Culinary adventures

Have you heard of this new book, called Julie and Julia? It's the result of a woman's year long quest to cook through the entire volume of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The author, Julie Powell, blogged her way through her culinary adventure, and turned those writings into a book, which by all accounts has been wildly successful. I've read the "free" pages on Amazon, and I think she's a spunky writer--perhaps worthy of a read.

Her year long journey got me thinking. I have a passel of cookbooks, I subscribe to about three or four food magazines, I watch Food Network non-stop, and yet I've cooked a mere fraction of a fraction of the gazillion recipes I have. I have some gems that I return to time and time again, but I really don't have a huge repertoire. Usually, if I pick a new recipe, I can do OK, but what I long for is some sort of a systematic education, a training ground, a way to learn and do things that I don't already know how to do. Inspired by the Julie/Julia project, I've decided to pick one cookbook, and cook my way through.

Now Julia Child's book is an icon, and it's HUGE! I'm not interested in being a cookie cutter to this Julie Powell, and I don't want to commit to that much anyway, so there's no risk of the Dan/Julia Project. The cookbook I've chosen is Think Like a Chef, by Tom Colicchio. Colicchio is the chef at Gramercy Tavern in NYC, and he's recognized as one of the leading chefs in New York. He works for Danny Meyer, the same restauranteur who owns/operates Eleven Madison Park, where I had such an amazing experience last year. He's got an excellent pedigree, having worked with some of the world's finest chefs, including a man I hope to meet some day, Thomas Keller, the owner and chef of The French Laundry in Napa Valley, arguably the best restaurant in America. (I hope to eat there this summer; more on that later). I think his credentials will make the guy a good teacher, and so far, I've enjoyed the book.

The premise of the book is to teach the reader, as the title implies, how to think like a chef. He starts with the fundamentals, talking about the core types of cooking: roasting, braising, blanching, etc. Then he has you do some "studies," focusing on variations on a theme, and then some perfect trilogies of flavor, which ostensibly leads later into improvising and thinking like a chef.

I've just delved into the book, which starts with roasting, and I must say, his roast chicken recipe is the best I've ever had. Pretty easy too: just wash the chicken, dry it off really well, then liberally toss the insides and out with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place a sprig of fresh thyme and rosemary in the cavity, and then truss that baby up. Now this is where things get interesting. You get some peanut oil in a dutch oven heated up, and then place the chicken on the side, letting it brown for about seven minutes on medium high--not too sputtery, as he points out, but enough to nicely brown the bird. Flip it over (which took quite an effort) and do the same thing on the other side, then place it in a 375○ oven for about twenty minutes. Add some butter, then baste every ten minutes or so, until it's done, about 40 minutes more. I use an instant read thermometer in the thigh--when it reads 155○ you pull it out, and then let it rest for about ten minutes. Sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top, carve, and serve. The tastiest bird you'll ever have! The browning with the peanut oil adds some amazing elements to this chicken, and anything basted with butter is half way there anyway, right?

Today, I tried his roasting technique for fish. He calls for one inch thick filets, which I couldn't find. Mine were a bit thin, and curled up under the heat. I need some practice with this one, but fish has always been a bit of a challenge for me anyway. I'll try again, and post my results, perhaps with pictures. He adds thyme and butter to the pan, and once again uses peanut oil to begin. Ideally, if the fish is thick enough, the butter and thyme have time (as it were) to meld together and create a tasty brown butter sauce that you then simply ladel on top of the fish. Mine was cooked before the butter had a chance to brown, but it was still tasty. Not pretty, not what he intended, but tasty nonetheless. I matched it with some fresh asparagus I sauteed with olive oil, butter and thyme. Made for a yummy dinner, but I need more practice with this fish technique.

This should be fun--at least for me!