French Laundry Reservations

As David said, why go through the complicated bother of making reservations at the French Laundry when we have so many accomplished cooks who can prepare a fabulous 9-course dinner, complete with great wines?  Not this group!  Janis' beautifully set table made us feel quite elegant for the evening.

We started the evening with Gougéres.  Annie thought there were better recipes out there for gougéres.   She reduced the time she baked them in order to keep them moist inside.    Even those who have eaten at the restaurant noticed how dry Keller’s gougéres are so Annie’s decision to shorten the baking time was a good call.  I and others thought Keller’s gougéres were too salty as well.  Willie made better ones for our Holiday Buffet in 2007 (a pre-blog site dinner) using Cindy Pawlcyn’s recipe.  Amazing to have any reservations about any recipes from a Michelin 3-star chef.

Michelle prepared one of my favorite courses of the evening.   Keller’s Salmon Cornets were so delicious!   I wanted more . . . which is exactly Keller’s point at his restaurant.  He wants us to “want more” of each dish only to move on to the next course that should surprise and delight us, where we “want more” of that one, and on and on throughout the evening.  The salmon tartare with sweet red onion crème fraîche layered in a crisp cornet was a two-bite trip into gourmet ecstasy!  She served them in a bed of rock salt to keep them upright for us to partake.  Very clever!

We toasted the return of Sandi & Willie to the group with a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, Nonvintage Champagne (Yellow Label, magnum) from Bill's cellar.    It went well with both the Gougeres and Salmon Cornets.  The bubbly was just what the rich gougéres and cornets needed to cleanse our palates for the next bite.

To remind us just what a great cook Sandi is, she prepared a very rich Creamy Maine Lobster Broth for us.   It was very delicious and although a seemingly a “light” broth, very complex while showcasing the lobster’s flavors.  She added a small bite of lobster that was not called for in the recipe.  It seemed a shame to waste the meat just to get the broth was her thought and we all agreed.  It was a delectable surprise to find it at the bottom of our cups!  Bill poured a 2008 Rochioli Chardonnay, River Block Vineyard wine from his cellar that was an example of a classic fruity California Chardonnay.  David shared a bottle of 2004 Domaine Marc Morey Chassagne-Montrachet, 1er cru, Les Vergers from his cellar.   A lovely white burgundy that was a well-structured wine with a balance of fruit and acid, very typical of French burgundies.  While people loved both wines made from the Chardonnay grape, they thought that the Marc Morey complemented the broth better than the Rochioli.

David prepared the Poached Moulard Duck Foie Gras au Torchon and, instead of the pickled cherries that Keller uses in his recipe, he served it with Sauternes Gelée, a glistening, jeweled presentation choice!  Torchon and seared foie gras are the two best ways to serve it.  David shared his source for the duck liver:  Hudson Valley and D’Artagnan.  Our foie gras this evening was from Hudson Valley and was very decadently delicious.   Some of us, meaning me, would have just eaten this for the entire evening as well as drunk more of the 2001 Chateau Coutet Sauternes that Bill retrieved from his cellar fro this dish.    David said that he followed the recipe for the torchon exactly and poached it for just 3 minutes.  David said that the most time consuming part of the recipe is cleaning the membranes and veins from the lobes.  Preparing this dish is a 3-day affair, so plan ahead!

Our next dish was a second one Michelle treated us to.  The Salmon “Chops” with Celery and Black Truffles was another rich dish to consume and I must say, we did a great of job of pacing this dinner.   Even though the entire meal was heavy and rich, we had enough time in between each course to appreciate and digest the food and wine.  The chops were moist with crispy skins and the fresh truffles were a delightful surprise.  The truffles were imported from Italy, purchased from the Ferry Building’s Far West Fungi.  I loved the celery with the salmon too . . . a very nice fresh touch to this dish.  Bill poured a 1988 Champagne Comte A. De Dampierre Blanc de Blanc de Grand Cru.  What was amazing about this champagne was its age.  It’s pretty rare to drink a 25 year old champagne that still holds its complexity, structure and richness    Bill informed us that originally, this was how champagne corks were secured before they began wiring them as they are today.  This was so good that Annie, who doesn’t care for champagnes, loved this one!  It went well with the salmon and truffles.   It was so good that it probably would have gone with everything!

