Cooking with Julia, Plus Some Experiments
I have exactly two books in my cookbook collection that absolutely terrify me: The French Laundry Cookbook and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I don’t know why, maybe because the recipes involve so many steps, probably because both books represent cooking nirvana and likely, because so many cooks perceive the recipes to be hard, regardless of the actual level of difficulty. A year ago, one of four New Years resolutions was to “cook a meal from Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. In early January, I transferred that resolution (along with two of the remaining three) to my 2008 list. I’m part of the way there…
While on vacation, I read Julie and Julia, a story of how one very crazy woman challenged herself to cook every single recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking within a year (and blogged about it). Not to be mean, but Julie came across as somewhat crazy…and I figured that if she could successfully cook from MTAFC, then I could too. I was inspired, and resolved to do more than thumb through the book and actually cook with Julia.
The decision to cook from Julia required dinner guests, and under the guise of "thank you for hosting my blog and why don't you come for dinner?" Richard and Melissa unknowingly were my first guinea pigs.
As I reread the recipe for vanilla souffle approximately ten times, I heard Julia’s distinctive voice in my head. I wish that she had been standing beside me while I was cooking, as nerve wracking as that would have been, mainly because I had questions. Julia, which stage of the recipe do you mean that I can cook at low heat if I want to make the soufflé ahead of time? If I don’t have a kettle to cover the soufflé before I bake it, will a plate suffice? And despite referring me to the soufflé baking dish section, I’m still confused about whether I really need to extend the depth of the soufflé dish with parchment paper and string.
While cooking, it’s fairly unusual for me to have to repeat any component of a dish due to error. This soufflé required two restarts. First, the eggs would not separate properly…so I ended up throwing out three eggs. Sort of a restart. And then, while “gently warming” the base of milk, salt and flour, the not separating eggs distracted me, and I overcooked the base. Do over.
The vanilla soufflé came together in the end. It was delicious, and between the three of us, nothing was left. But it wasn’t as I had imagined: the soufflé had separated into a puffy, egg white layer and a custardy, egg yolk and vanilla layer. I’m not sure if it separated because it sat too long or because I covered it with a plate, rather than the suggested kettle.
We ate well before dessert, starting with gougeres (gruyere cheese puffs, a recipe from Artisanal in New York, a restaurant which I may have written about, but that entry is still trapped on Nilay’s server), olives and bread and cheese (a nice and runny cheese).
The night before, I bought several pounds of short ribs, which I sprinkled with fresh herbs, salt and pepper. A few hours before dinner, I browned the short ribs, boiled up two bottles of 2005 Riven Rock Cabernet (cheapest Cab at Whole Foods), added the ribs, covered and braised the whole thing in the oven for a few hours. The meat was amazing – tender, falling off of the bones, full of the flavor of the herbs and the wine, simple and complex at the same time. We sprinkled with gremolata, a mixture of fresh herbs, garlic, lemon and salt and pepper. I used the leftover wine and fat to reduce the sauce into a nice gravy, plus polenta with gorgonzola (which cut the richness of the beef) and brussel sprout hash (brussel sprouts sliced a bit too thinly, sautéed up in some olive oil and garlic, and dressed with lemon juice and dry vermouth). Richard and Melissa also brought a very excellent Duckhorn cabernet, rich and complex and perfect with the short ribs. I should note that Mom discovered the recipe several months ago in Bon Appetit.
A week later, I used the two remaining short ribs to make ravioli, inspired by an amazing short rib ravioli meal at Delfina a few years ago. I tried to duplicate the recipe, first grinding the meat, then mixing it with leftover gremolata and gravy, using wonton wrappers for the ravioli part. The ravioli wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t didn’t have the same taste that I remembered. Really, it sort of fell flat and even my first ever beurre blanc sauce, using Alice Waters’ recipe from her excellent new The Art of Simple Food, didn’t really help. Although, I have to admit, on its own, the beurre blanc sauce was absolutely delicious. The beurre blanc sauce is bubbling away in the little pot behind the ravioli in the picture below.
I did attempt soufflé again, this time with spinach and gruyere. Pete and Chris were my guinea pigs, and I was confident enough in success that I bought a bottle of Cremant to go with. It was worth it – the soufflé was golden and puffy and absolutely delicious.
Julia still scares me, but not as much. I'll definitely do more, and maybe someday, I'll move on to the French Laundry.
