The French Laundry

Re: The French Laundry

Nah. I don't like my food so fancy. Part of the reason I was thrilled to marry an Indian guy is that he doesn't care how the food looks, just how it tastes ('cause Indian food is UGLY).

[Vanquisher]

Re: The French Laundry

Are you going to play, Patel?

Come on....

Jenn

Yes, you should!! All I need is vanilla beans, and I'm ready to go for the first dish. At least check the book out from your library.

Luanne, have you had a chance to flip through yet? What are you excited to try?

I am so excited for Jenn and Nellie to get their copies. The book is beautiful.

[Meenah]

Re: The French Laundry

The Pan Roasted Sea Bass with Artichoke Ravioli looks really tasty, as well as the Sauteed Monkfish Tail with Braised Oxtails, Salsify, and Cepes!!!! Thank goodness I have the wonderful Larousse Gastronomique (a great book) because I had to look up Cepes and Salsify to find out what they are!!!!!!

I have two pheasants in my freezer that I need to do something with.

Re: The French Laundry

yeah - see, none of that sounds remotely appealing to me. i'll sit this one out and watch from the sidelines.

[Meenah]

Re: The French Laundry

We each need to place a jar in the spice cabinet for $$$$. By the time we finish all of the recipes, if we put $10 per month in the jar we should have enough to all meet in San Francisco and spend a few days. Each dinner will be at the French Laundry. With any luck ther will be an MSN member there to give us a place to sleep!!!!

[Vanquisher]

Re: The French Laundry

Oh, Luanne, see this is why I have the cookbook. $10 a month wouldn't even come close to covering one dinner at The French Laundry.

[Meenah]

Re: The French Laundry

Not to worry, in a few years I will have found a way hone: to make them aware of us. I'm sure they will be begging us to dine with them aparazzi:

[DCJenn]

Re: The French Laundry

didn't Sally enter us for the Oprah Show?

I'm heading to the library today to see if they have it before my copy arrives.

J.

Re: The French Laundry

I like your plan, Luanne.

It is prix fixe, $240 for a 9 course meal, gratuity included.

Re: The French Laundry

Poaching liquid made (does one pear really need that much?) and walnuts roasted. I hope to finish tomorrow.

[Vanquisher]

Re: The French Laundry

Oh, you are ahead of me! I promised dh I would wait until this weekend when he'd be home.

You only need 1 1/2 cups of the poaching liquid for this recipe and the single lonely pear. I wonder if I should double the recipe (not the poaching liquid)? There is at least one other recipe that uses the poaching liquid, but maybe a better thing to do would be to make less of it?

Nellie, you'll have to let us know how it is so we know how much to make!

[Meenah]

Re: The French Laundry

I plan to do mine on Wednesday!

[SuzySunshine]

Re: The French Laundry

Not to mention getting a reservation is almost impossible. You have to call a certain number of days before your date and basically keep calling until you get through and see if they have reservations left. Its actually a pretty small restaurant, I had an in for reservations before we left CA but they closed the restaurant for like two months so that they could open their NY restaurant so we didn't get to go.

I'm enjoying reading this thread - I'll be cheering you guys on.

Re: The French Laundry

The way to get a reservation, or so I hear, is to stay at one of the places nearby that gets a handful of courtesy reservations for their guests. If anyone is really interested, I'll track down the name of one of the inns.

Heidi, what other recipe uses the poaching liquid? You will definitely have some left. I almost halved the recipe but didn't. I also had to hold back from any tweaking. Not that I have a better handle on this than Mr. Keller but it was hard for me to not include some lemon zest in the poaching liquid. At that point, I decided I will follow these recipes as written (excepting hard to find ingredient substitutions). I love poached pears so I figure I'll just poach some more. And that is about all I should be eating for dessert after having walnut CREAM soup!

[Vanquisher]

Re: The French Laundry

Nellie,

Candied Apple: Creme de Farine with Poached Apples and Ice Cream is the other one I can find.

http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.com/20 ... -with.html

Apparently, this one is very time consuming with lots of steps, and for some reason, Carol hated the process. I am not completely turned off to making it though. You do have to make your own puff pastry, and she recommends another one that she prefers, and this puff pastry recipe makes a lot, but it is also used in some other dishes, like the Heirloom Tomato dish that she raves about.

In a few years, I am definitely interested in a French Laundry excursion. A celebration of having made the dishes and of leaving training behind. There is always Per Se in New York too.

Try to remember that the walnut cream soup is tiny, tiny, tiny, so the calories in it don't even count. French Laundry calories don't count. Period. Agreed? I mean, surely, all the prep work burns at least as much as included in the dishes? Nope, FL calories are moot.