Hey Jamie! My niece started working for Thomas 22 years ago as a coffee barista and is now editor and chief of their magazine. I can tell you now that Thomas would be very proud of you 👏 he is a lovely person! I love that you’re branching off and trying new things! That is how you grow. You are becoming quite the chef. Be proud of your achievements! I love your Jamie and Julia series! 😊
I’ve met him once,, he was delightful! His food is…. Magical. I’ve never even contemplated cooking any of his recipes. It would kill the magic for me.. So glad Jamie is doing it for me..
Here’s your challenge Jaime. Is six episodes enough for you to get to know the chef? I mean, you spent so long with Julia that you were able to read between the lines of her recipes, but six per chef is a real challenge. Good luck.
Really depends on the books. It's often a similar theme per book, so you won't get a lot of different recipes out of them. Julia had a giant part of modern cooking to choose from.
Hey Claire, I don't know why but what you said sounds like the original Mission Impossible series of the 60's.... "Your mission, if you choose to accept it." and "This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds. Good luck.
My favorite part is when he says “gotta stay organized!” With so much confidence and by the time he is playing the counter is a mess and he keeps losin the strainers and the milks and Charlie Lmaoo I love it! So funny
I love this! Although I’m not a caviar fan, I did learn from a chef friend that using metal spoons on caviar can effect the flavor of it making it metallic tasting, I think that is why it came with the fancy spoon haha.
Caviar is made up of delicate, fragile eggs that need to be handled with care. Metal spoons can crush the eggs, break their delicate membranes, and release oils that can affect the taste of the caviar. This can cause the caviar to become watery and lose its texture.
I picked up The French Laundry cookbook after watching Thomas Keller’s MasterClass series back in 2020. It is a very advance cookbook (compared to what I am used to), that scares the heck out of me. I am very impressed with you tackling this recipe and succeeding. From what I remember,Thomas Keller was able to keep all of his employees at The French Laundry on the payroll through the lockdown which is amazing. Unrelated…if you haven’t watched The Bear, I highly recommend it!
You do remember the famous dinner at the French Laundry during lockdown that Governor Gavin Newsom and his wife attended with a bunch of wealthy medical industry Democrat donors? The bar bill was $15k of which $12k was the wine tab, no masks or distancing, and they weren't seated outdoors when that was the only thing allowed. 22 people attended. All reported in the local California newspapers with pictures! Of course, TK was able to keep his staff employed. They were working to create and serve dinners for the elite San Francisco boogie set who never masked or distanced in the first place. Covid protocols were only for us normies. People make dinner reservations at that restaurant 2 years ahead of time, Covid or not!
Agreed, but all the recipes i’ve made from that book (as well as his other cookbooks) turned out fabulous. If you still think it’s too intimidating, try his Bouchon cookbook, it’s got more home-style and achievable recipes which are slightly more complicated than ‘Ad-hoc at home’, but amazing nonetheless.
So three series on the go?🤨 Good for you. You present some of the most unique cookery content on social media 1. Jamie & Julia 2. Foods around the world A-Z 3. Recreating Michelin meals 👍🏾👍🏾
Totally agree! Jamie is so much fun to watch, and gives me so many ideas. Watching him cook gives me much hope. I'm a decent cook, but I want to expand my range. And his recipe selection, sense of humor, mistakes, and everything are priceless. ❤😂👍
In a unique style. It isnt someone who knows exactly what they are doing or pretends to know what they are doing, it is like I dont know what they hell I ma doing. See me suffer to make something I have nevercooked, eaten or probs even seen before and lets see where we end up. very different vibe.
Jamie, the reason why they sent you a mother of pearl spoon with the caviar is that one is not to use metal on caviar. It adversely affects the taste, the flavor. You’re doing a great job.
Looked it up. My assumption is correct. Caviar is made up of delicate, fragile eggs that need to be handled with care. Metal spoons can crush the eggs, break their delicate membranes, and release oils that can affect the taste of the caviar. This can cause the caviar to become watery and lose its texture. I would say, just be gentle.
