Bechamel is a classic French sauce made with milk. It is one of the Five French Mother Sauces and is used to make derivatives such as Mornay (a simple cheese sauce).
Beets are one of my favorite food products to work with during fall and winter. They are extremely versatile, come in all different shapes and sizes, and have an earthiness that just screams “winter comfort food.” Although there are many different ways to prepare and serve beets, one of my favorites, and most classical methods, is roasting.
A traditional beurre blanc is a finicky sauce that can easily break, especially if it's not made to order and served immediately. This video will teach you how to stabalize a beurre blanc by using a blender and xanthan gum. This approach will allow you to make the beurre blanc in advance and hold it warm until you're ready to serve.
This video will demonstrate three different techniques for roasting garlic. Also, a brief lecture on the science behind roasting garlic, and why its strong, pungent flavor will become mild and sweet when heat is applied over a long period of time.
Learn how to make a stuffed chicken roulade using a pounded out chicken breast.
Although restaurants love to tempt you with some of their more creative appetizers, sometimes you just want to start your meal with a good, green salad. When I want a great salad, this is the one I crave above all others.
I first fell in love with salsify when working at a French Restaurant in San Francisco. The edible root portion most commonly served in restaurants, looks like a dirty tree branch but when properly prepared, has an extremely unique flavor and texture that closely resembles a cross between parsnip and potato. A member of the sunflower family, salsify is a tuber that can be used just like any other common root vegetable.
This video will teach you how to properly prepare baby carrots.
Blanched garlic is a great way to remove the harsh, bitter bite of raw garlic while still keeping the floral, garlic aroma and flavor. In Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook, his technique calls for the use of milk instead of water. I've found that for most purposes, water can achieve fairly comparable results and it's more cost effective.
This video will demonstrate the classic approach to dicing an onion.
