Ad Hoc at Home
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Product Description
Thomas Keller shares family tree-style recipes that you can make any or every day.
In the book every home cook has been waiting for, the revered Thomas Keller turns his imagination to the American comfort foods closest to his heart—flaky biscuits, chicken pot pies, New England clam bakes, and cherry pies so tasty and redolent of childhood that they give Proust’s madeleines a run for their money. Keller, whose restaurants The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Per Se in New York have revolutionized American haute cuisine, is equally adept at turning out simpler fare.
In Ad Hoc at Home—a cookbook inspired by the menu of his casual restaurant Ad Hoc in Yountville—he showcases more than 200 recipes for family tree-style meals. This is Keller at his most playful, serving up such truck-stop classics as Potato Hash with Bacon and Melted Onions and grilled-cheese sandwiches, and heartier fare including beef Stroganoff and roasted spring leg of lamb. In fun, full-color photographs, the fantastic chef gives step-by-step lessons in kitchen basics— here is Keller teaching how to perfectly shape a basic hamburger, tether a chicken, or dress a salad. Best of all, where Keller’s previous best-selling cookbooks were for the ambitious advanced cook, Ad Hoc at Home is filled with quicker and simpler recipes that will be embraced by both kitchen novices and more veteran cooks who want the essential recipes for American comfort-food classics.
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2009: You don’t regularly see the name Thomas Keller mixed with words like “accessible” or “home cook,” but with Ad Hoc at Home, the award-winning chef presents a collection of recipes destined for the center of the table at casual family tree gatherings. Don’t throw away your whole notion of “quick and simple,” though, as this is still a casual cookbook filtered through the genius mind of the man behind The French Laundry Cookbook, but the sense of whimsy and the pure joy of Keller doing his version of comfort food proves irresistible. The inspiration for his restaurant Ad Hoc was the simple family tree meals made and served by the staff at his restaurants. As he says in the introduction, “here is food meant to be served from huge bowls and platters passed hand to hand at the table.” And with dishes like Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, who’s going to argue with that? –Brad Thomas Parsons
From Ad Hoc at Home: Buttermilk Fried Chicken
If there’s a better fried chicken, I haven’t tasted it. First, and critically, the chicken is brined for 12 hours in a herb-lemon salt water, which seasons the meat and helps it stay juicy. The flour is seasoned with garlic and onion powders, paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper. The chicken is dredged in the seasoned flour, dipped in buttermilk, and then dredged again in the flour. The crust becomes nearly feathered and is very crisp. Fried chicken is a fantastic American tradition that’s fallen out of favor. A taste of this, and you will want it back in your weekly routine. –Thomas Keller
Ingredients
(Serves 4-6)
- Two 2 1/2- to 3-pound chickens (see Note on Chicken Size)
- Chicken Salt water (recipe follows), cold
- Peanut or canola oil for deep-frying
- 1 quart buttermilk
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup garlic powder
- 1/4 cup onion powder
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Ground fleur de sel or fine sea salt
- Rosemary and thyme sprigs for garnish
For Dredging and Frying
Coating
Directions
Cut each chicken into 10 pieces: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 4 breast quarters, and 2 wings. Pour the salt water into a container large enough to hold the chicken pieces, add in the chicken, and refrigerate for 12 hours (no longer, or the chicken may become too salty).
Remove the chicken from the salt water (discard the salt water) and rinse under cold water, removing any herbs or spices sticking to the skin. Pat dry with paper towels, or let air-dry. Let rest at room temperature for 1-1/2 hours, or until it comes to room temperature.
If you have two large pots (about 6 inches deep) and a lot of oil, you can cook the dark and white meat at the same time; if not, cook the dark meat first, then turn up the heat and cook the white meat. No matter what size pot you have, the oil should not come more than one-third of the way up the sides of the pot. Fill the pot with at least 2 inches of peanut oil and heat to 320°F. Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet. Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper.
Meanwhile, combine all the coating ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer half the coating to a second large bowl. Pour the buttermilk into a third bowl and season with salt and pepper. Set up a dipping station: the chicken pieces, one bowl of coating, the bowl of buttermilk, the second bowl of coating, and the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Just before frying, dip the chicken thighs into the first bowl of coating, turning to coat and patting off the excess; dip them into the buttermilk, allowing the excess to run back into the bowl; then dip them into the second bowl of coating. Transfer to the parchment-lined pan.
Carefully lower the thighs into the hot oil. Adjust the heat as necessary to return the oil to the proper temperature. Fry for 2 minutes, then carefully go the chicken pieces around in the oil and continue to fry, monitoring the oil temperature and turning the pieces as necessary for even cooking, for 11 to 12 minutes, until the chicken is a deep golden brown, cooked through, and very crisp. Meanwhile, coat the chicken drumsticks and transfer to the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Transfer the cooked thighs to the cooling rack skin-side-up and let rest while you fry the remaining chicken. (Putting the pieces skin-side-up will allow excess stout to drain, whereas leaving them skin-side-down could trap some of the stout.) Make sure that the oil is at the right temperature, and cook the chicken drumsticks. When the drumsticks are done, lean them meat-side-up against the thighs to drain, then sprinkle the chicken with fine sea salt.
