Many people know that I’m a lover of famed Chef Thomas Keller. Although I have not succeeded in securing a reservation at his famous restaurant, The French Laundry, I have nailed a number of the recipes from his cookbook, The French Laundry Cookbook.  Having said that, not all of these recipes have been easy conquests.

Genuinely when I tackle a new recipe, I allow myself about 1 ½ hours from start to finish to get the job done. MAYBE 2 hours if the recipe is a little more laborious. Well, I recently met my match with a recipe from Chef Keller.

Recently, I saw something in The French Laundry Cookbook that sounded delicious and I thought it would be an easy task for a mid-week meal. Not only should I have known better, but I should have read the recipe in advance – far in advance – to prepare me for what was about to come.

“Pot-au-Feu” was my recipe of the day. Pot-au-feu is a French beef stew that uses low-cost cuts of beef that need long cooking time. Generally, there is some kind of cartilaginous meat, such as oxtail or bone marrow involved.

Let me tell you…never have I been so frustrated with a recipe. Not only did it take me longer than my usual allotted time of 1 ½-2 hours for a new recipe (it took me a series of THREE days to cook this darn meal!!), but every step of the way was met with a challenge or two. If you’ve ever cooked a Thomas Keller recipe, you’ll know what I’m talking about. You see, the recipe, in and of itself, is not a stand-alone recipe. Each recipe has 1-2 recipes within the original recipe. That’s right. Before you can complete the dish, you usually have to make 1-2 other recipes before you can even complete the meal. And if that isn’t time-consuming enough, it’s a challenge just to find some of his ingredients. Hello! Most people wouldn’t know where to find gray salt and what the heck is caul fat??

Not only did I think that I could complete this recipe within two hours during the week, I even made the mistake of thinking that maybe my Tom could make the dish for us as a family dinner. I approached him one night and said that because I’m a little tired, would he mind making dinner? Tom is always a little hesitant about making dinner because he knows that I’m not just asking him to cook hotdogs on the grill. One time I asked him to make a recipe from my Le Bernardin cookbook. Not only did Tom choke, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a take-out menu taken out so fast.

So, by the time I actually got done tackling the “Pot-au-Feu” recipe, I realized the reason for the wait, the reason for the long delay. You see, there is something to be said about nurturing your passion. When you take short cuts, you will, inevitably, have shortfalls. However, when you take the time to nurture something, especially something you really love doing; you will end up with something truly amazing. And that’s what I found with my Pot-au-Feu.