Gabriel Kreuther

Kreuther Gabriel Kreuther

Description

From award-winning chef Gabriel Kreuther, the definitive cookbook on rustic French cooking from AlsaceGabriel Kreuther is the cookbook fans of the James Beard Award-winning chef have long been waiting for. From one of the most respected chefs in the United States, this cookbook showcases the recipes inspired by Kreuther's French-Swiss-German training and refined global style, one that embraces the spirits of both Alsace, his homeland, and of New York City, his adopted home. Sharing his restaurant creations and interpretations of traditional Alsatian dishes, Kreuther will teach the proper techniques for making every dish, whether simple or complex, a success. Recipes include everything from the chef's take on classic Alsatian food like the delicious Flammekueche (or Tarte Flambee) and hearty Baeckeoffe (a type of casserole stew) to modern dishes like the flavorful Roasted Button Mushroom Soup served with Toasted Chorizo Raviolis and the decadent Salmon Roe Beggar's Purse garnished with Gold Leaf. Featuring personal stories from the chef's childhood in France and career in New York as well as stunning photography, Gabriel Kreuther is the definitive resource for Alsatian cooking worthy of fine dining.

Sujets

• TV
• Televisión
• Television
• France

Informations

• Publié par: ABRAMS BOOKS
• Date de parution: 09 novembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781647004705
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 13 Mo

Extrait

THE STORK
La cigogne , the stork, a bird that nests in marshes, on chimneys, church bell towers, and the ramparts of castle ruins in Alsace, is one of the most cherished symbols of my homeland, where they are believed to bring good luck. As is commonly known, they signify birth and new life. When my dream of opening a restaurant finally became a reality, the stork was a fitting source of inspiration for the design of the space. A strikingly beautiful stork pattern, similar to the one found on this book s cover, appears at the Forty-Second Street entrance to represent not only the birth of my first restaurant but also a rebirth, or a modern take on the traditional flavors of my region. It s a symbol that is at the heart and soul of my cooking and this book.

To my mother, Gabrielle
To my daughter, Margaux, who inspires me every day
And to young cooks everywhere. Never give up on your dreams.

CONTENTS
Foreword by Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Introduction by Michael Ruhlman
On Becoming a Chef
CLASSIC DISHES OF ALSACE
STARTERS
MAIN COURSES
VEGETABLES AND SIDE DISHES
BREADS, DESSERTS, AND DRINKS
ON ALSATIAN WINES
RECIPES FROM RESTAURANT GABRIEL KREUTHER
CANAP S
P TE DE FRUITS
COLD APPETIZERS
HOT APPETIZERS
OILS
SOUPS
STOCKS AND JUS
SEAFOOD
MEAT
THE PUREES
DESSERTS
Captions for the Photographs of Alsace
Acknowledgments
Index of Searchable Terms
Aerial view of the center of S lestat. Notice the extraordinary green shingles on the roof of St. George s Church, common in Alsace on important structures and houses of wealthy residents. The church dates to the early sixteenth century, replacing a chapel for Charlemagne, who visited it in 775 CE. See this page for additional information on the photography of Alsace found throughout the book.

