After getting The Family Meal last October, and cooking the second meal in the book, the chocolate cookie recipe (cookies au chocolat), produced molten pools of goo, rather than cookies. That really bugged me, I remade the recipe about three times, and threw out a couple of attempts — got pissed and started scouring the internet. Other than a few glib, rah-rah reviews, no one had done this recipe and made it work. And no one had taken the cookbook in hand and seriously started parsing it out.

Hence this part of the blog — cooking through the entire book (now complete).

Eventually it seemed like a good idea to get a French version of the book to see if the many recipe errors were there as well, or if I simply had translations errors that were introduced when converting to imperial measurements for the America version. I received my copy of Repas de famille last week, and by and large, those errors are still there. Not all, but enough to leave me scratching my head. Maybe a few more posts on that.

The Cookies

Comparing the two books, there is serious oddness in how both the recipes are scaled — theoretically –by ONE FIFTH from 100 to 20 cookies. Some of the ingredients in the French version come down by 1:10, some by 1:5, and some that don’t make any sense at all. This pretty much parallels that same acid trip scaling that the English (American) version suffers from.

So let’s just not scale it down, and go right to the 100 cookie version — that smaller version is too weird to decipher — besides, everyone likes 100 cookies, right?

So, looking at the French version, and comparing it to the American version, only the quantity of dark chocolate has been screwed up in the metric-to-imperial measurements: the quantity of dark chocolate is listed in the American version at 1.1 pounds, where it should be 1.8 pounds (825grams). The callout for the white and dark pieces is actually translated correctly. It’s not really relevant here, since the error lies deeper.

This is where I think the serious error occurred: in the recipe there are two chocolate callouts: one for the dark, and one for dark and white pieces. The recipe, however, tells you to take two-thirds of the dark for melting, and add the rest with the white. There is no mention of simply using the 225 grams of “white and dark pieces” called out in the ingredients. The amount of chocolate has then, in all likelihood, been inadvertently upped by one third or so.

Let’s back up and say that the TOTAL amount of chocolate called for is 825 grams, and that there is possibly 150 grams of white chocolate in the mix (see the picture). So now you have roughly 750 grams of dark chocolate, 150 of white. If you take one third of the 750 grams of dark chocolate and roughly chop that with the white, you melt the 500 grams with the butter and put the remaining 250 grams with the white for folding in later.

The only other thing is that the five-spice mixture and instant coffee in both recipes is called out at 1 c. à. c. (translates directly to 1 tsp. or 5ml). That seemed stupid since the instant coffee must act as some sort of binder [[2016 Edit: Bullshit — it was just for flavor]], so I upped both to 1 c. à. s. (translates to 1 Tbl. or 15 ml).

It worked.

Unlike the other failed attempts, the frozen mixture pulled away cleanly from the parchment paper (that you wrapped it in for freezing), and after baking for 10 minutes at 350º — they looked like the picture as well. COOL THEM OFF as fast as you can. They kicked ass.

Mystery solved, here are the proportions for 100 from the French version (and my corrections to the chocolate quantities). Also, freeze the dough overnight, it needs it.

Vanilla bean: 1
Eggs: 5
Sugar: 400g
Butter: 85g
Dark Chocolate 75% ( I used 72%): 750g
White Chocolate: 150g
Flour: 85g
Five-Spice powder: 1TABLEspoon
Instant coffe: 1 TABLEspoon

Last one.

Sad to see this end, but other than going back and putting the whammy on the chocolate cookie recipe that initially drove me write this blog, this is the end of parsing out Ardriá’s copyediting train wreck. It’s been good, I’ve learned a hell of a lot.  Also, I’ve got a french version of this cookbook coming, if there recipe errors are not there, I may post a list of recipes with a guide. Or something.

Just one or two substitutions, and nearly no staggering recipe zombie callouts.

BASIL!!

The first course is a Waldorf Salad — not too much to watch out for. The zombie callouts are there, but I don’t think it’s going to move the flavor needle that much. The only head shot that will blow up this dish are the walnuts: make certain that tannin-bitter brown flake/peel is OFF the walnuts, or that bitterness will clothesline the whole thing. Really.

Next course may be the best seafood dish in the book. You always hear people raving about “linguini with clams” — I’m a believer after this one. Again with the building blocks of sofrito and picada (used half the picada called for) — and this time it was just awesome. Just awesome. I didn’t have the Filini pasta, so I took regular spaghetti and broke it into 1.5 inch lengths — also, still no mussels, so I had to use steamer clams, otra vez. Same with using Better-than-Bullion’s Lobster base in place of fish stock. No matter, NOTHING was stopping this epic freight train of culinary detonation. Just do it — you won’t be disappointed.

Last dish, last course — good in an el Bulli wink & nod sort of way. Bump the sugar up to 3 Tablespoons for the serving for six, and just follow the pictures. Great finish to a very interesting cook book. Maybe one more post on that.

Ciao.

Cooking Ferran Adriá’s The Family Meal — The Erratas

Grill what?

The next-to-last dinner in the book: and another good one; just one substitution, and plenty of zombie proportions.

First course: grilled lettuce hearts — wow — just when you thought you’d see it all. Nothing much to see, outside of one recipe flutter — use 3 Tablespoons of whole-grain mustard when you make the dressing, otherwise just follow the pictures. Kinda earthy, but good.

Next is the major substitution: had to go with short ribs instead of shank — it couldn’t be helped. Also, use whatever liquid-to-instant potato ratio that is called out on the box — the ratios are way out of whack here due to the kind of instant potato used. There are more curveballs here: the amount of wine should be 3 cups for serving six, and 10 for serving 20 — and even that takes FOREVER to reduce. The water callout is the same: should be 4 cups for six servings, and 12 cups for serving 20. The water also takes an eternity to reduce as well. I shorted what was called out by a cup or so in both cases and still had put that in a large skillet and reduce it for quite a while, then separate it, and return it back to the skillet and thicken it with xantham gum.

On the bright side, it was really, really good.

Last dish — total harpoon of awesomeness to the chest. REALLY outstanding. Weapons-grade plutonium levels of nuclear outstanding. Zombie quantities for six corrected to: 7ish oz of chocolate, 2/3 cup of cream, and basically the egg whites you didn’t use making the dressing for the lettuce hearts. Other than that pay attention to the storyboard when it says “set aside to cool awhile” and “set aside at ROOM TEMPERATURE until needed.” Then stand back — it’s the best one yet.

Killer.
Cooking Ferran Adriá’s The Family Meal — The Erratas