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Hasu Cook Session 11:
Confit Byaldi
Introduction
Have you ever looked on Google images for pictures of confit byaldi? They all look somewhat sloppy and lopsided... except for Thomas Keller's. His is beautiful, neat, and clean, like he chiseled it out of a fucking rainbow. When I started making this dish, I aimed to create something that is also beautiful, neat, and clean. But it turned out sloppy and lopsided like everyone else's were. I simply wasn't able to find vegetables of the same width to make the slices layer identically.
The lesson here is that as insane as I might be to try this shit and do it all by hand, master chefs are just slightly more insane in their drive for perfection, and their ability to be damned near perfect.
Confit Byaldi is the version of ratatouille that Thomas Keller adapted for the movie "Ratatouille". It is aesthetically the best looking ratatouille I've ever seen, and after having tasted it, it is also the best tasting version too.
Ingredients
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/LNsaT.jpg)
Cheap immigrant labor? I'm an immigrant and I did it all for free.
Prep & Cook Time: ~4.5 Hours
Serves 3-4
Piperade:
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 red pepper
1/2 orange pepper
~3 medium sized tomatoes (12 oz, or 325g worth)
1 small clove of garlic
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig parsley
1/2 bay leaf
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste
Vegetables:
1 medium zuchini
1 medium yellow squash*
1 thin Japanese eggplant**
4-5 roma tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1/8 teaspoon thyme leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
*I've seen fuckers try to sound bourgeois and call them "courgettes". Don't be a wanker. Until you're a) a chef standing in the kitchen of own restaurant or b) talking in French, they're yellow squash.
**You want the long, thin Japanese eggplant, which may be difficult to find depending on where you live. Try to find an eggplant that is as similar in diameter to the squash and zuchini as you can.
Vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon of piperade
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
You will also need: A good knife or a mandolin. Mandolin is highly recommended for those who aren't insane.
Assembly
Preparation starts with the piperade. Cut your peppers in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and ribs from one half of each pepper. Lay them skins side up onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake at 450F (232C) for fifteen minutes.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hQApF.jpg)
If you don't have colored peppers, psi-storm your green peppers and run them out from under it. Be careful not to kill your peppers, they have very low hit points.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil. Make small x-shaped incisions on the bottom of your tomatoes and drop them into the boiling water for 15 seconds. This will allow you to easily peel your tomatoes. Now remove the tomatoes from the water and peel them. Cut the tomatoes in half width-wise. Use a spoon, remove the seeds from each tomato over a plastic container. You want to keep the seeds, pulp, and juice that drips out. Finely chop your peeled and deseeded tomatoes.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4Lmjs.jpg)
Show those vegetables no mercy.
Peel your clove of garlic and mince that. Cut your onion in half and finely chop that also. Group the onions and garlic together and keep your tomatoes separate. At this point, your peppers may be done. Take them out of the oven and let them cool.
On the stove, pour two tablespoons of olive oil into a pan over medium heat. Dump your onions and garlic into the pan and cook for about 8 minutes. Let the onions and garlic soften but do not brown them (this means stirring the vegetables every 30 seconds or so). After 8 minutes, dump in your tomatoes and herbs. Pour in the juice from de-seeding the tomatoes but do not let any seeds get into the piperade. Keep the herbs in sprig form. You will be removing them later.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VxU3r.jpg)
This recipe is not only vegetarian, it's vegan. I've surely hit a low point in my cooking history.
Cook the tomatoes for about 10 minutes to soften, but do not brown. At this point in time the peppers should be cool enough to touch. Peel the peppers and finely dice them as well. Dump the peppers into the piperade after 10 minutes is up. Simmer for about another 5-10 minutes, until there is no excess moisture. Remove the herbs and add salt to taste.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/gwtSg.jpg)
Hundreds of years in a French kitchen one cook said to the other "What the fuck is this mush?" Then the other cook said "Mush? No. We will give it a fancy name... say "piperade" or something, and everyone will love it."
Now you can start on the vegetables! You want to slice all the vegetables into 1/16th inch (or 1.5 millimeter) slices. You will need approximately 2/3 of a zuchini, eggplant, and yellow squash, and 4-5 tomatoes. Do try to slice them as thinly as possible, it gives a nice texture and appearance. Place your eggplant slices in a small container with lightly salted water to prevent them from browning.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hUsSE.jpg)
Recipe invented by white people, vegetables picked by brown people, dish processed by yellow people. It's an international collaboration.
Now, spread your piperade (reserve a few tablespoons for the vinaigrette) all over the bottom of a baking dish. Down the center, lay down 8 alternating slices of vegetables, approximately 1/4 inch apart.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/B13nY.jpg)
The beginning of tedium. An activity so dull even my camera couldn't maintain focus.
