30 DAYS OPEN PURCHASE
Ad Hoc is in Yountville and was originally intended to be temporary. Keller opened it in 2006 while he was deciding what the space should eventually become, and it proved so popular that it was allowed to stay. That is exactly what the name means.
There is a single four-course menu each evening, served on platters in the middle of the table. The fried chicken is made every other Monday and people book months in advance for it.
The book follows the same format. More than 250 recipes arranged as meals rather than categories, plus an extensive section on the fundamentals, with stocks, broths, dressings and methodical explanations of techniques everyone thinks they know until they read them. His way of blanching vegetables in a great deal of water with a great deal of salt is one of them.
It won the James Beard Award for best general cookbook in 2010. If you are only going to own one Keller, make it this one, which is information no owner of The French Laundry Cookbook wants to hear.
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 368
Language: English
First published: 2009
