The French Laundry

If you follow American chefs at all you probably know the name. If you do not, but wish to learn more about chefs and cookery you need to know this name. Thomas Keller.

It is hard to gauge the total impact that Thomas Keller has had on the the restaurant industry, specificaly on chefs, over the past decade. One thing is for sure, it has been profound. 

His restaurant in Napa Valley, The French Laundry, and namesake cookbook, The French Laundry Cookbook, have inspired countless chefs to take there cooking to the next level. Through his perseved diligence and unwillingness to compromise he has single handedly raised the bar for standards in American cookery. Admired by most and envied by some, he is undoubtedly the biggest and most recognized American chef world wide. Forget Mario or Emeril, ask anybody, from a young aspiring chef to Anthony Bourdain and you will get the same answer. "Thomas Keller? He's the MAN!"

 

Inside the pages of The French Laundry Cookbook you will find Keller at his core. Very refined Classical French cuisine that uses and celebrates American ingredients. You will salvate over pictures and recipes including It is a collection of recipes obviously, but at a closer glance so much more. Filled with stories and insight, it conveys a level of desire and determination that is unparalleled. It can be a bit intemidating but I will assure you that after leafing through it just once you will put it down inspired to cook the best food of your life. 

Since the inseption of The French Laundry, Keller's fame has grown and with it a small empire. He has opened several other restaurants as well as authoring more cookbooks. His second venture was Bouchon. Again tottaly French inspired but scaled down fro The French Laundry. You might call it Thomas Keller's Bistro. You can emerse yourself in all that is French bistro cooking in Bouchon, or you can get both books in The Complete Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook & Bouchon.

Perfect recipes for dishes like Cod Brandade, and Duck Confit will make Bouchon an indespesable addition to your cookbook library. It is most certainly my favorite of Thomas Keller's books. 

Ad Hoc, Is another restaurant in the Keller empire, this time focusing on family style comfort food. The principle again is French technique, only applied to classic American recipes. Ad Hoc at Home is this restaurant's companion cookbook, and it is great. In it you will find a much lighter side to Thomas Keller. The side that craves cheeseburgers and mac n' cheese just as much as the rest of us. Recipes like, Beef Stroganoff and Fried Chicken will have you coming back repeatedly for simple everyday dinner ideas. 

The last subject that Keller covers in his line of books is not the menus of his restaurants but a cutting edge technique. Sous Vide, is French for "under vacuum" and also refers to a cooking technique that has taken the world by storm. It is basically food packed into vacuum pack bag then submerged into water set at a prises temperature. It allows chefs to cook with precision never before possible, and of coarse Thomas Keller is an expert on the subject. Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide is a book considered by many to be a professionals manual. It is also full of beautiful pictures and  trademark Keller insight. If you are curious about cutting edge cooking techniques is is a most own.

One more great book is The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection. Written by Michael Rhulman, the co-author of all of Keller's cookbooks it chronicles Keller's Career and rise to fame. You will see what I mean about this man when you read about all that it took to realize his dream.  

All of these books will help you understand what drives chefs today. The name has trancended that of just a man, and become a way to think, a way to cook, and a way of life. Thomas Keller is a real life Culinary Hero!

 

 

  

Chicago's Top 50 Restaurants

This is a subjective web resource that is the opinion of one(chef and food lover who lives and works in Chicago).  Chicagoans and visitors alike may use it to sift through the literally hundreds of great restaurants in Chicago. 

50 Top Chicago Dining Destinations:

• Alinea
  
• Anteprima
  
• Arun's
  
• Avec
  
• Avenues
  
• Bistro Champagne
  
• Blackbird
  
• Boka
  
• Cafe des Architectes
  
• Cafe Spiaggia
  
• Charlie Trotters
  
• Crofton on Wells
  
• Everest
  
• Frontera Grill
  
• Graham Elliot
  
• Green Zebra
  
• Hot Chocolate
  
• Japonais
  
• L2O 
  
• Les Nomades
  
• Lula Cafe
  
• Mado
  
• MK
  
• Mixteco Grill
  
• Mirai Sushi
  
• Moto
  
• Naha
  
• Nightwood
  
• Nomi
  
• North Pond
  
• One Sixty Blue
  
• Perennial
  
• Province
  
• The Publican
  
• Schwa
  
• Seasons
  
• Sepia
  
• Shanghai Terrace
  
• Sixteen
  
• Sola
  
• Spiaggia
  
• Spring
  
• Table 52
  
• Takashi
  
• Taxim
  
• Terragusto
  
• Topolobampo
  
• Tru
  
• Urban Belly
  
• Zealous

Here are a few more notable eateries listed under categories of interest. Many of them are regular dining destinations for Chicago chefs and food industry workers. All of them are Chicago originals.

