:39:40 -0800

I got no further than "cut the faces off of live crabs."

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:00:31 -0800

I got no further than "cut the faces off of live crabs." I find it actually helps if you are reminded from time-to-time that cookbooks like these are, at times, as much about how to disassemble living creatures (well...formerly living) as they are about fine dining. One should be reminded where this tasty meat came from. One of my favorite sight gags from a movie was from The Addams Family...a quick scan of cookbooks showed a copy of Gray's Anatomy. My daughter refuses to eat any meat from the bone, because it reminds her too starkly of the meat's origin.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:01:14 -0800

(well... formerly living) No, in this case you were right first time. She's cut their faces off, vile stuff has oozed out, she's taken off their legs and trimmed their bodies to a nice shape - and they're still moving and crying out in piteous heart-rending little voices... Alright, not the voices. But this is pretty extreme.

By: well_balanced

well_balanced — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:53:03 -0800

Is there an online dating site for people who want to meet other people who will cook for them from books like these?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:39:16 -0800

Thanks for posting this.

By: junesix

junesix — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:13:00 -0800

When the recipes for the French Laundry cookbook were conceived, Thomas Keller was still using updated French techniques and molecular gastronomy was largely confined to Barcelona and London. I don't think he was even using sous vide techniques at the time. Alinea at Home is going to be in another league because she's going to need special equipment and ingredients for it. At minimum, a robust sous vide setup, foamers, PacoJet, evaporators, and a collection of powders, gels, and aspics. Not to mention all the custom-made food holders and display devices that Grant Achatz invented himself. I hope Carol has a friend in the scientific supply business.

By: MiltonRandKalman

MiltonRandKalman — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:42:49 -0800

Is there an online dating site for people who want to meet other people who will cook for them from books like these? I'm reminded of the tagline for the restaurant distributor S.E. Rykoff, "Enjoy Life, Eat Out More Often."

By: Kutsuwamushi

Kutsuwamushi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:05:57 -0800

Is there an online dating site for people who want to meet other people who will cook for them from books like these? Be careful what you wish for. The type of people who use recipes that start with the words "slaughter" or "debone" are exactly the type who will chase you around the kitchen with the dead animal making while funny noises. I speak from experience.

By: Auden

Auden — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:37:27 -0800

Thanks for this - one of her favorites from the book is this Cream of Walnut Soup and it sounds wonderfully awesome. ("Cream of Walnut Soup: It made me close my eyes, smile, and bounce around in my seat with glee.") I'm definitely making it this weekend.

By: flaterik

flaterik — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:16:22 -0800

The type of people who use recipes that start with the words "slaughter" or "debone" are exactly the type who will chase you around the kitchen with the dead animal making while funny noises. And I can meet these people where, exactly?