Continue laying down rounds of vegetables until your entire pan is covered in vegetables. Pre-heat your oven to 275F (135C). In a separate container, whisk together a clove of minced garlic, two tablespoons of olive oil, the thyme, and salt and pepper to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon of each for me). Spread this mixture over the vegetables.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/bRCkO.jpg)
You could try first placing the vegetables vertically, then pushing over the last slice so they fall like dominoes. I've never tried it.
Cover the baking pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake for about 2 hours, or until the vegetables are tender (poke them with a knife. If the knife runs through easily, the vegetables are tender). At the end of 2 hours, uncover the pan and bake for half an hour more. Remove from oven.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yFfUd.jpg)
But in the movie it took them only 3 seconds to make! Pixar you bastard!
As the dish cools, whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Equal portions of olive oil to piperade, and 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar for every tablespoon of oil. You want about 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette per portion of ratatouille. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate for up to 2 days.
The Result
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7BP3b.jpg)
The vegetarian version of escargot.
Why would you ever spend so much time making this? I dunno. It is pretty good though. The vegetables are very soft, in a melt-in-your-mouth kind of way. There is a ton of compressed flavor within the thin slices of vegetables. I would even venture to say that this is probably as good as it will ever get for vegetarians. But for the rest of us, there is MEAT. Yes, I could go for a nice steak right about now.
Conclusion
The making of this dish was inspired by immaculate beauty. The result was... not quite the same? In the similar way in which God made man and man tried to make man but ended up with Frankenstein. How many Frankensteins will I have to make until I can make man? I don't know, but keep your eyes peeled for a flood of monsters, each slightly better looking than the last.
As always, questions and comments are welcome (and I fucking double-dare you to try this recipe!) If you are a carnivore or wish to read more, feel free to peruse all past installments of Hasu Cook and my other series, The Ghetto Cook, all conveniently gathered on my central blog
http://foodinmind.wordpress.com
Until next time, always remember that meat tastes good.
 
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thought it was going to be hasuobs cooking
anyways: It looks incredibly delicious, I would love to do it, with adding slices of meat (sorry  ) to give it that resistance and tender taste.
Seeing the pictures made me just want to go to the stove right now ^^
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sweet blog, this looks great. if only I wasnt allergic to nightshades 
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I've tried making this before but I've never seen the actual pictures of Keller's. How in the world he can make them look so perfect, I have no idea.
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Man that is one of the best color combinations I've ever seen in a dish. I may have to give it a try at some point. Really long baking and prepping time, would really suck to get it wrong.
Great blog. 
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wtheck how do you make it look so good x_x
love it
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hmm...all these foodblogs i'm hungry lol, and i've been debating whether to go vegetarian
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Wow! You did a great job! :D om nom nom
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On July 22 2012 11:31 peekn wrote:Man that is one of the best color combinations I've ever seen in a dish. I may have to give it a try at some point. Really long baking and prepping time, would really suck to get it wrong. Great blog.
Thanks, I do recommend trying this. Especially if you want to work on your knife skills or if you have a mandolin. I tried it the second day and it tasted even better, the flavor is just unreal.
And yeah, it would suck to get it wrong lol. But there's nothing especially difficult about this dish. It just requires patience.
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Keller's picture is really sick :o
However, there is a traditional French recipe called "Tian à la provençale" that is extremely close to this recipe. It's actually exactly the same thing except that the piperade is replaced by an onion-based mixture instead of a pepper-based one, so I would not say Keller "invented it".
Anyway, I agree it's the best way to cook this combination of vegetables, I cook it quite often to go with grilled fish.
As usual, you described very well the key points of the recipe, and the execution is pretty good too.
5/5 !
Oh and in French "courgette" means zucchini. It can also designate the light green sort of zucchini that's called 西葫芦 in China.
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bro, you need to find a way to get a litle bit of what you cook to everyone on TL.
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On July 22 2012 13:12 endy wrote:
Keller's picture is really sick :o
However, there is a traditional French recipe called "Tian à la provençale" that is extremely close to this recipe. It's actually exactly the same thing except that the piperade is replaced by an onion-based mixture instead of a pepper-based one, so I would not say Keller "invented it".
Anyway, I agree it's the best way to cook this combination of vegetables, I cook it quite often to go with grilled fish.
As usual, you described very well the key points of the recipe, and the execution is pretty good too.
5/5 !
Oh and in French "courgette" means zucchini. It can also designate the light green sort of zucchini that's called 西葫芦 in China.
In so far as Keller "inventing" it he was asked by the directors how he would make ratattouille for the toughest food critic in the world, and he came up with the plating you see in the movie. However this was not his first referance to the "byaldi" dish as it was previously published in the French Laundry cookbook, as well as served in the restaurant prior to that. As to the actual origins of slicing a rattatouille instead of dicing it, like many culinary origins it is not exactly well documented. Keller certainly has made this preperation popular though.