Top Suburban Chicago Dining Spots:

• Carlos
  
• Courtright's
• Gabriel's
  
• June
  
• Tallgrass
• Vie
  

Sandwiches and Dogs Like No Other:

• Belly Shack
  
• Hot Doug's
  
• Xoco
  

Awesome Bar Food:

• Hopleaf
  
• Paramount Room
  
• Rootstock
  
• Kuma's Corner
  

Beer, Wine, and Cocktails

• Clark Street Ale House
  
• Goose Island
• Map Room
  
• Juicy Wine Co.
  
• The Violet Hour
  

Some of My Ethnic Favorites:

• Chickpea
  
• La Pasadita
• Los Caminos de Michoacan
• San Soo Gab San
• Thai Pastry

Chicago Style Pizza Temples:

• Gino's East
  
• Giordano's
• Lou Malnati's
• Pizzaria Uno

Chicago Street Food Temples

• Mr. Beef
• Philly's Best
• Portillo's
• Superdawg Drive-In
• The Weiner Circle

Truth be told, listing the top 50 restaurants in Chicago is next to impossible. Not everybody is going to agree with my list, but they should recognize that every restaurant on it, has earned the right to be considered for it. I hop that you find it useful, and If you own or work at a restaurant in Chicago and I've missed you, please don't take it personally. Give a shout out and I will do a whole blog post about your restaurant.

Pork Chops Smothered in Chipotle Gravy

This recipe is adapted from one in American Classics, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. I love this book by the way, and the magazine for that matter. I do not subscribe to Cook's Illustrated (I have trouble keeping up with magazine subscriptions), but I would highly recommend it to any serious cook. It is full of great recipes, cooking tips, and product reviews. The ingredient illustrations on the back cover make it a collectors item in my mind. American Classics is a must have for anybody who craves those home cooked meals that mom used to make.

                      

                                                                                                                                                 

As I said, I've adapted this recipe to my liking. Not that the original was bad, I just wanted to spice it up (literally) a bit. My one major change was the addition of Chile Chipotle. They will add a smoky spice to the dish that I think will fit perfectly. Chipotles can be found and used in dried form, but they are widely available in a very good (and convenient) canned form, usually packed in Adobo Sauce.

These chiles can be taken straight from the can and chopped or blend to fit your needs. I decided to skip a step and bought a can of "Chitople Salsa". I swear it is just a regular can of Chipotles in Adobo blended up. Adding a few tablespoons of this salsa during the gravy making process takes this dish just a bit south of the border.Authentic Mexican salsas at MexGrocer.com

The pork chops I used strayed a bit from the original recipe as well. The market I shopped at had plenty of pre-portioned bone in pork chops ready to go, but they were cut very thin. These would have been more suited for a quick, high heat cooking technique like grilling. As you will see this recipe is more of a braise than anything else, so I needed something thicker. The butcher counter at this particular market was very Mexican in it's approach and offered a cut that I thought would work perfectly. The Spanish name for this cut is"Trocitos de Puerco", which was translated to English as "pork spine". It is basically two mirrored pork chops attached to the spine with a bit of ribs still attached at the bottom. At the top is a piece of fat back and skin still attached. They were cut almost an inch thick and just seemed destine for smothering. I bought two pieces giving me roughly 4-4oz chops. 

The Obsession

So basically the recipe goes like this...  A gravy is started using bacon as the base. Then, pork chops are browned in a pan, then removed. Onions are added to that pan and cooked creating a sauce base. The pork chops and the gravy are then added. The pan is covered and cooked on low until the pork chops are tender. WHEN IS THAT? The book says 30 minutes for a 1/2-3/4 inch thick chop.

I really like this recipe in theory but I'd never actually tried anything like it. Initially I kept envisioning a dry, flavorless pork chop disaster sitting in a sauce that would steel the show. Could this work? I approached it with much the same anxiety of a barbecued pork shoulder. Six hours of  seized up shoulder wondering the whole time if that was going to work. Then I thought of those last two hours when the shoulde

r begins to fall apart and transforms in to delicious pulled pork. The pay off just may be worth the risk. 

I am comfortable with every part of this recipe except the braising part. However, I decided to go for it and kept two key principles in mind while braising the chops.

"Be Gentle and Be Patient"

Equipment

• 4-6qt. sauce pot to start the gravy
• 12in. saute pan preferably with a lid
• 8qt. sauce pot for potatoes
• some kind of large strainer
• food mill or potato masher

umm, that's it! Aside from utensils, measuring tools, and a knife. 

