---
product_id: 3567238
title: "Ad Hoc at Home"
price: "₹ 7767"
currency: INR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 7
url: https://www.desertcart.in/products/3567238-ad-hoc-at-home
store_origin: IN
region: India
---

# Ad Hoc at Home

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- **What is this?** Ad Hoc at Home
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## Description

Ad Hoc at Home [Keller, Thomas] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Ad Hoc at Home

Review: Always worth the effort - I decided to take up cooking as a hobby last year and went crazy bookmarking recipes online and bought a few cookbooks on desertcart while I was at it. I bought this book because I love eating at Bouchon and Ad Hoc (Thomas Keller fangirl here) and I liked how there was a wide variety of recipes (different meats/fish, vegetables/salads, baked goods, spreads, dips, etc) that were comfort food/traditional dishes, but with a slightly elevated touch... just like the food I love at Ad Hoc! Perhaps it is because of the beautiful pictures that I drool over in this book, but I reach for Ad Hoc at Home most often instead of my other cookbooks/extensive collection of recipes online. The first reason has to be the organization/layout of the book - the recipes are organized in sections depending on what type of dish you are going to make (meats, vegetables, sides, etc) and the way in which the recipes are written is easy to follow (I bought Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking at the same time and couldn't get over the way the recipes were written... I like having all the ingredients stated at the beginning of the recipe, then the procedure). The second reason has to be that I love Thomas Keller's voice throughout the book - he explains the techniques and why you need to prepare things a certain way/use certain ingredients/tools, and I have become a better cook as a result. I also love how this book helped to build my kitchen with tools/spices/ingredients that I now consider to be essential. If you aren't ready to add tools to your kitchen, I would like to note that this book will also teach you techniques that apply to things you already have. The most important reason why I cook from this book most often, however, has to be that everything I have made from this book has been absolutely delicious. My favorite recipes are the summer vegetable gratin (I made this for Thanksgiving and there were no leftovers), caramel ice cream, brownies, marinated skirt steak, and just about all of the potato recipes. Even the basic fish recipes are very good. That being said, I would not recommend this book to someone who is looking for 5 ingredient recipes to make for a 30 minute meal on a weeknight. The dishes definitely require planning ahead as you may have to brine your meats or you may have to hunt around for an unconventional ingredient like vanilla paste, piment d'espelette, Japanese eggplant, specific peppers, etc but I can't stress enough that it is always worth the effort! The directions are also very specific so that it'll take you a while to cook a recipe the first time (as a beginning cook, anyway), but you'll remember to set the butter out next time, or realize that you can caramelize onions the day before so that you can speed up the process next time. I have loved every single recipe I have made out of this book - the specificity of the recipes ensures that your results will be perfect (or delicious, anyway), and I cannot recommend this book enough. If you have the time or enjoy cooking one day a week to destress like I do, it will be worth it, and you will have flour all over the cover in no time.
Review: An outstanding book that will give cooking enthusiasts hours and hours of pleasure - This outstanding cookbook from the 'down scale' version of Thomas Keller's French Laundry is simply exceptional. The idea behind ad hoc was to do everyday cooking, but with Thomas Keller's extreme attention to detail. So, if you have cooked from The French Laundry, you know that a single entree or serving can be a multi-day process. You can get into the same sorts of time frames with this book (the recipes often include items that themselves are their own recipes, and you can have multiple items of this sort to include). But I think it's important to know that the extra things you will have to make are versatile items. Which leads me to what I think is the most valuable aspect of this and Keller's other books: the principles of French technique, combined with lots and lots of recipes for items you might want to combine, open the door for truly excellent cooking. Most are actually quite easy, but take time and a bit of attention. For example, garlic confit is an outstanding recipe called for by several of the dishes in ad hoc at home. It's a slow process, but once you have it, you will want to use it in just about anything you cook. It's that good. I also love the melted onion recipe, and the techniques on stock produce the best stock I have ever used. The roasted chicken recipe is another example of a little extra effort that goes with all the dishes in the book. Simple enough, until you apply Keller's brine, which requires heating it to a boil, then rapidly cooling it down in an ice bath, before plunging your chicken in for 6 hours or more. But the result is one of the best roasted chickens you will ever enjoy. That process, I found, means doing the brine the day before and then submerging the chicken the next day, to be cooked for dinner when you come home. There are indexes for all the cooking equipment and special ingredients. But again, the beauty of Keller's books are in the hints and tips that come with the specified techniques. I like his method for tying a chicken, for example. But even with something like the Potato Pave recipe (I paired this with a pan-seared steak and demi recipes of my own that was out of this world), Keller provides tips on how to get it out of the loaf pan without it coming apart (some aluminum foil in the bottom before laying out the layers of potatoes does the trick). Downsides to the book amount to positives for me. I'm a fairly advanced home cook. This book suits me and the fun I like to have with food chemistry. It is most definitely not for the beginner, nor is it for someone who wants to cook quickly. This book is for the enthusiast, someone who gets a charge out of going to the market, picking up the sale paper, buying the on-sale proteins and veggies of the week, and making outstanding food to enjoy with loved ones. If you have 30 minutes on a weeknight to throw together a meal for a bunch of grumpy baby and papa bears (moms too), this book is not for you. If you enjoy going to the market, prepping, cooking, presenting, the enjoyment scenario - and have ample time for such matters as you solve the world's problems - it is a must-have in any home library.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #31,224 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #12 in Gourmet Cooking (Books) #110 in U.S. Regional Cooking, Food & Wine #206 in Celebrity & TV Show Cookbooks |
| Customer Reviews | 4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars (1,209) |
| Dimensions  | 11.31 x 1.31 x 11.31 inches |
| Edition  | First Edition |
| ISBN-10  | 1579653774 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1579653774 |
| Item Weight  | 5.45 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Part of series  | The Thomas Keller Library |
| Print length  | 368 pages |
| Publication date  | November 6, 2009 |
| Publisher  | Artisan |

