MENUMENTAL: Thomas Keller coming to Toronto to hawk ad hoc cookbook.
Thomas Keller's new book, 'ad hoc at home'.
Photo/COURTESY
The term "food porn" was pretty much invented to describe Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook. Filled with lush photographs, meticulously detailed recipes and brilliant essays, it has sold more than 300,000 copies and remains the gold standard of fancy restaurant cookbooks.But when it was published in 1999, Keller was monogamously a one-restaurant chef. A lot has changed since then. In the past decade, Keller has built a multimillion-dollar empire that includes restaurants, bistros and bakeries in California, Las Vegas and New York. He's amassed a trophy collection bigger than Wayne Gretzky's, and is the only American chef to be awarded three Michelin stars twice - for The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Per Se in New York City.When celebrity chefs start to spread themselves thin, the first thing to slide into mediocrity is their cookbooks. Not Thomas Keller. ad hoc at home (Artisan, $65), which celebrates the comfort foods of his casual, family-style restaurant in Yountville, is his best book to date. And unlike The French Laundry Cookbook, it will spend a lot more time in people's kitchens than it will on their coffee tables. From fried chicken, to scallion potato cakes, to lemon meringue bars, every recipe warrants, "I have to make that!" I've already tested a dozen dishes, and they've all worked perfectly and tasted incredible.This book has already changed the way I've been doing things as a professional cook for 15 years. For example, I've always made buttercream with a base of egg yolks and sugar syrup. ad hoc's vanilla buttercream frosting starts with a cooked meringue, which yields the fluffiest, silkiest icing that has ever melted on my tongue. My old recipe went straight into the garbage.The introduction 'Becoming a Better Cook' and the 'light bulb moments' peppered throughout the book make this the perfect tome for the curious home cook who wants to take their game to the next level.And while this may be his most accessible book, food of this quality and integrity always takes time. If you ever see Thomas Keller's name attached to a 30-Minute Meal cookbook, you know the apocalypse is nigh.If you're a fan, Keller will be visiting our fair city at the end of the month to promote his book. Appearing at the Bram and Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge St.) on Monday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m., he will be interviewed by The Cookbook Store's Alison Fryer and will take questions from the audience afterward.Tickets may seem exorbitant at $80, but they include an autographed copy of ad hoc at home. (If you already bought the book, remember that it's the perfect holiday gift for that special cook in your life.) Tickets must be purchased in advance at The Cookbook Store (850 Yonge St, 416-920-2665, www.cook-book.com).