Turn up the heat and heat the oil to 340°F. Meanwhile, coat the chicken breasts and wings. Carefully lower the chicken breasts into the hot oil and fry for 7 minutes, or until golden brown, cooked through, and crisp. Transfer to the rack, sprinkle with salt, and turn skin side up. Cook the wings for 6 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer the wings to the rack and turn off the heat. Arrange the chicken on a serving platter. Add the herb sprigs to the oil (which will still be hot) and let them cook and crisp for a few seconds, then arrange them over the chicken.
Note on Chicken Size: You may need to go to a farmers’ market to get these tiny chickens. Grocery store chickens regularly run 3 to 4 pounds. They can, of course, be used in this recipe but if chickens in the 2-1/2- to 3-pound range are available to you, they’re worth seeking out. They’re a small simpler to cook properly at the temperatures we recommend here and, most vital, pieces this size result in the optimal meat-to-crust proportion, which is such an vital part of the pleasure of fried chicken.
Note: We let the chicken rest for 7 to 10 minutes after it comes out of the fryer so that it has a chance to cool down. If the chicken has rested for longer than 10 minutes, place the tray of chicken in a 400°F oven for a minute or two to ensure that the crust is crisp and the chicken is hot.
Chicken Salt water
Makes 2 gallons
- 5 lemons, halved
- 24 bay leaves
- 1 bunch (4 ounces) flat-leaf sage
- 1 bunch (1 ounce) thyme
- 1/2 cup clover honey
- 1 head garlic, halved through the equator
- 3/4 cup black peppercorns
- 2 cups (10 ounces) kosher salt, preferably Diamond Crystal
- 2 gallons water
The key ingredient here is the lemon, which goes wonderfully with chicken, as do the herbs: bay leaf, sage, and thyme. This amount of salt water will be enough for 10 pounds.
Combine all the ingredients in a large pot, take in, and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring to dissolve the salt. Remove from the heat and cool completely, then chill before using. The salt water can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
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Lots of lovely pictures which are very helpful when I’m makeing a new recipe. It’s a small larger and heavier than I anticipated.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
I like ‘family tree style’ cooking, but I don’t have a huge family tree around all the time, nor do I run a restaurant. As a replacement for, I usually cook for a party of two.
And here’s where my critizism with this book comes in: Practically all recipes are agreed for at least 6 eaters, sometimes 6-8 or even 8-10 servings.
While reading this book, I establish it extremely tiresome, that, in order to place the book to practical use, I would need to break down every single recipe. For example, brining chicken is an brilliant thought to start with, but a recipe for about two gallons of salt water, enough for 4-5 birds? That’s nowhere near my reality. Plus, the salt water doesn’t keep very well, so you’re supposed to use it in a timely manner. Brined chicken for two weeks in a row? I don’t reflect so.
There’s another aspect that bothered me, maybe this book is just ‘too American’ for me. There’s nothing incorrect with a bit of ‘human interest’, but for my taste, he goes way over the line here. For example, a recipe that is introduced as ‘the last meal my father had before he died and I’m so glad I could cook it for him’ doesn’t really stimulate my appetite. With all due respect to the leader’s personal feelings, but if I want tales like that, I’ll buy a biography, not a cookbook.
I have no doubt that this is a excellent book for some, but I eventually chose to return it.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
…that the staggeringly talented Mr. Keller could speak in a language that even an average cook could know! The recipes I’ve tried so far make sense, and taste fantastic as well. I can’t wait to make more.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Wished book would have had more appealing food recipes. Don’t usually like chef cookbooks because I don’t have a prep staff. Recipes were simple–perhaps too simple.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
This book was the only thing I questioned for for my birthday. I like cookbooks, have many, and use reasonably a lot of persons. My batterie de cuisine is wide, and I am not ashamed of my repertoire. The book finally arrived today, and I sat down and read it. The first thing that struck me was the size of the book. This book is much too huge to place in the kitchen and follow the recipe. And it is very heavy. It is sized as a coffee table book.
Then I started to read the book. It starts by suggesting that only the most expensive equipment will be excellent enough. I know the prices of Mr. Keller’s recommendations. Then I stirred on to the recipes. They do broaden the mind. But this may be Mr. Keller’s thought of home cooking, or cooking for the home, but I doubt it is anyone else’s. Many of these recipes would take all day, and perhaps more, to make. Much less to serve a whole meal made from 3 or more recipes. Sandwiches start with homemade bread. Fried chicken needs to be brined for 12 hours. Chicken pot pie has cooked chicken in it, presumably made before the recipe starts. Many ingredients need to be sent for, or looked for in very rare specialty shops. Now, that is fine, and has a place, but this is not a cookbook for every day. And in today’s society, it’s not really for cooking even on the weekend. It’s made for sitting on the coffee table, and being read. This to me is sad. I probably will try a number of the recipes, just to see if they are worth all the extra work, if the recipe is used in its entirety. But I do expect to adopt some of the thoughts included in some of the recipes in my all-purpose cooking routine.
I was expecting to be really inspired by this book, and I am not. These are not home cooking recipes. This is very fancy, high end restaurant cooking trying to disguise itself as home cooking and failing miserably.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5