Happy to be with Dorie Greenspan and Daniel Boulud at IACP!

It’s always wonderful to talk with old friends about things you love—in this case, focusing on old cookbooks with Dorie Greenspan and Daniel Boulud. Our conversation was made doubly agreeable by so many friends in the IACP audience. Before the talk Dorie and I had had a lovely lunch at DB, Daniel’s bistro in Manhattan, of house-smoked salmon and madeleines hot from the oven.

To illustrate the old recipes, Daniel’s sous chef Chad made a contemporary version of blancmanger, or white eating, a recipe that’s evolved over hundreds of years. (For more on blancmanger, see The Cookbook Library, of course!) Chad’s updated version, with chicken breast cooked sous vide, mixed with blanched almonds and spices, was outstandingly smooth, almost shiny as he had pounded the mixture the traditional way by hand through a tamis sieve. Lots of work, I’m sure, but so, so good.