And Newbistic, i know i suggested doing this tedious variation in one of your other blogs but know that i feel your pain, having had to prep this for a special at several restaurants, just rember attractive food is worth some repetitive stress injuries; or so i keep telling myself. great job on the whole project btw.
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On July 22 2012 15:02 Shymon wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2012 13:12 endy wrote:
Keller's picture is really sick :o
However, there is a traditional French recipe called "Tian à la provençale" that is extremely close to this recipe. It's actually exactly the same thing except that the piperade is replaced by an onion-based mixture instead of a pepper-based one, so I would not say Keller "invented it".
Anyway, I agree it's the best way to cook this combination of vegetables, I cook it quite often to go with grilled fish.
As usual, you described very well the key points of the recipe, and the execution is pretty good too.
5/5 !
Oh and in French "courgette" means zucchini. It can also designate the light green sort of zucchini that's called 西葫芦 in China. In so far as Keller "inventing" it he was asked by the directors how he would make ratattouille for the toughest food critic in the world, and he came up with the plating you see in the movie. However this was not his first referance to the "byaldi" dish as it was previously published in the French Laundry cookbook, as well as served in the restaurant prior to that. As to the actual origins of slicing a rattatouille instead of dicing it, like many culinary origins it is not exactly well documented. Keller certainly has made this preperation popular though.
While I agree he may have contributed to make it popular in the US, but this dish has been eaten for decades if not centuries in the South of France. And when I say this dish, I don't mean ratatouille, I really mean this recipe, although as mentioned in my previous post, the traditional recipe substitutes the pepper mixture with a similar onion mixture.
Don't misunderstand me, as a French cuisine specialist and food enthusiast I obviously have a huge respect and a lot of admiration for Keller, but he certainly did not invent this dish. His way of presenting it is really sick though, the picture is amazing.
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I read this blog for the captions under the photos. :D 5/5
the food is nice too
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On July 22 2012 15:47 endy wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2012 15:02 Shymon wrote:On July 22 2012 13:12 endy wrote:
Keller's picture is really sick :o
However, there is a traditional French recipe called "Tian à la provençale" that is extremely close to this recipe. It's actually exactly the same thing except that the piperade is replaced by an onion-based mixture instead of a pepper-based one, so I would not say Keller "invented it".
Anyway, I agree it's the best way to cook this combination of vegetables, I cook it quite often to go with grilled fish.
As usual, you described very well the key points of the recipe, and the execution is pretty good too.
5/5 !
Oh and in French "courgette" means zucchini. It can also designate the light green sort of zucchini that's called 西葫芦 in China. In so far as Keller "inventing" it he was asked by the directors how he would make ratattouille for the toughest food critic in the world, and he came up with the plating you see in the movie. However this was not his first referance to the "byaldi" dish as it was previously published in the French Laundry cookbook, as well as served in the restaurant prior to that. As to the actual origins of slicing a rattatouille instead of dicing it, like many culinary origins it is not exactly well documented. Keller certainly has made this preperation popular though. While I agree he may have contributed to make it popular in the US, but this dish has been eaten for decades if not centuries in the South of France. And when I say this dish, I don't mean ratatouille, I really mean this recipe, although as mentioned in my previous post, the traditional recipe substitutes the pepper mixture with a similar onion mixture. Don't misunderstand me, as a French cuisine specialist and food enthusiast I obviously have a huge respect and a lot of admiration for Keller, but he certainly did not invent this dish. His way of presenting it is really sick though, the picture is amazing.
To settle this argument...
This is a ratatouille:
![[image loading]](http://www.le-beausset-en-provence.com/images/beausset-cuisine/cuisine-ratatouille-proven%C3%A7ale.jpg)
This is a Tian à la Provençale:
![[image loading]](http://recettessimples.fr/images/Tian_Courgettes_Tomates_cuit_t.800.jpg)
What actually happened for the movie Ratatouille (my guess): they were looking for a typically french-sounding dish, and stumbled upon the name "Ratatouille". However, as you can see above, a ratatouille is not very visually appealing. For this reason, they kept the name "Ratatouille", but showed it as a "Tian à la Provençale" in the movie (because the ingredients are very similar). So no, Keller did not invent anything about this dish, but I must agree with the fact that the presentation he did is very good .
Trust me, I'm a Frenchman, and I love both Tian and Ratatouille !
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On July 22 2012 10:33 Newbistic wrote:
*I've seen fuckers try to sound bourgeois and call them "courgettes". Don't be a wanker. Until you're a) a chef standing in the kitchen of own restaurant or b) talking in French, they're yellow squash.
c) From the UK.
Also, squash covers both winter / summer marrows. Courgette is specific to summer harvested fruits (they're small "courges").
