andrew's Reviews
13 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 13Sort by: Title 
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Ad Hoc at Home
By Thomas Keller
Artisan - 2009
Blueberry Cobbler : page 296
This was good, but it wasn't remarkable, unlike many of the other recipes in the book. The biscuit topping seemed less thick than the pictures in the book and the biscuits spread out until they covered almost the entire top; they tasted fine but I think I would have preferred them to be a little less all-enveloping. I also found it not quite sweet enough (this may depend on your particular blueberries).
useful (3)
Brined Pork Tenderloin : page 64
Other than an unfortunate brining error on my part, this was absolutely delicious. Yes, it's a bit more work than just throwing a tenderloin in the oven, what with the brining, but the mix of flavours the brine adds is wonderful. And coooking it a little rare keeps it very tender and juicy. My wife said 'wow' with her first bite. Oh, and I didn't use cured lemons (I didn't have 2 weeks to wait...).
About that error: I'd never brined pork before and in my ignorance, I didn't weigh the salt. I used a brand of kosher salt (Windsor, a Canadian brand) which was quite a bit more dense than Diamond Crystal, which is what Keller uses. I neglected to look at the weight in the recipe, just using volume (he specifies 5 oz for 8 cups of water; I ended up using closer to 8 oz) and it was a bit salty for my taste, though it didn't bother my wife. Next time I'll use 4 or 5 oz.
useful (2)
Brownies : page 303
These are very good indeed. I made them just as the recipe called for and they disappeared very quickly. I agree that the slightly more browned edges are a fine tradeoff for not using a silicone pan (in fact, the contrast between the chewy edges and the soft center is part of what makes these great). Yes, lots of butter (3/4 lb) and chocolate (1 cup of cocoa and 6 oz of chopped), but the taste is worth it - just have small pieces!
I didn't have alkalized cocoa powder, but since this recipe doesn't have any leavening agent, I figured it wouldn't make much difference, and couldn't taste any.
They freeze very well - eating them cold, right out of the freezer is amazing on a warm day; they still stay quite soft. Yum!
useful (1)
Buttermilk Biscuits : page 276
These didn't work out for me quite as well as everyone else. They were nice, but I may have been overcautious. The recipe makes lots of references to not overmixing the butter and flour, and I ended up undermixing, I think. I did have to do some extra fiddling when I'd patted the dough out on the counter as it started falling apart when I tried to cut it.
This is mostly my technique, though, not the recipe. I did find, however, that like some of Keller's recipes, this was a little too salty for me. The recipe calls for over a tablespoon of kosher salt, which is quite a lot for a batch of biscuits. Were I to make these again I'd try cutting this in half and see how they went.
I did half the recipe and got 8 biscuits using my cookie-cutter.
useful (1)
Chicken Pot Pie : page 24
A very good chicken pot pie indeed, and very nearly excellent.
I love chicken pot pie, and have made various variations on the theme. My previous favourite was Mark Bittman's from How to Cook Everything. This one, save for a little seasoning, edges it out, and in fact is a different sort of beast altogether.
As I'm finding with this book, what Thomas Keller has done is taken some familiar dishes and raised them up a level using some of the techniques of a high-end restaurant, but yet not making them so complex as to be out of the range of a competent home cook.
There are two things that raise this pie up - first, the vegetables are cooked separately, with peppercorns, bay leaves and thyme, to subtly flavour them. This step, fiddly though it may be, ensures that each vegetable is cooked properly and that the texture and flavour of each vegetable is preserved rather than blending into a sort of stew like in most pot pies. Secondly, the bechamel is reduced over 40 minutes or so to make a sauce that is rich but subtle.
It does take a while - dinner was a bit late the first time I made this as I had to make pastry, cook the veggies, reduce the sauce, put it all together and then bake it. Subsequent times I have taken a few shortcuts which haven't hurt the recipe.
Now I cook all the vegetables in one pot except the celery (which I blanch) since they all have the same cooking times and it doesn't seem to muddy their flavours. I also increase the seasoning, adding some dried sage and a good shaking of cayenne for a little heat.
I recommend baking it low (I baked it on a baking stone) to crisp the lower crust. This is a double-crusted chicken pot pie that holds together, which doesn't happen very often!
useful (1)
Chocolate Chip Cookies : page 326
This recipe makes a very buttery, thin chocolate chip cookie which is very good, but not quite the best cookie of its type (as one online reviewer called it). I reserve that honour for the New York Times chocolate Chip cookie (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.html?_r=1).
They are fairly straightforward to make - the most complicated part is making sure you have two types of chocolate (55% and 70%) and carving off the chips yourself. The chocolate melts into the cookie rather than staying discrete as with a 'regular' chocolate chip cookie, and they can get a bit messy - so do be sure to cook them on parchment or a silpat as he suggests.