Months ago, I said exactly what you’re stating! That is, one is to use a, “Mother of Pearl”spoon when serving caviar. A metal spoon of any kind, including sterling silver will potentially damage the caviar and/or adversely affect the taste. For the amount of money, one pays for caviar, it’s worth a few extra pennies to get a Mother of Pearl spoon. Frequently it’s included in the price of the caviar.
I suggest Rick Bayless' Oaxacan Black Mole. Nearly 40 ingredients but can split preparation over a few days. You can find the recipe online AND there's a 45 minute RU-vid tutorial by Chef Bayless. I had this at his Michelin-Starred Topolobampo in Chicago and it made me cry it was so good.
I somehow knew the second you said "one of my favorite books" at the beginning that you'd bring out one of Bourdain's. His books are so satisfying to read, I love his descriptions.
One way to get the roadmap of a recipe straight in your head is to read through and write down each sentence by hand, but rephrase it in your own way. That really helps me when I'm trying to get through a dense/obscure/fussy recipe.
Yeah, I agree! Incredibly entertaining, and have gone back and watched earlier episodes… the progress is amazing! By the way…when I make a recipe for the first time I have to read and re-read while I’m making it also.
Introduced your vids to my parents the other day and they love your content! Given that they’re completely technophobic and in their 70s, this is a huge compliment
Sounds like a great series ahead. Looking forward to it enormously. Been subscribed for a while & love what you do. I even bought Julia’s Art of French cooking after watching your series. Must be honest I’ve not cooked anything yet but… plenty of time! Xx
A Cook's Tour is one of my favorites! I love how you cook things that are complex in nature, that require a high skill level and allow us to see everything. I'm still looking for a kitchen with your bowl delivery system. When I clap and say "bowl me" I get nothin'. lol
Having a bowl delivery system would be great, but even greater would be a kitchen like Jamie's where the cutting board/work surface instantly cleans itself--and all the bowls, pots, and utensils--between steps.
I did find a kitchen that actually did something when I said "bowl me" but all that happened was something grabbed me and chucked me down a lane into some pins. Not what I asked for, but hey I did get a strike.
This was such a Jamie episode! This style is what got me interested in watching you. I love watching you reread 1 million times and argue with your refrigerator (and of course saying BOWL ME!)
On his previous video I got the feeling he was really burning out on Julia. Julia’s great, but after a certain point it is time to move on and it looked to me like he had reached that point…although I think he will revisit her from time to time. I just cannot imagine him dumping Julia for good 😊
Anthony Bourdain *sigh.* I love that book & have a worn out copy. i listened to the audiobook of kitchen confidential that he narrated. My favorite quote “your body is not a temple. It’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.” I love all of his shows & miss him.
This has been so fun watching you grow as a home cook and a confident chef. And now attempt the cookbooks that seem impossible for home chefs to actually cook out of. I'm so excited! Great idea Jamie!
Ever since I saw Cat Cora say she wanted this dish to be her last meal, I've been obsessed with it (but have yet to try it). It's both simpler and more complex than it seems.
Good luck! I have the French Laundry cookbook and I swear almost every recipe looks like it needs to be started at least 2 or 3 days in advance. Looking forward to this series!
Amazing episode. You picked a true culinary master. For your consideration, I’d love to see you take on Marcella Hazan’s “The Classic Italian Cookbook” and because you’re already an accomplished baker, anything from Dorie Greenspan.
I laugh out loud every time you get lost with the directions. I have exactly the same problem - I can read a recipe "a million times", as you put it, and I cannot remember them. We must have a short circuit in that part of our brains. Love this new series. Well done.
A trick for cutting chives is to wrap them in a damp paper towel and start at the end where they're lined up. It'll go much faster, and the results will be a little more consistent too.
You are my absolute favorite person on RU-vid! I just moved to the Deep South and could use an oyster knife so I can learn to cook oysters. Keep up the great content!! I recommend you to everyone I know.
top tip for oysters: sometimes they can deform so much when growing that "rounder" and "flat" aren't good ways to tell the lid from the cup. about half of the oysters you shucked on camera were done upside-down. you can tell from where the opening beak points and how easily the tip of the knife gets in there. this is why you spilled so much of the juice (half a cup of juice is absurd from that amount of oysters tho, you still did a great job)
Yes. If you have a good sense of taste, you will know. The difference is subtle but noticeable. Cheaper caviar has a more pungent "sea taste" than fine caviar does. And beluga caviar tastes differently from other roe. Buy a bit of several varieties to try out. Remember to serve it on good quality unsalted crackers, with chopped boiled eggs, and well-chilled, excellent quality vodka. There are special glasses for that, and make sure the glasses are ice cold..
