Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

Notes about this Book

Notes about Recipes in this Book

• Farro and black rice with roasted autumn squash

  • Jane on December 06, 2011

    This discovery was one of those times "I have these ingredients for Sunday night supper and what recipe can I find". Although I didn't have everything in Keller's ingredient list - only one type of squash (delicata), no dandelion greens and pancetta rather than applewood smoked bacon - it worked really well. It looked pretty with the brown farro, black rice and orange squash. The mix of texture and flavors was good, the mustard dressing gave it some zing.

• Summer vegetable gratin

  • Cheri on September 05, 2010

    Skipped the eggplant. Made in oval cassarole dish. 1st sauted onions and garlic, then layer of squash (green and yellow), then layer of tomatoes (romas) then one more layer of squash, finish with bread crumbs. Guests LOVED it. Nice flavor balance. Does take 1.5 hours to bake.

• Split pea soup with ham hock, fresh peas, and mint

  • Cheri on December 18, 2010

    this was good. Took much longer to cook - 2+ hours after split peas were added. Used frozen green peas. Mint is very nice touch. Richard was not crazy about this one

• Beef stroganoff

  • Breadcrumbs on September 10, 2011

    p. 42 - While I'd never turn down an opportunity to dine as any of TK's restaurants, I've come to the conclusion I'm not a huge fan of his cookbooks. Every time an enticing recipe appears in an EYB search, inevitably I pull the book from the shelf only to read the recipe and get totally frustrated by overly-complex process to make it. This recipe is no exception. While the ingredient list was relatively short and, seemed promising, I pulled the book only to find that before you can even make this dish, you first must prepare TK's Braised Beef Short Ribs recipe that spans pgs 41 and 42. Thanks but no thanks TK. While we do love beef stroganoff, we'll be living vicariously through others experiences in making this version!!

  • Trackypup on December 03, 2011

    Unbelievably good. Definitely a day off or weekend meal as it does take time but I can't imagine a better Beef Stroganoff recipe. I braised a bunch of beef so the rest will be used for meat pies in the week with the braising liquid. Highly recommend.

• Fig and balsamic jam

  • vinochic on August 23, 2011

    Easy to make and delicious. Great with cheese!

• Sautéed shrimp with garlic

  • hbroad on June 11, 2010

    Delicious, fast and easy.

• Curried cauliflower-chickpea salad

  • nickdavis on June 23, 2010

    I had to substitute romaine for the endive, as I needed to scale the recipe for 80 and could not find a good local source. Very good recipe.

• Creamed baby spinach

  • DJM on January 13, 2012

    Unlike any other creamed spinach. Onions, shallots, Comte cheese. Exceptional recipe.

• Cream of cauliflower soup with red beet chips

  • smtucker on April 02, 2012

    Note, Keller's medium heat during the initial covered cooking time is either too hot for our stove or our vegetables didn't have as much moisture. A layer of veggies burned, but not so much that we needed take out. Subbed a very light homemade chicken stock for the cream. Served with garlic croutons and pepitas. No beet chips. NOTE: this recipe also has onions.

  • fprincess on April 02, 2012

    This is really delicious. I followed the recipe as is and didn't have any problem with the cooking temperature/time. My only shortcut was to use store-bought beet chips for the garnish. The soup was quite thick and very flavorful. Picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/88017382@N00/4177008457/

• Blue cheese dressing

  • smtucker on April 01, 2012

    To date, this is the best blue cheese dressing we have tried. Used homemade mayonnaise and had to do a yogurt/sour cream mix to sub for the creme fraiche. The creme fraiche would have been even better, just have to remember to make some two days earlier.

  • okcook on August 31, 2010

    This dressing has a very nice balance of flavours. I made it with my homemade mayonnaise.

• Buttermilk biscuits

  • britt on September 24, 2010

    These are good and, this may be blasphemy, remind me of Popeyes' biscuits. They didn't keep past the first day.

  • twoyolks on April 02, 2012

    The original recipe calls for too much salt for my taste. I cut the salt by half and end up with a much better biscuit. It also works well to replace both the all purpose and cake flour with white lily flour.

  • chef_ub on April 15, 2012

    Why would you expect anything from a restaurant cookbook to KEEP past the first day? And then, what biscuit recipe was EVER meant to last past the completion of the meal? This guy crafts world class food and is recognized by world class critics.

• Garlic confit and oil

  • okcook on August 31, 2010

    Oh my goodness, are these ever good. I have a jar in the fridge and use them all the time. Used them for a garlic mayonnaise to go on our hamburger, yummy.

• Duck confit

  • okcook on August 31, 2010

    Very easy to make and the herbs add a nice touch. To clarify the duck fat after use, heat to 250 and let it bubble until you hear no more sizzling. This means you have driven off all the moisture. Strain and save the drippings in the bottom the pot.

• Porterhouse steak with herb and shallot butter

  • okcook on August 31, 2010

    The herb and shallot butter is very good. Keep it in the freezer for your next steak.

• Chocolate chip cookies

  • okcook on August 31, 2010

    The different types of chocolate is interesting

• Sautéed red and green cabbage

  • okcook on August 31, 2010

    It tasted good but the presentation was not very appealing.

• Buttered farro

  • bgood on November 08, 2010

    Depending on farro you'll probably need to cook it longer than the recipe

  • meggan on April 04, 2012

    I thought this was pretty bland.

