with you. And whether they stay with you or leave you, the overarching goal is to elevate the quality of our profession, not just our restaurant. I think that’s the way you continuously attract those individuals at a young age who want to be part of a system they can truly learn from and benefit from in a way that’s going to impact their career.
TV has given your industry great expo- sure. What is your take on the celebrity status of many modern chefs? I think it’s fine. When I started cooking, chefs weren’t celebrities, so it wasn’t some- thing that was relevant for me. I mean what is a celebrity chef? I don’t neces- sarily buy into the whole idea of celebri- ties. Celebrity is what someone else
My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken Makes 2 to 4 servings
One 2- to 3-pound farm-raised chicken Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons minced thyme (optional) Unsalted butter Dijon mustard
1. Preheat the oven to 450o F. Rinse the
chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.
2. Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. Trussing is not difficult and if you roast chicken often, it’s a good tech- nique to feel comfortable with. When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay
close to the body; the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird.
3. Now, salt the chicken—I like to rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it’s cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin. Season to taste with pepper.
4. Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. I leave it alone—I don’t baste it, I don’t add butter; you can if you wish, but I feel this creates steam, which I don’t want. Roast it until it’s done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.
5. Remove the twine. Separate the middle wing joint and eat that imme- diately. Remove the legs and thighs. I like to take off the backbone and eat one of the oysters, the two succulent morsels of meat embedded here, and give the other to the person I’m cooking with. But I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip—until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook’s rewards. Cut the breast down the middle and serve it on the bone, with one wing joint still attached to each. The preparation is not meant to be superelegant. Slather the meat with fresh butter. Serve with mustard on the side and, if you wish, a simple green salad. You’ll start using a knife and fork, but finish with your fingers, because it’s so good.
Excerpted from THE BOUCHON COOKBOOK by Thomas Keller (Artisan Books). Copyright 2004. Deborah Jones photographer.
defines you as; it’s not something you define yourself as. I don’t think any of my colleagues who are considered celeb- rity chefs would say, “Yes, I’m a celebrity chef.” I think the media is responsible for that and not our profession. •••
What accomplishment are you most proud of? I don’t think there’s any one. The fact we have extraordinary restaurants that continue to elevate the standards of our profession through hard work, dedication, commitment and teamwork—those are some things that I am extraordinarily proud of. The team that started this restaurant 18 years ago and the teams that have come since to reinforce the foundation so that every new person who’s coming into our res- taurant, kitchen, dining room, wherever, has the ability to stand on the shoulders of all those great individuals who pre- ceded them. And their responsibility is to continue to reinforce the foundation so that the next generation that comes in will have an even stronger place to work from. •••
Do you have any advice for amateur cooks? The biggest advice I would give is number one, enjoy repetition. Many times we want to do something new all the time and there’s no way to really become good at something by always trying something new. I think what you want to be able to do is continuously sharpen your skills through repetition. That’s one thing as a cook that we learn: it’s all about repetition. If you don’t enjoy repetition, you’ll never really be a great cook. Be patient. You’re not going to get it
right the first time and if you do, you’re probably lucky. So patience is important and as well as persistence. Don’t give up just because you didn’t get it right. Repetition, patience and persistence, which is really like golf the more you think about it. The more you practice the better you get and you’ve got to be patient and persistent and can’t give up. •••
What is your favorite meal? I have many favorite meals and one that I continue to repeat over and over is roasted chicken. A really good roasted chicken is prob- ably one of my favorite dishes because it represents so many wonderful memories
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