Being from Maryland, I'd love an oyster knife! :) Love, love, love raw oysters. Love this series, Jamie! That book is fabulous.......you are a dream, Jamie. Very ambitious recipe indeed. Love that dish! Great job as always. Hugs from the farm.
Thanks for the memory of my first (and sadly, only) taste of really good caviar. It was a Y2K costume party celebration, and the darling little black eggs were perched atop much larger hard boiled chicken eggs. So simple, but spectacularly delicious!
I attended an oyster shucking class over the holidays last year. It definitely takes a bit of practice and I was a little sore afterwards, but it was fun and the flavor of raw oysters is really something unique: briny, mineraly/metallic, a delicate sweetness. The texture is NOT going to be for everyone, though.
It's funny. I've had raw oysters four times now maybe? Usually I get one of the "sampler" plates with with a variety of different ones. I need to really start paying attention when the server describes them, and be a little more selective because a few have been life changing and others make me remind myself I'm in a public place where vomiting is not allowerd.
I know next to nothing about fresh shellfish, but I wonder if that bad oyster plus the general lack of juice in the whole batch indicates Jamie was played by his supplier?
I spent the majority of my adult years within 30 miles of New Orleans. Seafood and fish right out of the water are everywhere. I was in my early twenties when I moved there and I thought raw oysters were disgusting. THAT didn’t last long. I love them. Not going to the Big Easy without a stop at my favourite oyster bar. I have found though, that unless you are in another location right at the water, oysters are the most delicate of all if you are eating them raw and one experience with a bad oyster is likely to make a lasting impression lol. I usually pass if I know they are certainly being trucked or flown in from a long distance away.
Those tapioca balls can go in your decorating toolkit for future holiday builds, if you never find a better need. Also, your episode stinger makes me wonder if you're going to somehow try to rig a Fish Egg Blind Taste Test one of these days. If any of your future recipes wind up incorporating roe, I'll know it's gonna happen.
Cute idea with the knife, You are expanding the knowledge Julia taught you and now you are off and running, I will continue to watch you grow, thank you for your videos.
I think the book actually had a typo (clutch my pearls, NO!). I think it should have read "tapioca pearls, pearls, oysters..." because that's what's the tapioca pieces are called, pearls. Dunno 🤷♀️ Anyway...sure! I'd love the extra oyster shucker. Thanks for considering me.
I think it’s meant to read something like “tapioca [makes me thing of] pearls, [and] pearls [make me think of [oysters]. Hence the doubling of the word pearls.
I love this series idea! It reminds me of a cooking show I used to watch as a kid that I loved, where they’d test multiple recipes from a cookbook each episode. Excited to see more :)
I love your new idea. I dont know of the French Laundry or Thomas Keller. Heck, being a NZer. I dont even think NZ has any world class chefs, let alone michelin starred ones, so you can imagine my anticipation of watching who you come up with and the recipes that are gonna be made. I wait with baited breath.So love your series.
As soon as I recognized that you were going to need a spatula to scrape everything out of that bowl, I found myself yelling inside my head “Go get Charlie!!!” 😂 (I was happy after the fact that you didn’t whip snowman out of the drawer to complete the task).
Yountville - the city where French Laundry (And Keller’s other restaurant, Bouchon) is located - also has some restaurants from Michael Chiarello, including Bottega, which has one of my favorite dishes ever, polenta under glass. It’s be really fun if you did a “tour of Yountville” by moving on to Chiarello next.
I'm so glad you're branching out to other chefs. I've gotten my whole family hooked on your channel. We're all looking forward to the future of your content.
Loving your videos! Little tip with oysters... always buy double what you need and after you open them up, dislodge from the shell over your bowl. A lot of the juice was in your towel. This really looks like a fun dish to try. Thanks for the awesome demonstration!
This was great. Excited for the new format. I think it will be great to watch you experience the various styles of other chefs and cultures for the first time.
