There is this rumor, very pervasive, that to go to heaven, first you must die. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can just pick up your phone and make a reservation at any Alain Ducasse restaurant: there are about thirty of them from Paris to Qatar to Tokyo to Las Vegas. Pick any city, but surely pick a Ducasse restaurant.
In his newly published Bistro, Alain displays recipes from three of the Paris bistros he now operates, glorious restaurants where he maintains history and prestige: Allard, Benoit, and Aux Lyonnais. Suzi and I can attest the wonders of two of those and Allard is on our list.
There’s another rumor we should discuss. In an age of globalization, there is a unification of culinary skills and recipes across the planet. American food and chefs are much better now so the gap between the US and France his disappeared. We are as good as they are.
Not quite true. Wander through the pages of this book, which is subtitled Classic French Comfort Food, and you enter a different world. There is an entire chapter on Organ Meats with dishes like:
Beef Cheeks
Crumbed Tripe with Gribiche Sause
Crispy Pig’s Feet
Golden Veal Sweetbreads
Sauté Gourmand [Veal Sweetbreads, cockscombs, Rooster Kidneys, Foie Gras and Truffle Juice]
Calves Head
The Meat chapter has you more on home territory and yet the recipes here make you pause to contemplate their sophistication:
Cannon of Suckling Lamb [lamb meat rolled up and covered with purple mustard and herbed bread crumbs]
Leg of Lamb [plated with green beans, shelled peas, asparagus, turnips, carrots, scallions, artichokes, fava beans and, of course, zucchini flowers]
Beef Tenderloin [with a madeira wine sauce, potato souffle and truffle adornment]
Burgundy-Style Hotpot [pork shoulder, pork spareribs, ham hock, and pork belly cooked with carrots, turnips, fingerling potatoes, leeks, cabbage and some truffle]
Rabbit Confit [cooked in blueberry beer and accompanied by blueberries; the picture is at the end of this post — quite intended to convince you to purchase this important book!]
It’s not just the recipes that distinguish this book and French cuisine. It’s the techniques employed. At any Ducasse restaurant, the staff is at work 7×24. Here’s why. Imagine a simple dish of country vegetables. Americans might sauté them in butter or olive oil, they might blanch in water.
In the Ducasse version, first, you make a deep rich beef broth using both bones and meat. You cut up your veggies — cabbage, carrots, turnips, celery, leeks, and celeriac — and then poach each vegetable separately in the broth. Why separately? Because the size and density and water content of each one differs and to achieve just the perfect tenderness, they all have different cooking times. When the poaching is done, the broth is not. You reduce it, add vinegar and olive oil and serve over the veggies. It’s serious work for a “simple” dish of vegetables.
Please, don’t let me frighten you about this book. Yes, some of the recipes are a tad different. Yes, nothing here can be done in 15 minutes with just 3 ingredients. But, yes, each dish is a delight. And each one has been presented here for the home kitchen and the home cook who is ambitious and harbors fond memories or hopes of Paris. Learn this food from this book and you earn an award of excellence.
This is an exceptional book, one of impeccable quality and an excellent guide to the best comfort food in the world.
Oh, one note. When you hear the word “bistro” you think of a carafe of wine sitting on a table on a Parisian sidewalk graced with trees. “Bistro” is not a French word. It is Russian. When Napoleon fell, there was a period when Paris was occupied by Russian troops. The mingling of the defeated French and the somewhat uppity Russians was not a cordial experience. When they came to eat, the Russians wanted their food on the table quickly. They were not into the French custom of lingering over the table. So, the Russians expressed themselves with one word: “quickly” or in Russian “bistro.”
The vegetable recipe is so good I’m posting it later today. As for you, dear reader, it is time to make broth, poach, and be amazed.