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d) From another European country except Italy where it's called a Zucchini. And according to the almighty wikipedia Zucchini is also how it's called in Noth-America
And perhaps Keller prepared / displayed it as a Tian but he used the ingredients of a Ratatouille. That gives it enough of a twist to be legitimately called his own creation in my book.
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Nice! You really like your french dishes
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I actually call it Zucchini as well.
I'm sorry if this comes up a lot because I tend not to go through your comments and mostly read the captions and look at the food porn, but how were you trained/what do you do for a living yourself and what kind of person are you/how did you get so good at cooking in general etc. I'd be interested in a personal blog as well c:
Looking at some of your past blogs you really rose to stardom with these amazing blogs. Would be interested in how you are right now ^^ seems you were a freshman in college four years ago and now are...? Dunno, just curious, nice blog as always.
Also what's the difference between Hasu and Ghetto in terms of your blogs? Hasu=higher-class/takes more skill, and Ghetto=common things that all of us can do as well?
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On July 22 2012 18:42 Ahelvin wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On July 22 2012 15:47 endy wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2012 15:02 Shymon wrote:On July 22 2012 13:12 endy wrote:
Keller's picture is really sick :o
However, there is a traditional French recipe called "Tian à la provençale" that is extremely close to this recipe. It's actually exactly the same thing except that the piperade is replaced by an onion-based mixture instead of a pepper-based one, so I would not say Keller "invented it".
Anyway, I agree it's the best way to cook this combination of vegetables, I cook it quite often to go with grilled fish.
As usual, you described very well the key points of the recipe, and the execution is pretty good too.
5/5 !
Oh and in French "courgette" means zucchini. It can also designate the light green sort of zucchini that's called 西葫芦 in China. In so far as Keller "inventing" it he was asked by the directors how he would make ratattouille for the toughest food critic in the world, and he came up with the plating you see in the movie. However this was not his first referance to the "byaldi" dish as it was previously published in the French Laundry cookbook, as well as served in the restaurant prior to that. As to the actual origins of slicing a rattatouille instead of dicing it, like many culinary origins it is not exactly well documented. Keller certainly has made this preperation popular though. While I agree he may have contributed to make it popular in the US, but this dish has been eaten for decades if not centuries in the South of France. And when I say this dish, I don't mean ratatouille, I really mean this recipe, although as mentioned in my previous post, the traditional recipe substitutes the pepper mixture with a similar onion mixture. Don't misunderstand me, as a French cuisine specialist and food enthusiast I obviously have a huge respect and a lot of admiration for Keller, but he certainly did not invent this dish. His way of presenting it is really sick though, the picture is amazing. To settle this argument... This is a ratatouille: This is a Tian à la Provençale: What actually happened for the movie Ratatouille (my guess): they were looking for a typically french-sounding dish, and stumbled upon the name "Ratatouille". However, as you can see above, a ratatouille is not very visually appealing. For this reason, they kept the name "Ratatouille", but showed it as a "Tian à la Provençale" in the movie (because the ingredients are very similar). So no, Keller did not invent anything about this dish, but I must agree with the fact that the presentation he did is very good . Trust me, I'm a Frenchman, and I love both Tian and Ratatouille !
Oh god okay, I've edited out all the controversial stuff. It should be internationally friendly now.
And to go all the way back to endy's first post, grilled fish sounds like it would be absolutely amazing with this. I must try this one day.
On July 23 2012 00:02 Aerisky wrote:
I actually call it Zucchini as well.
I'm sorry if this comes up a lot because I tend not to go through your comments and mostly read the captions and look at the food porn, but how were you trained/what do you do for a living yourself and what kind of person are you/how did you get so good at cooking in general etc. I'd be interested in a personal blog as well c:
Looking at some of your past blogs you really rose to stardom with these amazing blogs. Would be interested in how you are right now ^^ seems you were a freshman in college four years ago and now are...? Dunno, just curious, nice blog as always.
Also what's the difference between Hasu and Ghetto in terms of your blogs? Hasu=higher-class/takes more skill, and Ghetto=common things that all of us can do as well?
I'm not quite ready to do a personal blog yet, maybe in 5-10 years? If I'm still around
The difference between Hasu and Ghetto is merely a matter of budget. Ghetto = very cheap ingredients. I started that blog back when I spent less than $100 on food per month. Hasu = much looser restrictions on budget. I currently spend around $200-$250 on food per month.
I don't believe that any of the recipes I blog about take a lot of skill, they just take know-how and attention to detail. My walkthroughs are a lot more detailed than most recipes because a lot of the time recipes don't show key details that you need to pay attention to. If I go into detail about some specific step in food preparation, it is most likely because I have failed (yes, I'm actually quite talentless when it comes to food preparation. Everything I've done right in any recipe you see is the result of at least one failure to perform correctly in the past lol) that step before and I'm warning those who follow of the pitfall. Anyone can cook anything as long as they know the critical details to a dish.
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EPT