I don't think I've ever been so early to one of your videos before! What fun, to see you trying out other recipes from other famous chefs! I hope your head injury has healed?
Love this new series - I did a lot more with Julia Childs cookbooks after watching your videos (and joined your Patreon as a result). - could totally use an Oyster knife too)
I am no professional, but I had to smile watching him shuck oysters. I am from Charleston SC and I first had a oyster shucking knife in my hand around 7 years old. He would be amazed watching kids, adults and seniors just shucking away at oyster fests....
You need to do your own cookbook of all of the recipes that you’ve recreated especially the around the world ones. I would definitely be buying it! You did a shucking great job with this one :)
Thanks for this. I just ordered this book. I have always wanted to go to the French Laundry, I didn’t know there was a book. You are so helpful to learning better cooking. Thanks! A signed oyster shucker would be great to have in Charleston with our many oyster roasts. Welcome to loving oysters. They are perfection - one of my favorites.
I was lucky enough to eat at French Laundry in 2018. It was truly amazing. Except that the portions were so small that I actually stopped at Jack in the Box on the way home just so I could feel full.
OK, so Jamie, hear me out: Contact Sorted Food, and ask them if they'd like to team up with you, IN PERSON, in the future. They could combine it with a trip to explore the food of your area, like they did for Kentucky. DO IT IT WOULD BE LEGENDARY.
Bravo. That is one of the most unusual dishes. I have owned this cookbook for years and never ventured to cook anything from it. I live about an hour and a half from TFL and my dream is to eat there one day. I have eaten at Bouchon - the French bistro. It is superb. Highly recommend that cookbook. So glad you are doing this series!!!!
Me too, I live just south of SF and it's so weird to know the FL is close enough to actually go, a little drive across the bridge. But I'll never go there. I think I'd rather watch other people eat there. I'd be too intimidated.
A concept that I thought about before was cooking from recipes in a foreign language. Like you get all ingredients (maybe plus several to throw you off), the recipe in the original language and maybe a picture or a general description. Then you'll have to go from there. Could be easier like Spanish or French and a lot harder like Chinese. Really tests your cooking ability
That doesn't test his cooking skill, that tests his language skills, which is just absurd, he can't read a recipe in a language he doesn't know, 🙄 Making food with unfamiliar flavours and ingredients is hard enough, what would be the point of make him unable to read the recipe as well? Smh...
Might I make a suggestion. Stalk your pantry with staple things, for example, clam juice. I would think you could sub clam juice for the oyster juice. I have so many random things in my pantry, but they ate staples in many dishes, especially fancy one. I always have a tube of tomato paste. At least two cans of tomatoes. Some good cooking wine. Sardines. The list can go on. Since you know you are doing six episodes in a series, I would mis en plas your grocery list( not that I think you don't) get everything you need for the initial recipe plus the next five and maybe a little extra. I don't think you do it intentionally, but you work way harder than you need to. You don't work efficiently or smart. I just feel for you. This is all coming from a place of love and from someone who suffers from severe learning disabilities. These are things I have done to make cooking a recipe easier for me. Cooking is supposed to be fun and not stressful, and I hate seeing you look defeated by a recipe.
What a fabulous recipe! Best of all you are such a joy to follow. To see an untrained chef deal with a professional recipe gives us all hope! Thank you
This recipe is wild. It seems sweet or savory or salty all at once? I’m intrigued. Your scene stealing fridge is becoming my favorite side character. 😂😂
I’ve never been more pleased to see you NOT suffer a mishap!!! Honestly, as confident as I am in the kitchen, I would only approach The French Laundry cookbook with the greatest trepidation. 😮 I’m from Long Island, so the Blue Points are my mainstay. Their quality comes from a confluence of currents in those waters which sweep over the oysters while they grow - enriching them with nutrients while continually cleansing them. I’ve only enjoyed oysters dining out - and guess what? You taught me how to open them! If you’re of a mind to share your spare oyster knife with me, I’d be a happy recipient. Yes - autographed in Sharpie so I can smile looking at it! 😊
as a culinary dropout i can attest that the french laundry has a TON of clout in the industry, even among students. really love your TK recreation attempts