FOREWORD
BY JEAN-GEORGES VONGERICHTEN
I can t tell you how wonderful it is to see my past, my homeland, so beautifully and thoroughly represented in this book, and also to see how Gabriel Kreuther has brought Alsatian cuisine into the contemporary dining room. It s time.
Of course, I d heard of Gabriel Kreuther shortly after he arrived in the 1990s-a new cook from Alsace in New York. I knew he d be a great chef. He s from Alsace!
At the time, good cooks were hard to come by. I d heard he worked at La Caravelle, the French fine-dining institution in Manhattan. He d worked at Michelin-starred restaurants throughout Europe, so I expected him to be solid. After speaking with the owners of La Caravelle, I reached Gabriel in the kitchen during midday prep and said, I ve got a chef poissonier position available, but there s room to move up. Even though he was far more experienced than was required for that position, he took it.
Gabriel was very shy, like me. So I saw myself in him, as I was when I arrived in New York. He was a very good cook, I could see right away, with a great foundation. But more, he was a great teacher to all the chefs around him, and in a very short time he moved up to sous chef and eventually became my number-one guy at Restaurant Jean-Georges. And to me, he became almost like my brother.
He showed enormous patience with the younger chefs. He was also a great leader. He took the time to teach every chef de partie every dish. And he was also an innovator in my kitchen. At one point 25 percent of the dishes on my menu were his. He always cooked with great flavor and great balance, and his dishes were always founded on great fundamental technique. I would travel to Asia and pick up new flavors, and I knew the kitchen was in good hands with Gabriel in charge. He was exactly the kind of person I needed to surround myself with. He s sensitive, and, most important, he was reliable . When he said he d do something, you knew it was going to get done. He was and is a great communicator and brought the team together, as he does at Restaurant Gabriel Kreuther.
I always knew someone was going to come in and take him away from me. When that happened, Gabriel was a gentleman. He would not accept the job without talking to me first. But I knew it was time for him. He really was like a younger brother, and the opportunity to open Atelier at the Ritz was one that wasn t likely to come around soon for him again. I could see in his heart he wanted to do it. So I told him, Go for it. I know you re going to do a great job. You re going to make it. He was ready. He d been ready.
And since then, opening the Modern brilliantly, winning best chef awards, and then opening his own restaurant, he s proven me right.
He s a great, original chef and very humble. Bringing sauerkraut to New York City fine dining is amazing! The tarte flamb e. He s more traditional in his roots than I am-more in the vein of Andr Soltner, an Alsatian legend in the chef world-but it was the right time to bring these Alsatian flavors to New York. Gabriel uses his own deep nostalgia for Alsace in his cuisine in New York, so people can really enjoy the flavors of that region. People think that French cuisine is only Escoffier, sole avec sauce vin blanc . But Alsatian cuisine is more rustic. You ve got the German influence, the Swiss influence. It s a fascinating region. Bringing those flavors to New York in a modern way is amazing to me. I want to try everything in this book!
Gabriel is a true Alsatian in New York. It s been amazing to watch him grow from a cook in the basement of La Caravelle, to poissonier at Jean-Georges, to today, when he s at the top of his game. Only in New York. How I love this city.
INTRODUCTION
BY MICHAEL RUHLMAN
I m a lifelong Francophile and since my teens have been fascinated by various regions of France: The Loire Valley, famed for its wines and chateaux. The amazing, rugged region of southwestern France known as Gascony, revered for its cassoulet and foie gras and Armagnac. Having studied at the Culinary Institute of America to write about it, I developed a love of, even devotion to, classical French technique.
This set me up beautifully to work with Thomas Keller at the French Laundry, an American whom Michel Richard once called the best French chef in America. I would go on to work with Eric Ripert, at Le Bernardin, equally Michelin-starred and devoted to classical technique. And, most recently, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who gained world renown for blending classical French technique with Asian ingredients. More importantly, though, this French chef was from a region of France called Alsace, in the very easternmost part of the country, bordered by Germany and Switzerland, a part of France I knew almost nothing about.
During our conversations for a memoir, Jean-Georges would grow all but misty-eyed recalling the kougelhopf , or cake, baked on Sunday mornings and the baeckeoffes , a peasant meat-and-potato casserole, of his youth, the powerful vinaigrettes his mother would make, the choucroutes his region was famous for. But we weren t making any of these dishes, and I found myself intensely curious.
In the fall of 2019, my editor, Michael Sand, asked if I d be interested in working on a book with Gabriel Kreuther, chef and co-owner of Restaurant Gabriel Kreuther, a Michelin two-star restaurant on Forty-Second Street across from Bryant Park in New York City. When Michael noted that Kreuther, like Jean-Georges (his former boss, as it turned out), hailed from Alsace, I took it as a sign. Kreuther would be cooking not only the food of his fine-dining restaurant but also the food of his country, and his home, a farm in rural Alsace, the baeckeoffes and choucroutes I d only heard about, because it was such a fundamental part of who he was.
I d now have the opportunity to make a deep dive into an unfamiliar but fascinating regional cuisine, that of Alsace, a melding of the cuisines of France, Germany, and Switzerland, and also into the mind of a chef intent on translating that cuisine into the city of New York and the world of fine dining.
While Kreuther had been in New York City for more than twenty years, he hadn t hit my radar until, famously, he opened the Modern in 2004 with Danny Meyer in the Museum of Modern Art and received rave reviews. Never before had this caliber of restaurant opened in a museum. It was a fantastic restaurant. When he won best chef in New York City from the James Beard Foundation, I knew to keep my eye on him.
I entered his restaurant on a bright chilly morning to meet the chef for the first time. Restaurant Gabriel Kreuther is both modern and rustic, with white tablecloths, fine crystal, and giant wooden beams. A large bar, both elegant and casual, is set apart from the circular dining room, which leads to the main kitchen.
Chef Gabriel was easygoing and relaxed, comfortable with himself, among his staff, and in his dining room. He laughed easily and often during our first talk. He was passionate about fine dining. But he also talked about how important basic technique was. Importantly to me, his core staff-Joe Anthony, Robert Pugh, Jake Abbott, Justin Borah, executive pastry chef Marc Aumont, Priscilla Scaff-Mariani, Angela Borah, Agustin Garcia, Rodrigo Colin, Joseph Yi, Will Cesark, and others-had all been with him for years, most since the Modern, more than a decade earlier. This is one definitive sign of a good chef. Another: The kitchen, uncommonly spacious for Manhattan, was immaculate, and all the chefs at their stations worked and greeted one another with a kind of professional comportment commensurate with the aspirations of the restaurant.
As we drank our coffee, Chef Gabriel explained that he wanted to explore the food of Alsace, the baeckeoffes and choucroutes and kougelhopfs of his youth on a small Alsatian farm. And he wanted to show how this food, of which he was so proud, country food, could be transformed, conjoined with the globalism all around him in New York City, into extraordinarily fine cuisine worthy of Michelin stars.
They said I couldn t put sauerkraut on the menu of a