Thomas Keller, the most celebrated American chef of all time was first up at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Jenn- Air Cooking Pavilion. He began by graciously thanking each and every sponsor and coordinator, something I have never heard a celeb chef do to this extent. He really showed his understanding at how much effort, how many people it takes to pull off an event at this level. The hundreds of guests were all curious at what he would demo. Truffles, Foie gras? His French Laundry Cookbook is unbelievable, recipes taking hours to prepare, building layer upon layer of pure and very refined flavors. I have cooked from it as an exercise in excellence, like I used to do in art school when I inexpertly copied the masters, Rembrandt, Degas, Picasso. Very humbling, sometimes humiliating. This is what gives me awe and wonder, how do they do it?
Very quickly, he brought us down to earth, literally, by explaining that he preferred to show something that we can all re-create at home, something garden fresh and simple. (Smiles all around) Chef began by telling a story about time he spent in Italy in the Piedmont region with a little old lady named Nona. Every morning, Nona got up early to make fresh pasta. Thomas joined her every morning, and despite the fact that they could not speak each others language, they cooked together, every day. The thought of one of the best chefs ever to grace this planet humbly learning about pasta making from Nona somewhere in the Italian countryside is an image I will carry with me forever. Chef described that when the pasta dough was just right, she would indicate it to him by pulling on her earlobe. Silent signals across the generations.
Chef created homemade potato gnocchi and made Gnocchi with Butter Poached Morels, Fresh Peas and Pea Shoots and Gnocchi a la Parisienne with Spring Onions, Cipollini Onions and Pearl Onions with Sweet Garlic Emulsion. The first preparation was a rustic Italian style gnocchi cut and rolled by hand onto a fork for texture to hold the sauce. The second style of dough was made from pate a choux, a flour water and egg dough, cooked and flavored with cheese, Dijon, chervil, parsley, chives and tarragon. The dough was placed in a pipng bag, squeezed and cut into equal sized pieces right into the boiling water.
"In cooking, there are two parts to the equation, one part is the products and the other part is the execution. At our restaurants we do not compromise our food by keeping items on the menu all yer long, we cook just what is in season, at it's peak." He explained that asparagus, while available almost year round in the supermarket is only truly at it's peak for about a month. That is when they use it. Morels and peas, tiny spring onions and spring garlic were all coming in to his kitchen, fresh and amazing. Many of Thomas' purveyors have become very well known themselves, like his mushroom forager, Connie Green. Check out his books for the great stories of artisans, purveyors, farmers and more.
"There are only two ingredients that brighten foods, salt and vinegar. Vinegar not only brightens the Sweet Garlic Emulsion but it holds the butter in suspension, keeping the sauce creamy on your tongue." Beware, he added of so many recipes that call for salt and pepper. "Pepper," he continued" changes the flavor of food. I don't always want that in my dishes." Somehow, something I had always thought and did, I very often do not use pepper, was suddenly justified when he said it. Funny how that is.
After the demo, chef posed for tons of pictures and signed hundreds of books. Elizabeth Bourget and I cleaned up the stage and collected all of his gorgeous equipment to send to the kitchen for cleaning. His two finished dishes were whisked way, lest the crowds start picking at the food with their hands. I have seen this dozens of times, even at swanky events. We cleaned, he signed, the crowd thinned. At the very end, we were at a loss on what to do with these two gorgeous plates of food. We had to get the pates washed and there they were in our back prep area, all by themselves. Chef was walking away. Everyone nearly gone and it was hours until the next chefs came on. Elizabeth and I smiled and got forks! To the prep cooks go the spoils. How marvelous, we savored evey
bite, tender pillows in unctuous sauce, butter poached tiny morels side by side with popping green peas. Wow! Teeny spring onions, so sweet and rich. Herbs filling our mouths with bursts of bright flavor. Food bliss, TK was our personal chef for a day. We loved every moment. Sated, we came back to our prep area and finished cleaning our space. We returned the now empty plates to the dish cart. Smiling, I am sure. True to form, chef had returned to the stage to be sure we were all set, a could-he-be- excused kind of thing. What a guy. He saw the empty plates and asked in a charming way," Did you eat that?" Ummm, well, did he want it?! Yikes! Was it a mistake? What do you say to your hero? "Chef, food like that can not go to waste!"I replied. He smiled a knowing smile and said a warm good bye. Until next year my captain, my captain!
