If you go to the Wine Country 
in California, and you like excellent food as well as great wines, then Thomas Keller’s restaurants ad hoc, French Laundry and the French bistro Bouchon in the quiet beautiful little city of Yountville ought to be very high on your list of places to go. The food is artistic beyond your wildest imagination; in addition to the exquisite taste, the courses are marvelously displayed.
So, naturally, Thomas Keller’s cookbooks have come into focus as well. The French Laundry Cookbook
, Bouchon
, Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide
, and The Complete Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook & Bouchon
are great looking books, present dishes that are extremely interesting and look fabulous. However, the books are not all that easy to use at home in your own kitchen. They simply are not very accessible, in the sense that it’s not easy to replicate the instructions in a home kitchen. And for many, that’s one of the major reasons for buying a cook book.
However, ad hoc at home is different! For the first time a really accessible cook book from Thomas Keller! It is based what is served in Keller’s “casual eatery” in Yountville, and offers “a huge collection of recipes for doable and beloved everyday meals.” So it is not quite the same food, but even so it is Thomas Keller’s cuisine, and his philosophy on food and cooking permeates everything. And not only the recipes and preparations, but also a lot of very handy and useful small tricks and tips presented in sidebars – some things you may know if you’re already good, but most likely a number of words of wisdom and experiences you will find very useful.
And the food itself? Key words are simple and elegant in presentation, but involving preparations that are complex and take time. But they are doable, and the extra time is very well worth it. But this is food for occasions when you have that extra time – for holidays, for when you have friends over and want to make something special, and so on. As Keller says, “here is food meant to be served from big bowls and platters passed hand to hand at the table.”
ad hoc at home: Deliberately Eating Together has been sold out but is now back in stock. It is simply one of the best (and best looking too) cook books around, by a chef who has proved himself several times over in the real world and daily produces gastronomical marvels for his customers. An extraordinary cook book!
Tagged as:
ad hoc at home,
cookbook,
Review,
Thomas Keller,
Yountville
and 
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