Ingredients

• 4 oz. Bacon(diced)
  
• 3 TBS Flour
• 1.75 cups Chicken Broth
• 1 TBS Veg. Oil
• 2 pcs Pork Spine or 4 pork chops (approx 2.5 lbs)
• 1.5 ea.  Large Yellow Onion(sliced)
• 4 TBS Chipotle Salsa
• 2 ea.  Garlic Cloves (minced)
• 1 tsp  Fresh Thyme (minced)
• 1 ea. Bay Leaf
• 1 TBS Fresh parsley (minced)
• 1.75 lbs.  Yukon Gold Potatoes (peeled and quartered)
• 4 TBS Whole Butter
• to taste           Salt and Pepper

Starting the Gravy

In a 4-6qt sauce pan cook the bacon over medium heat stirring periodically until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy, about 8 minutes. Carefully remove the crisp bacon from the rendered fat with a slotted spoon and set it aside( the final dish can be garnished with these bacon pieces if you like, I did not). Add the flour to the rendered bacon fat while whisking, working any lumps into a smooth paste or roux. Continue cooking over medium heat while stiring constantly until the roux is a light brown color, about 8 minutes. Next add the chicken broth to the roux in several stages, each time whisking the mixture until it is smooth before adding more broth. Once all the broth has been added  move this to the back of your stove over a very low flame. just make sure to whisk it every once and a while while you are working on the chops and the onions.

Starting the Chops and Onions

Heat the vegetable oil in a 12 in. saute pan until it shimmers and just begins to smoke. Meanwhile pat dry the pork with a paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper. Once the oil is hot, gently lay your pork into the pan pressing it firmly against the  pan to ensure good even browning. Allow the pork to brown nicely over the high heat for about 2-3 minutes. Turn the chops and brown the other side for the same amount of time. Next remove the chops from the pan and pour off all but 1TBS of fat (some extra fat from the pork may have rendered into the pan during the browning process). Return the pan to a med/med-high heat and add the sliced onions. As soon as these onions start to cook they will begin releasing a bit of water which can be used to pick up any brown bits  in the pan that the pork chops left behind. Saute the onions scrapping the brown bits from the pan with a wooden spoon. Cook the onions until they soften and begin to brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. This is when I make my Chipotle addition. Add the Chipotle salsa to the onions and stir  until incorporated and lightly toasting the salsa in the bottom of the pan, 30 seconds. Next add the garlic and thyme and cook until they are fragrant, 30 seconds. Remove the pan from heat for the next step.

Adding It All Together and Braising

Move your pork chops back to the pan, covering each one in a pile of the onions. Pour  the warm gravy over the chops(now your chops are in fact "smothered") and bring everything to a slow simmer. Cover the pan tightly with a lid and simmer until tender. Cooking time here will very depending on the cut of meat. A thinner chop will cook in as little as 20 minutes. My thicker more unique cut required almost 1.5 hours. I was basically looking for the meat to begin pulling away from the spine section it came attached to when judging the doneness. 

For the Potatoes

The mashed potatoes can be made in the time that the pork chops are cooking. Start by putting the potatoes in an 8qt pot with about 5 qts. of water and 1/4 cup of kosher salt. Put the pot over high heat until it reaches a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes in a strainer set over the sink. Put the potatoes back in the pot and mash with a potato masher or add the potatoes to a food mill and mill them back into the pot. whip the potatoes with a rubber spatula until they are smooth then add the 4TBS of butter and whip again until it is incorporated. Check the potatoes for seasoning, adjust, and cover with plastic wrap until you are ready to serve. 

Finishing

Remove the chops from the pan and set them aside on a plate loosely covered with tin foil to keep them warm(my spine sections required that I cut the chops away from the bone and removed the piece of skin at the top). Using a ladle, remove any excess fat that might now appear in the sauce. Turn the heat up and reduce the sauce to a gravy like consistency while continuing to skim off any excess fat, about 8 minutes. Finally, spoon some mashed potatoes on to a plate and lay your pork chop on top of that, and then spoon plenty of that Chipotle and onion gravy over the top. I had meant to add chopped parsley to the sauce before serving but I forgot, so I just garnished the finished plate with a bit. 

Wrap-up 

 I served this meal to my girlfriend and two of her friends. It' didn't blow anybody away, but everybody cleaned their plates and it seemed to hit the spot on a comfort food level. The chops were tender and moist, and every bit of mashed potato was need to sop up all that delicious gravy.