Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Even in Georgia, where folks know a thing or two about fried chicken, my mother's version of this Southern classic was considered exceptional. So when I taste someone else's recipe, I ask myself, "What would my mother have said about this?" I can almost hear her comment about the fried chicken in Thomas Keller's latest cookbook, ad hoc at home. "This is very good," she would have agreed. "But it doesn't taste like fried chicken." There in a nutshell is the problem with this cookbook and with many others from high-end restaurant masters who tackle everyday food. Their concoctions look great and taste fine, but the chefs try so hard to take each dish to a new level of sophistication that they lose essential hominess. Take Keller's fried chicken recipe. It sparkles in a beautiful crust with good crunch and plenty of flavor. But the meat itself doesn't taste quite right. The problem is that, before cooking, Keller recommends brining chicken pieces for 12 hours in a mixture of salt, herbs, honey and a whole lot of lemon juice. Sure, the chicken turns out good and juicy, but it also acquires an odd lemony flavor that would be more at home at a Chinese take-out than in a Georgia kitchen. Keller talks about meals from his own childhood as he introduces some of the almost-classics included here. In touting his version of chicken potpie, for example, Keller claims that he grew up eating Swanson's frozen potpies. Maybe, but he missed an important point. A potpie, whether it arrives in a Swanson's box or reaches the table fresh from a home cook's oven, needs big, meaty chunks of chicken. Shredding the chicken, as Keller suggests, simply does not work. Another case in point: beef stroganoff. Keller claims nostalgia for an all-American version of stroganoff made with Campbell's cream of mushroom soup. I've never tried that dish and eating it ranks with seeing a purple cow among things I hope never to do. If that's what you think of as beef stroganoff, though, you'll be disappointed in Keller's dish. With lots of crimini mushrooms, scads of heavy cream and crème fraiche and homemade pappardelle as the supporting cast for blocks of braised beef short rib meat in the starring role, the chef's version of this iconic dish is exceptional. But it isn't comfort food. I hasten to add that there is a lot to like in ad hoc at home. Instructions are clear and easy to follow. Nearly all ingredients can be found at local markets in season. Everything I tried from the book was, in its own way, delicious. The book brims with gorgeous graphics and lip-licking photos that plainly show what a finished dish should look like. Keller also suggests techniques and tools essential to a competent cook. Learn to braise, he urges. Learn to use salt properly. Learn to make one really good soup and learn all the different ways to cook eggs. To dress a salad uniformly, oil the bowl, not the greens. Tear croutons very slowly. Don't cut them. Over the last 20 years, a few celebrity chefs have written cookbooks that serve as excellent guides for home cooks seeking to produce the very best of old favorites. Larry Forgione did a fine job in the 1996 cookbook named for his New York City restaurant, An American Place. Food Network star Bobby Flay successfully freshened up American favorites in his work, Bobby Flay Cooks American. Thomas Keller is, arguably, one of the finest chefs in the United States. At his original West Coast restaurant, The French Laundry, the reservation list is so jammed that it is amazing anyone ever goes there. Per Se in New York City is equally challenging. And his three previous cookbooks, especially The French Laundry Cookbook, are well worth owning. Still, I think Keller ought to leave home cooking to others. I give ad hoc at home two stars of a possible five.