Update: a couple of days later I have to say that these cookies have grown on me (and my houseguests). They seem to get better after a day or so, and people liked the way the chocolate spread into a layer inside the cookie. They also stay chewy for a couple of days after making, which is nice. 4 1/2 stars now!
useful (2)
Creamed Summer Corn : page 189
Sweet and delicious - I made this as a side dish for a summer BBQ and it was very nice indeed. The lime is a great complement to the sweetness of the corn. I did only use a tiny bit of cayenne and didn't have any chives, so I didn't get the full taste of this - but with fresh corn and lime it was fantastic. I'll definitely make again now that corn is in season.
This recipe is also online at the James Beard Foundation site.
useful (1)
Devil's Food Cupcakes : page 316
Very nice, moist cupcakes. The recipe makes a fairly wet batter (it has 1 cup buttermilk, 1 cup sour cream as well as 3 eggs and 3 oz butter, to less than 2 cups of flour), and I had to pour it into the cupcake liners using a liquid measuring cup. I was concerned they might not rise well, but they did just fine.
The only substitution I would suggest would be to use larger cupcake liners (I used large, but should have used 'giant') as following the recipe, it makes 24 quite small cupcakes. Probably 18 would be ideal. Filling the liners 2/3 to 3/4 full is about right.
useful (1)
Soup Crackers : page 278
A very simple cracker recipe - just flour, water, yeast, salt and butter. You can go from start to eating crackers in 45 minutes.
I found the recipe as written didn't quite work for me - Keller suggests 10 minutes at 350 degrees, but I needed closer to 15. He also suggests rolling them out to 1/8th of an inch, but I found this too thick to make a crispy cracker. Something like a 1/16th was better - just before it became transparent. I also found them a little saltier than I like, so in my second batch didn't sprinkle fleur de sel on top. You may want to keep an eye on them near the end, as unless they're all exactly the same thickness, some will brown faster than others.
I plan on trying these with some parmesan rolled into them, and maybe some rosemary too, and I think this will lift them to a 4.
useful (0)
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting : page 315
This is an egg-white buttercream (also known as a Swiss buttercream), and the first one I've made. Previously I'd made the simple 'American' butter and icing-sugar versions. It's more work, but it has a creamier, lighter result.
You combine sugar and egg whites in a bowl over a simmering water bath, bringing the temperature up to 150 degrees F or so (this safely pasteurizes the egg whites), then beat in a mixer, adding butter to stabilize it.
It makes a very creamy, soft, not too sweet frosting. Adding vanilla at the end makes this a Vanilla frosting; adding a little melted chocolate gives it a delicate chocolate flavour.
It is, however, a very sticky icing - it's hard to work with it without getting globs all over the place. It's delicious, but definitely messy.
useful (4)
Vanilla Ice Cream : page 319
I'm giving this five stars as it is an exemplary vanilla ice cream recipe and the resulting ice cream was rich and creamy and truly excellent. However, the recipe for vanilla ice cream is pretty much the same all over, and Keller doesn't do anything here that's different: cream, milk, sugar, vanilla bean and egg yolks. The only differences are minor variations in the amount and ratios of each.
For example, he adds a pinch of salt, which some recipes leave out. He also does something very useful, which is to give a weight for the amount of yolk required. When I made this, I only needed 8 yolks instead of the 10 in the recipe to get the same weight.
When you make ice cream yourself, you're pretty much guaranteed to get something superior to most ice cream you've ever had.
Oh, and if you need something to do with all those leftover egg whites, make some of his white cupcakes - they need 6 egg whites, and the icing needs another 6.
useful (3)
White Cupcakes : page 315
An excellent vanilla cupcake recipe. These are made with butter and egg whites, and the resulting cupcakes are a similar to angel food cakes - light and moist and delicious. The difference here is that the egg whites and sugar are beaten into a meringue before being folded into the rest of the batter. I made them exactly as the recipe states and got 24 standard-sized cupcakes.
These will be my default vanilla cupcakes now - they're better than any other I've made.
useful (0)
Unlike many of the other recipes in this book, this one didn't involve extra steps beyond how I'd normally roast a chicken. It really is fairly simple, and the result was very good, with one caveat. So, with something like chicken (and this is how you can tell a chef by the quality of their chicken), what brings it to a high level is the quality of the bird itself, the preparation and the roasting.
I used a hormone and antibiotic-free, free-range chicken, and let it rest at room temperature for a couple of hours as he suggests. I took it out of the oven just as it hit 160 degrees F at the thigh (make sure you start checking early - last time I made this I checked 30 minutes after I turned the heat down and it was already over 160) and let it rest for 20 minutes, also part of the recipe. This resulted in a particularly juicy bird (so often people overcook and dry them out, worried about not getting them hot enough).
My caveat is the roast vegetables; they ended up soaking in about an inch of chicken fat, butter and canola oil, and some of them were less roasted than a sort of confit. Also roasted leeks didn't really work for me. Now, I might have had a particularly fatty chicken. In future I'll check earlier and drain off much of the fat - not that I'm against chicken fat, but that I like roast veggies to be fairly dry.
I will do it again though, it was quite tasty, and crucially, provided leftovers for a wonderful pot pie (page 24).
useful (3)