Top 20 Basic recipes
Butter fluffy and light as a feather. Hundreds (700+ actually) layers of butter and flour create this classic and very useful French pastry
Classic French Nantua sauce built from live crayfish, cognac, mirepoix, and cream. A double-reduced, deeply pink shellfish sauce for quenelles, fish, or seafood pasta.
Homemade duck stock is as delicious as any stock you make by yourself, it may take some time, but when you taste it, you will feel it's well worth the effort.
Classic French almond meringue that pipes into elegant shapes and bakes crisp. Light, nutty pastry component perfect for layered cakes, decorations, or cookies.
Bordelaise sauce is the classic French red wine reduction with shallots, bouquet garni, bone marrow, and veal stock. The mother sauce companion to a perfect steak. Restaurant-grade in 30 minutes.
Compound curry butter with garam masala, curry powder, fresh ginger, shallot, garlic, and green chile, whirled smooth in a food processor. Endlessly useful pantry stash.
Homemade beef stock is always the best, it's full of flavor and it's super tasty. It gives the dish you are making tons of yummy taste.
Classic white chocolate mousse builds an Italian meringue base with hot sugar syrup, then folds in melted white chocolate and rum-spiked egg yolks. A silky French restaurant dessert.
A basic muffin mix, great plain or dress it up with fruit or gasp... chocolate chips.
Rich, deeply flavored veal stock built from roasted bones, mirepoix, tomatoes, and aromatics, simmered for up to 8 hours. A foundational kitchen staple that elevates every sauce it touches.
Homemade Chinese vegetable stock built from dried shiitake mushrooms, ginger, Szechuan peppercorns, leeks, and tamari. A fragrant, vegan-friendly base for soups, stir-fries, and braises.
Rich pheasant stock from roasted bones, red wine, juniper berries, and aromatic vegetables. Deep wild game flavor for sauces and soups.
Fish fumet, the quick French fish stock: bones simmered briefly with white wine, onion, carrot and herbs, then strained and reduced. The aromatic base for seafood soups, sauces and risotto.
Braising can turn a tough piece of meat into a tender, fall off the bone, comfort food. I can think of no better example than the classic dish osso buco, made from veal shanks.
Fish fumet made from sole or salmon bones simmered with white wine, bouquet garni, onion, and carrot, then strained and reduced by half. A foundational French stock for seafood sauces and soups.
French-style hazelnut praline buttercream built on a custard base with egg yolks, milk, and unsalted butter. A professional pastry filling and frosting.
James Beard's method for rich double-strength chicken broth: simmer a whole bird in already-made stock for twice the depth of flavor. A foundation recipe every serious home cook needs.
A culinary school-style white chicken stock made from blanched bones, mirepoix, and a classic sachet of herbs and spices. Simmered for hours and strained into a clear, clean-flavored foundation for soups and sauces.
Master Chefs chocolate mousse made with Italian meringue, whipped cream, melted semi-sweet chocolate, cocoa, and espresso. Light, airy, and intensely chocolatey.
