Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home With a Four-Star Chef

Extrait In the years before we agreed to produce this cookbook, I had worked occasionally with Jean-Georges Vongerichten and eaten at his restaurants more times than I could count, so I was prepared for both the brilliance of his food and his pleasant demeanor. Yet during our year of cooking together and assembling this book, Jean-Georges never failed to surprise me, with his fierce determination to always get things right, his quick and sparkling wit, his supreme confidence at the stove, and his warmth toward and respect for his employees and fellow workers. For those readers who have not had close encounters with chefs, let me assure you that this is an unusual, if not unique, combination. That same phrase--"unusual, if not unique"--best serves to describe Jean-Georges's food. It's generally agreed among food writers, restaurant critics, and loyal customers that his cooking is highly creative without being weird, and intensely flavorful despite its simplicity. It is sometimes described as "intellectual" food, which implies that a certain understanding of food and cooking is necessary in order to appreciate what Jean-Georges does. This is utter nonsense: Jean-Georges's combinations are novel, brilliant, even startling, but they are instantly appealing to anyone who likes to eat and is willing to sample new flavors. Best yet, Jean-Georges's recipes are readily accessible to the home cook; in fact, most of them are easy. When we agreed to work together, I challenged him to preserve the flavors of his food while making the recipes simple enough for home cooks to prepare. His response at the time was immediate: "We don't have to do anything; the food is easy already," and he patiently walked me through the restaurants' menus, discussing each dish and detailing how they were assembled. And, with very few exceptions, the recipes sounded as if they could be taken straight from the kitchens of his three restaurants, Vong, Jean Georges, and JoJo (where the kitchen is, in fact, no bigger than the average home kitchen), and executed at home. At the end of the day, we were both surprised at how few compromises were necessary to adapt these recipes to the home kitchen. (In fact, we discovered many changes we could make to actually improve the recipes, given the flexibility of the home cook compared to that of the restaurant cook.) Perhaps this was to be expected, because although he has reached the top level of his profession, Jean-Georges is a home cook at heart. His first teacher was his mother, he has a solid grounding in peasant food, he loves simple, intense flavors (and a whole range of textures), and he is constantly striving to make things easier. In the '80s, when he had a reputation to earn, he spent days preparing elaborate oils and combinations of oils. Now he achieves the same flavors by combining herbs and spices in the saucepan, skillet, or blender. Or he makes uncommon sauces, sometimes with common ingredients--like capers and raisins. "It seems to get simpler and easier," he says. Jean-Georges is always on to something new, and what he tries usually works; he amasses concepts the way other chefs do recipes, and he never stops experimenting with new flavors. For him even failure breeds success: "I cannot know the best use for a flavor until I try it in every way that might make sense," he says. But he doesn't like to fuss. Like any busy cook, he looks for shortcuts, and he finds them. He is full of delightful surprises, and, regardless of whether you are familiar with his cooking, you will find those surprises throughout this book. In short, this is one chef's book that should serve to delight rather than frustrate you. I intend to continue to cook from it for years to come. --M.L. Bittman Simmered Carrots With Cumin And Orange This slow-cooking technique (Jean-Georges calls the result a confit) intensifies the flavor of the carrots. And you can make this dish days in advance; just refrigerate, then reheat--even