Thomas Keller is the owner of a Michelin star laundromat. French cuisine on the American coast About original restaurants

Chef's special dishes

Thomas Keller

American chef, restaurateur and food writer.

Thomas Keller was born on October 14, 1955 in the city of Camp Pendleton, California, in the USA to Edward and Betty Keller. He was the youngest of five children. Thomas's father worked as an instructor for offshore drilling rigs, and his mother was the owner of a small cafe.

When his parents divorced, the children and their mother moved to Florida, where four years later Thomas had to get a job, initially as a dishwasher.

At the Yacht Club restaurant in Palm Beach, young Thomas quickly mastered the art of cooking, especially with hollandaise sauce.

Two years later, when Thomas Keller met Ronan Henin, the chef of a French restaurant. It was Henin who taught Thomas all the secrets of French cooking. Afterwards, Thomas worked in several more restaurants in Florida, and eventually became the head chef at the La Rive restaurant on the Hudson River, near New York.

After three years at La Rive, Thomas Keller moved to New York and then to Paris, where he took cooking lessons at several Michelin restaurants. In 1984 he returned to New York, working

l in the La Reserve restaurant, then in one of the open cafes of the Raquel chain. Thomas soon left Raquel's network, as he wanted to bring his own personal concept of cooking French dishes into reality.

For some time he worked as a consultant for various French restaurants in New York and Los Angeles. In 1992, Thomas Keller took out a bank loan, bought the 1890 French Steam Laundry building in Yountville, California, and converted it into a restaurant. The French Laundry opened in 1994. In 1998, Thomas's second restaurant, Bouchon, opened.

By 2004, Thomas Keller already had a whole chain of restaurants, almost all over the West Coast, as well as a restaurant and casino in Las Vegas. His classic French dishes and distinctive restaurant interiors have won several culinary awards and were named best in the Michelin system.

He hasn't starred in popular cooking shows, and his books have too much thought and attention to detail to achieve widespread fame. So it may very well be that the name Thomas Keller means nothing to you. However, some of the creations of this American chef are probably well known to you, and you have seen them more than once. Intrigued? Read on.

Thomas Keller

Thomas Keller is one of America's top chefs and one of only two chefs in the world to have two restaurants simultaneously awarded the highest award. Michelin. His specialty is classic French cuisine, the basics of which he learned in America and then perfected while working in famous restaurants in Paris. The result was his own signature style, embodied by Keller in several restaurants - The French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon and others, the first two of which received three Michelin stars. The focus of these restaurants is, of course, different.

The French Laundry is a contemporary American restaurant with a strong French influence located in Yountville, California. Instead of serving a la carte, this restaurant offers each visitor a choice of several options at a fixed price of $240 - a tasting or vegetarian menu, each of which includes a specific set of dishes, changing every day. For example, the menu for September 10, 2008 includes dishes such as Mediterranean sea bream fillet with a crispy crust, artichokes, sweet peppers, nicoise olives and pudding or Figs with mascarpone and pine nut ice cream and 100-year-old balsamic vinegar. Sometimes you can order additional dishes for an additional fee - foie gras, marbled beef, white and black truffles, etc.

Restaurant The French Laundry

Another Keller restaurant, Bouchon, professes a different concept. The word bouchon itself means a type of snack bar in the city of Lyon, France. These bistro eateries serve home-style, rustic dishes instead of fine dining, and Keller's Bouchon follows a similar path. In his restaurant, a visitor can order classic French dishes - onion soup, baked leg of lamb, crème caramel, and so on. Keller perfects each recipe, turning it into a work of art.

