“Institut Paul Bocuse Gastronomique”
Hamlyn, $75
By Erika Engle
This weighty, 720-plus-page volume is intended for inspired home cooks, chefs-in-training and everyone in between.
The reference book covers 250 step-by-step culinary techniques with 1,800 color photos, and represents the first time that the teachings of Bocuse’s 25-year-old French cooking academy have been compiled in a single source.
Serious home cooks looking to up their game, whether for dinner parties or just Instagram photos, will want this in their arsenal.
Photos showing how to saute thinly sliced potatoes are followed by a lesson in making Sarladaise potatoes, a slightly more advanced technique, with butter and oil replaced by duck fat.
On Pages 506 and 507 you can learn to flambe filet of beef in cognac and make an accompanying pepper sauce.
Chefs’ recipes are offered in levels of difficulty from 1 to 3. Measurements are by weight or volume, so those accustomed to the U.S. system will need to make conversions (I’ve done them for the sample recipe here).
As difficulty levels increase, so do the techniques and ingredient lists. The book teaches all the techniques, but as for finding exotic ingredients, you’re on your own. That said, Google will teach you that the unobtainable-sounding “mangetout” is simply French for snow peas.
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Veal Medallions With Morel Cream
Level 1, Page 584
- 2 pounds, 12 ounces veal fillet
- 4 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 7 tablespoons butter
>> For the morels and cream sauce:
- 1 pound, 12 ounces fresh morels or
- 3-1/2 ounces dried morels
- 4 to 6 medium shallots (for 1 scant cup)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 7 tablespoons white wine
- 5/8 cup brown veal stock
- 1-1/4 cups heavy cream
- Salt and ground pepper, to taste
>> To assemble:
- 1/2 bunch chervil
- 24 vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, lightly roasted
- Guerande sea salt (from Brittany, France)
Prepare mushrooms: If using fresh morels, remove the sandy part at the bottom of the stems and discard. Wash in a large bowl of water, changing the water 2 or 3 times. Drain well.
If using dried morels, soak overnight in room-temperature water, then drain. Blanch 3 times to remove impurities and drain again. They are now ready to be used.
Prepare the veal: Trim the veal filet, then cut it into 8 medallions weighing about 120 grams (4-1/2 ounces) each. Tie them with string so that they hold their shape, then set them aside in the refrigerator.
Prepare cream sauce: Finely chop shallots and sweat them in the butter without browning. Add morels and sweat them for 4 to 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine, then pour off half the liquid to soften the acidity. Add veal stock, bring to boil, then add the cream, season with salt and pepper and cook gently on a low simmer until the sauce is of coating consistency.
Cook veal: Heat oil and butter, then pan-fry the medallions for 4 minutes on each side, basting regularly so the meat stays moist.
Assemble: Place a medallion and a portion of morels on each plate. Place a good-looking morel on the medallion, top with a few small sprigs of chervil, then pour over the hot sauce. Add a few lightly roasted cherry tomatoes and finish by seasoning with a little Guerande sea salt and some pepper. Serves 8.
Nutritional information unavailable.
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America’s Test Kitchen releases
More than 60 cooks, editors, scientists and cookware specialists gather at America’s Test Kitchen, a gigantic 2,500-square-foot kitchen outside Boston. They test and retest recipes, ingredients and kitchen equipment, then present their best recipes and recommendations via public television shows, culinary magazines and books. Visit americastestkitchen.com.
Here are three America’s Test Kitchen releases from this year:
“What Good Cooks Know: 20 Years of Test Kitchen Expertise in One Essential Handbook”
Hardcover, $29.95
“This book is the definitive guide to the wild and wonderful world of your kitchen,” says the introduction, and it does not lie. Product recommendations range from knives to plastic wrap, advice spans pantry lists and conversion charts to the best beef stew recipe and an almost no-knead bread, to roasting, then carving a bird. The book also covers (with pictures) how to prep vegetables A-Z, separate an egg, make a vinaigrette — the help goes on and on. An invaluable guide for any home cook.
“Cook’s Science”
Hardcover, $40
While its predecessor, “The Science of Good Cooking,” examined 50 principles of cooking, this book focuses on the science of ingredients. It begins with a lesson explaining “The Basic Elements of Food” that delves into the composition of nutrients. Then some 50 chapters cover proteins, vegetables, fruits, dairy products and pantry items. Each is introduced with reader-friendly scientific information, Test Kitchen experiments and results, and recipes. This tome empowers readers with science that will make them better cooks.
“Naturally Sweet: Bake All Your Favorites With 30% to 50% Less Sugar”
Softcover, $26.95
With new USDA recommendations cutting sugar intake by nearly half, the Test Kitchen decided to delve into how home cooks and bakers can address the change. The book discusses the science of sugar processing, alternative sweeteners, the effects on recipes of less sugar and substitutions — and how to address problems that result. The bulk of the book is dedicated to adjusted recipes for muffins, quick breads, cookies, cakes, pies, puddings, frozen treats and more.
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Joleen Oshiro, Star-Advertiser
If unavailable at your nearest bookstore, all four of these books can be ordered through barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com. America’s Test Kitchen books also can be ordered online at americastestkitchen.com (click on “bookstore”).
