The codified European tradition of stocks, mother sauces and precise knife work — the source of most professional kitchen vocabulary.
Roasted beef, marrow, chicken and lamb bones held at a light simmer overnight, with no salt
A brown stock made for the braise of the South African pepper steak pie. Beef bones and marrow bones roast first.
Les Halles bistro tartare, chopped by hand and mixed at the last minute
Raw beef, chopped by hand, mixed into an emulsified base of egg yolk, Dijon mustard and oil. Anchovy, Worcestershire sauce and ketchup give savoury depth.
A demi-glace truffle sauce on spaghettini, with cold-pan duck breast and a bitter leaf salad
Sauce Périgueux is the classical French truffle sauce. It is built on demi-glace, not on butter.
A 48–72 hour reduction, done properly
Classical demi-glace with a dual-bone foundation, triple clarification and a staged reduction. A preparation other recipes pull in rather than a dish.
Dry-brined 2.5 cm chops, fat cap rendered, turned every 30 s, thyme-garlic butter baste
Bone-in Duroc chops, 2.5 cm thick. Dry-brine with salt and MSG for 45 min. Render the fat cap on its edge. Sear in the pan and turn every 30 s to 55 °C.
Crème brûlée made in one large tray, not in ramekins
A vanilla custard baked as one thin sheet in a tray. This version uses 2000 ml of cream at 34 percent fat and 355 g of egg yolk. The custard is 1 cm deep.
Research on why Wellingtons fail and what the techniques that fix them are actually doing — octagonal searing, duxelles dehydration, layered moisture barriers and two-stage baking.