Well, now about how and when you could get acquainted with what Thomas Keller does. You all, of course, remember “Ratatouille” - a wonderful cartoon from Pixar (however, it doesn’t make any others) about a gourmet rat. The dish with which the main character managed to win the heart and stomach of a picky culinary critic was “cooked” by Keller. The film's producer was allowed into the kitchen of The French Laundry restaurant in order to practice as a cook and understand how restaurants work from the inside, where he chose confit baildi - a version of the classic dish ratatouille - as one of the culinary masterpieces of the tailed chef from the cartoon. Unlike the traditional French dish, Keller's version consists of equal-sized vegetable circles, which makes it very cute. In addition, in the cartoon “Ratatouille,” Keller played the episodic role of a restaurant visitor (by the way, the same role in the French translation is played by one of Keller’s teachers, Guy Sava, and in the Spanish translation by the genius of Spanish cooking, Ferran Adria).

Caesar Salad by Thomas Keller

A few years earlier, Keller took part in the production of the film Spanglish, where he taught Adam Sandler how to make “the best sandwich in the world.” In addition, Keller has published two books - The French Laundry and Bouchon, which, as you can easily understand from the titles, include detailed instructions for preparing the dishes served in his restaurants. Considering that Keller has more than two restaurants, I hope his creative impulse has not dried up.

The famous American chef, Thomas Keller, recently turned 60 years old. Everyone calls his cuisine original. He strives to make only the most unusual dishes. Or the roots of this phenomenon come from childhood. Keller's parents already owned a small establishment. In each of his dishes, Thomas tries to pay maximum attention to detail.

Let's start from the beginning

Working at his mother’s establishment was Keller’s first serious one. It was in this place that the future chef learned the classical culinary art. After some time, he decided to expand his experience. And he went to seek his fortune in France. Between the years 83-86 he managed to work in such establishments as GuySavoy, Taillevent.

Now Thomas owns two bakeries and 8 restaurants. The main place of work is the USA.

Many of his dishes are inspired by French cuisine. But, at the same time, they are distinguished by modernity. And he himself managed to become a tough teacher. When preparing a dish, he insists that the recipe instructions must be followed with the utmost precision. He believes that real chefs should have minimal waste. Cooking a dish needs to be honed to perfection, repeating the same steps many times.

About the small nuances of craftsmanship

All the culinary experience of the chef is reflected in the books that he managed to publish. The first book is devoted to rather complex aspects of French cuisine. "Bouchon" - with recipes for bistro. Thomas himself has his favorite books. For example, AdHocatHome. It contains recipes from cuisines from all over the world, but the presentation remains simple and accessible to everyone.

BouchonBakery talks about how to bake muffins with baguettes, without which a French breakfast is impossible. The same book describes recipes for eclairs and bread on many pages. The cook's attitude towards salt also causes a lot of surprise. According to Keller, it is not enough to know how much salt there will be in a dish. You need to know at what moments this is done, at what intervals. Only in this case the result will be a culinary masterpiece.

About original restaurants

Each of Keller's restaurants is unusual and they are different from each other. For example, take TheFrenchLaundry. There are several fixed menus, which include only certain dishes. And each of these menus costs up to $240. At the same time, changes are made to the product lists every day. But the quantity remains the same - there are always nine dishes.

Thomas Keller is my number one culinary idol. His attention to detail, passion for cooking, and sensitivity to the culinary process inspire and enchant.

He's not one of those chefs who spends more time showing off on television than in the kitchen. He does not praise himself at every turn, as many star chefs do, and does not try to get into the media in any way. For all these reasons, you may not have even heard of this self-taught cook.

His cooking style, culinary philosophy is what made me buy all his books. Since these are not just books with recipes - they are history, instructions, reasoning and, of course, very accurate, but not easy recipes.

Thomas Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur and author of five incomparable cookbooks. In 1997, Thomas Keller was voted America's first best chef. Many more awards and high-profile titles followed. His restaurant No. 1, “The French Laundry,” is a perennial winner in Restaurant magazine’s annual list of the 50 best restaurants in the world. His two restaurants, The French Laundry and Per Se, each have 3 Michelin stars.

Keller began his culinary career at a young age, working at a restaurant in Palm Beach where he managed Ahis mother. He did not attend culinary school, was not a student at prestigious academies, he learned everything on his own, diligently practicing classic cooking techniques over and over again. In 1983 he moved to France to gain experience. There he worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants, including the famous Guy Savoy and Taillevent. He opened his first restaurant, Raquel's, in New York in 1986, and then moved west to California to work as executive chef at Checker's hotel in Los Angeles.

