NEW YORK, April 24 ― Culinary icon Anne Willan has just released Secrets From the La Varenne Kitchen, a brief compendium of 50 Essential Recipes Every Cook Needs To Know. This amazing book includes the recipes that are the backbone course for professional chefs and that Willan's legendary school Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris has been creating since 1975.

Among the dishes are fish aspic, exquisitely specific details on puff pastry and 10 types of sorbet. But one recipe caught my eye: Court Bouillon ― or in rough English translation: “Quick Broth.” As a mom who doesn't have the time for more intricate recipes and whose two young girls don't have the palates for aspic yet, I liked the sound of that. I called Anne Willan to get her thoughts.

“It's very interesting that you've chosen court bouillon,” Willan said from her home in Santa Monica, California, “because it's not something anybody thinks of using nowadays. It really is right in sync with contemporary cooking,” she continued. “It's very useful because today people always want to cook things healthfully and simply.”

Willan's definition of court bouillon is simple and clear: “It's a meatless and fatless broth, so very simple, but something that just adds flavour to whatever's cooked in it.” The recipe, which is included below, is easy, but I was hoping to get some insider secrets. Willan was happy to comply, although clearly none of this seemed like a big secret to her: “Thinly slice the carrots,” she told me, “so that they give up their flavour in 15 or 20 minutes. Slice the onions fairly thinly, but not to worry about it. The green herbs you just drop in, keep the stems, they have lots of taste.”

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Anne Willan unlocks the mystery of court bouillon in her new book ‘Secrets From the La Varenne Kitchen: 50 Essential Recipes Every Cook Needs to Know.’
Anne Willan unlocks the mystery of court bouillon in her new book ‘Secrets From the La Varenne Kitchen: 50 Essential Recipes Every Cook Needs to Know.’

The real secret of court bouillon is properly pairing the food being cooked in the broth with a sympathetic acidic ingredient. Traditionally, the acid used in court bouillon would be vinegar, wine or lemon juice. Willan provided more nuanced distinctions: “For whitefish, I'd probably go for wine, because you don't want too strong a flavor. For darker fish, possibly lemon juice or vinegar because it balances the stronger flavor of the fish.”

In traditional French cuisine, court bouillon is a liquid used for simmering, and then it's tossed out. But as we discussed using the broth as a part of the meal, Willan became intrigued, because that's simply part of her cooking ethos. “Never throw anything away,” she said. “When you've got lovely cooking liquid from something like a big salmon, do something with it ― fish soup with the leftover.”

I could hear her brain begin to click as she explored the Culinary Thought Experiment: “The liquid will have acquired the flavor of what's been cooking in it,” she said. “So what I would like to do is boil it down, and make a little sauce with it, mount it with butter or something.”

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Then her brain went into high gear: “You could do lovely experiments with it. I certainly haven't gone into it myself, but you could do an Asian court bouillon, or a hot court bouillon. You'd use chili peppers, wouldn't you? It's got to be something pure, hasn't it?”

From the wisdom behind La Varenne

This was more intriguing than interview questions: Willan was asking and answering herself, giving me a view into a creative culinary mind that has long fascinated me as I've gobbled up her writings and her recipes from the classic From My Château Kitchen to her dish-y memoir One Soufflé at a Time. As she brainstormed the possibilities for court bouillon, her encyclopedic knowledge of cooking became clear, as did her passion for food and good eating.

“Perhaps I'd use coriander instead of parsley. And then, what would you use it for? If you push it a little bit, you could use it for a risotto or cooking quinoa. Or even grits or corn meal.”

Court bouillon adds flavour to whatever is cooked in it, but the broth itself isn’t traditionally used for any secondary purpose.
Court bouillon adds flavour to whatever is cooked in it, but the broth itself isn’t traditionally used for any secondary purpose.

By the time we were done, Willan had improvised a court bouillon for down-home Southern cooking and an Asian-influenced broth with the addition of soy sauce, cilantro and rice wine vinegar. She cautioned me against using too much chili pepper if I wanted to try a hot version because the flavor of the pepper would concentrate as the broth cooked down. It was an invigorating conversation ― an insight into a culinary mind-set deeply rooted in the basics, but excited to jump in and experiment.

I love my copy of Secrets from the La Varenne Kitchen, and I intend to use it to build those basic skills that every cook needs to know ― whether they're a chef at a high-end restaurant or a mom with kids to feed. And court bouillon seems to be an inspired place for me to start. Check out the slideshow that includes Willan's secrets and two dishes that riff on the recipe.

Court Bouillon

By Anne Willan, courtesy Spring House Press

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Yield: 1 quart

Ingredients

1 quart water

1 carrot, sliced

1 small onion, sliced

1 bouquet garni

6 peppercorns

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup white wine or 1/3 cup vinegar or 1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a pan (not aluminum), cover and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered 15 to 20 minutes and strain. ― Zester Daily/Reuters