• Buttermilk dressing

  • bgood on November 26, 2011

    The aioli base is fantastic Converts to a blue cheese dressing just great for his Waldorf variation

• Sun gold tomato gazpacho

  • bgood on September 02, 2010

    Very bright, alive flavours

• Buttermilk fried chicken

  • slowfoodie on August 23, 2010

    Brine makes the chicken salty. It's seasoned perfectly, but has a little too much salt when trying to restrict salt intake. Try slightly less salt in the brine.

  • mceuen on February 11, 2012

    I made this for friends and we all thought it was delicious. I made the brine ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge for a day before I added the chicken. I strained out most of the solids before adding the brine to the chicken, and it only sat in the brine for 8 hours instead of the recommended 12. The quality of the final result didn't seem to suffer because of this.

• Tomato and handmade mozzarella salad

  • cafrin629 on October 09, 2010

    I'll admit I didn't make the mozzarella, bought burrata, but this was a wonderful salad to make at the peak of tomato season.

• Pan-roasted halibut

  • owaint on May 20, 2011

    With good quality fish this is truly delicious. A very simple recipe but the timings used give a beautiful golden crust with perfectly cooked inner meat. It works just as well with skin-on fillets as it does with the skinless ones shown in the book. In fact, using the skin side for most of the cooking gives a great textural/flavour boost. For nice thick pieces of fish, plenty of salt before cooking is a good idea. The recipe doesn't mention it but DON'T use a non-stick pan, plain steel is perfect and will give a much better crust. Just be patient and, when it's time to turn the fish, gently loosen it first by shaking the pan while supporting the fish - it will come away nicely and have deep golden crust that you'd never get in a Teflon pan. The Mushroom and peashoot side is perfect with it (though both benefit from a little acid - lemon for the fish and a good vinegar for the mushrooms - to pep them up).

  • Eydie on July 05, 2011

    Thomas Keller is a great teacher, and the technique he uses to cook the halibut is genius. I've used the exact same technique on many types of fish, just decreasing the amount of searing depending on the thickness of the fish. I loved the Chanterelles and pea shoots as a side, as well as the asparagus with tomato bacon stew.

• Brownies

  • usingSpoons on September 04, 2011

    This recipe calls for 61 to 64% dark chocolate, not milk couverture chocolate as it says in the tags to this entry. This is cut up for chips, and cocoa is used for the brownie batter.

• Sautéed chicken breasts with tarragon

  • Trackypup on December 19, 2011

    Very good. You wouldn't in a million years think the chicken had been marinated in curry. I mixed the breasts in the curry/paprika mix in the am for dinner that night. Nice quick, easy meal.

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Reviews about this Book

Reviews about Recipes in this Book

• Grapefruit cake

  • Not So Humble Pie

    The cake, despite its rather humble appearance, is delicious. Low on fuss but high in flavor, each slice is moist and sticky with bitter-sweet ruby grapefruit syrup.

    Full review

• Buttermilk dressing

  • Running With Tweezers

    My batch of dressing had more herbs and more buttermilk than called for in the recipe, as well as more lemon and a pinch of heat – feel free to tweak it to your taste.

    Full review

• Caramel ice cream

  • Arctic Garden Studio

    I saw that it had 10 egg yolks I figured at the very least it would be rich enough, and it was. This recipe was "just right" in texture and flavor.

    Full review

• Cream of cauliflower soup with red beet chips

  • Lisa Is Cooking

    Yes, it is a little bit of a process to follow the recipe exactly, but it all came together nicely to make a velvety smooth soup with crispy, crunchy, and tasty toppings.

    Full review

• Buttermilk fried chicken

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    I’m here to tell you that this is some very, very good fried chicken, although it requires a lot more planning and effort than my go-to recipe.

    Full review

• Grilled asparagus

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    The verdict from the family (and me) is that this is delicious and really very pretty despite my amateurish eggs and messy asparagus.

    Full review

• Creamed summer corn

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    This is an easy, uncomplicated dish that takes best advantage of wonderful summer corn.

    Full review

• Crab cakes

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    This is the kind of recipe that gives gourmet cooking a bad name and demonstrates my number one pet peeve with any cookbook.

    Full review

• Coffee ice cream

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    I can definitely recommend this recipe as being easy and completely delicious.

    Full review

• Hamburgers

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    Keller’s burgers are amazingly uncomplicated, which is surprising from a man who was willing to ask so much of me for a humble crab cake.

    Full review

• Fingerling or sweet potato chips

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    You’re really going to be sorry I told you how to make these. Because they’re good. And easy. And mildly addictive.

    Full review

• Cherry pie

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    Cherry, my absolute favorite kind of pie. And this one is amazing.

    Full review

• Braised oxtail and mushroom tartine

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    The Tartine was delicious and reminded me of an open-faced brisket sandwich.

    Full review

• Brioche

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    This brioche was, as you might imagine, absolutely delicious and my house smelled amazing.

    Full review

• Leek bread pudding

  • Kate Cooks the Books

    The dish is truly delicious and satisfying as only rich, rich bread, cream, and cheese can be.

    Full review

• ISBN 10 1579653774
• ISBN 13 9781579653774
• Linked ISBNs
  • 9781579654610 eBook (United States) 12/15/2010
• Published Oct 07 2009
• Format Hardcover
• Language English
• Countries United States
• Publisher Artisan
• Imprint Artisan Division of Workman Publishing

Publishers Text

Other cookbooks by this author

• Ad Hoc at Home
• Bouchon
• The Complete Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook And Bouchon
• The Essential Thomas Keller
• The French Laundry Cookbook
• Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide