Basic recipe collection

Butter fluffy and light as a feather. Hundreds (700+ actually) layers of butter and flour create this classic and very useful French pastry

Gluten free chocolate cake with a light, airy crumb built from whipped eggs, melted semisweet chocolate, cornstarch and ground amaretti instead of flour. Spiked with dark rum and rich without being dense.

Basic apricot glaze simmers apricot preserves with sugar and water into a clear, golden lacquer for fruit tarts, danish pastries, and croissants. Essential pastry kitchen building block in 15 minutes.

Rich, deeply roasted brown veal stock simmered for 12 hours with carrots, onions, celery, garlic, and bay leaves. This restaurant-quality base stock is the backbone of French sauces, braises, and soups.

Homemade Cajun spice blend with paprika, filé powder, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, and fennel. Ornish-friendly with no added fat. Makes 2 cups in 10 minutes flat.

Rich homemade chicken stock built from gizzards and necks simmered for over 2 hours with onion, carrot, garlic, and peppercorns. Yields 2 quarts of liquid gold for soups, sauces, and braises.

A refined chili-corn sauce built on seared beef, vermouth, reduced veal stock, and cream with fresh corn kernels. Restaurant-caliber technique for elevating grilled meats, roasted poultry, or pan-seared fish.

Classic French court bouillon with onion, carrot, celery, leek, fennel, thyme, and peppercorns. This aromatic poaching liquid is a building block for cooking fish, shellfish, and delicate proteins.

DASHI STOCK is Japanese clear soup stock. There are four types made from kelp, dried bonito, shitake mushroom, or dried fish. Dashi stock is the secret of Japanese cooking. To keep this strictly vegetarian, I omit the dried bonito flakes and substitute with soy bean sprouts and or mushrooms.

Hearty homemade soup mix with dried green peas, pearl barley, elbow macaroni, brown rice, and minced onion; builds into a thick beef-and-vegetable soup with carrots, celery, cabbage, and V8.

Master homemade beef stock made by roasting marrow bones with mirepoix, then simmering 8 hours with tomatoes, thyme, and bay. A deep, golden-amber stock that beats store-bought broth in every recipe.

When you don't have 4 hours or more to make chicken broth use inexpensive chicken legs to make this rich broth along with cooked chicken for use in other recipes.

Excellent as a cold remedy and as a starter to an Indian meal.

Asparagus sauce blends boiled asparagus tops with unsalted butter and infuses heavy cream with the woody ends, creating a silky verdant sauce ideal for pasta, fish, or grilled chicken. San Francisco chef's elegant green sauce.

A basic muffin mix, great plain or dress it up with fruit or gasp... chocolate chips.

Homemade fish stock from trimmings simmered with white wine, lemon juice, onion, celery, and fresh herbs. Makes 3 quarts that freeze beautifully for up to six months.