French laundry cookbook

Five years ago, i chanced upon an article, featuring a restaurant in the Napa valley, california's wine country. The restaurant being reviewed was the French laundry. To say i was taken in by this review would be an understatement, so you can imagine my surprise 2 years later when i found a copy in my local bookstore. This book had to be bought, even though it was £40.

Is this the book that single handed changed the face of the modern cookbook.

What do you look for in a cookbook?

I think most serious amateurs would be looking for a lot more than just recipes. We all have our books jam packed with recipes, some handed down from relatives others bought secondhand or new, but there comes a point in every cooks journey, when an extra little bit of insight is needed, into the workings of an excellent chef and restaurant, in simple terms a culinary genius!



The whole book feels right,looks right, and reads very well. A well structured book, with outstanding food photography, shot with a flair that draws you into it's beautifully crafted pages!
The book takes you in a journey through the finesse of the restaurant and the special people who make it happen.

There are some wonderful recipes, although you would need a lot of skill and patience to undertake such offerings, but this is a book, from one of best restaurants in the world.

The recipes are not traditional recipes as you might find in your run of the mill cookbook,but rather plates of food, sometimes small bites, some complete courses. This approach really appeals and with the stunning photos to back up most dishes you are able to see the courses as they would be presented.

I have often broken down elements of each recipe, i once took the orange glaze that is served with pacific moi, and recreated this glaze to be used with pan fried duck, which worked wonderfully! I have used basil oil, instead of chive oil in a tomato dish, this is allowed, you are not trying to match or better Mr keller, but learn from him, you are not cooking 3* michelin cuisine at home,but you can sure impress!
A favourite recipe that i have adopted time and time again would have to be lemon sabayon tart with a pine nut crust, absolutely adorable!

The french laundry cookbook is large, it contains 325 well crafted pages and a total- 100 recipes, this does not include the several pages on purveyors a first for a cookbook, which highlights the intense relationship between nature,purveyor and cook. There are pages on how to make flavoured oils, braising,stocks,sauces,powders, how to stain and use kitchen tools properly! There are six pages titled the importance of......................
These pages refer to ingredients or techniques, giving an insight to often overlooked, but important cooking practices.

If only you read the page on salt,pepper and vinegar, you would gain a great deal of knowledge, i sure did!

NO doubt professional cooks the world over have benefited with insight and knowledge, now not a lot of cookbooks can make that claim!
I have seen this book grace shelves across the globe from delhi to valetta, then back to singapore.
Most memorable sighting was in a restaurant cum guesthouse, which sported a bookshelf in the dining room, this was north india, the guest house was so-so, but the food serious!
Unfortunately for myself this is probably the closest, i will ever come to the French Laundry, but for now i can live with that, if only for a while!

Probably one of my best investments to date, and without a doubt an eye opener!