Cooking at the Beard House With Per Se's Jonathan Benno
A home cook learns tricks of the trade from the star chef of New York's Per Se.
Feb. 7, 2008 — -- I gave chef Jonathan Benno a very tall order.
The rules: No caviar, no foie gras, and he absolutely, positively, could not pull that amazing tapioca and oyster trick of his.
Sure, he might be at the helm of Per Se, Thomas Keller's 3 Michelin-star Manhattan restaurant, and yes, Food & Wine, Gourmet and countless other foodie publications have dubbed him one of the brightest stars in New York's culinary firmament.
But if Benno is going to teach me a few kitchen tricks here at New York's famous James Beard House, I want to focus on simple, soul-satisfying food. I know there's genius in every pot he stirs, but to butcher one of Emeril's (many) catch phrases, he's got to take things down a notch. Girl's night is next Tuesday, and I'm wearing the apron. Order up!
Good food, says chef Benno, is all about "using the best ingredients, and treating them with integrity."
Easy enough, I think. I can sniff a melon or squeeze a tomato with the best of them. The boys in the produce aisle know my name. And no, it's nothing Mamma wouldn't approve of — it's because I send them to the back for the choice picks.
But there must be more to inspired cooking than quality ingredients.
After all, Benno counts Daniel Boulud, Christian Delouvrier and, of course, Thomas Keller — executive chef of both Per Se and the French Laundry, the latter restaurant widely recognized as the best in the nation — as his mentors.
Come on, Chef, I want secrets.
Benno has decided that my studio apartment and I — anyone, really — can handle his smoked haddock chowder. Easy as 1, 2, 3. Dice, dump, stir — voila!
First, he dices bits of pork in cubes so perfect they look as if they've been lifted from a geometry textbook.
He and his assistant continue knifing with abandon, "brunoise-ing" the soup's components with meticulous precision. I want to string the finely diced onion, celery and leek on a gold chain, and wear them around my neck. His vegetables are that stunning. (And I'm that in love with jewelry.)
"First, over high heat, we render the bacon's fat," Benno says, stirring bits of pork in the sauce pot. "I made my own clam stock for this chowder but feel free to buy the bottled kind. And you don't have to use haddock. Smoked trout, even smoked salmon, would work well."
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