In 1994, Keller opened his restaurant, The French Laundry, in Napa, which quickly became popular among gourmets from all over the world. His French bistro, Bouchon, opened in 1998, followed by Bouchon Bakery five years later. He now has eight restaurants and two bakeries in the United States.

Thomas Keller is a man of exceptionally high personal values ​​and standards, h
This is very much felt in the text of his books. His recipes are not simple, but the dishes always turn out wellideal.

In his cooking there is a very strong French influence and indiscriminate perfectionism. The signature dishes of this brilliant chef, although created in large part on French principles, are modernistic xcharacter It's like a breath of fresh air!

What Thomas Keller teaches in his books:

1) Repetition, repetition and more repetition! Only constant practice and honing your skills bring the desired result.

2) Attention to detail. A few small mistakes, a few small omissions, make a dish a failure.

3) Passion for cooking. You need to approach cooking with love, take your time, enjoy the process, focusing on the process.

4) Respect for the products from which dishes are prepared. Using everything that nature gives us and preparing this product in the best possible way so that there is as little waste as possible.

His rather famous story about rabbits really makes you think and change your approach to products. Let me describe briefly: one day, Keller asked his butcher to teach him how to cut up rabbits. He wanted to put them on the menu and ordered 12 of them. The butcher brought 12 beautiful rabbits. The butcher showed how to kill the first one, where to make the cut, how to remove the skin and how to cut the carcass, and left. Keller has 11 rabbits left to do the same. He learned that rabbits also scream. It was not easy to do the job.
But through this experience, Thomas Keller decided that he would put all his skill into cooking these rabbits in the best possible way, using every possible part of the carcass, because throwing away poorly cooked meat, or offal, would indicate that the death of these rabbits was in vain.

This is such a sad but instructive story...

5) The most important skill in cooking is the ability to salt. Without salt, a dish doesn't show its best, and too much salt kills the flavor. It is important not only how much salt to add, but also how and when to add salt. Without this mastery, all other skills are no longer so important.

Since I have collected all of Thomas Keller’s books in my modest library, in the “Books” section, I will talk about each in detail and initially present 3 recipes from each. (Over time, there may be more recipes from books).

What are these books by Thomas Keller:

"The French Laundry Cookbook" "The French Laundry Cookbook." Book with
impeccable, but complex recipes, recipes for those dishes that are served in the pearl of Thomas Keller's restaurants, The French Laundry in California. Thomas Keller is one of the few kitchen chefs who is not afraid to reveal his secrets and recipes. He is simply convinced that there is nothing to hide, his practice and skill will create a different dish than those who cook it according to the book.

"Bouchon" A cookbook of recipes from his chain of French-style bistros (currently there are three). The recipes are simpler, but also perfect. As always, the book contains not only detailed recipes, but also parting words, stories and beautiful photographs. Basically, these are classic recipes of French cuisine worked out to perfection.

"Ad Hoc at Home"Probably the most interesting book for the home cook. Recipes of American, French, Spanish cuisine with many detailed descriptions, revealing basic cooking techniques, bright, mouth-watering photos and a lot of fun!

"Bouchon Bakery" Recipe book for the American bakery chain by Thomas Keller (now there are 5 of them). Simply amazing baking recipes, both classic French and American. From perfect muffins and eclairs, to sourdough bread and baguettes. As always, very high quality recipes, with detailed descriptions and precise cooking technology.

"Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide" Thomas Keller's most unusual book dedicated to the cooking technology called "sous vide". This is the process of cooking food in a vacuum-sealed bag at very low temperatures. This method allows you to get a very delicate texture and rich taste of familiar products, since the food does not come into direct contact with the hot surface, and cooking occurs at relatively low temperatures for a long time, which completely kills harmful bacteria, but does not dry out the product. Keller pioneered this new culinary field, and this book is the first of its kind.