Thomas Keller’s New Cookbook: Ad Hoc at Home

If you’ve been to Napa, you’ve probably tried to snag a reservation at chef Thomas Keller’s French Laundry. Fantastic restaurant, but, for most of us, the French Laundry Cookbook was uncookable. His Under Pressure sous vide text? Also more than a home cook could tackle. Keller’s Bouchon Cookbook? Better, but still better on a bookshelf than a kitchen counter.

That’s the polar opposite of Keller’s just-released Ad Hoc at Home , which is incredibly kitchen friendly. Ad Hoc, the restaurant from which these recipes are culled, is a gem of a place near Napa, California. It celebrates simplicity, quality ingredients, and family-style eating, a restaurant perfectly suited for these harried, difficult times. Ad Hoc at Home is, too.

Keller describes the recipes in Ad Hoc at Home as “a big collection of family meals,” “recipes that are doable at home.” Whereas Under Pressure was clearly written for the professional chef with immersion circulators and a nearly unlimited budget, Ad Hoc at Home will have you reaching for nothing more complicated than bowls, measuring cups and an oven mit.

(Ok, maybe a blowtorch, but only if you want to push the limit for the holidays and make the blow-torch prime rib.)

What’s difficult about fried chicken, homemade biscuits, leek bread pudding, caramalized scallops? In Keller’s hands, nothing.

Chocolate chip cookies? Keller’s are even better (and simpler) than my current favorite, this mash-up recipe touted in the NYTimes. Keller’s secret to a soft, chewy cookie? Don’t underbake them; instead, mist them with water before baking them. Huh. Who would have thought of that?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(makes about thirty 3-inch cookies)

Thomas Keller writes: This is our version of what is arguably the best cookie ever. I like to use different chocolates, one sweeter, one with a more complex bittersweet balance. After you chop the chocolate, sift it to remove any tiny fragments to give the cookies a cleaner look. If you like softer cookies, don’t underbake them, just mist them with water before baking.

2 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces 55 percent chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces
5 ounces 70 to 72 percent chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup packed dark brown sugar, preferably molasses sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

Position the oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.

Sift the flour and baking soda into a medium bowl. Stir in the salt.

Put the chips in a fine-mesh basket strainer and shake to remove any chocolate “dust” (small fragments).

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat half the butter on medium speed until fairly smooth. Add both sugars and the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes, until mixture is light and creamy. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating until the first one is incorporated before adding the next and scraping the bowl as necessary. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Mix in chocolate.

Remove bowl from mixer and fold dough with a spatula to be sure the chocolate is evenly incorporated. The dough or shaped cookies can be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 5 days or frozen for 2 weeks. Freeze shaped cookies on the baking sheets until firm, then transfer to freezer containers. (Defrost frozen cookies overnight in the refrigerator before baking.)

Using about 2 level tablespoons per cookie, shape dough into balls. Arrange 8 cookies on each pan, leaving about 2 inches between them, because the dough will spread. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny, switching the position and rotating pans halfway through baking.

Cool cookies on the pans on cooling racks for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to the racks to cool completely. Repeat with second batch of cookies. (The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)

Note: If your brown sugar has hardened, soften it in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds.

From Ad Hoc at Home: Family-Style Recipes, Thomas Keller. Artisan, $50 (368p) ISBN 978-1-579-65377-4