I prepared the Venison Chop with Butternut Squash for the main entré of the evening.  I bought a domestically raised venison rack from Schaub’s Meat Market in the Stanford Shopping Center.  They frenched it for me but I had to do some additional trimming at home to cut away the sinews and truss the chops into a uniform shape.  As with all of Keller’s recipes, at first glance it looked pretty simple but closer examination shows that each item in his ingredients is a separate recipe.  Very few of his recipes are a one-day affair.   It’s the sauces that require time; even his “Quick” sauce asks for a Veal Sauce that is another recipe to prepare.  I must confess, I cheated and purchased frozen Veal Sauce from Schaub’s so by doing this, if one started 5 hours before serving, it can be done in one day.   The chop was tender and delicious but I find that I prefer wild game and missed that gamey taste in this dish.  Bill poured a magnum of a 1990 Togni Cabernet Sauvignon with the venison.  It stilled showed it’s fruit, richness and complexity for a 23 year old wine with a long finish.  You can see from this photo how carefully the wines are decanted, using a device dubbed the Simoni Suckee Thing.

An Aside:  This recipe called for a Beurre Monte, Brunoise, Chicken Stock and “Quick Sauce, the necks of butternut squash, fried bacon, chervil and thyme.  Even though he wanted just two teaspoons of brunoise, I had to make at least a half recipe.  So I had four pounds of butternut squash, brunoise, Beurre Monté, chicken stock, bacon and chervil, and thyme left over.   Guess what Bill and I had for dinner tonight?   You guessed it, Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, garnished with bacon bits and chervil!!

Our cheese course for the evening was prepared by Janis and may well become the way I’ll serve Brie in the future!    Her Whipped Bric de Meaux en Feullete with Tellicherry Pepper and Baby Mache was totally addictive.    After removing the rind, the brie is whipped with her Kitchen Aide paddle until fluffy.  I’m not sure I can tell the difference between different peppers but learned that there are many, many kinds of black peppers.  The reduced balsamic vinegar added just the right amount of sweetness to the dish.  The mache was our only tribute to greens for the evening.  I hope you all ate your daily vegetable portions the next day!   You can see from this photo that it also makes a beautiful presentation for the cheese course.  We continued to drink the Togni with this dish since we had a magnum to consume.

Sharon brought a Lemon Sabayon Pine Nut Tart with Honeyed Mascarpone Cream.    The group thought that the crust would be enhanced by lightly toasting the pine nuts before adding them into the crust.  The lemon sabayon was tart and sweet, as a lemon dessert should!  She topped it with whipped mascarpone that was sweetened with honey.    Bill pulled yet another Sauternes from his cellar and this one did not disappoint.   We tasted another Chateau Coutet but this one was from a 1999 vintage.   It was a very good pairing because the sauternes and sweetened lemon sabayon complemented each other.  It became a process of sublime - bite, sip, bite, sip, bite sip!

Our last dessert was made by Willie.  Before I forget, and people think that one needs a fancy kitchen with every tool imaginable to prepare a gourmet dish, it is good to remember that Sandi and Willie live in an Airstream trailer and have a far-from-gourmet kitchen in which to make the Lobster broth OR the Velouté of Bittersweet Chocolate with Cinnamon Stick Ice Cream.  It was a 3-day affair, making the ice cream first, then the cookies and lastly the velouté.   Bravo Willie!   It was the fitting ending to a gourmet evening.  Rich, creamy and crispy and so very chocolate-y!  Bill offered two options from his cellar for this ending.  The first was a NV Trafford Tawny Port, House of Seppelt and the second was a 1990 Graham’s Port Malvedos Centenary.   I passed on the Tawny but most people thought it went best with the chocolate.  I love red ports and the Grahams was a very good one!   I didn’t think either was great with the chocolate but finding a good wine to go with chocolate has been a life long pursuit for Bill & I.  Bill doesn’t think there’s any wine that goes well with Chocolate and so far, for me, Meeker Vineyard’s FroZin comes the closest.

Ah-h-h, what a wonderful evening!  Good food, good wine and good friends . . . THIS is why we love to cook!

Our next dinner will be on our Annual Holiday Buffet, December 7 so mark your calendars.  Location TBA.   

Our tradition is that the dishes are finger food or bite-sized appetizers and desserts served buffet style.  The recipes must come from one of the books we used this year:  French Laundry, Slanted Door and Science of Good Cooking or from the December issue of Cook’s Illustrated (Guy Crosby, the author of the Science of Good Cooking is the Science Editor for Cook’s Illustrated’s America's Test Kitchen).

Please bring book suggestions for next year’s cookbooks and don’t forget your gift-wrapped kitchen white elephant or a culinary gadget/tool that costs $15 or less.

Enjoy your Fall season and we'll gather again in December.  

Welcome back Sandi & Willie!  And, thank you Willie for being our photographer this evening.   No more iphone photos, yippee!