The subtitle of the stunning new cookbook “French Boulangerie,” from Ferrandi Paris, the French equivalent of the Culinary Institute of America, should be “Fermentation.” All but a couple of the recipes in the book involve the process. At the outset, after covering ingredients and explaining gluten, there are lengthy how-to’s describing several fermentation techniques: levain, commercial yeast and poolish. Step-by-step photos spill over into the recipes for assorted breads, viennoiserie, types of puff pastry, brioches, creams and fillings. But the scope is not limited to France: There are recipes for injera, bao buns, babka, pastrami sandwiches, flatbreads like pizza and even hot dogs. For each, the book provides a precise indication of how much time is needed to complete the recipe.
“French Boulangerie: Recipes and Techniques From the Ferrandi School of Culinary Arts,” photography by Rina Nurra, Flammarion, $40.
Black Cod Straight From the Harvesters
Pacific sablefish, also called black cod, is all pleasure with very little risk. The flesh is so richly endowed with fat that it will remain moist and succulent even if you have to take an urgent call while it’s cooking. This winter, E-Fish, a platform for seafood shipped directly from the harvesters, has a good supply from California, sold in two-pound lots, of crosscut fillets with skin. It’s the fish of choice for the Nobu treatment, with a miso glaze, and takes well to a high-heat sear. It comes from Water2Table, a San Francisco seafood company that works with hook-and-line fishermen.
Sablefish, $79.99 for two pounds, e-fish.com.
For Neutral Cooking Oil, Go With Algae
There’s a new, almost colorless plant-based oil to use when olive oil has too much personality. Algae Cooking Club’s oil is made from algae and is lighter and more neutral than virtually all the seed and other vegetable oils. The algae is grown indoors, from an original base material found in nature, in stainless steel tanks in Brazil; it is then fermented with sugar and pressed for the oil that develops during the process. Its environmental impact is very minimal, according to Algae Cooking Club. Familiar seaweed like kelp is called macro algae. This oil, which has received the chef Daniel Humm’s blessing, is made from microalgae, tiny invisible single-cell organisms. The oil that results has a high smoke point, making it great for frying, and the company claims that it has healthy Omega-9 fatty acids. But it’s a great deal more expensive than supermarket canola.
Algae Cooking Club Algae Cooking Oil, $25 for 16 ounces, algaecookingclub.com.
