Special to the Star-Bulletin
Thomas Keller has twice won the James Beard
Foundation award as outstanding chef.
‘Cooking is evolution,
cooking is life’
Champion chef
By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
Thomas Keller says his dishes
are always changing
Star-BulletinAT one end of the dining spectrum, Big Mac is replicated millions of times daily around the world on life's fast-food track. At the other end of the curve, a chef creates singular masterpieces meant to be savored with fine wines through three or four hours.
Thomas Keller, the James Beard Foundation's outstanding chef of the year in America for 1997, is such a chef. His venue is the 62-seat French Laundry in a restored turn-of-the-century Napa valley home that once housed a steam laundry.
Keller -- rarely absent from his acclaimed restaurant -- will be showcased at next week's Grand Chefs On Tour program at Maui's Kea Lani Hotel. Named best chef in California for 1996, Keller was the first to win consecutive best-chef awards in James Beard history.
The "Zagat Survey 1998 -- America's Top Restaurants" describes the French Laundry's fare as "wow, brilliant, perfection." The San Francisco Examiner reviewer said incredulous diners experience many small, exquisite courses crafted with fine, seasonal produce and Keller's own talent, precision, discipline and wit.
"Cooking is an evolution, cooking is life," Keller said in a phone interview from his bustling kitchen. He spoke quietly, intensely, introspectively. "The restaurant is not stagnant, it grows, it evolves. It started 20 years ago. We are still working on it. Dishes will be different tomorrow because of sheer evolution, because of the life of food. The same dish is not done over and over and over again. There's an ever-changing environment. We try to be as dynamic as possible."
The French Laundry presents contemporary American cuisine with French influences. Menu offerings include butter poached Maine lobster with pan-roasted bone marrow and sauce bordelaise; filet of sea perch with a coulis of stinging nettles and lemon-steamed Yukon Gold potato; and sugar beet ice cream with bittersweet chocolate cake and toasted walnut sauce.
"We find a different technique, a better ingredient, another component," Keller said. "We'll plate it differently. It'll look different. We may eliminate butter or add butter -- whatever at that moment is the right thing to do."
Isle master sommelier Chuck Furuya, a wine and food devotee whose palate is not impressed easily, anoints Keller's food as elegant, pure and sophisticated, with phenomenally concentrated flavors.
"The last time I went there he sent out 25 dishes per person for us to try. They were all superb, each one was absolutely ...," adjectives failed him momentarily. "The dish that stands out was fresh foie gras with strips of lightly battered fresh baby abalone. It was called Surf and Turf. Phenomenal, just phenomenal. Whew, the guy is so good."
Keller started at age 19 as a dishwasher in his mother's restaurant at the Palm Beach (Fla.) Yacht Club. She promoted him to chef at 20. His career took him to Rhode Island for several summers, followed by stints in New York and France; then New York again, where he and a partner operated Manhattan's Rakel for four years. He was executive chef at Los Angeles' Checkers Hotel before buying the French Laundry in 1994.
The chef said of next week's Maui interlude, "I am desperately looking forward to it, I can't wait." He will release "The French Laundry" cookbook in fall 1999. Meanwhile, three recipes follow for his singular masterpieces:
Chilled white corn soup
7 cups fresh white corn kernels (8 ears)Machine-puree corn in batches. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve to make 2 cups corn milk.
2 cups heavy cream
2 small leeks
Salt to taste
Freshly ground white pepper
1-1/2 cups morel mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth or vegetable stockHeat corn milk over medium heat 3 minutes, whisking until thickened and bubbling. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in cream. Pour mixture into stainless-steel bowl and place in larger bowl filled with ice and water.
Return to heat 2 to 3 minutes; don't boil. Machine-puree mixture 30 seconds; return to stainless-steel bowl and ice bath. Chill.
Quarter white part of leeks lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/8-inch slices. Parboil 1 minute, then plunge into ice water. Drain, then season with salt and pepper.
Boil morels and stock until liquid is almost gone, about 5 minutes. Lower heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring twice. Season with salt and pepper. Combine with leeks. Chill.
Spoon 1-1/2 tablespoons of leek-morel mixture into center of 6 shallow bowls. Ladle corn-cream mixture into bowls and serve. Makes 6 (10-ounce) servings.
Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 450 calories, 32 grams fat, 19 grams saturated, 110 milligrams cholesterol, 70 milligrams sodium.*
Herb-roasted striped bass
8 (4-ounce) striped bass fillets (preferably center cut) with skinTwo hours before cooking, place a bay-leaf half and tarragon sprig on each of 4 fillets. Top with remaining 4 fillets. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.
2 bay leaves, halved
4 sprigs fresh tarragon and/or thyme
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 large clove garlic, crushed
Salt to taste
Flour for dusting
1-1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon light-green leeks, diced small
1 heaping teaspoon very small dice of carrot
1 heaping teaspoon very small dice of white turnip
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 teaspoons minced shallot
3 tablespoons diced, peeled tomato
1 heaping teaspoon EACH chopped parsley, chervil, chive and tarragonFor vinaigrette, bring salted water to a boil. Add leek, carrot and turnip. Cook 1 minute. Skim out vegetables with sieve, then plunge into bowl filled with very cold water; drain. Mix remaining vinaigrette ingredients and stir in vegetables. Set aside.
In large frying pan with ovenproof handle, heat canola oil until very hot but not smoking. Add garlic. Remove all herbs from fish, season with salt and dust with flour. Cook fish 1-1/2 minutes per side to brown. Add butter to pan and place pan in 350-degree oven. Baste fish after 3 minutes, and 2 minutes later. Cook 5 to 6 minutes total, until fish is firm.
Spoon 1 tablespoon vinaigrette onto each plate. Place 2 fillets per plate and top with 1 tablespoon vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.
Coffee and doughnuts
The day before, mix 1-1/2 tablespoons yeast with warm water. When mixture foams, combine 4 cups flour and yeast in large mixer. Use dough hook to knead. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3 tablespoons dry yeast, divided
1-1/4 cups warm water
8 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup warm milk
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
12 egg yolks
1/2 cup melted butter
Vegetable oil for frying
Cinnamon-sugar mixtureThe next day, mix remaining yeast with warm milk. Place remaining 4 cups flour, salt and sugar in mixing bowl. When yeast foams, add it along with yolks and melted butter to dry ingredients. Mix, then let rest 1 hour.
Combine 2 doughs in a mixer. Use dough hook to mix completely 5 to 10 minutes on low speed.
Roll dough to desired thickness and cut into desired shape for doughnuts. Cover dough pieces with a damp towel and let rest at least 30 minutes in refrigerator. Uncover and let rise in a warm place. Fry in 325-degree oil until golden. Drain on paper towels and roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve immediately. Makes 3 dozen 2-inch doughnuts.
Beat egg yolks, vanilla bean and 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar until mixture is of a consistency where it forms a ribbon. Add espresso extract and mix well. Transfer mixture to larger bowl and place over ice.
10 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out
1-1/4 cups sugar, divided
1-1/2 tablespoons espresso extract
1 cup cream
4 egg whites
Steamed milk or whipped creamMeanwhile, whip cream with half remaining sugar; fold into yolk mixture. Beat egg whites with remaining sugar until stiff peaks form; fold into yolk/cream mixture completely.
Pipe mixture into cups and freeze 50 minutes (if you freeze it longer, remove from freezer half-hour before serving). Top with steamed milk or whipped cream and serve with doughnuts. Makes about 12 small portions.
Grand Chefs on Tour
