Staff Meals from Chanterelle

By David Waltuck and Melicia Phillips

Staff Meals from Chanterelle
It's the other menu at Chanterelle. Customers of New York's sophisticated and acclaimed restaurant dine on foie gras and truffles. The staff eats Smothered Pork Chops. Customers swoon over the signature seafood sausage. The staff, elbows on the table, cheerfully tucks into Singapore-Style Curried Rice Noodles. and while customers end their meals with a fantasy of ganache and crisp tuiles, the staff, gearing up for work, passes around Spiced-Up Honey Cake or luscious Blackberry Cobbler.

Cooking the 4:30 staff meal at Chanterelle gives David Waltuck, "one of America's best chefs" (Gourmet), an outlet to serve up—with a twist—the down-home dishes that have made families happy forever. Macaroni and Two Cheeses (Mr. Waltuck uses sharp Cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano). Chili made with venison, for its stronger and more distinctive taste (as well as being leaner and lower in cholesterol). Crispy Orange Beef, with the tangy-sweet sauce and stir-fried marinated beef prepared separately for convenience. A surprisingly sumptuous Summertime Creamed Corn, made with fresh corn and Béchamel Sauce.

It also allows him to share the full range of his chef's knowledge. Copiously included are dozens of techniques and tips straight from a four-star kitchen:

How to save a separated butter sauce. The benefits of boiling potatoes in their jackets. "Sweating" vegetables. How to ripen avocados. The pleasure of braising. Testing fish for doneness. Making crisp croutons. Cutting up a whole chicken. The best bay leaves. Facts about fresh ginger.

Day in and day out, the staff at Chanterelle may just be the best-fed people in New York. Now join them, no matter where you work or cook, in the pleasure of a meal that nourishes body and soul.

About the Authors

David Waltuck opened Chanterelle with his wife, Karen, when he was twenty-four. Since then he has established himself as one of the country's most respected and knowledgeable chefs, while Chanterelle continues to dazzle as one of New York's great restaurants. The Waltucks and their two children live in New York City.

Melicia Philips was sous chef at Chanterelle for four years before moving on to become chef at the Red Hook Inn in Red Hook, New York. Currently she is chef instructor at the New England Culinary Institute. She is also coauthor of Working a Duck and author of Sides.

Buy the Book!

Staff Meals from Chanterelle
By David Waltuck and Melicia Phillips
Workman Publishing Company, December 2000
Hardcover $29.95
464 pages
ISBN: 0761116982
Information provided by the publisher.