## Images

![Ad Hoc at Home - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91rm9zleJlL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Always worth the effort
*by D***E on March 7, 2014*

I decided to take up cooking as a hobby last year and went crazy bookmarking recipes online and bought a few cookbooks on Amazon while I was at it. I bought this book because I love eating at Bouchon and Ad Hoc (Thomas Keller fangirl here) and I liked how there was a wide variety of recipes (different meats/fish, vegetables/salads, baked goods, spreads, dips, etc) that were comfort food/traditional dishes, but with a slightly elevated touch... just like the food I love at Ad Hoc! Perhaps it is because of the beautiful pictures that I drool over in this book, but I reach for Ad Hoc at Home most often instead of my other cookbooks/extensive collection of recipes online. The first reason has to be the organization/layout of the book - the recipes are organized in sections depending on what type of dish you are going to make (meats, vegetables, sides, etc) and the way in which the recipes are written is easy to follow (I bought Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking at the same time and couldn't get over the way the recipes were written... I like having all the ingredients stated at the beginning of the recipe, then the procedure). The second reason has to be that I love Thomas Keller's voice throughout the book - he explains the techniques and why you need to prepare things a certain way/use certain ingredients/tools, and I have become a better cook as a result. I also love how this book helped to build my kitchen with tools/spices/ingredients that I now consider to be essential. If you aren't ready to add tools to your kitchen, I would like to note that this book will also teach you techniques that apply to things you already have. The most important reason why I cook from this book most often, however, has to be that everything I have made from this book has been absolutely delicious. My favorite recipes are the summer vegetable gratin (I made this for Thanksgiving and there were no leftovers), caramel ice cream, brownies, marinated skirt steak, and just about all of the potato recipes. Even the basic fish recipes are very good. That being said, I would not recommend this book to someone who is looking for 5 ingredient recipes to make for a 30 minute meal on a weeknight. The dishes definitely require planning ahead as you may have to brine your meats or you may have to hunt around for an unconventional ingredient like vanilla paste, piment d'espelette, Japanese eggplant, specific peppers, etc but I can't stress enough that it is always worth the effort! The directions are also very specific so that it'll take you a while to cook a recipe the first time (as a beginning cook, anyway), but you'll remember to set the butter out next time, or realize that you can caramelize onions the day before so that you can speed up the process next time. I have loved every single recipe I have made out of this book - the specificity of the recipes ensures that your results will be perfect (or delicious, anyway), and I cannot recommend this book enough. If you have the time or enjoy cooking one day a week to destress like I do, it will be worth it, and you will have flour all over the cover in no time.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An outstanding book that will give cooking enthusiasts hours and hours of pleasure
*by N***L on April 14, 2015*

This outstanding cookbook from the 'down scale' version of Thomas Keller's French Laundry is simply exceptional. The idea behind ad hoc was to do everyday cooking, but with Thomas Keller's extreme attention to detail. So, if you have cooked from The French Laundry, you know that a single entree or serving can be a multi-day process. You can get into the same sorts of time frames with this book (the recipes often include items that themselves are their own recipes, and you can have multiple items of this sort to include). But I think it's important to know that the extra things you will have to make are versatile items. Which leads me to what I think is the most valuable aspect of this and Keller's other books: the principles of French technique, combined with lots and lots of recipes for items you might want to combine, open the door for truly excellent cooking. Most are actually quite easy, but take time and a bit of attention. For example, garlic confit is an outstanding recipe called for by several of the dishes in ad hoc at home. It's a slow process, but once you have it, you will want to use it in just about anything you cook. It's that good. I also love the melted onion recipe, and the techniques on stock produce the best stock I have ever used. The roasted chicken recipe is another example of a little extra effort that goes with all the dishes in the book. Simple enough, until you apply Keller's brine, which requires heating it to a boil, then rapidly cooling it down in an ice bath, before plunging your chicken in for 6 hours or more. But the result is one of the best roasted chickens you will ever enjoy. That process, I found, means doing the brine the day before and then submerging the chicken the next day, to be cooked for dinner when you come home. There are indexes for all the cooking equipment and special ingredients. But again, the beauty of Keller's books are in the hints and tips that come with the specified techniques. I like his method for tying a chicken, for example. But even with something like the Potato Pave recipe (I paired this with a pan-seared steak and demi recipes of my own that was out of this world), Keller provides tips on how to get it out of the loaf pan without it coming apart (some aluminum foil in the bottom before laying out the layers of potatoes does the trick). Downsides to the book amount to positives for me. I'm a fairly advanced home cook. This book suits me and the fun I like to have with food chemistry. It is most definitely not for the beginner, nor is it for someone who wants to cook quickly. This book is for the enthusiast, someone who gets a charge out of going to the market, picking up the sale paper, buying the on-sale proteins and veggies of the week, and making outstanding food to enjoy with loved ones. If you have 30 minutes on a weeknight to throw together a meal for a bunch of grumpy baby and papa bears (moms too), this book is not for you. If you enjoy going to the market, prepping, cooking, presenting, the enjoyment scenario - and have ample time for such matters as you solve the world's problems - it is a must-have in any home library.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by S***Y on February 7, 2024*

Lift your culinary game by learning the logic behind the recipe. Through detailed instructions and photographs - you can’t go wrong. Be inspired!

## Frequently Bought Together

- Ad Hoc at Home (The Thomas Keller Library)
- The French Laundry Cookbook (The Thomas Keller Library)
- Bouchon (The Thomas Keller Library)

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*Store origin: IN*
*Last updated: 2026-05-13*